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The Financial Express, 19 March 2017

India should focus on development of villages to ensure prosperity, the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said today. “India’s prosperity depends on the development of villages instead of developing big cities. So, the journey of development should start from rural areas of the country,” the Dalai Lama told a gathering at Turnal village of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh. He was here to participate in the ongoing ‘Namami Devi Narmade-Sewa Yatra,’ which is aimed at conserving Narmada river. “India is predominantly an agriculture-based economy and rural India must be transformed for the country’s development. “The focus should be on developing basic facilities like health and education in rural areas. All the basic requirements of the people should be made available in the villages. India will transform only through the rural transformation,” the Dalai Lama said. The Tibetan spiritual leader also stressed the need for greater participation of women in different fields.

“The women are more sensitive and full of compassion. Their enhanced participation will make the world a better place as they can ensure promoting deeper human values,” he said. While lauding the river conservation campaign launched by MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who also participated in the programme, the Dalai Lama said the people should think holistically as far as global warming was concerned. “The environment has been changing across the world. Our approach should be holistic. CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been making efforts for conservation of river Narmada. People should actively participate in such campaigns to make them successful,” he said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said, “Our ancestors were living here on the earth. Our future generation will live here. We need to save water, carry out plantations.”

He said the people across the world have been facing problems due to racism and apartheid. “We need to be united against the discrimination and atrocities. The racism and apartheid are behind most of the social problems across the world. Every person in the world wants to live in peace and happiness,” he added. The Dalai Lama said the basic needs of all seven billion people of the world like water and food were same despite the technology revolution.