Simply adopting a village is not enough, empower people: Rahul Gandhi

Rae Bareli: Just by adopting a village and projecting it as a “model” one will not solve the problems being faced by over six lakh villages in the country, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said while referring to Centre’s ‘Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’. [caption id=“attachment_1832951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said adopting a village was not enough. PTI[/caption] “The Central government scheme has been launched…I had to choose a village but there are 700 villages in my Constituency. “My belief is that along with Amethi’s, people of all the 6.50 lakh villages of the country should be strengthened,” Gandhi said while speaking in Jagdhispur village selected by him under the scheme. The Congress leader called for empowering villagers rather than villages. “The situation in all the villages will not change by selecting one village…if the villages have to be changed, villagers would have to be given strength,” Gandhi who arrived on two-day visit here said. But, at the same time, Gandhi assured that he will extend his help for the success of the scheme but the “schemes should not be forced on villagers.” “But, if the scheme has been brought why must I not help you,” Rahul said adding that he wants the villages to develop but schemes, telling them how to behave, should not be forced on them. Pointing to the district officials including District Magistrate Mahendra Kumar who were present on the occasion, the Congress MP said,“nothing was known about the funds for the scheme” and sought to know from where the budget would come. On his decision of selecting Jagdishpur, Gandhi said that Akhilesh Pratap Singh, an Air Force officer from this village, had laid down his life during the rescue operations in Uttarakhand floods and he had come here then also to pay homage. “I decided to adopt it to pay respect to his memory and his sacrifice,” Gandhi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched ‘Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ on the occasion of birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan as was promised in his maiden Independence Day speech. Launching the scheme, Modi had said that if nearly 800 MPs develop three village each by 2019, around 2,500 villages will be covered in the country and the initiative will change the face of the country by chain reaction. PTI