It’s the PM’s birthday — villages to get roads, poor foodgrains

The Prime Minister, of course, did not fail to rise to the occasion. Egged on by his fawning courtiers, he played the benevolent king — promising all-season roads to one lakh villages, excess foodgrains wasting in the Central godowns to the poorest of the poor and centres of self-reliance and literacy that could educated the uneducated millions.

“There should other ways of celebrating a birthday,” beamed the PM.

The Rural Development Minister also drew up the Pradhan Matri Sadak Yojana, while the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister came up with the Antoyodaya Anna Yojana.

And BJP MP Sahib Singh Verma — former Delhi Chief Minister and a perpetual-hopeful for a berth in the Vajpayee Cabinet — promised to usher in a library revolution through centres of self-reliance and a literacy mission named after Subas Chandra Bose, which the PM inaugurated as the first good deed on his birthday.

Tongue firmly in cheek, Vajpayee said, “With the drums and songs and wishes of 100 years of life, you’ve reminded me that much of my life has already gone by, and not much is left to be spent.”

Describing the projects as those that would iron out the imbalances, Vajpayee explained “in this decade people were hungry for development and roads are important links to the new era”.

To drive home the point, he electronically unveiled the Rs 60,000 crore road project: “Often I have joked whether the roads have holes or holes have roads. In seven years, every village in the country with a population of more than 500 people will be linked with all weather roads.”

Road connectivity apart, cheap foodgrains are also on the way. The 50 million poorest of the poor will be given wheat Rs 2 per kg and rice Rs 3 per kg. And 25 kgs of foodgrains to 10 million families every month, making good of surplus foodgrain. That’s a return gift for wishing the Prime Minister Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas.