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Poor Welfare Fair: Service to Humanity 227

to which she feels pain while studying. The government has
arranged for medical check-up of each girl, and it is surprising
that about 40,000 girls have poor eyesight. They have been given
specs. Hundreds of girls had serious illnesses. Some had to get
a heart surgery, others needed operation for a stomach disease;
some of them suffered from respiratory diseases, while others
suffered from auditory illnesses. All this expenditure has been
met out of the Chief Minister’s Fund for the care of the poor
children. It has also chalked out a programme for the aged.
Besides, if a person dies in a family, and the family feels itself
unable to undertake the final rites, then the government takes
upon itself the responsibility of the final rites. The government
has made several schemes to look after the poor people, right
from birth to death. All this has been done not to make you live
a life of penury, not even for this that you should keep looking
for aid from the government. No. All this is being done so that
the people can have a firm resolve to fight poverty, to eradicate
poverty from the land of Gujarat, we have to free the state from
the blot of poverty, and all this thinking has been done for just
this purpose.

Rajiv Gandhi used to say that when one rupee was issued
from Delhi, it reduced down to 15 paise by the time it reached
the village. Does the rupee get worn up on the way? Nobody
knows where it gets shrunk; but brothers, this rupee has come
from Gandhinagar, and you can see all hundred paise right
before you; and all this arrangement has been made so that all
100 paise are delivered to the poor. This programme, called the
poor welfare fair, simply means an end to the middlemen. Its
name entails an effort to cultivate self-confidence in the poor
people. Its name is synonymous with a mass campaign to fight
poverty. Due to this, this poor welfare fair gives you new energy,
new consciousness, new capability, new trust. In this golden
jubilee year, we seek this government effort to be successful in
order to eradicate poverty.

We all are aware that sisters from four tehsils have come to
attend this poor welfare fair. A total of 45,450 poor beneficiaries
are here. The government has thought about how to benefit the