Page 212 - SocialHarmony

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Poor Welfare Fair: Service to Humanity

The commencement of the poor welfare fairs is looked
forward to not only by the poor but also other people. A
section of the society is about to think how to start good
governance in the country after independence. We have attained
Swaraj (independence), we must get Suraj (good governance)
too; some people have been thinking on these lines. Much has
been thought and contemplated by a large section of the society,
not only in Gujarat, but in the whole country. Brothers, the
government schemes are always good, but at times, the desirable
outcomes are not realized so far as they are related to benefit
the last man in the queue, because the scheme is not
implemented properly. No such way could be found in over
sixty years of independence despite a great thought involved
in it. How far these poor welfare fairs can assist in good
governance, these fairs can become an illustration for study.

I was in Delhi just two days ago. I met the workers and
officials of several states there – senior administrative officers,
several chief ministers, administrative officers of Government
of India. All of them wondered what these poor welfare fairs
were. How did I succeed in delivering so much of money to the
lowest people? All of them enquired about all this. I used to say
in my speeches that I would hold 50 poor welfare fairs, would
reach 25 lakh families and a great amount of 15,000 crores rupees
would be disbursed. However, when in Delhi, I was being asked
about this. I telephoned my office in Gandhinagar and asked
them to provide me exact data because people were enquiring