Approval of Vibrant Villages Programme-II (VVP-II) for border village development

What happened: VVP-II approval for border village development

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) approved Vibrant Villages Programme-II (VVP-II) for comprehensive development of select border villages. The government approved VVP-II as a Central Sector Scheme to address area-specific challenges in villages close to International Land Borders (ILBs) that are not covered under the earlier VVP-I programme for the northern border.

Key parameters announced in the Rajya Sabha reply by the Minister of State in MHA, Shri Nityanand Rai, include:

Approval date: 02 April 2025Scheme type: Central Sector SchemeTotal outlay: ₹6839 crores till Financial Year 2028-29Coverage: 1954 select villages across 334 blocksBorder focus: ILBs other than the northern border already covered under VVP-IStates/UTs covered: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir (UT), Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

What existed earlier: VVP-I for the northern border

Before VVP-II, the Central Government approved Vibrant Villages Programme-I (VVP-I) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for comprehensive development of select villages abutting the northern border. VVP-I was approved on 15 February 2023.