PM Modi asks governors to use their position

New Delhi: With his eye firmly on the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged governors to leverage their position to highlight Centrally-sponsored schemes and initiatives and help people derive maximum benefits from them.

Addressing the opening session of the 49th Conference of Governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr Modi said that since Governors are also Chancellors of many universities, they could use International Yoga Day to spread awareness about yoga among the younger generation, and they could oversee celebrations being planned to mark 150th birth birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Reminding Governors of their pivotal role in India’s federal structure, Mr Modi said that they could visit some of the recently electrified villages to witness how people there had benefited from the scheme, and in states with significant tribal population, they could help in ensuring that these communities take advantage of initiatives in fields such as education, sports and financial inclusion.

Mr Modi said that tribal communities had played an important role in the country’s freedom struggle and this should be recognised and recorded by setting up digital museums.

Highlighting some of the initiatives of his government, the PM claimed that in wake of the recent Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, which was launched on April 14, the government had managed to fully implement at least seven of its key programmes in more than 16,000 villages.

The Gram Swaraj Abhiyan is now being extended to 65,000 more villages, with a target date of August 15, he said.

The PM also stressed on the need to immediately start planning for the next Governors’ conference to make it a more productive event. The next meeting would be the 50th Conference of Governors.