The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has put up a signboard at the entrance of Uttarakhand’s Mana village reading ‘India’s first village.’ 

 

Mana, a village located at the Indo-China Border in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, earlier that is recognized as the Last Indian Village, will now be known as the ‘First Indian Village.’

 

The development comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last visit to Mana on October 2022. The PM then appealed to term the border villages as the first and not as the last village of the country.

 

The ‘Vibrant Village’ scheme, which found mention in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech in Parliament, aims to develop the villages in 46 border blocks across 19 districts, 4 state’s and 1 Union Territory- Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Ladakh (UT) on the northern border.

 

CM of Uttarakhand said the ‘Vibrant Village’ programme aims at developing border villages, improving the quality of life of the villagers, harnessing the tourism potential by promoting local culture, traditional knowledge, and heritage, and promoting community-based organizations, cooperatives, and NGOs.

 

“The programme is also aimed at developing the eco-sustainable eco-agri-businesses on the concept of ‘One Village, One Product,” CM Pushkar Singh Dhami added.