On his first visit to his constituency Varanasi after his third consecutive victory in the recent Lok Sabha election, Modi also said that it was his dream to see some Indian food product on every dining table in the world.
Modi expressed his gratitude to the voters of Kashi (Varanasi) for electing him even as he hailed the strengths of the largest democracy in the world. “The 18th Lok Sabha election has demonstrated the strengths of Bharat’s democracy and the ever-growing deep roots of the system. More than 64 crore voters cast their vote. No other country sees participation of so many voters. I recently went to Italy for the G7 summit. India’s voters are one and a half times more than the voters of all G7 nations combined. In India, more than 31 crore women voted which is the largest in any country,” he said.
Reiterating his focus during elections on welfare of four segments – farmers, youth, women and the poor – Modi underlined that he has begun this third term with announcement of benefits for them, including his first decision to build three crore affordable homes.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday released the 17th installment of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi amounting to ₹20,000 cr and granted certificates to 30,000 women – Krishi Sakhis – from Self-Help Groups.
During his address, Modi emphasised that agriculture will play a big role in making India the third largest economy. “PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi has emerged as the world’s largest direct benefit transfer scheme. ₹3.25 lakh crore has been disbursed till now to bank accounts of farmers and of this ₹700 cr has been given to farmers of Varanasi alone,” Modi said.The PM emphasised that it was his dream that an Indian food product is there on every dining table across the world and the need to make the country a major exporter to agri-products.Addressing the gathering, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that agriculture is the “backbone” of the Indian economy and farmers are its “soul”. Chouhan also said serving the farmers is like worshipping God. “For us, farmer is God…serving the farmers is like worshipping God,” he said.