“The more emphasis we put on good governance, the more easily our goal of reaching the last mile will be accomplished”

“When our aim is to reach everyone, then there will be no scope for discrimination and corruption”

“This year’s Budget has paid special attention to taking the mantra of reaching the last mile to tribal and rural areas”

“The Aspirational District Program has emerged as a successful model in terms of Reaching the Last Mile”

Union Minister Shri Giriraj Singh proposes the idea of Third-Party Evaluation of the Aspirational District outcomes, rather than relying solely on District Administration’s MIS Data

FEB 27, 2023

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed a Budget Webinar on the subject of ‘Reaching the last mile’. It is the fourth of a series of 12 post-budget webinars organized by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.

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The Prime Minister said that along with money, political will is needed for the development. Emphasizing the importance of good governance and constant monitoring for the desired goals, the Prime Minister said “The more emphasis we put on good governance, the more easily our goal of reaching the last mile will be accomplished.” He gave the example of new approaches in the immunization and vaccine coverage in Mission Indradhanush and Corona pandemic to illustrate the power of good governance in the last mile delivery.

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Explaining the thinking behind the policy of saturation, the Prime Minister said that the approach of reaching the last mile and saturation policy complement each other. He said as opposed to the earlier scenario when the poor were running after the government for basic facilities, now the government is reaching the doorstep of the poor. “The day we decide that every basic facility will be provided to every citizen in every area, then we will see what a big change will come in the work culture at the local level. This is the spirit behind the policy of saturation. When our aim is to reach everyone, then there will be no scope for discrimination and corruption. And only then, we will also be able to complete the goal of reaching the last mile”, the Prime Minister added.

The Prime Minister said that this year’s Budget has paid special attention to taking the mantra of reaching the last mile to tribal and rural areas. He said that for this, thousands of crore rupees have been allocated to the Jal Jeevan Mission. He said that work has started on more than 60 thousand Amrit Sarovar, out of which 30 thousand Sarovars have already been constructed. “These campaigns are improving the standard of living of those Indians living far and wide, who have been waiting for such facilities for decades.

The Prime Minister asked the stakeholder to discuss the ways of linking housing with technology for finding ways of making strong but affordable houses, finding easy ways of benefiting from solar power and group housing models acceptable in both urban and rural areas. He said that this year’s Budget has kept Rs 80 thousand crore for housing for the poor.

Referring to the robust allocations for the staffing of the Eklavya Residential Schools, the Prime Minister asked the gathering to see the feedback from the teachers and students from these schools and how students of these schools can get exposure of the big cities. He asked them to deliberate on the ways of creating more Atal Tinkering Labs in these schools and workshops for aspects related with startups.

The Prime Minister said that for the first time a special mission is being launched for the most deprived among the tribal communities. “We have to rapidly provide facilities to our tribal friends in more than 22 thousand villages in more than 200 districts of the country.

The Aspirational District Program has emerged as a successful model in terms of Reaching the Last Mile, the Prime Minister said. Taking this approach further, an Aspirational Block programme is now being started in 500 blocks of the country.

After the conclusion of the brainstorming by 6 teams on six themes, comprising 9 Ministries lasting for more than 7 hours, the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchatyati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave take-aways like Good Governance, Transparency, Time Bound Delivery and 100 percent Saturation of Schemes to all the 9 Ministries.

Shri Giriraj Singh said, his Ministry will work with State Governments to identify the genuine home seekers, who got left out due to not so effective implementation of SECC-2011 Census by some of the state governments. He reiterated that the target of 2 crore 95 lakh houses under PMAY-Rural will be delivered as promised in the budget. He also underlined 66% hike in Union Budget for PMAY from last year’s Rs4 8,000 crore to Rs 79,000 crore this fiscal.

Dwelling on the Aspirational District outcomes. Shri Giriraj Singh proposed the idea of Third-Party Evaluation and cautioned the NITI Aayog not to rely solely on District Administration’s MIS Data.

On the issue of linking houses with renewable energy resources like solar power and solar equipment, Shri Giriraj Singh called for PPP model for the housing scheme, particularly the Urban Housing to achieve desired target. He said, policy planners must adopt cluster approach and involve the local representatives in execution of the rural schemes.

Speaking on the occasion, the Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda said, there is need for institutional level coordination at the centre, state, district and block level for achieving the last mile delivery in a proper fashion. He said, coming together of Ministries like Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Tribal Affairs, Social Justice, MHA, Law and Justice and Health indicate the seriousness of the stakeholders to realize the Amrit Kaal vision of Prime Minister.

Union Minister of r Social Justice Dr Virendra Kumar said in his address that subjects like Aspirational Blocks, Sickle Cell Anaemia, poor prisoners, provision of teachers in Eklavya school, PMAY(Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana) and mission is being launched for the most deprived among the tribal communities are all forward looking schemes designed to address the poor and vulnerable rural and tribal populace.

Union Minister of State for RD Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste said that the 100 Eklavya Model Schools wer started during the NDA regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the year 2000 and now Narendra Modi has pledged to take this to every District and Block.

MoS, Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and MoS, Panchayati Raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil, Union Secretaries, State Government Representatives Domain Experts took part in today’s Webinar.