MPs’ adopt-a-village scheme launched

Under the new scheme, each Member of Parliament will adopt a village every year for all-round development.

Making a strong pitch for “demand-driven” development as opposed “supply driven”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the there was a need to go beyond government schemes to uplift rural areas, and claimed his new scheme for rural areas was opening doors for more “constructive politics”.

Launching the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, a scheme announced by him in his first Independence Day speech, Modi said that all governments had attempted to develop rural areas, but it was now important to modify the efforts and policies as per changing contexts.

“Schemes are made in Delhi, Lucknow or Gandhinagar and are injected further. Through these model villages, we want to shift it from supply driven to demand driven,” he said.

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Under the new scheme, each Member of Parliament will adopt a village every year for all-round development, the implementation of which will be aided by his/her MPLAD fund.

“This is not a scheme about money. It is people-driven and will happen through people’s participation, with MPs showing the way,” Modi said.

As per the scheme, each MPwill be free to identify any village to be developed as a model village, except his or her own and that of his/ her spouse. Each MP will develop one village by 2016 and two more by 2019.

“If before 2019, we develop three villages each, we reach nearly 2,500 villages. If states create a similar scheme for MLAs, then 6000-7000 more villages can be added,” Modi said, adding that he would pick a village in Varanasi soon.

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Launching the scheme on the birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan, Modi’s speech was laced with frequent references to the socialist icon, as well as to Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi also said the aspirations of rural India were “no less than those of urban India”.

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