Rajnath’s Adopted Village Made Some Headway But Isn’t ‘Adarsh’ Yet

Beti residents hail Rajnath for basic infrastructure development but are unhappy with the lack of health facilities.

How ‘Adarsh’ is Beti, Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s adopted village?

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam

(Are ‘achhe din’ here for villages adopted by PM Modi's star MPs? Watch The Quint’s ground reports from villages adopted under the 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ or SAGY)

Union Home Minister and one of the most senior MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, ‘adopted’ Beti village of Uttar Pradesh under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) in 2014. The village is located 35 kms from state capital Lucknow and has a population of 5,000.

This will be the ninth village in The Quint’s series, named ‘Our MP’s Villages: Achhe Din?’ We earlier reported on Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Textile Minister Smriti Irani, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s villages.

Objectives of SAGY

The objective of SAGY was that MPs cater to the needs of their adopted villages and work towards their holistic development. Some of the goals that the MPs were to achieve under SAGY are:

• Education facilities
• Cleanliness
• Health facilities
• Skill development
• Livelihoods
• Basic amenities (electricity, pucca houses, roads, WiFi)
• Good governance

The Quint investigates how many of these objectives were achieved.

Proper Network of Roads

When you arrive in Beti, you will see ‘pucca roads’ meandering through the village. The lanes in the village are mostly RCC (reinforced cement concrete) roads or interlocked brick roads. Most of these roads have been constructed.

Education

The village already had a primary school. Since Rajnath adopted the village, the school building was repaired and new toilets were built for the students. A higher secondary school was also constructed.

However, a girls’ college was also promised to the village, but has not been established yet.

Electricity

The village has complete electrification and village head Vikas Sahu claims that every house has been provided with an electricity connection. However, the villagers complain that they only get power for 20 hours a day, and face load shedding or power outages for at least four hours daily.

Health

Health facilities have been one of the most significant problems faced by the people of Beti. The locals complain that if someone falls ill and needs to be hospitalised, the nearest hospital is 35 kms away in Lucknow.

“All governments construct roads. The core issues need to be addressed. For example, hospitals. If someone is taken ill late at night then the closest hospital that we have is in Lucknow.”

Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Resident

Locals also complain that a veterinary hospital was promised but has not been built yet.

Cleanliness

Despite the grand advertisement of the Swachh Bharat Campaign by Modi government, locals are unhappy with the state of cleanliness in their village.

“If you go to Lohia (a neighbouring village), you will notice that even they have RCC roads. In our village, open drains flow right at our doorstep.”

Bajpayee, Resident

Banking

The village has a bank and an ATM. The village head claims that the village has made unexpected strides in development since it was adopted by Rajnath Singh.

“A lot of work has been done under his tenure. He has done more for us than we expected. A bank branch was set up in our village – that has been a big relief for us. The bank and ATM ensure that villagers get cash quickly.”

Vikas Sahu, Village Head, Beti

Beti witnessed quite a bit of work and development since it was ‘adopted’ by Rajnath Singh, but the village is still a long way from being ‘adarsh’.