Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Diary, Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan said that Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, which will be inaugurated in Ranchi in Jharkhand on November 15 (tribal icon Birsa Munda’s birthday), will be kickstarted in Tamil Nadu in three districts – Salem, Tiruvannamalai, and Nilgiris. The yatra will continue until January 25, 2024 across India.
Mr. Murugan said that the yatra will go through 145 tribal villages in Salem, 103 villages in Tiruvannamalai, and 11 villages in Nilgiris districts.
The Yatra will seek to highlight the achievements of PM Narendra Modi’s nine-year tenure focussing on schemes such as PM SVANidhi scheme (micro-credit to street vendors), Ayushman Bharat Yojana, PM Ujjwala Scheme (free gas cylinders). Mr. Murugan further said that DD Podhigai will be relaunched as DD Tamil with new programming for Pongal next year.
Speaking to the reporters in Chennai, Mr. Murugan said the mega-reach out by the Central government will take place across lakhs of villages in India. “In India, yatra will travel to 2.5 lakh villages and 18,000 urban centres. In T.N., yatra will go through 12,525 villages, 1,455 urban areas from January 20,” he said. He said several schemes such as PM Vishwakarma Yojana, which has been criticised heavily in Tamil Nadu, Jal Jeevan Mission, and other marquee schemes would be highlighted.
On the relaunch of DD Pothigai as DD Tamil, the minister said, “We have upgraded equipment on a par with private television channels. We are also holding political debate programmes in a neutral manner and brought back several programmes such as ‘Oliyum Oliyum’. We are training our reporters to ask questions to Chief Minister on NEET.”
Mr. Murugan defended Governor R.N. Ravi’s refusal to provide assent to laws passed in the State Assembly amid the Supreme Court notice to him. “The case is pending in the Supreme Court. Governor will respond to the court. The Governor has the power to look into the laws passed by the State Assembly and then provide his consent,” he said.
The Press Information Bureau office in Shastri Bhavan Chennai has been shifted to Prasar Bharti office premises in Swamy Sivananda Salai, Chennai.
