PM Modi speaks at Jayapur village, Varanasi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen the village of Jayapur, about 20 kilometres from the ancient temple town of Varanasi, as the village that he will focus on under a new scheme that he has introduced for law-makers.
"Jayapur is adopting me, not the other way around," Mr Modi said at a large public meeting in Jayapur.
The PM flew to Jayapur after stopping in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, where he urged residents to think of him as their "sevak" or servant.
Mr Modi wants all law-makers to adopt one village from their constituencies as "a model village" by 2016, and add another two by 2019, and administer special attention to them to improve infrastructure and sanitation..
This is the PM's first trip to Varanasi since it voted overwhelmingly for him in his first run for parliament. Though Mr Modi also contested and won the seat of Vadodara in Gujarat, he chose to represent Varanasi in the Lok Sabha.
Mr Modi said he will spend his hours in Varanasi meeting people and getting feedback from them on what they want him to fix. He will spend the night at a guest house.
"I cannot learn about important issues from sitting among babus," he said, referring to the bureaucrats based in Delhi.