“Chitrakoot is an ideal model which can be emulated to make all the six lakh villages of the country dispute-free, diseases-free and unemployment-free. The change that has taken place in the 500 villages of this region under the leadership of the late Nanaji Deshmukh really makes one happy. Nanaji made these villages totally self-reliant and dispute-free. This is the model that the entire world needs to emulate,” said former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. He was paying tribute to Nanaji Deshmukh at his first death anniversary in Chitrakoot on February 27.
During his one and a half hour stay in Chitrakoot, Dr Kalam also honoured 31 Samaj Shilpi couples who are undertaking these activities in rural areas. He said it is people’s power and not the political power that really empowers an individual. He said Nanaji believed in giving and not in receiving. That is why even after his death he donated his body for the students of medical college for research. Dr Kalam also administered an oath to the gathering to spread the Chitrakoot model of rural development all over the country.
Speaking on the occasion Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Nanaji created history in the country. The Chief Minister announced to set-up an Animal Husbandry University in Jabalpur in the name of Nanaji. He said no government can be successful unless it gets the active cooperation from the society.
Speaking on the occasion, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh Shri Madan Das said the responsibility of the Samaj Shilpi couples is very challenging. He said the credit for the success and the transformation seen in Chitrakoot goes to the tireless efforts of Samaj Shilpis.
Earlier, Shri Shankar Prasad Tamrakar, vice president of DRI, said Nanaji practically proved that he really lived for others. Shri Bharat Pathak, principal secretary of DRI, said the DRI is ready to accept the challenge to mould one lakh villages of the country in coming years. Introducing the Swavlamban Abhiyan he said the society has to solve its problems itself. He made it clear that the DRI does not need the help of any World Bank or any international funding agency, rather it would conduct all its activities on its own. “When Dr Kalam visited Chitrakoot in 2005 he saw 80 self-reliant villages. Then he told us to make 500 villages self-reliant by the year 2010. The story of this transformation has been complied in the book, The Road to Self-Reliance, which was released at the function. Now we have accepted the challenge of transforming all the six lakh villages,” he added. Smt Tarla Joshi, wife of senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi also spoke on the occasion.
After the function, every house of Chitrakoot decided to plant a sapling in the memory of Nanaji. An exhibition highlighting the life and works of Nanaji was also organised at the venue. People from more than 800 villages contributed one handful of foodgrains for the community meals offered at the function.
