OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said the Viksit Bharat G RAM G aligned with India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision of becoming a developed nation. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Sarok festival at Bana in Arunachal Pradesh’s Bichom district, Rijiju said that during the election period, people had been informed that over the past 10 years the country’s foundation and infrastructure had improved significantly in sectors such as roads, electricity, water supply and mobile connectivity.
He said the government had delivered water, rice and cooking gas to every village, completing these basic facilities within about a decade.
Referring to the 2024 elections, the minister said the government had decided to undertake special efforts to further improve people’s lives under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Focusing on the concept of Viksit Gaon for Viksit Bharat, Rijiju said the government had introduced the VB G RAM G Bill, marking a major policy shift from village-level development to national development.
He said that under VB G RAM G, the job guarantee had been extended from 100 days under MGNREGA to 125 days. He added that unemployed individuals who were unable to find work would receive unemployment allowance, with a penalty imposed on the state if employment was not provided.
Rijiju said the aim was to ensure that no jobless individuals were left behind and that everyone received some form of support. He alleged that during the Congress regime, corruption and underdevelopment had been widespread. He said MGNREGA did not guarantee 100 per cent employment and that records showed works such as pit-digging and minor repairs were undertaken, while large sums were siphoned off through fake bills. Questioning the impact of MGNREGA in Arunachal Pradesh, the Union Minister said villages could not develop through token works, inflated bills and misuse of funds. Terming MGNREGA ineffective, he said the government had introduced a new law and discarded the old one.
He added that, unlike MGNREGA, corruption would become a thing of the past under the new scheme. He said the bill mandated biometric checks for each project, along with geo-tagging, satellite mapping and digital accounting to ensure transparency and proper implementation. Rijiju said the employment scheme would be rolled out in Arunachal Pradesh after the Budget session and that people would benefit from it.
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