Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been underscoring the importance of every citizen’s contribution to the development of India as a super power.

Speaking at a Vikshit Bharat Sankalp Yatra event in Chennai, he said every state has to develop and be a part of India’s journey to becoming a developed country by 2047.

Paying rich tributes to great Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar, Mr Goyal said the Prime Minister is following his footsteps and work for the poor and downtrodden whose lives had not seen any improvement even after 75 years of the country’s independence.

Transforming lives of the poor, farmers, youth and women is the cornerstone of welfare policies of the Central government in the last 10 years, the Minister said. The government is working on several initiatives to get the people of the country closer to each other.

The Minister said the Kashi Tamil Sangamam and the Saurastra Tamil Sangam were some of the steps taken by the government to help people from different states to understand each other’s rich culture and heritage.

He said the Vikshit Bharat Sankalp Yatra has got an overwhelming response in Tamil Nadu. Mr Goyal appealed to the people to register themselves in the camps organised as part of the Yatra to get the benefits of the schemes implemented by the Centre.

Listing out the schemes implemented in Tamil Nadu, Mr Goyal said 3.5 crore people stand to be benefited by the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 1.5 crore people have been brought under the banking system through the Jan Dhan Yojana, over one crore families have got water connections under Har Ghar Jal, 51 lakh people have been enrolled under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, while 40 lakh people have been benefited by the Ujjwala scheme.

He said the 17 schemes including the PM Aawas Yojana, Mudra scheme, PM Gram Sadak Yojana, Jan Aushadi kendras are available to the citizens with the Guarantee given by the Prime Minister.

Those deserving to be part of the central government’s welfare measures, will get these benefits at their doorstep, he said.