‘Welfare of poor linked to identity of NDA government’

The welfare of the poor is linked to the identity of the NDA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday. He was speaking at the launch of a ₹16,000 crore scheme, Saubhagya, under which households across the country that have no access to electricity, will be given power connections free of cost.

Free connections

“Under the PM Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya), every household in the country will be given an electricity connection. No price will be charged for the poor to get an electricity connection and the government will go to their houses to give them the connection,” Mr. Modi said on September 25 evening.

The government will bear the expected ₹16,000 crore cost of giving electricity connections to the 4 crore households in the country.

The Prime Minister regretted that these households are yet to get electricity and haven’t seen a light bulb.

“It’s been over 125 years when the famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison invented the bulb and who had said: ‘We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles’,” the PM stressed, highlighting that it is unfortunate that yet many households are lit with the help of candles or lanterns.

“Forgot about conveniences, even the women of the house have to cook in the dark, which is why most of them are under pressure to try and finish the cooking before the sun sets,” Mr. Modi said, after inaugurating the Deen Dayal Urja Bhavan, a new green building built by public sector oil explorer ONGC in the capital.

Arguing that few would have imagined a government will come that will give bank accounts to 30 crore poor people, insure 15 crore people at a cost of 90 paise per day, reduce the prices of stents and knee replacements, Mr. Modi said the dreams of the poor are the dreams of his government.

“Did anyone ever think such a government would come that thinks of freeing women from smoke in the kitchens, did they imagine a government would think of enabling those who wear Hawai chappals can ride on an aeroplane?... Reducing the problems faced by the poor, the troubles they face in their daily lives is my government’s biggest responsibility,” the PM asserted.