NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a 1,000-day deadline on Saturday for every village in India to get electricity as he emphasised his commitment towards combatting poverty. In a speech on Independence Day, Modi urged state governments responsible for electricity to ensure that millions of households are finally linked up to the national grid. “Even after so many decades of independence there are 18,500 villages in India which do not have electricity,” Modi said in on the 69th anniversary since the end of British rule. The right-wing premier said his government had already succeded in enabling 170 million people to open bank accounts for the first time under a government-run scheme. “Financial inclusion of poor has been a priority and for decades people have been just thinking about it,” said Modi who came to power in May last year. “But I am proud that we have included 170 million poor people in India’s banking system. We have kept our promise.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2015.
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