Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that his government ensures that its schemes are implemented within a time limit, unlike the past governments, whose projects were announced during election time and forgotten later. He was addressing a gathering after launching developmental projects related to highways and sewage treatment in Mokama, nearly 100 km from Bihar's capital, Patna.
The PM, who was on his maiden visit to Patna after the formation of the NDA government in Bihar, showered Diwali gifts as he laid foundation for projects worth over Rs 3,750 crore. He asserted that the Centre and the state governments will work in tandem to ensure that Bihar stood in the category of developed states by 2022, when India celebrates its 75th year of independence.
The PM said his government "launches schemes keeping a roadmap ready" and "ensures implementation within time limit", unlike past regimes, "which were in the habit of announcing projects during election time, only to forget about these later". Extending his greetings for Diwali on October 19, and Chhat — Bihar's most celebrated festival that falls six days later — Modi said: "Once the Ganges is cleansed of pollutants, for which we have launched a special project named 'Namami Gange', it would be a real delight to observe the austerities of Chhat."
Modi, who was sharing the stage with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the first time since JD(U) returned to the NDA fold, said: "I have faith in Nitish's commitment."
The PM deplored "the thinking of many political leaders that projects like roads were not meant for the poor". "We can not imagine the extent to which this mindset has damaged the country," he said.
Bihar Governor Satyapal Malik, CM Kumar, and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Ram Vilas Paswan were among those present at the programme. Modi began his nearly 30-minute speech in the Magahi dialect and praised the people of Mokama.
He recalled the city's connection with mythological warrior sage Parashuram, while recounting the contributions of poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Bihar's first CM Krishna Singh, pointing out that both hailed from Begusarai "just across the Ganges".
Modi, who spent nearly fours hours in Bihar, also inaugurated the centenary celebrations of Patna University (PU), the seventh oldest varsity in the country, earlier in the day. He, however, paid no heed to his latest ally Kumar, who urged with folded hands to accord Central status to PU.
CM Nitish appealed to the PM, saying: "A Central status for PU has been a long-standing demand. I pray with folded hands… and I tell you, if you do it, the entire Bihar will remember who did it for the next 100 years."
Modi, however, said: "I have come here to invite PU to become a world-class institution. A competition among all private and government universities will be held and the top 20 will be given Rs 10,000 crore by the Centre in the next five years to come at par with global institutions."
Quoting the Chinese proverb 'If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people', Modi said PU was a living example of this.
Taking a detour from his itinerary, he also visited the recently inaugurated Rs 500-crore Bihar Museum, where he stayed for nearly 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Opposition was quick to take a jibe at Nitish, stating that the "backstabber" CM was shown his actual place and status by the PM, who rejected all his demands.
— WITH AGENCY INPUTS
Contest for varsities
Disheartened that no Indian university figures in the top-500 varsities of the world, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Centre has come up with a dream to select 20 best institutions — 10 private and 10 government — which will be accorded full autonomy as well as a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years, so that they can join the global league of best universities. "A third party will evaluate on parameters such as history, performance, vision, etc, and only those that prove their worth in the challenge will get the opportunity to become global leaders in education," he said.
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