Saifai (UP): Asking people to contribute their mite towards realising the dream of making India a developed nation by the year 2020, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Feb 16, 2004) elaborated his concept of model villages in the country.

Speaking at a function after inaugurating seven projects, including the Etawah-Mainpuri railway line, he said, "These projects were a chain in the realisation of our dream of making the country a developed nation.

"It is our dream to provide city-like facilities in villages."

Stating that the villages should be developed by constituting groups, Kalam said there will be seven thousand groups comprising a population of one lakh.

A plan for four thousand such groups has been prepared, he said.

The President said that every village should be developed on the lines of Saidai, the ancestral village of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He urged Yadav, who was also present on the occasion, to work for developing every village as a model village.

Stating that children are "valuable wealth", Kalam said boys and girls will have to be given equal rights of education and we will also have to limit the size of our families.

He appealed to the people not to waste their hard earned money on gambling and drinking. Instead safeguard the forests, check pollution, plant at least five trees and become a model for the children to emulate.