Integration of Vibrant Village Programme (VVP) with the PM GATI Shakti National Master Plan

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• About Vibrant Village Programme (VVP)
• Need for VVP
• Significance of the Vibrant Village Programme
• Benefits of VVP
• About PM Gati Shakti
• Need for PM Gati Shakti
• 6 Pillars of PM Gati Shakti
• Targets under PM Gati Shakti

 

Why in News?

• Centre’s ambitious Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) which aims to develop infrastructure and open up villages to tourists along the China border will be integrated with the Prime Minister Gati Shakti mega project.

 

About Vibrant Village Programme (VVP)

• The Vibrant Village Programme is a scheme announced in the Union Budget 2022-23.
• Objective –  To enhance infrastructure in villages along India's border with China, in states like Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The activities will include –
  • Creating infrastructure, housing and tourism centres in villages;
  • Providing ‘Direct to Home’ facility for Doordarshan and Educational channels;
  • Establishment of road connectivity;
  • Providing assistance for livelihood generation.
• The availability of Doordarshan and Indian educational channels is aimed to thwart any propaganda from Pakistan or China in remote areas of northern Indian states.
• The scheme has been allocated Rs. 4,800 crore for the financial years 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26. The amount allocated for road construction is Rs. 2,500 crore.
• Nodal Ministry – Ministry of Home Affairs

 

Need for VVP

• Under its “Xiaokang" or "well-off" villages programme, China has developed over 600 settlements along the border with India and Bhutan.
  • The project has turned border villages into new tourist hotspots.
• To convince Tibetans to move to these villages, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has invested in infrastructure, such as roads, railways, and the power grid.
• Around 30.1 billion yuan, or nearly $4.6 billion, was earmarked in 2017 for the construction of new homes and towards infrastructure for transport, energy, water, and communications, and for education and healthcare facilities.
• While China has been settling new residents in border areas, villages on the Indian side of the frontier have seen unprecedented out-migration.

 

Significance of the Vibrant Village Programme

• The border villages of India are characterised by difficult terrain, weak transport networks and suboptimal socioeconomic indicators.
• Such villages have sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure and are often get left out from the development gains. These regions lack development benefits that other states enjoy.
• The programme will help to ensure the inclusion of these border areas in the mainstream gains.
• This is imperative to secure the country’s sovereignty and further safeguard them from any possible friction with the neighbours.

 

Benefits of VVP

• It will create sustained opportunities for locals, which will stave off out-migration due to economic reasons and may even act as a motivation for reverse migration.
• It will lead to investment in infrastructure and the creation of permanent settlements in far-flung areas in the form of housing and business to cater to the rise of tourists to remote locations like Ladakh.

 

About PM Gati Shakti

• The Prime Minister Gati Shakti – National Master Plan was announced in 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• It is essentially a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
• The multi-modal connectivity will a from one mode of transport to another.
• It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.

 

Need for PM Gati Shakti

• Infrastructure creation in India had suffered for decades from multiple issues.
• There was lack of coordination between different Departments, for example, once a road was constructed, other agencies dug up the constructed road again for activities like laying of underground cables, gas pipelines etc.
• This not only caused great inconvenience but was also a wasteful expenditure.
• PM Gati Shakti will address the past issues through institutionalizing holistic planning for stakeholders for major infrastructure projects.

 

6 Pillars of PM Gati Shakti

• Comprehensiveness –
  • It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal.
  • Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other's activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.
• Prioritization –
  • Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions.
• Optimization –
  • The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps.
  • For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
• Synchronization –
  • Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos.
  • There is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays.
  • PM Gati Shakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
• Analytical –
  • The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
• Dynamic –
  • All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform.
  • Satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal.
  • It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.

 

Targets under PM Gati Shakti

 

Image Caption: Targets under PM Gati Shakti

• The Rs 100 lakh crore national master plan includes 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs 1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence production and having 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.
• It fixes targets up to 2024-25 for all infrastructure ministries.
• Implementing Agency –  National Networking Group
• National Networking Group will consist of experts or officials from all the stakeholder departments.

 

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Q1) How many Indian states/UTs share border with China?

India shares 3488 km of border with China that runs along the UTs/States of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.

 

Q2) What is the difference between Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Line of Control (LOC)?

The LOC is a demarcated, military-marked frontier separating parts of India and Pakistan- occupied Jammu and Kashmir, whereas LAC is an unclear border demarcated between India and China which is considered a mere concept by both the countries as they interpret the line on their own terms disagreeing with each other.

 

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Source: Vibrant Villages Programme along China border to be integrated with PM Gati Shakti mega project