(Recently addressing to Nation Hon’ble PM said Money does not grow on trees.)

An old man apprehending his death called his three sons to give last moment advice to them. He asked them to bring to one stick each and try to break. The boys young and strong as they very easily broke the sticks. Now the old man tied the sticks together and asked them to break. The boys could not break. With a faint smile the old man said, ‘Could you see? When the sticks were separate these could be broken easily, but when together these can’t be. Unity is therefore the strength. Likewise stay together after I am gone. Have unity among yourselves to be strong.’

The second important thing, my sons, is this, ‘I have buried a lot of wealth near these coconut and mango trees. Please dig to get these when in need. And if you do not find, consult the wise.’  The boys promised to act as per his advice.  Soon after uttering these words, the father closed his eyes. The boys felt very sad and did their best to stay together.

After a few weeks they decided to take out some wealth and started digging near the trees. But however they tried and whatever depth they reached there was no sign of any booty. Finally, they decided to talk to a wise man. The elderly man in the neighboring village explained what their father meant by digging the soil. He meant that by this process the soil will be more fertile and they shall get better crops, sell them in the market and slowly be richer. The sons thanked the wise man, praised their dead father for his wisdom.

Now let us consider these two advice in the context of our country.

With increased hostility on all sides of our country we need to be alert and be united to protect India. The enemy is not only external aggression, poverty, illiteracy, food shortage and bad economy, too, are our enemies. We have to fight both, and that too successfully to maintain peace and happiness among the people.

India is an agricultural country. More than 75 % of its population depends on agriculture. Agrarian economy has been traditional in India since time immemorial. However, after independence and with the spread of science and technology we have successfully made our economic foundation broader. Scientists have given a big boost in space technology, atomic energy, hydrocarbon and mineral exploration, electricity generation, food production and many other diverse fields. India has become now modern, strong and neighbor’s envy.

A warrior, an ancient saying goes, can’t fight a war with borrowed arrows. He has to make and fabricate his weapons to be successful. To get out of the shackles of poverty India has to take up the challenge. India has to revamp its economy and use its vast resources and excellent manpower to emerge a world leader instead of depending on outside help ever and ever. To make rupee a strong currency should be one of our objectives.

Now coming back to the trees, I must emphasize that we owe our lives to the trees for food, industry, medicine, energy, rains, climate and many more things that we can list out here. Think of coal; it is formed from the trees.

Once elected to the Parliament and after taking oath, each member becomes a Parliamentarian, an honourable position with great responsibility. An MP does not any more belong to a party and a small region but to the entire nation.  Same way PM does not belong to any party, he is PM of the country, an ancient land like India. Every word the PM utters has more meanings than those listed in any dictionary. Every action and every thought of his are for the benefit of the country and its common people.

The Hon’ble PM cannot easily write off the trees. Money does grow on the trees. The mention of 'Kalpataru' is not a figment of imagination!