It has generally been a convention that there is a discussion in the parliament on the budget after its presentation. And it is necessary as well as useful. But our government has taken the discussion on the budget a step further. For the last few years, our government has started a new tradition of intensive brainstorming with all the stakeholders before and after the budget presentation. This is very important from the point of view of implementation and time-bound delivery. This also ensures proper utilization of every penny of taxpayers’ money. I have spoken to experts from different fields in the last few days. Today ‘Reaching the Last Mile’, which Mahatma Gandhi used to say that how quickly your policies and plans reach the person at the last end, is very important. And that's why today a wide discussion is being held with all the stakeholders on this issue so that we can effectively implement the public welfare schemes of the budget and reach out to the beneficiaries with complete transparency.

Friends,

There has been a perception in our country that the welfare of the people and the development of the country is possible only through money. It's not like that. Money is necessary for the development of the country and the countrymen, but along with money, good spirit is also needed. The most essential condition for the success of government schemes is good governance, sensitive governance and governance dedicated to the common man. When the works of the government are measurable and there is continuous monitoring, then it is natural that you can achieve the goals within the time limit and get the desired result. Therefore, the more emphasis we put on good governance, the more easily our goal of ‘Reaching the Last Mile’ will be accomplished. You recall earlier it used to take several decades for the vaccines to reach far-flung areas of our country. The country was far behind in terms of vaccination coverage. Crores of children of the country, especially those living in villages and tribal belts, had to wait for years for the vaccines. Had we followed the old approach, it would have taken several more decades to achieve 100% vaccination coverage in India. We started with a new approach, launched ‘Mission Indradhanush’ and improved the vaccination system across the country. We got the benefit of this new system during the Corona global pandemic in delivering the vaccines far and wide. And I believe that good governance has a major role in making last mile delivery of vaccines possible.

Friends,

Reaching The Last Mile's approach and saturation policy complement each other. There was a time when the poor used to visit government offices several times for basic facilities, or used to look for some middleman, due to which there was rampant corruption and people's rights were violated. Now the government is giving facilities to the poor at their doorstep. The day we decide that every basic facility has to be provided to every citizen without any discrimination, a major change will reflect in the work culture at the local level. This is the spirit behind the policy of saturation. When our aim is to reach out to each and every stakeholder, then there will be no scope for discrimination, corruption and nepotism. And only then you will be able to attain the goal of Reaching the Last Mile. You see, today the street vendors have been linked to the formal banking system through the PM SVANidhi Yojana for the first time in the country. Today, for the first time in the country, a Welfare Board has been formed for the nomadic, semi-nomadic people. More than 5 lakh common service centers set up in the villages have taken the services of the government to the villages. During my ‘Mann Ki Baat’ yesterday, I explained in detail regarding the 10 crore cases of telemedicine in the country. This is also a reflection of the spirit of ‘Reaching the Last Mile’ with regard to health.

Friends,

There is a need to take the mantra of ‘Reaching the Last Mile’ in the tribal and rural areas in India. This has also been given special attention in this year's budget. A provision of thousands of crores of rupees has been made in the budget for the Jal Jeevan Mission to achieve the target of ‘Reaching the Last Mile’.  Until 2019, only 3 crore houses in the rural areas of our country had access to tap water. Now their number has increased to more than 11 crores, and that too in such a short span of time. Within just one year, work has started on about 60,000 Amrit Sarovars in the country and I have been told till now more than 30,000 Amrit Sarovars have been built. These campaigns are improving the standard of living of the far off Indians who used to wait for such arrangements for decades.

But friends,

We can’t afford to pause. We have to create a mechanism so that we can monitor the pattern of water consumption in new water connections. We also have to review what can be done to further strengthen the ‘Pani Samiti’ (water committees). The summer season has already arrived. We also have to think about how we can use the water committees from now on for water conservation. Public awareness should be created for the ‘Catch the Rain’ movement before the rains so that work can be started as soon as the rain arrives.

Friends,

We have made a provision of about 80,000 crore rupees for the houses of the poor in this year’s budget. We have to speed up the campaign of ‘Housing for All’. Wider discussion is needed on how to connect housing with technology, how to make a more durable and strong house with less expenditure, how to take advantage of green energy, such as solar power and what can be the new model of group housing, acceptable in villages and cities as well. The essence of your experience should emerge from these discussions.

Friends,

Work is being done on such a large scale in the country to tap the huge potential of the tribal society for the first time. Tribal development has been given prominence in this year’s budget as well. A huge provision has been made for the recruitment of teachers and staff in Eklavya Model Residential Schools. We also have to see what is the feedback of the students and teachers in Eklavya Model Schools? We will have to think in this direction as to how the children studying in these schools get exposure in the big cities of the country and how to set up a maximum number of Atal Tinkering Labs. You can imagine that if we start workshops for start-ups and digital marketing in these schools from now itself, then how much our tribal society will benefit from it. When these children pass out from Eklavya Model Schools, they will already have the knowledge how to promote the tribal products of their area and how to do their branding online.

Friends,

For the first time, we are starting a special mission for the most deprived among the tribal communities. We have to provide facilities to our tribal friends in more than 22,000 villages in about 200 districts of the country at a rapid pace. Similarly, how can the benefits reach our minority society, especially our Muslim society, which continues to be far behind even after so many years of independence? A target has also been set in this year’s budget to completely get rid of sickle cell. A ‘whole of the nation’ approach is needed in this regard. Therefore, every stakeholder in the health sector will have to work fast.

Friends,

The Aspirational District Program has emerged as a successful model in terms of ‘Reaching the Last Mile’. Now, an aspirational block program is being started in 500 blocks of the country. For the Aspirational Block programme, we have to work keeping in mind the comparative parameters in the same way as we have done for the Aspirational Districts. We have to create an environment of competition in every block. I am sure new ideas and suggestions related to the Last Mile delivery will emerge from this brainstorming session which will bring positive changes in the lives of our brothers and sisters in remote areas. We have to think ahead, we have to lay emphasis on implementation and we have to ensure transparency by making maximum use of technology. There should be a bona fide beneficiary, the benefits should be useful to him and should be available to him within a timeframe so that he will be capable enough to fight his poverty with a new confidence. Our army of the poor should be strong enough to defeat poverty. We have to increase the potential of the poor so that he can defeat poverty by himself.  Every poor should resolve that he and his family won’t remain poor and he would make progress with the efforts of the government. We have to create this environment and I expect the active cooperation of all the stakeholders in this regard. I am sure that today's webinar will pave the way for a resolution of ‘Sarvajana Hitaya Sarvajana Sukhaya’ (for the happiness and welfare of all). I wish you all the very best! Thank you!

DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.

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DS/LP/VK/AK