On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Arunachal Pradesh to launch the “Vibrant Village Programme”. It may be a coincidence or otherwise already planned schedule that the visit is coming a week after China renamed 11 places in the state, which it claims, is its area. His visit is a strategic rebuff to China, and also an assertive note to the world that India would not tolerate any rhetoric that tends to undermine its sovereignty. The message is loud and clear.
The ‘Vibrant Village Programme’ will be launched at Kibithoo village, which sits on the edges of the Line of Actual Control in the Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh. The LAC defines boundaries with China and China has been playing the game of renaming places since 2017, and it asserts that the territory is within the geography over which it has sovereignty.
At this point in time, the visit of the Home Minister and the launching of a specially designed program to help the border populations across the regions in the country assumes strategic significance. The timing is crucial, and so is the program that he is going to launch. The schemes, which benefit the people, are meant for the people who believe in living under one flag and singing the national anthem. So, what Amit Shah is trying to tell the people is that India is all for taking care of them, whether they sit in the remotest corners of the country, or in the hinterland.
The ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP) with central components of Rs.4800 crore including Rs.2500 crore exclusively for road connectivity for the Financial Years 2022-23 to 2025-26. VVP is a centrally sponsored scheme under which 2967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts abutting the northern border in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand & Himachal Pradesh, and UT of Ladakh have been identified for comprehensive development. In the first phase, 662 villages have been identified for priority coverage, which includes 455 villages in Arunachal Pradesh.
A closer look at the scheme and the geography reveals that there is a focus on the villages across the states/union territories, which are having borders with China. There also is a mention of the UT of Ladakh, where India is locked in a stiff standoff with the Chinese army. This standoff is three-year-old; there is no sign of it coming to an end anytime soon because of the intransigence of Beijing not to honour the commitments made in peace and tranquillity not to make any attempt to change the status of the LAC militarily. China has not attempted that only, but it has also raised hype over the issues by naming of the places, like it did in case of Arunachal Pradesh, to cause political and diplomatic consternation and confrontation.
China renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh on April 3, days after it successfully brokered a peace agreement between Saudi Arabi and Iran, two regional rivals in the Arab world, and also after Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia where he reaffirmed his country’s ‘no limits’ friendship with Moscow. China, it may be admitted, though with grudges, has emerged as a global power, seeking to expand its military and soft power influence in various parts of the world. These things tell that it wanted to overwhelm the world, and especially India, so it renamed the places.
Now when Home Minister will be visiting Arunachal Pradesh on Monday to launch a mega scheme that will benefit 2,967 villages in four states and one union territory, the visit carries a very strong message that China may have the right to do its diplomatic work and strut on the world stage as a leader, but it has no right to make any attempt to undermine the Indian sovereignty, and that this country knows how to answer all the flawed narratives emanating from Beijing.
The development capsule of the “Vibrant Villages Programme” is aimed at helping in improvement of the quality of life living in the identified border villages and encourage people to stay in their native locations thereby reversing the outmigration from these villages and adding to the security of the border. District Administration with the help of appropriate mechanisms at block and panchayat level will prepare Action Plans for identified village to ensure 100% saturation of central and state schemes.
“The focus areas of interventions identified for development of villages include road connectivity, drinking water, electricity including solar and wind energy, mobile and internet connectivity, tourist centers, multi-purpose centers and healthcare infrastructure and wellness centers,” is the underlined purpose of the scheme.
