 "Agriculture to be Modi's pitch in Muzaffarpur rally in Bihar")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to charm Bihar with a slew of projects that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes will go a long way in projecting the party as farmer-friendly. The PM on his Bihar visit this Saturday will inaugurate an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), flag off a new train and signal the opening of a new railway line. But the focus will be on showcasing the efforts of his government towards improving the lot of farmers for which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has received much flak of late.
Officials in the know said that Modi during his visit to the state will announce upgradation of the 110-year-old Rajendra Agricultural University in Pusa in Samastipur district into a central university at an expenditure of Rs 295 crore. The PM is also expected to announce two more colleges of agriculture, a college of veterinary science, a college of horticulture and forestry at Motihari and reviving the Banana Research Centre at Goraul Vaishali.
He will also launch the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, for power sector reforms in rural areas with a view to ensuring round-the-clock electricity supply to farmers and rural households.
Inception of university and colleges is of added importance as these will cater to the eastern Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. These states, along with Bihar, contribute 35 per cent of country’s rice production and have a large percentage of their population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. These states have also traditionally been electorally a weak area for the BJP.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, an MP from East Champaran, has stationed himself in Muzaffarpur to make the PM’s rally a success. “The PM’s visit will prove to be a milestone for agriculture in general and Bihar in particular, which will benefit entire eastern India,” Singh said.
ALSO READ: PM Modi to announce package, projects for poll-bound Bihar
The Bihar Assembly verdict will impact not only the complexion of the national politics of the next few years but also the PM’s economic agenda as well as determine the internal dynamics within the BJP. Reasons enough for the party rank and file to put in a herculean effort to make the rally, which will mark the beginning of an aggressive election campaign leading up to the polls in October, a success.
The PM will also travel to Patna to inaugurate the 87 th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a national conference of Krishi Vigyan Kendras. This will be the first time ever in the 87 years of ICAR that the foundation day function is being held outside Delhi. The ICAR headquarters in New Delhi derives its name from Pusa - a town in Samastipur district.
The PM will also launch four new programmes – farmers first, Students READY or Rural Entrepreneurship and Awareness Development Yojana, ARYA or Attracting and Retaining the Youth in Agriculture and Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav or my village my pride. The Student READY project aims to provide skill development to students to improve their employability and that agriculture training should be incorporated as an integral part of undergraduate curriculum and allied disciplines. ARYA’s objective is to attract rural youth under 35 towards agriculture while farmer first aims to enrich farmer scientist interface for technology development and application through a network of KVKs. The project Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav scientists from ICAR and state agricultural universities will be earmarked to adopt a village where they will disseminate their knowledge and information. Modi will also launch Vision-2050 for agriculture.
ALSO READ: PM to launch Gram Jyoti Yojana from poll-bound Bihar
Apart from these projects, the PM is also expected to inaugurate IIT at Bihta, Daniawal-Biharsharif railway line, flag off a Patna-Mumbai train and the Rs 10,000 crore over 2,000 km-long Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline, which is expected to be completed by 2019. Earlier, the Union Cabinet had cleared the restart of Barauni fertiliser plant. The BJP has galvanised its workers not only in Bihar, but also neighbouring Uttar Pradesh to ensure good attendance at the PM’s rally. The Bihar unit has sent out personal invites to 500,000 households to attend the rally.
In addition, it has been distributing ‘Modi saris’ among women and as many as 160 ‘raths’ or vans are travelling across the state to spread the PM’s message of good governance and development. It has plans to hold 100 public meetings a day for the next 100 days until the elections. At the rally, the PM is likely to claim that the BJP, along with its allies, was the real legatee of Gandhian leader Jayaprakash Narayan and first President of India Rajendra Prasad.
The BJP has decided not to announce a chief ministerial candidate and go into the elections with Modi as the face of its campaign.
Officials in the know said that Modi during his visit to the state will announce upgradation of the 110-year-old Rajendra Agricultural University in Pusa in Samastipur district into a central university at an expenditure of Rs 295 crore. The PM is also expected to announce two more colleges of agriculture, a college of veterinary science, a college of horticulture and forestry at Motihari and reviving the Banana Research Centre at Goraul Vaishali.
| MODI’S BIHAR PUSH |
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He will also launch the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, for power sector reforms in rural areas with a view to ensuring round-the-clock electricity supply to farmers and rural households.
Inception of university and colleges is of added importance as these will cater to the eastern Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. These states, along with Bihar, contribute 35 per cent of country’s rice production and have a large percentage of their population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. These states have also traditionally been electorally a weak area for the BJP.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, an MP from East Champaran, has stationed himself in Muzaffarpur to make the PM’s rally a success. “The PM’s visit will prove to be a milestone for agriculture in general and Bihar in particular, which will benefit entire eastern India,” Singh said.
ALSO READ: PM Modi to announce package, projects for poll-bound Bihar
The Bihar Assembly verdict will impact not only the complexion of the national politics of the next few years but also the PM’s economic agenda as well as determine the internal dynamics within the BJP. Reasons enough for the party rank and file to put in a herculean effort to make the rally, which will mark the beginning of an aggressive election campaign leading up to the polls in October, a success.
The PM will also travel to Patna to inaugurate the 87 th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a national conference of Krishi Vigyan Kendras. This will be the first time ever in the 87 years of ICAR that the foundation day function is being held outside Delhi. The ICAR headquarters in New Delhi derives its name from Pusa - a town in Samastipur district.
The PM will also launch four new programmes – farmers first, Students READY or Rural Entrepreneurship and Awareness Development Yojana, ARYA or Attracting and Retaining the Youth in Agriculture and Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav or my village my pride. The Student READY project aims to provide skill development to students to improve their employability and that agriculture training should be incorporated as an integral part of undergraduate curriculum and allied disciplines. ARYA’s objective is to attract rural youth under 35 towards agriculture while farmer first aims to enrich farmer scientist interface for technology development and application through a network of KVKs. The project Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav scientists from ICAR and state agricultural universities will be earmarked to adopt a village where they will disseminate their knowledge and information. Modi will also launch Vision-2050 for agriculture.
ALSO READ: PM to launch Gram Jyoti Yojana from poll-bound Bihar
Apart from these projects, the PM is also expected to inaugurate IIT at Bihta, Daniawal-Biharsharif railway line, flag off a Patna-Mumbai train and the Rs 10,000 crore over 2,000 km-long Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline, which is expected to be completed by 2019. Earlier, the Union Cabinet had cleared the restart of Barauni fertiliser plant. The BJP has galvanised its workers not only in Bihar, but also neighbouring Uttar Pradesh to ensure good attendance at the PM’s rally. The Bihar unit has sent out personal invites to 500,000 households to attend the rally.
In addition, it has been distributing ‘Modi saris’ among women and as many as 160 ‘raths’ or vans are travelling across the state to spread the PM’s message of good governance and development. It has plans to hold 100 public meetings a day for the next 100 days until the elections. At the rally, the PM is likely to claim that the BJP, along with its allies, was the real legatee of Gandhian leader Jayaprakash Narayan and first President of India Rajendra Prasad.
The BJP has decided not to announce a chief ministerial candidate and go into the elections with Modi as the face of its campaign.