Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 8 said the main goal of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) was to ensure that government schemes reached all deserving people.
After interacting with the VBSY beneficiaries through video-conferencing, Mr. Modi said the drive recently completed 50 days and had connected with about 11 crore people. “Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra has become not only the journey of the government but also the journey of the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the “Modi Ki Guarantee” vehicles, along with government officials and people’s representatives, were reaching every nook and cranny of the country. “The poor people who spent their lives waiting to get the benefits of government schemes are seeing a meaningful change today. The government is reaching the doorsteps of the beneficiaries and proactively providing the benefits,” Mr. Modi said.
Referring to the global buzz about the “Modi ki Guarantee”, the Prime Minister underlined the link between the resolution of a “Viksit Bharat” and the saturation of the scheme coverage.
“Our government wants the present and future generations to not have to live the life that the earlier generation lived. We want to get a large population of the country out of the struggle for small daily needs. Therefore, we are focusing on the future of the poor, farmers, women, and youth. For us, these are the four biggest castes of the country. When the poor, farmers, women, and youth are empowered, the country will become powerful,” he said.
Since the drive was launched, about 12 lakh new applications for Ujjwala connections were received along with lakhs of applications for Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, PM SVANidhi, he said.
Mr. Modi said health checkups for over two crore people had been carried out so far, including one crore TB and 22 lakh sickle cell checkups. He said the doctors were reaching the doorsteps of the poor, Dalits, the deprived and the tribals, which was considered a challenge by previous governments. He talked about the benefits of Ayushman Yojna, which provides health insurance worth ₹5 lakh, and Jan Aushadhi Kendras for the needy.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the government’s impact on women’s empowerment through schemes like the Mudra Yojna, and their role as Bank Mitras, Pashu Sakhis, and Asha workers. In the past decade, 10 crore women had joined self-help groups, where over ₹7.50 lakh crore had been provided to them, he noted, adding that this had helped a large number of women become financially independent over the years.
He said the government has planned to further increase the number of such beneficiaries to two crore, via programmes like ‘NaMo Drone Didi Scheme’ under which about one lakh drones had been demonstrated during VBSY. “At present, training is being given for the use of drones in the agricultural sector only. But in the coming days, its scope is going to expand to other areas,” said Mr. Modi.
Stating that in the earlier governments, the scope of discussions on the agricultural policy in the country was only limited to production and sale, neglecting the various issues faced by farmers daily, he said the government led by him had made all-out efforts to ease every difficulty of the farmers. He listed the initiatives taken for them.
