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NEW DELHI: Indicating a positive outcome of its vibrant villages programme (VVP), which in is first phase unveiled development projects in villages abutting the Indo-China border across five states, the home ministry told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that at least three villages in Arunachal Pradesh have reported reverse migration by their people. “No impact assessment has been carried out (of VVP). However, the state govt of Arunachal Pradesh has informed of people returning to villages in border districts of Kurung Kumey, Dibang Valley and Shi-Yomi,” junior home minister Nityanand Rai shared with the House.The objective of VVP is to create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure prosperous and safe borders, control trans-border crime and assimilate the border population with the nation and inculcate them ‘as eyes and ears of the border guarding forces’, crucial for internal security. The development and connectivity boost is essentially aimed at preventing outmigration by the residents of border villages.Rai said that projects or works with an outlay of Rs 3,431 crore were sanctioned by MHA under VVP-I, of which villages of Arunachal Pradesh received the lion’s share of Rs 2750 crore for a total 2,082 projects. More than 8,500 activities like awareness drives, service delivery camps, training and capacity building initiatives, health and veterinary camps, fairs and festivals and tourism promotion activities, etc, were undertaken, of which 2,966 were in Arunachal Pradesh, 2,221 in Ladakh, 1,836 in Uttarakhand, 1,016 in Himachal Pradesh and 530 in Sikkim. NEW DELHI Rai further shared that VVP-II too was approved on Apr 2, 2025 for the comprehensive development of 1,954 identified villages abutting international borders of 15 states and 2 Union territories. An outlay of Rs 6,839 crore has been okayed till 2028-29 for VVP-II, covering villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, J&K, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Go to Source
