PM unveils nationwide yatra to promote central schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday flagged off the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, a nationwide programme to reach out to citizens with the Centre's welfare programmes, at Khunti district in Jharkhand.

The PM, who arrived in the state on Tuesday evening for a two-day visit, flagged off five specifically designed IEC (Information, Education and Communication) vans from the district as part of the more than two-month-long yatra that will culminate on January 25, 2024. Similar vans were flagged off from other districts across the country.

"Under the campaign, the government aims to visit each village of the country and ensure that all the beneficiaries get their due," the Prime Minister said.

The launch took the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda and comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, for which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre is pulling out all stops to ensure the saturation of all welfare schemes and a concerted awareness campaign about its achievements. Modi recalled organising the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018 where 1,000 government officers were sent to villages to create awareness about seven prime government schemes and expressed confidence that the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra will become equally successful. "I look forward to the day when every poor will have a ration card for free raion, the gas connection from Ujjwala scheme, electricity supplied to the homes, tapped water connection, Ayushman card and pucca house," he said.

The launch was attended by several politicians, including Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren.

According to the government, the yatra will cover 270,000 gram panchayats and around 15,000 urban locations across the country.