The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the program marking the celebrations of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, 2023 in Khunti, Jharkhand. During the programme, the Prime Minister launched ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ and Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Development Mission. He also released the 15th installment of PM-KISAN. Shri Modi also laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation multiple development projects in Jharkhand worth Rs 7200 crores in multiple sectors like rail, road, Education, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas. He also took a walkthrough of the exhibition showcased on the occasion.

A video message from the President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu was played on the occasion. 

The Prime Minister also led the Viksit Bharat Sankalp pledge on the occasion. 

The Prime Minister began his address by recalling his visit to Ulihatu Village, the birthplace of Bhagwan Birsa Munda as well as the Birsa Munda Memorial Park cum Freedom Fighter Museum in Ranchi earlier today. He also mentioned inaugurating the Freedom Fighter Museum two years ago on this day. Shri Modi congratulated and conveyed his best wishes to every citizen on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas. He also conveyed his greetings on the occasion of the Foundation Day of Jharkhand and highlighted the contributions of Former PM, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in its formation. He also congratulated the people of Jharkhand for the development projects of today in various sectors of rail, road, Education, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas. He expressed delight that Jharkhand now has 100 percent electrified rail routes in the state. 

Referring to the inspiring struggle of Bhagwan Birsa Munda for tribal pride, the Prime Minister mentioned the association of the land of Jharkhand with the innumerable tribal heroes. He mentioned that many heroes like Tilka Manjhi, Sidhu Kanhu, Chand Bhairav, Phulo Jhano, Nilambar, Pitambar, Jatra Tana Bhagat and Albert Ekka have made this land proud. The Prime Minister said Adivasi warriors took part in the freedom struggle in every nook and corner of the country and mentioned Govind Guru of Mangarh Dham, Tantya Bhil of Madhya Pradesh, Bhima Nayak, Martyr Veer Narayan Singh of Chhattisgarh, Veer Gundadhur, Rani Gaidinliu of Manipur, Veer Ramji Gond of Telangana, Alluri Sitaram Raju of Andhra Pradesh, Rani Durgavati of Gond Pradesh. Lamenting the neglect of such personalities, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction on remembering these heroes during the Amrit Mahotsava. 

Dwelling on his personal connection  with Jharkhand, the Prime Minister recalled that Ayushman Yojana was started from Jharkhand. The Prime Minister said that two historic initiatives are being launched from Jharkhand today. First Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra which will be a medium of saturation goals of the government and PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan which will protect the tribes on the verge of extinction and nurture them. 

Shri Modi emphasized the need to focus on the four ‘Amrit Stambhs of Viksit Bharat’ or pillars of a developed India namely, women power or Nari Shakti, food producers of India, youth of the country and lastly India’s neo-middle class and the poor. He said that the degree of development in India depends on our capability to strengthen these pillars of development. PM Modi expressed satisfaction with the amount of effort and work done to strengthen the four pillars in the last 9 years of the present government. 

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the government’s momentous achievement in uplifting more than 13 crore people out of poverty. “Our seva kaal began when our government came to power in 2014”, he said pointing out that a large population of the country was deprived of basic amenities. He said that the poor had lost all hope due to the careless approach of the then governments. “The present government began work with a spirit of service”, he remarked as he highlighted that the poor and the deprived became the top priority of the government by delivering the amenities to their doorstep. He credited the approach of the government for the transformation. Before 2014, the Prime Minister informed that the scope of cleanliness in villages was merely 40 percent whereas today, the nation is aiming for saturation. Throwing light on other achievements post-2014, the Prime Minister informed about LPG connections rising from 50-55 percent of villages to approximately 100 percent today, administration of live-saving vaccines to 100 percent of children from 55 percent, tapped water connections to 70 percent of households from 17 percent in the ten decades after independence. “Modi has made the deprived his priority”, he remarked. The Prime Minister conveyed his affinity for the deprived people due to his personal experience with poverty and deprivation and said they have become the priority for the government. “I have come to this land of Bhagwan Birsa Munda to repay the debt that I owe to the deprived”, he said. 

Shri Modi said that the government has resisted the temptation of going for the low-hanging fruits and attended to long pending issues. He gave the example of the electrification of 18,000 villages which were cursed to live in the dark ages. The electrification was done in a time-bound manner as per the declaration made from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Key parameters of education, health and ease of living were raised in 110 districts which were branded as backward. Aspirational District Programmed brought transformative changes in these districts. These districts had the maximum tribal population, he informed. “Success of the Aspirational District Programme is being expanded through the Aspirational Blocks programme”, he said. 

The Prime Minister reiterated, “True secularism comes only when all possibilities of discrimination against any citizen of the country are eliminated”, adding that social justice is ensured only when the benefit of all the government schemes reaches everyone in the same measure. This is the spirit behind ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ which will continue till 26th January next year starting today on the Jayanti of Bhagwan Birsa Munda. “In this journey, the government will go to every village of the country in mission mode and will make every poor and deprived person a beneficiary of government schemes”, the Prime Minister emphasized. 

The Prime Minister recalled organizing the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018 where one thousand government officers were sent to the villages to create awareness about seven prime government schemes and expressed confidence that 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, gas connection from Ujjwala scheme, electricity supplied to the homes, tapped water connection, Ayushman Card and pucca house”, he said. PM Modi further elaborated on his vision of every farmer and labourer joining the pension schemes and the youth availing the Mudra Yojna to realize their dreams. “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is Modi’s guarantee for the poor, deprived, women, youth and farmers of India”, he said. 

The Prime Minister underlined that a major foundation of the resolve for a developed India is PM JANMAN or PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan. He noted that it was Atal ji's government which created a separate ministry for the tribal society and allocated a separate budget. He informed that the budget for tribal welfare has been increased by 6 times as compared to earlier. Under PM JANMAN, the Prime Minister said that the government will reach out to tribal groups and primitive tribes most of whom still dwell in the forests. He stated that the government has identified 75 such tribal communities and primitive tribes with a population of lakhs who reside in more than 22 thousand villages in the country. “Earlier governments did the work of connecting the figures, but I want to connect the lives, not the figures. With this goal, PM JANMAN has started today”, the Prime Minister said. He informed that the central government is going to spend Rs 24,000 crores on this mega campaign.

The Prime Minister expressed gratitude towards President Droupadi Murmu for her steadfast commitment to the development of the tribal communities. He called her an inspiring symbol of women-led development. The Prime Minister narrated the measures taken to ensure women-led development in recent years. “Our government made schemes for women, keeping in mind every stage of their lives”, he said and informed that initiatives like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, separate toilets for girls in schools, PM Awas Yojana, opening up Sainik School and Defence Academy, 70 percent Mudra beneficiaries are women, record assistance to self-help groups and Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam are transforming lives. “Today is the holy festival of Bhai Dooj. This brother guarantees to all the sisters of the country that our government will continue to remove every obstacle in the development of our sisters. The Amrit Stambh of women power will play an important role in building a developed India”, the Prime Minister said. 

Shri Modi said that PM Vishwakarma Yojana indicates that the Central Government is committed to harnessing the potential of every individual in the journey to a developed India. He said that the scheme will provide modern training and tools to the Vishwakarma friends. “13 thousand crore rupees will be spent on the scheme”, he informed.

Speaking about the 15th installment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi which was released today, the Prime Minister informed that more than Rs 2,75,000 crores have now been transferred to the accounts of farmers so far. He also mentioned the Kisan Credit Card for cattle farmers and fishermen, the government expenditure of Rs 15,000 crores on free vaccination of livestock, financial assistance under Matsya Sampada Yojana to promote fish farming, and the formation of 10 thousand new Farmer Produce Unions in the country leading to a reduction in costs for farmers by making the market more accessible. PM Modi also touched upon the year 2023 being celebrated as the International Millet Year and the efforts of the government to take Shri Anna to foreign markets. 

The Prime Minister credited the overall development of Jharkhand for the reduction in Naxalite violence in the state. Underling that the state will complete 25 years of formation soon, the Prime Minister urged to work towards the target of saturation of 25 schemes in Jharkhand. He said that it will give new impetus to the development of the state and boost ease of living. “Government is committed to expanding education and providing opportunities to the youth”, Shri Modi said as he highlighted the modern national education policy which enables the students to study medicine and engineering in their mother tongue. He informed that in the last 9 years, more than 300 universities and 5,500 new colleges have been established across the country. He also touched upon the Digital India campaign and India becoming the third largest ecosystem in the world with more than one lakh start-ups. PM Modi also mentioned the inauguration of new hostels at the IIM Campus in Ranchi and IIT-ISM, Dhanbad.

Concluding the address, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the four Amrit Stambhs of Amrit Kaal i.e. India’s women power, youth power, agricultural power and the power of our poor and middle class will take India to new heights and make India a developed India. 

Governor of Jharkhand, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shri Hemant Soren, and Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda were present on the occasion among others. 

Background

Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra

 It has been the constant endeavor of the Prime Minister to attain saturation of flagship schemes of the government by ensuring that the benefits of these schemes reach all targeted beneficiaries in a time-bound manner. In a major step towards the attainment of this aim of saturation of schemes, the Prime Minister launched ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.

The focus of the Yatra will be on reaching out to people, creating awareness and providing benefits of welfare schemes like sanitation facilities, essential financial services, electricity connections, access to LPG cylinders, housing for the poor, food security, proper nutrition, reliable healthcare, clean drinking water, etc. Enrolment of potential beneficiaries will be done through details ascertained during the Yatra.

The Prime Minister flagged off IEC (Information, Education and Communication) vans in Khunti, Jharkhand, marking the launch of  ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’. The Yatra will start from districts with significant tribal populations initially and by 25th January 2024 and will cover all districts across the country.

PM PVTG Mission

During the programme, the Prime Minister also launched the first of its kind initiative - ‘Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM PVTG) Development Mission’. There are 75 PVTGs in 18 States & UTs living in 22,544 villages (220 districts) having a population of around 28 lakhs.

These tribes stay in scattered, remote & inaccessible habitations, often in forest areas and hence a mission with a budget of about Rs 24,000 crore is planned to saturate PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as road and telecom connectivity, electricity, safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

In addition, separately, saturation will be ensured for  PMJAY, Sickle Cell Disease Elimination, TB Elimination, 100% immunization, PM Surakshit Matritva Yojana, PM Matru Vandana Yojana, PM Poshan, PM Jan Dhan Yojana etc.

15th installment of PM-KISAN and other development initiatives

In a step that will showcase yet another example of the commitment of the Prime Minister towards the welfare of farmers, the 15th installment amount of about Rs 18,000 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), was released through direct benefits transfer to more than 8 crore beneficiaries. Under the scheme, till now, more than Rs. 2.62 lakh crores have been transferred to farmers’ accounts in 14 installments.

The Prime Minister inaugurated, dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stone of projects worth around Rs. 7200 crores in multiple sectors like rail, road, Education, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The projects whose foundation stones were laid by the Prime Minister include four laning of 52 km stretch of Mahagama - Hansdiha section of NH133; four laning of 45 Km stretch of Basukinath - Deoghar section of NH114 A; KDH-Purnadih Coal Handling Plant; new academic and administrative building of IIIT Ranchi.

The projects that will be inaugurated and dedicated to the nation include the new campus of IIM Ranchi; new Hostel of IIT ISM Dhanbad; Petroleum Oil and Lubricants (POL) depot in Bokaro; several railway projects viz doubling of Hatia-Pakra Section, Talgaria - Bokaro Section, and Jarangdih-Patratu section. Further, the achievement of 100% Railway Electrification in Jharkhand State was also dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister.

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