Union Home Minister Amit Shah Launches ₹6,839-crore Vibrant Villages Programme–II In Assam, Says Border Villages Will Lead India’s Growth Story

Guwahati: Standing in Nathunpur village in Assam’s Barak Valley, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched the ₹6,839-crore Vibrant Villages Programme–II (VVP–II), promising a new chapter of development for border villages across the country.

The programme, which will cover 1,954 villages in 334 blocks across 17 states, aims to bring infrastructure, welfare schemes and connectivity to villages located along India’s international borders. In Assam alone, 140 villages across nine districts and 26 blocks will be covered under the scheme.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Home Secretary and other senior officials were present at the launch event.

Addressing villagers and officials, Shah said that the launch of VVP–II from the Barak Valley symbolised a shift in how India views its border areas. “There was a time when border villages were called the ‘last villages’ of the country because they lacked roads, electricity, employment and education. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided that every border village is not the last but the first village of India,” he said.

He added that Nathunpur would now be known not as a remote outpost but as a leading village in development, education, employment, roads and telecommunications.

Shah said the programme, with an outlay of nearly ₹7,000 crore, would ensure that basic facilities available in any other village in India are extended to border villages as well. Apart from Assam, the scheme will cover villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Highlighting Assam’s progress, Shah said that the state is on track to become one of the developed states of the country in the coming years, and that the Vibrant Villages Programme–II would play a crucial role in this journey. He emphasised that development of border villages would also help prevent migration, check infiltration and strengthen national security. “A secure Assam contributes to a secure India,” he said.

The Union Minister credited the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state for bringing peace and stability to Assam. “Our party’s government has put an end to bomb blasts and insurgency,” he said, adding that peace had paved the way for rapid development.

He claimed that in the past 10 years, the government had achieved what earlier regimes could not accomplish in 50 years. According to Shah, Assam has seen an average construction of 14 kilometres of roads per day over the last five years, the highest in the country. More than 24,000 kilometres of roads have been upgraded and several bridges constructed, including four major bridges dedicated in the last decade.

On the economic front, he said multi-dimensional poverty in Assam has reduced from 37 per cent when the BJP came to power to 14 per cent in 2023. The state’s per capita income, he added, has nearly tripled from ₹49,000 in 2013–14 to ₹1.54 lakh in 2024–25.

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Shah also highlighted major investments in infrastructure and industry, including ₹30,000 crore for roads, ₹95,000 crore for railways and ₹10,000 crore for airports in Assam. He noted that a ₹27,000-crore semiconductor plant is being set up in the state and described Assam as emerging as the healthcare hub of the Northeast.

For residents of Nathunpur and other border villages, the announcement brought hope that better roads, schools, healthcare and jobs may soon follow. As one local villager said after the event, “If our village truly becomes the first village of India, it will change our children’s future.