Develop rural India first: Dalai Lama
Elaborating further, he said the focus should be on creating basic infrastructures like health and education in rural areas.
Bhopal: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Sunday called for shifting focus to development of villages, saying “India will transform only through the rural transformation.”
“Focus should shift from development of urban cities to development of villages. Development of villages alone will lead India to prosperity. India will transform only through the rural transformation,” the Nobel peace laureate said while participating in the ongoing save Narmada campaign, christened as “Narmada Seva Yatra” at Turnal in Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh.
“India is predominantly an agriculture-based economy and rural India must be transformed for the country’s development,” he added.
Elaborating further, he said the focus should be on creating basic infrastructures like health and education in rural areas. The journey of development should start from rural areas in the country. The Buddhist leader also laid emphasis on environmental protection to tackle effect of global warming.
“Technology is essential for development of country. But, more than the technology, what we need is preservation of ‘jal, jungle, zameen’ (water, forest and land) for environmental protection. This has become a global issue,” he added.
“Our ancestors were living here on the earth. Our future generation will live here. We need to save water. We need to protect environment. The environment has been changing across the world. Our approach should be holistic,” he said.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also present on the occasion.