PM asks ministers to actively participate in Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have asked Union ministers to actively participate in the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, a mega outreach campaign aimed at highlighting central schemes.

According to sources, addressing a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on Tuesday, the prime minister said the outreach programme is part of making a "viksit Bharat" (developed India).

He asked the ministers to focus on spreading the word on how several schemes have been designed to benefit various sections of the society.

Vehicles are being used for publicising government schemes across 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and nearly 18,000 locations in urban areas.

The IEC (Information, Education and Communication) vans are being branded with different government schemes, such as Kisan Credit Card, the rural housing scheme, the Ujjwala scheme and the PM Svanidhi yojana, among others.

As part of the Yatra, more than 2,500 mobile performing vans and over 200 mobile theatre vans will be pressed into service to cover the 2.55 lakh gram panchayats and clusters in all cities and towns of the country.

The outreach programme has been conceptualised on the "whole-of-government approach", with the Ministry of Agriculture being the nodal ministry for the rural campaign and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting spearheading the urban campaign.

The prime minister launched the yatra from Jharkhand's Khunti on November 15.

He had flagged off five specially-designed IEC vans to mark the launch of the yatra. Similar vans were flagged off from other districts across the country that have a significant tribal population.

The campaign to reach out to the beneficiaries of the Centre's flagship programmes both in rural and urban areas will culminate on January 25, 2024.