Centre plans to highlight its achievements to mark 9th anniversary

Over the course of the next few weeks, the Union government will roll out a publicity blitzkrieg with a focus on the achievements of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ninth year in power at the Centre, people familiar with the details said on Wednesday.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the Union government will roll out a publicity blitzkrieg with a focus on the achievements of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ninth year in power at the Centre, people familiar with the details said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (ANI/PIB)

A team of Union ministers has been mandated to oversee the celebrations that have been an annual event since the party came to power at the Centre in 2014 with a massive mandate. This year too, the focus will be on the achievements of the government, but the electoral victories that the party has accomplished in several states will also be woven in, said one of the people quoted above.

The celebrations that will be a pan India event will centre around big ticket programmes that have demonstrable outcomes such as provisions of housing for the economically weaker sections in rural and urban areas; provision of power supply in the unelectrified areas; and doorstep delivery of water supply, said one of the people quoted above.

Citing examples of achievements in various sectors, a party functionary aware of the details said the government has already covered 58.8% of rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission that has a target of 100% completion by 2024. “Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) scheme, implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), that is aimed at meeting the housing shortage and providing houses for slum dwellers, the government has already completed 75.56 lakh dwellings and sanctioned 22.69 lakh houses,” the functionary said. The mission that had a deadline of 2022 has also been extended till 2024.

A second functionary said the awareness programmes that will include press conferences, advertisements and cultural events that will relay information about the “considerable jump” in spending in sectors such as urban development, which includes the smart cities project, the Swachh Bharat scheme among others, will be held.

“In every sector there are accomplishments, take for instance culture. There has been pioneering work done in rejuvenating places of cultural and religious significance that also have an impact on economic activities in the areas, for instance the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor (in Varanasi) and Mahakaal Corridor (in Madhya Pradesh),” said a third functionary.

Each ministry will showcase the public-centric schemes that have yielded results. For instance, the ministry of textiles will focus on the welfare schemes for weavers and the efforts to link them to markets, to make them economically empowered.

While the delivery of welfare schemes tops the government’s agenda, the party paraphernalia has also been roped in to ensure the saturation of schemes. Teams of party leaders from the Centre and the states will fan out across the country with a long-list of welfare schemes especially for women, socially and economically marginalised groups and the youth.

Among the Union ministers who have been tasked to draw up the plan for the outreach are Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, G Kishan Reddy, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bharati Pawar, Darshana Jardosh, L Murugan, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Gajendra Shekhawat.

“Three rounds of meetings have been held so far with the ministers as well as the team that is overseeing the work related to the 2024 electoral preparations,” said the first functionary quoted above.