Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra will ensure no beneficiary is left out: Union Minister

When the van goes around to different rural areas and different urban areas throughout the country, to have the adhikaris make contact and if somebody has been left out of the scheme to make sure that they become the beneficiaries. Pointing out that almost 11 crore people have already been associated with the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, the Union Minister said the idea is to make contact with the existing beneficiaries and anyone who has been left out, identify and help them fill a form so that they become beneficiaries.

The purpose of the 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra' is to establish contact with all those who are beneficiaries of the central schemes and to ensure that those left out of the scheme also become the beneficiaries, said Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference as part of the ongoing Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, he said, “The purposes of this are two-fold. One is to make contact with all those who are beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s central schemes like the Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat… But, also to do one more thing. When the van goes around to different rural areas and different urban areas throughout the country, to have the adhikari’s make contact and if somebody has been left out of the scheme to make sure that they become the beneficiaries.” Pointing out that almost 11 crore people have already been associated with the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, the Union Minister said the idea is to make contact with the existing beneficiaries and anyone who has been left out, identify and help them fill a form so that they become beneficiaries. “I think this is a unique model of reaching out and development. In most other countries of the world, even in India, earlier you had to go knocking at somebody’s door if you wanted and the progress has been phenomenal. In 2014, there were 14 crore gas connections, today there are 32 crore gas connections. In 2014, there was no pipe gas; today 1 crore 25 lakh people are beneficiaries of pipe gas. I was in Hassan (district) today dedicating 17 new compressed natural gas which is going to be used in vehicular traffic. So, the numbers are shooting up,” he said. Referring to the Ujjwala Yojana, which was started in 2016, Puri said, “Today we have 10 crore 50 lakh Ujjwala beneficiaries. What does it do? It frees the lady of the house from having to buy or collect firewood, coal and other unhealthy cooking mediums and you can get your meal done quickly on time for your children…it’s made a transformation.” On Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the Minister said most of the beneficiaries in these schemes which are all women-centered are the ladies. “We built 11 crore toilets and who are the beneficiaries? Beneficiaries start with the girl child, dignity of the girl child. So now we are moving from women centered development to women led development with the next census and delimitations, there will be 33.3 per cent seats for women in state assemblies and the central parliament. Wherever I go, I see a very large turnout of our sisters. When I ask them a question, will you all fight election? And the way they were coming forward as beneficiaries, I think they are already preparing for electoral involvement,'' he added.