Modi coins slogan 'Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas', gifts women Rakhi homes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled a new slogan, "Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas", while handing over more than one lakh houses to women beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) in Gujarat.

Speaking at an event in Jujwa village of Valsad district, Modi said the housing programme was a special gift to the women of Gujarat ahead of Rakshabandhan.

More than 1.15 lakh houses have been constructed under the scheme at a cost of around Rs 1,727 crore. Modi also interacted through video conferencing with women beneficiaries from 26 districts of the state.

"Our government is marching ahead on the commitment of 'Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas' and this is why I can ask you all here in everyone's presence if anyone has cheated you," Modi said.

He described the distribution of the houses as a particularly satisfying moment and stressed that the allotment process had been carried out without middlemen.

"I got an opportunity to talk to women across the state today who got their homes under the PM Awas Yojana. It's a Rakshabandhan gift to my sisters in Gujarat," he said.

Modi said providing a permanent home to every Indian family remained one of his government's key objectives, setting 2022 as the target for achieving the goal.

"It is my dream, it is our endeavour to ensure that every Indian has his own house by 2022," he said.

The Prime Minister also contrasted the housing initiative with what he described as a long-standing perception that government housing schemes primarily benefited politicians and influential sections.

"Till now we only heard politicians getting their own homes. Now, we are hearing about the poor getting their own homes," he said.

The new slogan comes as the BJP-led government continued to promote "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas", which had been a prominent theme of the party's campaign ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

During his Gujarat visit, Modi also laid the foundation stone for the Rs 586-crore Astol Group Water Supply Scheme, aimed at providing drinking water to tribal villages in the forested areas of Dharampur and Kaprada talukas of Valsad district.

The scheme will draw water from the Damanganga dam and distribute it to remote villages through an extensive pipeline network.

Modi said the project demonstrated the government's focus on taking basic infrastructure to even the smallest tribal settlements.

"There might have been several Adivasi Chief Ministers in the country in the past but it is our government that is working to reach water to every nook and cranny in the tribal areas," he said.

He described the water project as evidence of the government's commitment to supplying drinking water to villages in tribal regions, including settlements with only 200 to 300 houses.

Together, the housing and water projects highlighted the government's emphasis on improving basic living conditions in rural and tribal areas through direct delivery of welfare and infrastructure programmes.