When poor, farmers, women, youth are empowered, country will become powerful: PM

New Delhi, Jan 8: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi interacted with beneficiaries of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra Monday via video conferencing. Thousands of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra beneficiaries from across the country along with Union Ministers, MPs, MLAs and local-level representatives joined the event.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister noted that the VBSY completed 50 days recently and has 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 “ Modi Ki Guarantee ki Gadi is reaching every nook and corner 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. “Along with Modi Ki Guarantee ki Gadi, government offices and people’s representatives are reaching to the people”, he added.
Referring to the global buzz about the ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ the Prime Minister dwelled on the contours of the guarantee and the rationale of reaching the beneficiary in a mission mode and also underlined the link between the resolution of Viksit Bharat and the saturation of the scheme coverage. PM Modi highlighted the struggle of the poor, youth, women and farmers over many generations. The Prime Minister explained, “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.”
The Prime Minister reiterated the chief goal of VBSY is not to leave any deserving beneficiary from the benefits of the government schemes. He informed that since the Yatra began, 12 lakh new applications for Ujjwala connections were received along with Lakhs of applications for Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, PM SVANidhi.
Throwing light on the impact of VBSY, the Prime Minister informed that health checkups for more than 2 crore people have been carried out so far including 1 crore TB checkups and 22 lakh sickle cell checkups. Today, the Prime Minister said that the doctors are reaching the doorsteps of the poor, Dalits, deprived and the tribals which was considered a challenge by previous governments. He also highlighted Ayushman Yojna which provides health insurance worth Rs 5 lakhs, free dialysis for the poor and low-cost medicines at Jan Aushadhi Kendras. “Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs built across the country have become huge health centers for villages and the poor”, he added.
Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the government’s impact on women’s empowerment in the country and mentioned the availability of loans through the Mudra Yojna, women playing the roles of Bank Mitras, Pashu Sakhis and Asha workers. Shri Modi informed that 10 crore women have joined women self-help groups in the last 10 years, where more than Rs 7.5 lakh crore have been provided to them. Due to this, the Prime Minister said, many sisters have become Lakhpati Didi over the years. Touching upon its success, the Prime Minister informed about the government’s campaign to further increase the number of Lakhpati Didis by 2 crores, the NaMo Drone Didi Scheme where around 1 lakh drones have been demonstrated during VBSY. He added that the public is being connected with new technologies on mission mode for the first time in the history of the country. “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”, PM Modi added.
The Prime Minister pointed out that in the earlier governments, the scope of discussions that took place regarding agricultural policy in the country was only limited to production and sale, neglecting the various issues faced by farmers daily. “Our government has made all-out efforts to ease every difficulty of the farmers”, Shri Modi said as he mentioned the transfer of at least Rs 30,000 to every farmer through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, promotion of cooperation in agriculture with organizations like PACS, FPO, increase in storage facilities and boost to food processing industry. The Prime Minister informed that Toor or Arhar dal farmers can now sell their produce directly to the government online ensuring purchase at MSP and better prices in the market. He further added that the scope of this scheme will be extended to other pulses also. “Our effort is that the money we send abroad to buy pulses should be available to the farmers of the country”, he said.
Concluding the address, the Prime Minister lauded the efforts of the team running the VBSY show including the local administration who are engaged in their work with full dedication. “In this spirit, we must perform our duties to make India a developed country”, PM Modi concluded.