Page 80 - SocialHarmony

84 Social Harmony

conservation. We can have another economic revolution if all
villagers decide to build check-dams, sand-bag dams or small
ponds in their fields to stop wastage of water. There was a time
when Gujarat was earning ` 9,000 crores in the best of times. In
2007, Gujarat has earned ` 34,000 crores from agriculture. In
states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, farmers are
committing suicide out of desperation, but farmers in Gujarat
are progressing happily. Not unsurprisingly, the progress of the
farmers in Gujarat has not gone down well with people in New
Delhi. The toil and labour of our farmers goes in vain if they
don’t get urea on time, but nobody in Delhi is worried about
this. If the government in Delhi has any problem with me, you
can take action against me; don’t harass my farmers. Power
games will go on, but farmers should be kept out of dirty politics.
Why is that when Gujarat is ready to pay for 2.75 lakh MT of
urea, it gets only 1.98 lakh MT?

Let’s Create a New History
The sole aim of my life is the development of Gujarat. I

strongly believe that Sarpanches will play a crucial role in this
mission of prosperity. People will definitely remember those
who have worked for their welfare. Let us pledge to raise the
banner of prominence. Undoubtedly, we will be able to create a
new history.

Gujarat Gram Sachivalay
When I took charge of the state administration in October

2001, I declared the ambitious plan of Samras Gram. Seeing the
widespread enthusiastic response received by the plan, our
government decided to provide additional grants to every
village as an incentive. Villages that have already embarked on
this journey of harmony are divided into two sections based on
their population – five thousands and above – and such
incentives are provided.

In the first stage, villages where the Gram Panchayat was
selected with mutual consensus without elections were given a
grant of one lakh rupees if their population was upto five