Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra

Context (PIB | IE | TH): During his two-day visit to Varanasi, the Prime Minister will participate in the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, laying the foundation stone for 37 projects worth Rs 19,155 crore.
Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is the largest-ever outreach initiative of the Government of India.

It will cover 2.60 lakh Gram Panchayats and 4000+ urban local bodies nationwide by January 25, 2024.
It will promote and monitor flagship central schemes like Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima, PM SVANidhi, etc.
It was launched on November 15 from Khunti, Jharkhand.
People can take the ‘Sankalp’ (pledge) by filling out a form on the scheme’s website to download a certificate.

Aims of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra

It aims to reach out to eligible but unreached beneficiaries.
Yatra involves the dissemination of information.
“Meri Kahani Meri Jubani” initiative envisages raising awareness through personal stories.
It targets the enrollment of potential beneficiaries of central schemes.

Politicisation of the bureaucracy and the military: Joint Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Secretaries will be appointed nodal officers for the roadshow. The Ministry of Defence is setting up ‘selfie points’ at prominent locations.
Outreach is limited to nine years: The outreach is only about achievements of the last nine years that correspond to the two terms of the ruling government that began in 2014.
Partisan: The directives force bureaucrats into partisan roles to further the ruling party’s interests.

India’s constitutional governance scheme envisages the separation of power among the three arms of the state: the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature.
There is also a line of separation between the bureaucracy and the military from the political executive, and thus, they need to be insulated from partisan politics.