Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the completion of two months of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra has turned into Vishwas Rath and there is trust that no one will be left behind. Keeping in mind the huge enthusiasm and demand among the beneficiaries, the Prime Minister has directed the concerned authorities to extend the VBSY beyond 26th January and into February.
Modi interacted with beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra on Thursday via video conferencing. Thousands of beneficiaries of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra from across the country joined the event.
The Yatra that began with the blessing of Bhagwan Birsa Munda on 15th November, has turned into a people’s movement and up till now 15 crore people have joined this Yatra and it has covered about 80 percent panchayats.
“The main objective of Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra was to reach such people who, due to one reason or the other, were till now deprived of the government schemes. And Modi worships and values such people who were neglected by everyone” Modi added.
Calling VBSY a great medium of the last mile delivery, the Prime Minister informed that during the Yatra more than 4 crore health check ups were performed and 2.5 crore TB screening and 50 lakh sickle cell anaemia screenings were done.
50 lakh Ayushman cards, 33 lakh new PM Kisan beneficiaries, 25 lakh new Kisan Credit Cards, 25 lakh free gas connections and 10 lakh new SVANidhi applications were achieved during the course of the yatra so far. The Prime Minister said these may be mere figures for someone but for him every number is a life. Someone who was deprived of the benefits so far.
The Prime Minister noted the new report on multidimensional poverty. PM Modi said due to the efforts of the government in the last 9 years, 25 crore people have come out of poverty.
“In the last 10 years, the way our government has created a transparent system, made genuine efforts and promoted public participation, it has made even the impossible possible,” he added.
He explained this by giving an example of PM Awas Yojna. In the scheme more than 4 crore poor families were provided a pucca house with 70 percent of the units being registered in the name of women. This not only tackled poverty but also empowered women. Size of the houses was increased, people’s choice was respected in the construction, construction speed was improved 300 days to 100.
“This means that we are building permanent houses three times faster than before and giving them to the poor. Such efforts have played a huge role in reducing poverty in the country”, he added.
