Text of PM’s speech at the Foundation Stone laying ceremony of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Chhattisgarh
Speaker: Narendra Modi
Date: 21 Feb, 2016

Respected senior dignitaries seated on the dais, brothers and sisters, Sai Ram. Venkaiah Ji has made my job easier; now I don’t have to spell the names. He is never worried; sometimes some names are left. You heard the speech of Venkaiah Ji like super fast express. A short while ago, Raman Singh Ji was describing that Modi ji has started on Sunday which is a holiday. For me it is holiday in real sense. About holiday, I say its holy day. We should do all the work that is possible on that day. When I go to bed at night I would have completed my visit to five states today. I left Delhi, reached Chhattisgarh, then I will go to Odisha. From Odisha I will go to West Bengal and then I will go to Uttar Pradesh. When ‘Janta Janardan’ assigns you some responsibility then you should try to complete it whole heartedly. And everyone should try. Today, I had the opportunity to unveil the statue of Sai Baba. The hospital provides free services to the poor, especially for the children’s heart surgery. Those who would have gone to Puttaparthi must have seen the big hospital. I would like to point out that less attention was paid to the social works done by Sai Baba while miracles were talked about more. The work he had done in the area of water supply, education and health are indeed very inspiring. Even if we do not talk of any miracle, these works are miracles in themselves. I do not talk of any miracle. Speaking of a miracle in itself is a huge miracle. I salute the great social works of Sai Baba. Today the draft of a new policy was presented before you on innovation and Entrepreneurship. I congratulate Raman Singh and his government for their thinking in this direction. It has a blueprint of what government can do, what government will do, what people should do and what people and government can do together. If we look towards the countries which have progressed in past 50 year then we will find that at the core of their progress lies the innovation. They brought about many new things. They came out with several new ideas which wer later accepted by the world. That innovation became beneficial for the society and became the reason behind economic progress of that country. If there is no innovation, the nation comes to a halt. It causes interruption. The very nature of the life should be ever changing with times. The tradition of innovation should be maintained. We should work for new innovations which are useful to the society and community. Entrepreneurship, 65 percent of our population is youth. The world is watching this demographic division as a major power. However, if we continue to just recite the rosary of demographic division that our 65 percent population is below 35 years of age, then it is not going to work. This 65 percent of population should be skilled. There should be economic management for displaying skill. The Government policies should be encouraging these small entrepreneurs. Our youth should become job creator from job seeker. He should work with dreams to provide job to other and not to look job for himself. This could be the environment in the country. The scheme formulated by the Government emphasize on all these things. Simply being a graduate and move around looking for job with certificates could not be the life of youths of my country. The environment of my country should be conducive to help realize the dreams of life for my youth. The Government has taken steps one after another in this direction to fulfill their dreams and ambitions. Skill Development provides skilling opportunities to the youth of the country. ‘Mudra Yojna’ is financing scheme for new entrepreneurs and even for the old who want to expand. Remember this doesn’t require any guarantee for such people who couldn’t even go to the banks. Money lenders fleeced them. The interest was enormous. Some time he had to flee from his village and at times to leave the world. Mudra scheme has been formulated to save him from the clutches of money lenders. Small people like washer man, hairdresser, pot seller, cloth seller, candle seller or common people when they needed 5-10 thousand rupees, they used to visit money lenders and in a way pledge themselves. Under the scheme, arrangements have been made to provide funds worth Rs.50,000 to 10 lakh without guarantee. So far, 20 million people have been granted funds and almost one million billion rupees has been dispensed to them without seeking any form of guarantee. The idea here is that they expand their businesses and provide employment to poor people. They provide employment to one, two, four people and this is going to create job opportunities. There is prevailing belief in the world that for economic growth the push will come from the private sector and the public sector entities like government PSUs or corporate houses. For a country like India, yet another mode is required which is the personal sector. Private sector has its own relevance, public sector has its own importance but personal sector is the one where each individual becomes an Entrepreneur. The State has come with this policy today to give a fillip to entrepreneurship. He should get finance from ‘Mudra Yojna’, get skill from Skill Development Program and then an environment of positive market should be created. I’m glad that of out of two billion people who received help, almost 70 percent are from SCs, STs or OBCs. Women Entrepreneurs have also come forward in very large numbers. The force being created and the policies which Chattisgarh government has come up with together shall be of great value. When Central and State Governments power unite, the development comes very rapidly. And I believe that the youth of Chhattisgarh will be benefited. ‘Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna’ is also being launched today. After so many years of independence there are around five billion households who need housing facility. Nearly 20 million are in the cities and 30 million live in the villages. These are the people for whom it is not possible to build a house on their own. Neither do they have land nor the money. Systems sometime play a big role for development. Poorest of the poor find a way of living. He lives in the slums, goes out in the day time and comes back in night to sleep. There is no environment for the family nor he has the dreams. But if he is given a small house, he is willing to pay back. If government and banks extend help, this model of public private partnership can move forward. Once he has the house, second thing comes to his mind. If guests come, there should be something at the entrance to wipe the feet. Then he saves 10 rupees and gets a doormat. The he thinks it was okay in slum but now when people come here, there should be carpet. He then saves some money and purchases the carpet next month. After sometime he thinks his children should study. Then he starts thinking for their education. Once the roof over the head comes, the walls come there, it breathes in a new life to his dreams and he starts doing new things. Hence I would like to point out that the ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’ is not an Infrastructure. It is not meant to create walls or to provide land. It is a big program to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of the people. Even for the poorest of the poor in India and every individual, there is a desire to have his own house. However, the desires of the poor are never fulfilled. No poor wants to give poverty to their children in inheritance. He also wants to give them something. Government has a dream for such people to help them fulfill their dreams. It will be 75 years of India’s independence in 2022. Can every citizen of country, all the governments, all those who are thinkers in public or personal life, all of them should resolve that in 2022 when it will be 75 years of India’s independence how can we give back to all those great men who laid down their lives for independence, spent their young days in jail, were hanged, sacrificed themselves and help us attain independence. This should be resolve of every citizen of the country. We should think what kind should be the nation of our dreams. We should have a dream that on 75 years of independence, even the poorest of the poor of India should have a house of their own. It is quite a task since 50 million households are to be created by 2022. Lots of human resources will be required. But it will also increase the employment opportunities. Cement, iron, brick, clay all will be sold more. There will be more work for the workers. We will be a witness to a major economic trend in coming days for the young generation. Life is going to change and that program starts here. States governments across the country need to act fast and decide what would be the location of the land to build such housing units. Center is ready to pursue this work. State and Central Government will do this work together and provide shelter to poorest of poor of this country. His dreams will get a new life with this shelter. And with those dreams the country will scale new heights in 2022. With this belief I once again convey my greetings to Raman Singh Ji and his team. Sriman Venkaiah ji is the Minister of this Department and is working day and night. I believe that this dream shall come true. Thank you very much.