10 yrs of empowering rural India, past govts deprived villages: PM Modi

Taking a swipe at the Opposition, he said while previous governments could have brought significant positive changes in rural India, villages were deprived of basic services for decades.

He said a recent large-scale survey showed that consumption in rural India had nearly tripled from 2011 levels, and that consumption gap between rural and urban India had shrunk considerably.

For the first time since Independence, the expenditure on food in rural areas, he said, had fallen below 50 per cent during his tenure. This, he said, meant that people in villages were now spending on other desires as well as needs, improving their quality of life.

According to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) late December, the average monthly per capita expenditure in rural India in 2023-24 was Rs 4,122, up from Rs 1,430 in 2011-12. In 2022-23, it was Rs 3,773.

According to the survey, the share of food in monthly per capita expenditure in rural India in 2023-24 was 47.04 per cent, down from 52.9 per cent in 2011-12. It was, however, a tad higher than 46.38 in 2022-23.

Modi also quoted from a recent research report by the State Bank of India (SBI), which said that rural poverty declined from 25.7 per cent in 2011-12 to 4.86 per cent in 2023-24.

Referring to the Congress, he said while “some people” have been chanting ‘gareebi hatao’ (eradicate poverty) slogans for decades, India is witnessing a real reduction in poverty only now.

Our vision is to empower rural India by transforming villages into vibrant centres of growth and opportunity. Addressing the Grameen Bharat Mahotsav in Delhi. https://t.co/XZ20St4QX9

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2025

Modi said the majority of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) populations reside in villages, which were neglected by previous governments. This, he said, resulted in migration from villages, increased poverty, and widened the gap between rural and urban areas.

Those who were previously ignored, he said, are now being prioritised by his government, which has corrected many mistakes of earlier dispensations. He said the efforts of his government have lifted 25 crore Indians out of poverty over the last 10 years, with the majority being from rural areas.

“Since 2014, I have been continuously working towards serving rural India every moment. Giving people in villages a dignified life is my government’s priority… Our vision is to empower people in rural India, provide them with opportunities to move forward, prevent migration, and make their lives easier,” he said.

The Prime Minister listed various programmes and initiatives, launched by the Centre over the last 10 years, that are aimed at providing rural India with basic amenities and services, as well as economic opportunities.

He emphasised that it is important to formulate economic policies that consider every section of the rural society to strengthen the rural economy, and that it has been an ongoing endeavour of his government.

He also underlined the importance of providing maximum economic assistance to villagers within their villages, enabling them to engage in farming and create new employment and self-employment opportunities. He listed various financial assistance and rural credit programmes being implemented by the government to support and develop the rural economy.

Underscoring the need to diversify sources of rural income, Modi said it is important to make irrigation affordable, promote micro-irrigation, create more rural enterprises, and maximise the benefits of natural farming for the rural economy, and called for time-bound efforts in these areas.

The government’s focus on rural connectivity and infrastructure, he said, is accelerating development in villages, creating employment opportunities, and integrating them with the nation’s progress.

He also stressed the contribution of cooperatives in transforming India’s rural landscape, while underscoring the strength of farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and the need to create more FPOs in the country.