I am indeed delighted to participate in the inaugural function of the Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) promoted by Shri Dharmasthala temple. I am happy to note that the objective of the project is to improve the living conditions in the villages and to empower the villagers to avoid migration to cities.

It is well known that peoples participation alone will make any rural programme a success. I am happy to note the achievement of peoples participation which SKDRDP has been organizing through Pragathi Bandhu Model Self Help Groups which is a programme for integrated development of villages through small farmer participation. The unique feature of the project which I am informed is that each member would contribute a small amount per week to a group which would be kept in a Bank account. Thus each group would save Rs.2700/- to Rs.5200/- per year. And this money would be borrowed by the most needy for investing in his land and infrastructure. It is indeed noteworthy.

PURA - Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas

I have a suggestion to Dharmasthala temple management to adopt few villages for bringing economic prosperity in rural areas with reduction of pressure on urban facilities. I envisage Rural Models to share / augment service capabilities to cater to the IT enabled service demands from local in addition to foreign sources. Such models should aim to provide opportunity for rural economic development and prosperity. Youth in the rural localities could be easily trained to cater to requirement of IT enabled service industries. We can get place and manpower at very reasonable rates when compared to urban localities. This will also aid in stopping movement of families towards urban localities. The model envisages a habitat designed to improve the quality of life in rural places and makes special suggestions to remove urban congestion also. Naturally our most demanding urban problem is that of congestion removal and efficient supply of water and effective waste disposal in every locality are the paramount civic needs. There is a minimum size below which a habitat is not viable and not competitive with the existing congested city. At the same time, the existing congested city is not economical compared to a new town once a minimum size of expansion is crossed.

More than two third of our billion population live in the rural parts of India. The vision of transformation to a 'developed' India can only be realized if we launch a mega mission for empowering the rural people. My visits to the rural parts of India have confirmed that the problem of rural India depends on the connectivity. The connectivity that I refer to would include four components. Physical connectivity by providing roads in rural areas, electronic connectivity by providing reliable communication network and knowledge connectivity by establishing more professional institutions and vocational training centers. Schools with best infrastructure and teachers who love teaching, primary health centres, silos for storage of products and markets for promoting products, cottage industries could be made economically viable if they have to be established for such a cluster of village complexes. All this connectivity need to be done in an integrated way so that economic connectivity will emerge leading to economic prosperity self sufficiency. Such Model of establishing connectivity among the rural village complexes will accelerate rural development process by empowerment.

Vision 2020

The Nation has a vision for the India of 2020 and by that year hope that India can join the ranks of developed countries. For this, we would have to double our present growth rate of Gross Domestic Product and to achieve this, five key areas have been identified in which we need to focus our attention. These areas are: -

(1) Education and Health care

(2) Agriculture and Food Processing

(3) Information and communication technology

(4) Infrastructure development and

(5) Self-sufficiency in areas of critical technologies.

Prosperity in rural area will lead to economic prosperity of the nation. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Dharmasthala temple trustees for empowering the villagers with infrastructure facilities and peoples participation. Best wishes.

People's Declaration

1. Children are our precious properties

2. Male and female children are to be given equal importance in providing education and rights for growth of our society. Girl child education is the most important need to empower families

3. Earnings come out of hard work. We should not waste it in gambling and liquor. Elders particularly parents need to be a role model for their children.

4. We need to tell our children about the importance of education as learning gives knowledge and knowledge makes us great.

5. We need to jointly protect our forest and prevent pollution.

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