Modi projects his govt as pro-poor

To buttress his point about his government being 'pro-poor', the Prime Minister talked about schemes like Jandhan and direct transfer of subsidies to poor besides efforts to curb leakage in NREGA.

"You need to propagate this message. You need to draw a comparison between the work done by previous governments and our government," he told the BJP MPs and workers.

Citing the case of 'black and white' and 'colour' eras in television history, he said contrast should be drawn on the same lines about policies of the previous governments and the present government.

Talking about NREGA, Modi said letters should be written to him in case of any irregularities were found in its implementation anywhere in the country.

"Our intention is to benefit the poor. When villagers get purchase power, it will help develop the villages as well as cities," he said.

He said hailstorms have caused damage to farmers earlier also "but the decisions like now have never been taken earlier. Previously, compensation would be paid if loss to crop was at least 50 per cent. We took the bold decision that compensation will be paid even if loss to crop is 33 per cent."

He said the compensation amount has also been increased to one-and-a-half times.

Wheat crop was also damaged in terms of quality and the government decided to procure even that "because we are for the poor", Modi said. .