Will Provide Better Life to the Poor: PM Modi on Labour Day in UP

Prime Minister Modi said in Uttar Pradesh that his government would provide LPG connections to five crore women.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presents cooking gas connection to a woman of a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family during the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Ballia on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pledged to ensure a better life for the poor, saying his government was “for the poor”.

“This is a government for the poor. Whatever we do will be for the poor,” the Prime Minister said in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, launching the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

We have worked a lot on labour related issues.

Narendra Modi

The scheme will provide free LPG connections to five crore women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families between 2016 and 2019.

Apparently hitting out at the erstwhile Congress-led governments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that most policies had been made in the past keeping the ballot box in mind and not for development or alleviation of poverty.

He said schemes “must be made for the welfare of the poor not keeping in mind considerations of the ballot box”.

Our government has been working for the upliftment of the poverty-stricken people through ‘jan bhagidari’ (people’s participation). Many policies had been made keeping in mind the ballot box and not the real interests of the vast majority of the poor people of our country.

Narendra Modi

“Uttar Pradesh has given so many Prime Ministers. But why did the poverty levels go on increasing? Were there some drawbacks in these policies?” he asked.

He said an MP from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh had raised the issue of abject poverty in eastern Uttar Pradesh when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. Following this, a commission was formed which made several major recommendations.

What happened to those recommendations, only God knows. Fifty years have passed since then. One of the recommendations was to connect Ghazipur and Mau by rail. We have now decided to construct a rail line to implement that recommendation.

Narendra Modi

The Prime Minister greeted the workers, or shramiks, as he described them, on the occasion of Labour Day on 1 May.

I laud the hard work of all <i>shramiks</i> and appreciate their role in the progress of India. In this century, our mantra should be: All <i>shramiks </i>of the world, let’s make the world one.&nbsp;

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Prime Minister also spoke on the significance of May Day and said the new ‘Mantra’ should be “Labourers, unite the world” as against “Workers of the World, Unite”, the slogan which used to be raised earlier.

“The situation has changed. The biggest cementing factor is the sweat of the workers who can unite the world,” he said, noting that those who used to raise slogans of uniting the workers have been “losing ground the world over”.

Modi is in Uttar Pradesh on a day-long visit.

He will visit Varanasi later in the day on 1 May and distribute e-rickshaws and interact with its owners.

He will also launch a scheme for environment-friendly e-boats at the famous Assi Ghat.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)