Page 28 - NIS English 16-31 August 2023

Cover Story Empowering Rural India

Burgeoning infrastructure in rural areas
Increased connectivity to the farm

Now the road goes till my farm, this was told by Janakram,
a resident of Penderbera village while talking about road
connectivity in his village. When a village gets a good,
'all-weather road' network, it changes the fortunes of the
entire village. They can go to towns and cities to sell their
crops. Teachers and students reach school on time and
government officials do not hesitate to visit the village.
When an ambulance arrives, a precious life is saved. Roads
lead people to business and employment.
n In the 10 years before 2014, about 6,000 panchayat
buildings were built with the help of the central
government. The government led by Prime Minister Rural road coverage
Narendra Modi has built more than 30 thousand
new panchayat buildings in 9 years.
99%
n Before 2014, less than 70 gram panchayats in the 100
country were connected with optical fibre. The
present central government has taken optical fiber 80
to more than two lakh panchayats of the country.
55%
n Prior to 2014, the Finance Commission grant for 60
Panchayats was less than 70 thousand crore
rupees. Now the grant received by the panchayats
40
has crossed Rs 2 lakh crore.
n In the last 9 years, about 3,60,355 km of rural roads 20
have been added, as against 3,81,315 km added in
about 70 years.
0
n 7,41,670 km of roads have been built so far under 2014 2022
the plan.

decreased from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in
2019-2021. During this time, urban poverty fell
from 8.65 percent to 5.27 percent, while rural No matter where we reach, settle
poverty fell from 32.59 percent to 19.28 percent. In in big cities or any corner of the
Uttar Pradesh, 3.43 crore people were lifted out of world, if we have lived in village,
multidimensional poverty, representing the largest
reduction in the number of poor. According to the our village will never leaves us. It
report, which provides multidimensional poverty resides in our veins, it is always in
estimates for 36 states and union territories as our thoughts. That is why we say
well as 707 administrative districts, the states of that the soul of India resides in the
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and village, because the village resides
Rajasthan have seen the greatest reduction in the in our souls.
proportion of multidimensional poor.
Improvements in nutrition, school years, -Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
sanitation, and the availability of cooking gas

26 New India Samachar August 16-31, 2023