NEW DELHI, Sept 4:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his Government was targeting achieving 24X7 power supply across the country by 2022, noting it was key to implementing various Government schemes to take the country forward.
In an interaction with students from across the country on the eve of Teachers’ Day, Modi said 18,000 villages still do not have electricity and he has issued directives to get them all electrified in the next 1,000 days.
“My dream is that by 2022, when country celebrates the 75th independence day, 24×7 electricity is available in all homes. I am working in this direction to free the homes of darkness,” Modi said.
The country’s installed power generation capacity is about 3 lakh Mega Watt, including electricity generated from renewable sources.
The electricity generation target for the year 2015-2016 was fixed at 1,137 billion units, a growth of around 8.47 per cent over actual generation of 1,048 billion units in 2014-2015. Almost all the States in India have been struggling with increasing gap between power demand and supply.
The Prime Minister said ‘Digital India march’ cannot be stopped and it can continue with solar power also.
This is for the second year the Prime Minister interacted with students on the occasion of Teachers’ Day which is celebrated on September 5 to mark the birth anniversary of India’s second President and philosopher Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.
Eight hundred students and 60 teachers from schools in Delhi participated in the event held at the Manekshaw auditorium here. Students from nine other states participated through video conference.
Regretting that politics has acquired a bad name and is scaring away good people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked people from all walks of life to join it and not be apprehensive about it.
In his second interaction with students on Teachers’ Day celebration after becoming the PM, Modi gave a pep talk asking students not to get deterred by failure in pursuit of their goals while advising parents to refrain from foisting their own career choices on children.
Encouraging students to develop leadership qualities, the PM said he has asked the HRD Ministry to award aptitude certificates rather than character certificates, relflecting the overall personality of students when they leave school.
During a candid interaction with students, Modi lamented, “Politics has aquired a bad name in the country. People fear, they cannot come here and that good people should not join it. This has hurt the country much,” he said.
A relaxed Modi responded to a range of questions including on his school days and dress sense during his 105-minute interaction with 800 students and 60 teachers from schools in Delhi who participated in the event at the Manekshaw auditorium here. Students from nine other States joined the programme through video conference.
In democracy, political parties are an important constitutent and it is crucial that good, intelligent and talented people from all spheres participate. The more good people join, the better it will be for the nation.
“When Mahatma Gandhi spearheaded the freedom movement, people from all walks participated. Therefore, the independence movement was very powerful,” he said.
Modi also called upon the bright minds from various professions to devote at least one hour a week or 100 hours annually to teaching students, infusing a new strength in the area of education.
However, he in a lighter vein added that politicians should not do so as they would end up “teaching something else”.
When a student from Goa asked him about his favourite sport, Modi quipped, “We all know the games politicians play.” He went on to narrate how as a youngster in a family with limited means, he did not pursue any dedicated sport but had learnt how to climb trees.
He had also learnt swimming while going to the village pond to wash his clothes. (PTI)
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