Empowering Every Section Of Village Is Essential For India’s Development Journey: Modi

Empowering every section of the village for its development is essential for India’s development journey, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

While addressing a post-budget webinar on ‘PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman’, he said that for the last three years, a tradition of a post Budget dialogue with the stakeholders has emerged. 

The Prime Minister remarked that the series of post-budget webinars is a new chapter where the discussions held inside the Parliament by Parliamentarians are being held by all stakeholders where getting valuable suggestions from them makes for very useful practice. 

He said while a few sectors’ artisans received some attention, many classes of artisans such as carpenters, ironsmiths, sculptors, masons and many others that are an integral part of society have been adapting to the changing times to fulfill the needs of society that were ignored. 

“Small artisans play an important role in the production of local crafts. PM Vishwakarma Yojana focuses on empowering them," the Prime Minister said. 

He informed that skilled craftsmen were contributing in their own ways towards exports in ancient India. 

PM Modi lamented that this skilled workforce was neglected for a long time and their work was considered non-significant during the long years of slavery. 

Even after India’s independence, the Prime Minister pointed out that there was no intervention from the government to work for their betterment and as a result, many traditional ways of skill and craftsmanship were abandoned by the families so that they could make a living elsewhere. 

He underlined that this working class have conserved their craft of using traditional methods for centuries and they are making a mark with their extraordinary skills and unique creations. “Skilled craftsmen are symbols of the true spirit of self-reliant India and our government considers such people as Vishwakarma of new India," PM said.

He explained that PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman Yojana is initiated especially for them where the central focus remains on those skilled craftsmen from villages and towns who create a living by working with their own hands.