New Delhi, Feb 27 :Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that this year’s Budget has paid special attention to taking the mantra of reaching the last mile to tribal and rural areas.

Addressing a Budget Webinar on the subject of ‘Reaching the last mile’ he said “The more emphasis we put on good governance, the more easily our goal of reaching the last mile will be accomplished.”

Explaining the thinking behind the policy of saturation, the Prime Minister said that the approach of reaching the last mile and saturation policy complement each other.

He said as opposed to the earlier scenario when the poor were running after the government for basic facilities, now the government is reaching the doorstep of the poor.

“The day we decide that every basic facility will be provided to every citizen in every area, then we will see what a big change will come in the work culture at the local level” he said.

He gave the example of new approaches in the immunization and vaccine coverage in Mission Indradhanush and Corona pandemic to illustrate the power of good governance in the last mile delivery.

Acknowledging the importance of the debate on Budget in Parliament, said that the government has gone a step further and for the last few years have started the new tradition of brainstorming with the stakeholders after the Budget.

“This is important from the point of view of implementation and time-bound delivery. This also ensures proper utilization of every penny of taxpayers money”, he said.

He said that for this, thousands of crore rupees have been allocated to the Jal Jeevan Mission. He said that work has started on more than 60 thousand Amrit Sarovar, out of which 30 thousand Sarovars have already been constructed.

“These campaigns are improving the standard of living of those Indians living far and wide, who have been waiting for such facilities for decades” said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said “for the first time, the country is tapping the huge potential of the tribal society of our country at this scale. Tribal development has been given prominence in this budget as well.

Modi said that for the first time a special mission is being launched for the most deprived among the tribal communities. “We have to rapidly provide facilities to our tribal friends in more than 22 thousand villages in more than 200 districts of the country,” he added.

Talking about the “Aspirational District Program” he said the programme has emerged as a successful model in terms of reaching the last mile… adding that taking this approach further, an Aspirational Block programme is now being started in 500 blocks of the country”.

He said thousands of crore rupees have been allocated to the Jal Jeevan Mission and work has started on more than 60 thousand Amrit Sarovar, out of which 30 thousand Sarovars have already been constructed.

“These campaigns are improving the standard of living of those Indians living far and wide, who have been waiting for such facilities for decades” he added.