True Lessons Can Only Be Learnt During A Crisis, Says PM Modi: Highlights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed panchayats across the nation via video conferencing on National Panchayati Raj Day. He said the biggest lesson the COVID-19 pandemic has taught India is to become self-reliant. He complimented them for describing social distancing in simple words ''Do Gaz Ki Doori'' (maintaining distance of two yards) so that people can understand it easily. "The biggest lesson COVID-19 has taught us is to become self-reliant," PM Modi said, underlining that it is now imperative that villages also become self-reliant for their basic needs. PM Modi said the coronavirus pandemic has thrown up new challenges which the country never faced before, but it also made people learn new things.

Here are the highlights of PM Modi's address to panchayats:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses village panchayats across the country to mark the National Panchayati Raj Day
• To mark the occasion, PM Modi has launched a unified e-Gram Swaraj portal and a mobile app.
• Sending you all my best wishes on Panchayati Raj Diwas
• Coronavirus Pandemic has made a big impact on the way we live and the way we work
• It is a technology that binds us and makes such a meeting possible today. My best wishes to all those who have won Panchayati raj awards
• Coronavirus has sent so many challenges our way, but we must always learn from the situation we are in life. Coronavirus has also given us a lot to think about and taught us a lot about the way we act.
• It has given us direction to the way we move forward and the way we love. It has made it absolutely clear that we have to depend only on ourselves for our survival
• It has been the work that has been done in the last 5-6 years to rapidly make available broadband connections in villages, making fast connections available throughout the country and nsuring that mobile phones have reached every corner of the nation
• The two apps and the e-gram swaraj website is something that you all must connect with. It will be a blessing for you all and keep you informed about every decision in this regard. It will also help you do your record-keeping, from property to income to mapping of land, etc. It will also help you all get loans from banks when you need it for your work - just like property in cities helps people in urban India get loans
• Villages have dealt better with self-dependency. There is much to learn from you all
• "Do gaj doori" is the motto adopted by village residents, better than the big words of social distancing