Union Minister Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey said that the country has been successful in creating its own identity on the global stage under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and today, India is playing a leading role among the countries of the world. He was speaking at a programme organised at Rudraksh International Convention Centre, Sigra here on Sunday, on the occasion of the launch of Vishwakarma Yojana. On the occasion, a live telecast of the launching programme of the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana from New Delhi was watched and dignitaries and others present in the hall listened to the PM’s address.
Pandey said that during the day, the people of his parliamentary constituency Varanasi celebrated the PM’s birthday with full enthusiasm and joy. While wishing Baba Vishwanath for the long life and good health of the PM, he said that it is the result of the leadership of the PM that today India has achieved the feat of being the first country in the world to reach the south pole of the Moon. Discussing the successful organisation of G20, he said that this has been the most successful G20 programme ever organised which has been possible due to such strong leadership of the PM.
While discussing the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana, he said that in reality, while this scheme will be successful in connecting the people sitting in the last row of the society to the mainstream of the country, it is also realising Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Gram Swaraj. The PM’s thinking has always been about the upliftment of the poor and the people in the last row of the society. “For which many public welfare schemes have been run by the Central Government. Be it the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or providing free gas connections under the Ujjwala Yojana, construction of toilets or providing golden cards for free medical facilities under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme and now the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana was launched today,” he said, adding that all these schemes will be successful in uplifting the poorest of the poor and establishing them in the mainstream of the society.
District Magistrate (DM) S Rajalingam, welcoming the people in the programme, said that Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana is a beneficiary-oriented scheme. “Artisans and craftsmen working in 18 traditional disciplines are included in this scheme.
The main objective of starting the scheme is to increase the business of traditional craftsmen and artisans by providing them financial assistance and advanced equipment so that their standard of living can improve,” he said.
The scheme covers many skilled artisans like carpenters, boat makers, gunsmiths, blacksmiths, hammer and toolkit makers, locksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, sculptors, stone carvers, stone breakers. Whoever will be the beneficiary of this scheme will also get a certificate and ID from the government. Only one member of the family can apply for this scheme. The government will also provide loans up to Rs 3 lakh to make the artisans self-reliant.
This loan will be given in two installments on which a concessional interest rate of 5 percent will be charged. Under this scheme, free registration of Vishwakarmas will be done through Common Service Centres using biometric based PM Vishwakarma Portal.
Before this, the programme was formally inaugurated by lighting the lamp and the guests were welcomed. Uttar Pradesh’s Ministers of State (Independent Charge) Ravindra Jaiswal and Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’, Zila Panchayat Chairperson Poonam Maurya, MLC and District Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Hansraj Vishwakarma, MLC Vineet Singh and many others were also present.