Vibrant Village a comprehensive prog for border village devp
Shillong, July 11:As many as 92 villages in the state are going to earn the status of “first villages of India”.
These villages located along Indo-Bangla border have been selected in the second phase of union government’s Vibrant Village programme.
“The 92 villages from Meghalaya are becoming the first villages of India,” union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here on Friday while emphasizing the programme’s strategic importance.
“I will be visiting some of the border villages during my visit that side tomorrow,” she said while expressing her keen interest to interact with the border villagers.
The finance minister also highlighted the government’s effort to develop villages located in the international borders with other countries like Myanmar, Tibet, China, and Nepal.
Asked if the Centre has stopped the border area development (BAD) programme, the union finance minister, however, said, “I don’t think that is the case at all. Border area funds are continuously on. It is being managed from home and defence together.”
She said the Vibrant Village programme is now a more comprehensive approach towards holistic development of those villages which are on the border.
The programme aims at providing livelihood opportunities, improve connectivity, education, healthcare, and basic necessities to communities living in border villages.
Unlike earlier border road programmes, the Vibrant Village Programme takes a more comprehensive approach, addressing the overall development needs of these villages, she added.
Asked about inflation in the North East, the minister attributed the perceived lack of decline to outdated figures, stating that both wholesale price index and retail inflation have come down nationwide.
This trend, she said, has enabled the Reserve Bank of India to consider interest rate reductions, indicating that inflation is under control.
