MAINPURI (UP), Jan 16: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured doorstep delivery of government welfare benefits to citizens.
Addressing a “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra” program at Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there was a time when even for small benefits the poor citizen had to repeatedly knock from one office to another, in frustration give up his legitimate due and most often resign to one’s fate since he was not influential enough to the right strings or grease the official machinery.
“Now, PM Narendra Modi has turned everything upside down, – government officials come to the doorstep of each and every citizen since they have been made accountable to authorities to report whether all beneficiaries have been covered or not,” the Minister said.
This has been made possible due to the visionary and imaginative leadership of the Prime Minister that has enabled the citizen to be the nodal point of government planning and every welfare scheme is devised with the common man in mind, he said.
“Purely objective parameters are being followed to deliver justice, wherever justice had been denied in the past. This, he said, was quite a departure from the past practice followed by previous opposition governments, wherein vote bank politics pre-determined the selective rolling out of State benefits” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister Modi will always be credited for having introduced a new work culture in India wherein each of the pro-poor and public welfare schemes were designed in such a manner so as to reach the neediest or the last man in the last queue, regardless of caste, creed, religion or vote consideration.
“IEC Vans are Modi Guarantee Vans, where 100 percent saturation is being attempted of the 17-18 major flagship schemes introduced in the last 9-10 years for socio-economic upliftment of the weaker and marginalised sections of society,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, during a short span of nine and half years, the Centre has been able to bring many schemes closer to 100% saturation and benefits are given to deserving people by following the principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas”. Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is a novel concept, aiming for saturation of all government schemes such as the Ujjwala Yojana, SVANidhi, PM Awas Yojana etc, he said.
“The Viksit Bharat Yatra targets those citizens who probably did not come forward or are unaware of the various schemes they are eligible for or such people who may not have sought the benefits due to them,” he said.
The Minister added that Prime Minister Modi successfully raised the standards of public delivery much above the vote consideration, based on the principle of justice for all and then left to the public to decide whom they wanted to vote for, and the public too endorsed this approach by returning the Modi government for the second term with a much higher mandate than the earlier election, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, his parliamentary constituency has achieved virtually near saturation in all Central Government welfare schemes, be it PM Kisan Yojana, Soil Health Card, PM Maan Dhan Yojana, Kisan Credit Card etc.
“Pertinent to mention that for the last 3 to 4 years Udhampur has been consecutively securing top rank or one of the top 3 ranks among all districts of the country in the implementation of Central PMGSY road projects,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh, there is a network of roads being established even in far flung hilly terrains of Udhampur and in some of the peripheral villages. Asia’s longest road tunnel was also inaugurated here by Prime Minister Modi, which takes off from Chenani and is the first such project to be named after Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, he added.
Similarly, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Udhampur railway station has been expanded and is possibly the first railway station of the country to be named after a martyr soldier Captain Tushar Mahajan. With the Kashmir Valley soon to be linked by railway with the rest of the country in next few months, Udhampur is going to emerge as the most important railway junction in North India, he said and added that we have already demanded that a full-fledged Division Headquarters of Railways be set up at Udhampur.
Viksit Bharat Yatra focuses on the various Jan Bhagidari events like experience sharing by beneficiaries of the schemes, interaction with progressive farmers, celebration of achievements of Gram Panchayats achieving 100% saturation of schemes like Ayushman Card, Jal Jeevan Mission, Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, ODF Plus status, on the spot quiz competitions, Drone demonstration, health camps and Mera Yuva Bharat volunteer enrolment.
The Viksit Bharat Campaign, one of the largest ever outreach initiatives to be undertaken, eventually aims to cover over 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayats and over 3,600 urban local bodies by 25th January 2024 touching every district of the country.
The entire campaign is being planned and implemented with the ‘whole of Government’ approach with active participation and involvement of the State Governments, District authorities, Urban Local Bodies and Gram Panchayats.
It may be noted that the IEC Vans have been branded and customised to enable dissemination of information through audio visuals, brochures, pamphlets, booklets and flagship standees in Hindi and state languages showcasing the major schemes, highlights and their achievements at national, state and district level.