CM Yogi Lauds Swarna Bharat Trust As Model for Rural Development, Selfless Service

Nellore: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday hailed the Swarna Bharat Trust as a “model for the nation” in its 25-year journey for rural development and selfless public service, as its initiatives were transforming lives and empowering rural youth, women and farmers.”

Addressing a large gathering at the Swarna Bharat Trust premises at Venkatachalam in SPSR Nellore district during the trust’s silver jubilee celebrations, Yogi said the organisation’s work reflected the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj and Nanaji Deshmukh’s Chitrakoot rural development model.

The UP chief minister said it was particularly significant that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25-year public life and the Swarna Bharat Trust’s 25 years of service ran on parallel lines. “Though this may be a coincidence, the objective of both journeys is the same — building a developed India,” he said.

Yogi praised the trust for its work spanning a quarter of a century without depending on government grants or foreign funding. “Its free residential skill-development programmes are creating employment opportunities for rural youth, while its initiatives for women’s economic empowerment and the use of modern technology in agriculture are helping transform the lives of rural communities.”

Describing former vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu as a cultural bridge between north and south India, Yogi said the values he had upheld in public life had inspired the trust’s service activities, which “deserves to be replicated” across the country.

Earlier, Yogi visited the Akshara Vidyalaya and Soma Skill Development Centre on the trust campus and interacted with students and trainees. He also paid floral tributes to the statues of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Swami Vivekananda.

Speaking on the occasion, Venkaiah Naidu said the trust was established with a vision that India could progress only when rural India progressed. Education, healthcare and skill development were central to its mission of reducing social disparities, he said.

“True empowerment is not merely providing assistance to the poor, but enabling young people to stand on their own feet,” Venkaiah Naidu said, thanking trustees, donors, teachers and staff who had contributed to the trust’s 25-year journey.

The celebrations were attended by ministers Ponguru Narayana and Satya Kumar Yadav, Rajya Sabha member Beeda Masthan Rao, MLA Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, Swarna Bharat Trust chairman and Kaikaluru MLA Kamineni Srinivas, managing trustee Deepa Venkat, Muppavarapu Foundation managing trustee Muppavarapu Harshavardhan, trust representatives and a large number of people.