Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal attended the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra programmes at Dharipur GP of Athagada block in Cuttack,Orissa today. An IEC van, as part of the coveted Sankalp yarta, was flagged off from the programme. The Union Minister also attended another programme to be part of the Yatra from the Macchua bazaar in the Cuttack district. The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal highlighted the transformative journey of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY).

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, the country is moving ahead confidently towards realising his vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat by the end of this Amrit Kaal. The sustained effort by Modi ji, in his fruitful 9 years as the leader of the country, has resulted welfare of the poor, the marginalised, the women as well as the youth. We are committed to ensure welfare of the people. It is heartening to know that as many as 80 crores of people received free foodgrains under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. To weed out corruption in the system for maximisation of welfare of the marginalised, the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ was executed that help people, especially the migrating class. Under Modi ji’s visionary leadership, India achieved financial inclusion as crores of people were brought into the formal system of banking by Jan Dhan Yojana’. This helped implement Direct Benefit Transfer of more than ₹32.29 lakh crores; with an estimated savings of ₹2.73 lakh crores by the end of last fiscal. This not only broke the middlemen nexus but made the system far more efficient. As many as 13.5 crore Indians lifted from Multi dimensional poverty in last 5 years, with rural areas recording fastest decline in poverty from 32.59% to 19.28%. All these could happen due to the visionary policies implemented by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is guided by the vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Viswas, Sabka Prayas.”

At the events held in the Cuttack district of Odisha, Shri Sonowal also interacted with the beneficiaries of PMSVANidhi and PM Awas Yojana (Urban) schemes launched by the Modi government. At the ‘Meri Kahani, Meri Jubani’, beneficiaries like Kailash Chandra Behera, Debananda Dalei and Srikanta Jena shared their stories about the benefits they have drawn from PM SVANidhi scheme. Similary, Santosh Behera and Sushma Dalei shared their stories about the benefits drawn from PM Awas Yojana (Urban). Beneficiaries of schemes from NABARD, PM Kisan, MGNREGS, Swacha Bharat Mission also shared their inspiring tale about how the schemes changed their life experience. Among them, Subrat Kar, Nakula Chandra Sahu, Ramachandra Sahoo, Niranjan Rout and Sita Sahoo were prominent.

Speaking at the event at the Macchuha bazaar, Shri Sonowal said, “PM Narendra Modiji believes that everyone must be brought along the ambit of development for an overall and holistic development of our society. This has helped marginal communities like Divyangs, Tribal communities, street vendors, traditional craftsmen among others. With the rolling out of policies like PMSVANidhi, PM Vishwakarma, financial support are being offered for street vendors as well as traditional craftsmen alike. Eklavya Model Residential Schools as well as Van Dhan Vikas Kendras were designed to bring the tribal communities on to the road of development. Similary, the Modi government has ensured that the farming communities are provided with adequate protection through innovative schemes like PM Kisan, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) in rice and wheat has believed the farmers community immensely. Other schemes like Soil Health cards, Kisan credit cards, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) has helped the farmers from across the country. The govt has also worked towards empowering women power by enabling them to realise their skills, talent by curating opportunities as well as enabling them for improving their quality of lives. The historic Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam has ensured that the women of India are empowered politically, making them an important ally in the process of nation building. Many schemes like Ujjwala Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and others has ensured that the quality of life for women of India improves considerably. Similary, the youth, who is our future, remains at the centre of Modiji’s focus for empowering our society for a stronger, better and happier tomorrow. Revamping of age old policies in education, building avenues for the prosperity of sportspeople to excel their performance have helped the youth of the country. Similary, the middle class of our country has access to good quality healthcare with the help of Ayushman Bharat, the biggest health insurance scheme in the world. By building capacity and creating new infrastructure in the healthcare sector, India is moving towards building a robust healthcare delivery system, offering a diverse and efficient patient care solutions. As India moves ahead towards becoming Top Three Global economy by 2030, the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji has put India in the driver’s seat of World Economy as it secures an important role in delivering economic growth for the world. India, under Modi ji, has become a major Economic country in the world, eclipsing the dark age of Congress governments when corruption and inefficient governance ruled the roost. Modiji’s nine years of good governance has delivered what six decades of bad governance by Congress failed to deliver for the welfare of the people.”

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MJPS