The Union Budget for the year 2022 was presented yesterday by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, who has proposed in her speech that the border villages with a sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure often gets ignored as far as developmental gains are concerned.
The Finance Minister in her budget speech, on February 1 briefly touched upon a scheme proposed by the central government to boost up the infrastructure in all the villages along the Chinese border. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi also mentioned that the development of infrastructure in such villages is necessary for the security of the nation.
Sitharaman during her speech stated that the border village with scarce population, limited availability of resources and connectivity, and infrastructure are often left out from the developmental gains. Under the programme titled Vibrant Villages Programme, all such villages along the northern border of the nation will be covered. the activities to be undertaken in this project will include construction of infrastructure, tourist centres, housing, road connectivity, provision of de-centralised renewable energy, Direct-to-Home access for Doordarshan along with educational channels and support to generate livelihood.
The Finance Minister further added that the additional funding for all these activities will be provided and the existing schemes that are in place in the area will be converged with the new ones. The outcomes of these activities will be defined and monitored constantly, added the Finance Minister in her Budget speech.
Modi also mentioned later on that a new announcement for the mountainous regions of India along the entire belt of the Himalayas has been made to make life easier to prevent migration. He stated that for the first time, the Parvatmala scheme will be started for areas including the Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and the Northeast part of the nation. Under this scheme, the union government will be building modern systems of transportation and connectivity in the mountainous regions which will aid the border villages of the country becoming more vibrant. This plan is also important for the security and stability of India.
The funds of Border Management allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs have increased by more than 42 per cent since last year and have risen to Rs. 2517.02 crores. The announcement has come at a time when the bilateral relations with China are not good. China is improving infrastructure along its border with India as well and is also building over 600 model villages that are believed to be used by the Chinese army.
