Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to village panchayats across the country in a video conference to mark the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on October 2. 

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said villages were part of the hearts of Bapu and  Lal Bahadur Shastri ji. He expressed happiness that on this day, people from lakhs of villages across the country are organizing ‘Jal Jeevan Samvad’ in the form of ‘Gram Sabhas’.

The Prime Minister said the vision of Jal Jeevan Mission is not just to make water accessible to the people. This is also a big movement of decentralization. “This is a village-driven- women-driven movement. Its main base is a mass movement and public participation” he said.

The Prime Minister recalled that Gandhiji used to say that the real meaning of 'Gram Swaraj' is to be full of self-confidence. “That's why it has been my constant effort that this thinking of Gram Swaraj should move forward towards accomplishments,” said the Prime Minister.

He recalled measures taken during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat for Gram Swaraj such as , Nirmal Gaon for open-defecation- free villages, Jal Mandir Abhiyan to revive old “baories” and wells in villages, Jyotirgram for 24 hour electricity in villages, Teerth Gram for camaraderie in villages, e-Gram for broadband in villages. 

As Prime Minister also, he said that he worked to involve local communities in the planning and management of schemes. He informed that for this, especially for water and cleanliness, more than Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been given directly to Gram Panchayats. He also said, along with the powers, transparency of the working of panchayats is also being monitored closely. Jal Jeevan Mission and Paani Samities are a key example of the Central Government’s commitment to Gram Swaraj, he said.

Referring to popular conceptions of the problem of water, the Prime Minister talked of movies, stories, poems that tell in detail how the women and children of the village walked miles to fetch water. In the minds of some people, this picture emerges as soon as the name of the village is taken. The Prime Minister asked why so few people think about the question: why do these people have to go to some river or pond every day, after all, why does the water not reach these people?

“I think those who had the responsibility of policy-making for a long time, should have asked themselves this question,” the Prime Minister remarked. 

The Prime Minister said that perhaps the earlier policy-makers did not realize the importance of water as they came from water abundant areas. Modi said, coming from a state like Gujarat he has seen drought conditions and knows the importance of every drop of water. That is why being the Chief Minister of Gujarat, providing water to the people and water conservation were his priorities.

The Prime Minister said from independence till 2019, only 3 crore households in our country had access to tap water. Since the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, 5 crore households have been connected with water connections. Today, water is reaching every household in about 1.25 lakh villages in about 80 districts of the country. In the Aspirational districts the number of tap connections have increased from 31 lakh to 1.16 crore.

He noted that in just two years, more work has been done than was done in the last seven decades. He appealed to every citizen of the country who lives in an abundance of water, to make more efforts to save water and called upon them to change their habits, too.

The Prime Minister enumerated measures to improve the health and safety of the daughters of the country. He informed that measures like toilets in every home and school, affordable sanitary pads, nutrition support during pregnancy and immunisation have strengthened the ‘MatraShakti’.

He informed that most of the 2.5 crore houses constructed in the villages are in the name of women, Ujjwala has relieved women of smoke-filled life. Women are being integrated with atma nirbharta mission via Self Help Groups and these groups have increased three fold in the last seven years. He also informed that there has been 13 times increase in the last seven years in support to women under National Livelihood Mission as compared to five preceding years to 2014.

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