Information and Broadcasting minister makes Quora debut, lists Centre’s achievements

New Delhi: The information and broadcasting minister Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore on Thursday made his debut on Quora by answering the question “What has the Modi government achieved since coming to power?” and explained in detail the welfare schemes that had been launched by the Narendra Modi government for the welfare of the people.

Replying to the question on Quora — a question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organised by its community of users in the form of opinions — Col. Rathore said the question deserves a detailed explanation on the rationale and performance behind a few key flagship schemes.

“I will start with one of the most impactful schemes of this government – Ujjwala Yojana. Women in rural areas tend to use firewood for cooking. This creates a lot of smoke inside the kitchen, and with no proper ventilation system, the Carbon Monoxide thus generated can cause long-term respiratory issues including asthma in women, and shorten their life expectancy. Ujjwala, by providing an LPG connection for rural women below poverty line, has single-handedly solved the problem of kitchen smoke for women. Thus far, the government has issued about 4.1 crore LPG connections under the scheme, and we have revised the target from 5 crore to 8 crore LPG connections because of its popularity,” he said.

“Another paradigm-changing initiative is that of Mudra. Small and medium entrepreneurs are India’s innate strength. They generate employment, create a healthy demand and contribute to overall growth. However, what they lacked, till now, was an easy access to credit. This is where Mudra came in. Nearly 12 crore small entrepreneurs have benefited because of Mudra, out of which 76% happen to be women, and over 50% happen to be from SCs, STs and OBCs,” the I&B minister said.

“One of the major challenges when the Modi government came to power was financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is about bringing more and more people under the net of formal financial system and social/financial security net. Today, under Jan Dhan Yojana, we have 31.76 crore beneficiaries. That is nearly 25% of India’s population! 13.5 crore people are enrolled under PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, and 5.3 crore people under Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. 1 crore people are beneficiaries of Atal Pension Yojana,” he added.

He said that provision of basic infrastructure in villages is one of the most urgent demands in today’s times. Today, for the first time after independence, not a single village of the country remains unelectrified, and we are moving towards electrifying every single household through Saubhagya Yojana as well, he said. “Over 30 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under UJALA scheme, and since October 2017 alone, over 70 lakh households have been electrified under Saubhagya. More than 1.72 lakh km of rural roads have been constructed, and 1.16 lakh gram panchayats have been connected by optical fibre. This will create opportunities for rural India like never before, and help our rural youth harness their unlimited, hitherto untapped, potential,” he said.

“This answer can go on. From connection Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram on India’s rail map for the very first time, to covering nearly 27 lakh hectares under micro irrigation, there is not a single field where this government has not promised, and delivered. This is a partial list of Narendra Modi ji government’s achievements over the last four years. I hope this answers your question adequately,” he said.