Central assistance reaching beneficiaries without hindrance: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates 'Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra' to take Union government's development projects to citizens without discrimination.

Assistance from the Union government has been reaching actual beneficiaries without any hindrance for the past 10 years, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She was speaking after inaugurating the ‘Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ launched to take the Union government’s development projects to the people at Mangalapuram panchayat in the district on Saturday.

Ms. Sitharaman said scheme benefits were reaching the people in a transparent manner without a single allegation of corruption. The Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra was aimed at taking development schemes to all citizens of the country without any discrimination.

The vans that created awareness about the development schemes through information, education, and communication were about to cover 2.55 lakh grama panchayats. It would also reached 3,600 urban local bodies.

Ms. Sitharaman said the idea of development put forward by the country should be imbibed by everyone, and everyone should contribute in the journey to make India a developed nation by 2047.

She shared details of development projects announced by the Union government and numbers that shed light on the State’s share in projects such as PM Ujjwala Yojana, MUDRA loan, and PM SVANidhi. She said benefits to the tune of ₹91,200 crore had been distributed to 1.4 crore beneficiaries in the State through MUDRA loan alone. In Thiruvananthapuram, benefits to the tune of ₹11,500 crore had been distributed to 16.3 lakh people, she said.

The Union Minister handed over cheques to beneficiaries of various projects and gas stoves to beneficiaries of the Ujjwala Yojana at the programme. The beneficiaries shared their experience of the development projects at the programme. A pledge to reaffirm commitment to the development of the nation was taken.