Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) has made contact with 11 crore people in the country, taking “government” to the lowest rung of the society, and is now a people’s Yatra, a journey of their dreams and trust.

He was interacting with beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra via video conferencing, hearing their experiences of how they had benefited by registering with national schemes.

Thousands of Yatra beneficiaries from across the country, along with Union Ministers, MPs, MLAs and local-level representatives, joined the event.

The Prime Minister said the VBSY completed 50 days recently. Every family in far flung areas of the country is today looking forward to the VBSY vehicles and knows these Modi Ki Guarantee ki Gadi vehicles can bring a change for the better in their lives.

“The poor people who spent their lives waiting to get benefits of government schemes are seeing a meaningful change today. The government is reaching the doorsteps of the beneficiaries and proactively providing the benefits,” he said.

“Along with the Modi Ki Guarantee ki Gadi, government offices and people’s representatives are reaching people,” he said. The beneficiaries with whom he had talked, confirmed this. “Who had expected that one day Government officials and netas will come to their doorsteps and enquire whether they had received benefits of the Government schemes,” Mr Modi said.

The Prime Minister said Modi ki Guarantee is not just a domestic talk, but a global buzz. This was so because a large section of the country’s population had spent their lives in want. They had to struggle to meet their small needs. Farmers, women and the youth were a majority of these people.

“Our government wants the present and future generations not to live the lives the earlier generations had lived. We want to get a large population of the country out of the struggle for small daily needs. Therefore, we are focusing on the future of the poor, farmers, women and youth. For us, these are the four biggest castes of the country. When the poor, farmers, women and youth are empowered, the country will become powerful,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the chief goal of the VBSY is not to leave any deserving beneficiary from the benefits of the government schemes. He said that since the Yatra began, 12 lakh new applications for Ujjwala gas connections were received along with lakhs of applications for Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, and PM SVANidhi.

Health check-ups of more than two crore people have been carried out so far including one crore TB check-ups and 22 lakh sickle cell check-ups. Today, the Prime Minister said that the doctors are reaching the doorsteps of the poor, Dalits, deprived and the tribals which was considered a challenge by previous governments.

The Ayushman Yojana is providing health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh, free dialysis for the poor and low-cost medicines at Jan Aushadhi Kendras. “Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs built across the country have become huge health centers for villages and the poor,” he added.

Prime Minister Modi said the Government schemes had made an impact on women’s lives, bringing empowerment to them through the Mudra Yojana. They are playing the role of Bank Mitras, Pashu Sakhis and Asha workers.

Ten crore women have joined women self-help groups in the last 10 years, where more than Rs 7.5 lakh crore has been provided to them. Due to this, the Prime Minister said, many sisters have become Lakhpati Didi over the years.

The Government has a campaign to increase the number of Lakhpati Didis by two crores under the NaMo Drone Didi Scheme where around one lakh drones have been demonstrated during the VBSY.

For earlier governments, the scope of discussions on agricultural policy was limited to production and sale, and neglected various issues faced by farmers every day.

“Our government has made all-out efforts to ease every difficulty of the farmers,” he said. At least Rs 30,000 have been transferred to every farmer through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, and cooperation in agriculture is being promoted through PACS, FPOs, increase in storage facilities and a boost to the food processing industry.

Toor or Arhar dal farmers can now sell their produce directly to the government online ensuring purchase at MSP and better prices in the market. The scheme will be extended to other pulses also, he said.