Jayapur village has adopted me, not the other way around: PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi

Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly pitched for ending the wretched practice of female foeticide as he adopted Jayapur village in his Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, urging villagers to give up dependence on governments for solving their problems.

Touching on a host of issues from potholed roads to female foeticide and crumbling social structure, he regretted that condition of villages have not improved in the last 60 years and blamed policies formulated in Delhi and Lucknow for it.

He said "big people" in the last 60 years made such big talk that these could not be executed on ground. "I, a small man, will bring about big things through my small talk."

Taking note of the presence of large number of women among the crowd, Modi condemned the practice of female foeticide and said "those who look upon the girl child as a liability should ponder as to how will mankind survive if we are left in a world with no women".

"If we kill girl child in the mother's womb, then what will happen to the world. If only 800 girls are born against 1000 boys, then 200 boys will remain unmarried. Will government do this job?," he said addressing villagers as he asked them not to depend on government for everything.

"Our villagers need to give up the notion that it is the government that is the doer and they are only beneficiaries. The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is an effort in that direction. It aims to empower villagers and provide them with opportunities to exercise these choices," he said adopting the village under the MPs Model Village scheme.

"I am confident that our villagers have the ability to shape their own destiny through their own entrepreneurial skills and hard work", the PM said, evoking applause from residents of the village who had assembled at the ground several hours before Modi's arrival.

The Prime Minister won many hearts when he got up from his seat to adjust the mike for the village head Durga Devi.

Referring to a recent report, which found that 40 per cent of children died young in a neighbouring country as they did not wash their hands before eating, Modi said villagers should pledge that they would not let their kids eat without washing hands.

Recalling his meeting over high tea with top bureaucrats after Diwali, he said he told them to spend a few days in the place of their first posting to see if conditions of these places have improved while they rose to such high positions.

"I want to bring about a awakening so that those moving ahead in life should see to it that those who have played a role in their rise should also progress," he said.

The MPs' Model Village Scheme will help MPs and government officials understand the needs of villages so that they could know whether policies needed to change and if yes what kind of changes should come about.

Dismissing various reports about the "reasons" behind his adoption of Jayapur village, Modi said the only reason was that this was the first village in Varanasi constituency whose name he heard of after BJP announced his candidature for the seat for Lok Sabah elections.