Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the two-day Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) workshop in New Delhi today on August 26, 2025. The event was organized by the Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs. On the occasion, he also launched the official logo of the programme. Shah emphasized that the initiative is designed to stop migration from border villages, ensure 100% access to central and state government schemes, and strengthen these villages as tools for national security.
Addressing the gathering, Shah said the programme reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of treating the last village of the country with the same importance as the first. He highlighted that the first villages marked under VVP would become key instruments in safeguarding India’s borders, while promoting holistic development, infrastructure, cultural preservation, and employment through tourism.
Shah urged Chief Secretaries, District Collectors, and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to look beyond the framework of the programme and identify additional measures to achieve its objectives. He emphasized coordinated efforts between central and state departments to make border villages strong, self-reliant, and secure.
Home Minister also outlined practical steps for implementation, including full saturation of government schemes, promotion of public facilities, and employment generation through cooperative institutions. Shah cited experiments such as homestays in border villages, coordinated tourism arrangements, and dairy cooperatives to provide livelihoods to local residents while meeting CAPF and army requirements. He emphasized that if employment and essential facilities are available locally, migration would naturally reduce.
Shah pointed to positive outcomes in Arunachal Pradesh, where the VVP has led to population growth in border villages, signalling a shift in rural demographics. Stressing the link between demographic changes and national security, he urged district authorities to monitor trends closely and not attribute population shifts to geographical challenges alone.
Shah also called for improved telecommunication, road connectivity, education, healthcare, and clean drinking water in border villages, while encouraging permanent infrastructure development, tree plantation, and creation of ponds under MNREGA. He underscored that the programme should go beyond being a government scheme and become a “spirit of administration.”
Union minister further asked authorities to address illegal religious encroachments within a 30-kilometre radius of the border, citing Gujarat as a model state in this effort.
Several dignitaries, including Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Home Secretary, Intelligence Bureau Director, Chief Secretaries of border states, and heads of security forces, attended the workshop.
Inaugurated the two-day workshop on the Vibrant Villages Program attended by officials of the border districts. The Modi government launched this program to prevent outward migration from the border villages and 100 percent saturation of schemes. Instructed the officials to evict… pic.twitter.com/LijXUuh9ma
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 26, 2025
