Rural India leads by example in COVID-19 fight: Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his latest Mann Ki Baat radio address on Sunday said that rural India has led by example for the entire country during the coronavirus pandemic. Referring to the developments in Jammu & Kashmir for prevention of coronavirus infection, the Prime Minister said many instances of good efforts by local citizens and village panchayats are coming to the fore.

The Prime Minister referred to Balveer Kaur, the sarpanch of village Treva in Jammu, saying, "I am told that Balveer Kaur has built a 30-bed quarantine centre in her panchayat."

"She arranged water on the way to the panchayat so that people did not face any difficulty in washing their hands. Not only this, Balveer Kaur hangs the sprayer pump on her shoulder and does sanitisation in the entire panchayat and surrounding areas with volunteers."

Modi also lauded the work of Jaituna Begum, the sarpanch of Chantalivar in Ganderbal, Kashmir. He said, "Jaituna Begum decided that her panchayat would fight the war against corona and also create opportunities for earning. She distributed free masks and rations all over the area. At the same time, she also distributed the seeds for crops and apple saplings among the people, enabling them to go in for farming and crop cultivation."

The Prime Minister mentioned another inspiring incident from Kashmir. He said, "Mohammad Iqbal is the municipal president in Anantnag who needed a sprayer for sanitisation in his area. He came to know that the machine would have to be brought from another city which would cost Rs 6 lakh. Iqbal himself tried and built a machine for only Rs 50,000."

The Prime Minister said that during the corona time, many such inspiring incidents were reported from different nooks and corners of the country. He said that the challenges were faced by the people with tremendous determination. (IANS)

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