Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, empowering villages as well as the poor in the country is the primary objective of the NDA Government. <br/><br/>He was speaking after inaugurating the Vijayawada Chapter of 'Swarna Bharati Trust' at Atkur village near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. <br/><br/>He said, the NDA Government has introduced certain schemes for the development of villages and the poor in the country. <br/><br/>He said, as 75 per cent of the country's population still resides in villages, the overall growth of the national economy cannot be achieved as expected unless the people in villages are strengthened economically. <br/><br/>He pointed that many developed nations have faced recession however India survived only due to its strong economic base of villages. <br/><br/>He reminded that the NDA in its previous regime also recognising the importance of rural economy introduced several schemes, one of the best being Pradhana Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana which connected number of villages by all-weather roads. <br/><br/>Even widening of national highways as four lanes, he said, had also improved the connectivity to the rural areas. <br/><br/>He said, the present NDA Government is now concentrating more to improve the economic conditions in the rural areas and of the poor. <br/><br/>Mr Singh said, the Jan Dhan Yojana has allowed the poor to open bank accounts with zero balance with overdraft facility gathered deposits to the tune of about 26,891 crore rupees into the banking system. <br/><br/>He said, these account holders also receive their subsidies into their accounts eliminating the middlemen including the Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG subsidy. <br/><br/>Mr Singh said, the village households without electricity connection are now getting it under Deenadayal Grameen Vidyudeekaran Yojana, while the recent MUDRA scheme provides bank loans to the poor entrepreneurs without any collateral security. <br/><br/>He said, the NDA government is now planning to transform 300 select villages as smart villages by providing all amenities and infrastructure on pilot basis and later some more villages would be taken up to be developed as smart villages. <br/><br/>The Home Minister said the ultimate goal of NDA is Gram swarajya which is the dream of Mahatma Gandhi. <br/><br/>Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaih Naidu explained how the Swarna Bharati Trust came into existence at his native village Venkatachalam in Nellore district and its present activities. <br/><br/>He said the trust has no political affiliations and only serves the people by providing quality education, training on skill development for the youth and also runs health camps.