Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi on Thursday flagged off the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra van at the Forestry Higher Secondary School in Kovilur village near Jamunamarathur, Jawadhu Hills, Tiruvannamalai, as part of the Union government’s nationwide programme aimed at reaching out to citizens eligible for various central schemes but yet to benefit from them.
Officials of the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, which coordinates the initiative at the State level, said the programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 15 (Wednesday) to reach out to beneficiaries of the Centre’s flagship programmes, both in rural and urban areas.
In Tamil Nadu, the initiative has been launched in Tiruvannamalai, Nilgiris and Salem. In Tiruvannamalai, the specially designed automated IEC (Information, Education and Communication) van will cover 103 villages, including 11 villages in Jawadhu Hills, up to December 15, popularising centrally sponsored schemes, mainly through roadshows.
Every day, on an average, the van will cover at least two villages as part of the initiative that aims to cover 2.7 lakh gram panchayats, and around 15,000 urban locations, in the country, by January 25, 2024. At Jawadhu Hills in Tiruvannamalai, Mr. Ravi shared his ideas on tribal area development, and interacted with tribal farmers. He also distributed vegetable seed kits and soil health cards to farmers, new gas connections to tribal families, kisan credit cards and NRLM loan to self help groups as part of the initiative. On the occasion, Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh, Director of ICAR-ATARI (Hyderabad) Shaik N. Meera, Chief General Manager of NABARD (Tamil Nadu) T. Venkatakrishna and president of ICAR Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Tiruvannamalai) S. Ramesh were present.
