Covid-19 has thrown up new challenges, taught us new things: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister on Friday said that the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis has taught us to be self-reliant while interacting with the village heads from across the nation via video conferencing. “Coronavirus has taught us that we have to be self-reliant because otherwise, we won't be able to deal with such problems,’’ PM Modi said on the occasion of the Panchayati Raj Diwas. 

During his interaction with the village heads, the PM said, “Earlier we used to interact face-to-face, but we now are interacting with technology's help due to coronavirus.’’

“Villages, districts, and cities need to be reliant,” the PM said and added that ''the coronavirus pandemic has thrown up new challenges which we never faced before, but it also made us learn new things.''

The PM also saluted those living in villages and said, ''Indians with their limited resources are not bowing to corona but facing it with resolve and determination.'' ''The coronavirus has shown that those living in villages have shown examples of their culture and traditional knowledge,'' the PM said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated e-GramSwaraj portal and a mobile application, on the occasion of Panchayati Raj Diwas. Panchayati Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was also present during the interaction between the PM and village heads.

Explaining the advantages of the Swamitva App, the PM said it will be very useful for the village people.

PM Modi had earlier tweeted, "At 11 AM today, PM @narendramodi would be interacting with Sarpanchs from across the nation via video conferencing. All Sarpanchs will be able to join this interaction through Doordarshan, from their respective homes adhering to social distancing norms." 

National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on April 24 as it marks a defining moment in the history of decentralisation of power to the grassroots level, with the institutionalisation of Panchayati Raj through the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, which came into force on April 24, 1993.

The portal that PM Modi launched is a new initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj which will provide the gram panchayats with a single interface to prepare and implement their Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).

The scheme provides for an integrated property validation solution for rural India; the demarcation of inhabited land in rural areas would be done by the use of the latest surveying methods - the drone technology with the collaborated efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India.