Prime Minister Modi has recently said that “the vehicle of ‘Modi ki guarantee’ has reached over 12,000 panchayats and more than 30 lakh people have benefited from it. “Mothers and sisters are reaching out to this vehicle of ‘Modi ki guarantee’. The initiative has taken the shape of a people’s movement and people are taking it forward.

Many panchayats have received saturation coverage without any discrimination, he said, asserting that the youth are taking the lead in popularising the exercise and spearheading the goal to make India develop. Underscoring his commitment, he said he went to a remote tribal region in Khunti to launch the yatra instead of doing it at a place like Vigyan Bhawan, a venue associated with official programs. He wants the grassroots to benefit the most.

He added that the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra was undertaken across the country with an aim of attaining “saturation of flagship schemes” of the government by ensuring that the benefits of these schemes reach all targeted beneficiaries in a time-bound manner. The number of “Jan Aushadhi Kendras”, (which sell medicines at subsidised rates), has increased from 10,000 to 25,000.

The ‘Drone Didi Yojana’ scheme has also been launched which aims to provide drones to 15,000 selected women “Self Help Groups” during the period 2024-25 to 2025-2026 for providing rental services to farmers for agricultural purposes.
He said he wanted these women to receive ‘naman’ (respect) in their villages and that some people have suggested the name ‘Namo Drone Didi’ for the initiative. Women trained as drone pilots will be financially empowered and receive people’s respect, he said.

“My dream is to make 2 crore women living in villages and working with self-help groups lakhpati,” he said. His government has also announced the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package of Rs 20 lakh crore for financially strengthening every region of the country and turning the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, 6.8 crore LPG cylinders have been given free of cost to 8 crore beneficiaries from mid-April to May and most of the people belong to the SC / ST category. This scheme has proved to be a boon for scheduled caste families living in rural areas.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, about 9500 villages of Scheduled Castes are covered and the scheme is extended to an additional 3584 villages.50% capital subsidy for projects up to Rs.5 lakhs related to sanitation for the target group to promote mechanized cleaning of sewers and septic tanks introduced.
Provision of Rs 536 crore for providing relief to victims and setting up state-of-the-art call centers under PCR and POA Act.

By removing Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Scheduled Castes (mostly sweepers), who lived there for generations and who were not allowed common rights, have them today.
Under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package, the street vendors are also facilitated in most of them belong to scheduled castes communities. A special credit facility of Rs 5000 crores has been provided for them. The scheme will support around 5 million street vendors.

According to the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package, there is a provision for a ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ to empower the poor, migrant laborers, many of whom are from the Scheduled Castes category and those who are non-cardholders will be given 5 kg of wheat/ rice and 1kg gram per family.

The Scheduled Caste community has also benefitted greatly from the CAA Act introduced by the Government of India under the leadership of Modi ji. The Hindus (Scheduled Castes) living in Pakistan, were suffering from atrocities, and exploitation, and their families were tortured. They now benefiting from the CAA Act.

A package of Rs 10,000 Crore for Formalization of Micro Food Enterprises has been announced. This scheme enhances the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Vocal for Local with Global’.

Unorganized Micro Food Enterprises (MFEs) units need technical upgrading to achieve FSSAI food standards, brand building, and marketing. Cluster-based approaches like Mango in UP, Tomato in Karnataka, Chilli in Andhra Pradesh, orange in Maharashtra, etc. are the need of the hour. With the promotion of herbal farming our scheduled caste community will get full benefits and their dream of self-reliant industries along with which employment will be ensured.

To promote the entrepreneurship of scheduled castes, the Modi government has announced loans from 10 lakh to 1 crore. Under the Standup India Scheme, the Modi government has made women businessmen belonging to the Scheduled Castes self-sufficient by arranging a bank loan of 1 crore rupees.

Under the Ayushman Yojana scheme, the Modi government provides health insurance of up to 5 lakhs to each beneficiary under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Yojana, in which the entire Scheduled Castes community has got full benefits.

I see the Prime minister’s high standing among voters as the biggest strength of the ruling BJP as it gears up for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as people have started associating Modi’s name with a flagship welfare initiative like “Jan Aushadhi Kenra”. Jan Aushadhi Kendras are now being called “Modi’s medicine shop”. Nearly 2000 types of medicines are sold at 80 to 90 percent discount at such centers.

I also think that the PM “Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna”, (which provides free grains to over 80 crore people), which has been extended for another five years, will work as a catalyst and again add to Modi and his party’s already increasing popularity.

Article written by and Editorial credit: State Bureau Chief Himanshu Nauriyal.