Good governance is the most essential condition for the success of any government work or project and the Union Budget 2023 has paid special attention to taking the mantra of reaching the last mile to tribal and rural areas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while addressing the fourth of 12 post-Budget webinars on ‘Reaching the Last Mile’.
Defining the power of good government in the last mile delivery, PM Modi drew examples of the new approaches in the immunisation and vaccine coverage in Mission Indradhanush and the Covid pandemic and said, “Along with money, political will is needed for the development of the country. The more emphasis we put on good governance, the more easily our goal of reaching the last mile will be accomplished.”
The PM further noted that in the last few years, the government had gone a step further and started a new tradition of brainstorming with the stakeholders after the Budget while adding, “This is important from the point of view of implementation and time-bound delivery. This also ensures proper utilisation of every penny of taxpayers’ money.”
Speaking of how the approach of reaching the last mile and the saturation policy complemented each other, the PM said that 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.
Also Read | Budget 2023-24 strengthens foundations of India’s education system: PM Modi
“Thousands of crore rupees have been allocated to the Jal Jeevan Mission. Work has started on more than 60,000 Amrit Sarovar, out of which 30,000 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. We do not have to stop here. We have to create a mechanism for new water connections and the pattern of water consumption. We also have to review what can be done to further strengthen the water committee”, PM Modi added.
Underlining how this year’s Budget had allocated ₹80,000 crore for housing for the poor, the PM urged 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.
On tribal welfare, the PM told the webinar, “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 22,000 villages in more than 200 districts of the country.”
“A target has also been set in this budget to completely get rid of sickle cell. For this Whole of a nation approach is needed. That’s why every stakeholder related to health will have to work fast,” PM Modi said
Referring to the 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 to the big cities. He went on to ask them to deliberate on the ways of creating more Atal Tinkering Labs in these schools and workshops for aspects related with startups.
On how the Aspirational District Program which the PM remarked had emerged as a successful model in terms of Reaching the Last Mile, he said, “For the Aspirational Block programme, we have to work keeping in mind the comparative parameters in the same way as we have worked for the Aspirational Districts. We have to create an environment of competition with each other at the block level as well.”
‘Reaching the last mile’ was the fourth in a series of 12 post-budget webinars organised by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.