Mana Village - The 'First Indian Village'

Uttarakhand’s Mana village, which was earlier known as the last Indian village, will now be known as the ‘first Indian village’. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on Monday placed a signboard at the threshold of the border village proclaiming Mana's revamped status.

This comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in October last year, visited Mana and showed support for Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s remark that it was the first village in the country and every border village should be the first village. "The areas which were earlier ignored as the end of the country's borders, we started considering them as the beginning of the country's prosperity," PM Modi had said.

CM Dhami said the border areas of the country were becoming more vibrant under PM Modi's governance. “For this, the Vibrant Village programme was initiated,” Dhami said.

The Vibrant Villages Programme will assist in enhancing the standard of living for those residing in designated border communities. It aims to develop 2967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts bordering on the north, including Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the UT of Ladakh.

PM Modi had declared Mana the first Indian village

In a program organized in Mana on October 21, 2022, Prime Minister Modi stamped the Chief Minister calling Mana the first village of the country instead of the last village of India and said that now even for him every village situated on the borders is the first village of the country. It is only He had said, "Earlier the areas which were ignored considering the country's borders as the end, we started from there considering the country's prosperity to be the beginning." People come to Mana, digital technology is being used here.” Mana village is situated near Badrinath and devotees going for Badrinath darshan travel to Mana village for tourism. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the third decade of the 21st century as the decade of Uttarakhand.

“The border areas of the country are indeed more vibrant today”

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the border areas of the country are indeed becoming more vibrant today under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. For this, the Vibrant Village program has been started. He said that the Vibrant Village Program aims at developing border villages, improving the quality of life of villagers, harnessing the tourism potential by promoting local culture, traditional knowledge, and heritage, and promoting community-based organisations, cooperatives, and NGOs. The medium aims to develop eco-sustainable eco-agri-businesses on the concept of One Village One Product.

'One Village One Product Scheme'

CM Dhami said that the Vibrant Village Action Plans have been prepared by the district administration in collaboration with the gram panchayats. This will give wings to the possibilities of development here along with crops including herbs, apples, kidney beans, and products of these areas. Woolen garments are being manufactured in these areas under one village one product scheme. The Chief Minister said that this scheme will be helpful in preventing migration from border areas and our border residents will also be able to participate in the security of the country.