Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the first financial instalment for pucca houses to one lakh beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and said the country can progress only when none is left behind and benefits of Government schemes reach everyone.

Interacting with the beneficiaries, via video conferencing, the Prime Minister said no government can be considered to have done its work without taking care of the poor, the deprived and forest-dwelling brothers and sisters.

He said his government had accepted this work as part of its mission. In the last 10 years, the Government had provided four crore pucca houses to the poor. People who were not cared for by anyone, Modi is concerned about them and worships them, he said.

Mr Modi said the fovernment had provided Rs 23,000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) to ensure that all needs of the poor tribal communities are met.

Within two months of its launch, the PM-JANMAN campaign has achieved results that none else could imagine, he said. The poor tribal groups lived in far-flung areas where the Government had failed to reach. But district and State officials supported his Government when it launched the programme to help these people.

The challenges were numerous like contaminated water, no access to electricity, gas connections, and lack of roads and connectivity in such areas, he said. The Prime Minister told the beneficiaries that he saw a reflection of God in them and would see to it they do not spend their lives with the difficulties experienced by their previous generations.

The Prime Minister said he had been invited for the Pran Pratishtha at Ram Temple in Ayodhya with the blessings of people, and when one thought of Lord Ram, it was natural to remember Mata Shabari who offered him fruit during his stay in forests.

Lord Ram was just a prince of Ayodhya, until he met tribal people like Mata Shabari and others, and became Maryada Purushottam, Mr Modi said. Just like Lord Ram’s love and concern for the tribals, his Government too focused on the welfare of tribal brothers and sisters, he said.

The Prime Minister said the most backward tribal communities live in about 190 districts of the country and his Government had distributed more than 80,000 Ayushman cards to them within two months. Similarly, the government has linked about 30,000 farmers of extremely backward tribal communities to the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, and bank accounts of 40,000 such beneficiaries have been opened.

He said more than 30,000 underprivileged people have been given Kisan Credit Cards, and about 11,000 have been given land leases under the Forest Rights Act. These were the results of just a few weeks and the numbers are increasing every day, he said.

“The government is putting all its efforts into ensuring that every scheme of the government reaches our most backward tribal communities as soon as possible. I assure you this, and this is Modi’s guarantee. And you know that Modi’s guarantee means the guarantee of fulfilment,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the members of the tribal groups had received money directly in their accounts on Monday. They will get Rs 2.5 lakh rupees for a pucca house which will be a source of dignified living with electricity, gas connection, pipe water and toilet.

“If Government schemes had remained on paper, the real beneficiary would never know about the existence of any such scheme,” the Prime Minister said pointing out the challenges in availing them.

He emphasized that under PM-JANMAN Maha Abhiyan, the government has changed all the rules which put hurdles in the transfer of money. Mr Modi said the money would be transferred to the tribals’ accounts in full, and they must know there are no middlemen in the scheme.

Mr Modi said the government has increased the budget of schemes related to Scheduled Tribes by five times. The Prime Minister said that before 2014, MSP was fixed only for about 10 forest produce, but now his government has brought about 90 forest produce under the ambit of MSP.