India scaling new heights in defence production: PM; urges youth for nation-building via Viksit Vibrant Village Programme
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged youth to contribute to nation-building by linking with border villages under the Viksit Vibrant Village Programme 2026.

- The programme’s youth component focuses on visiting border villages to help young people understand rural and border realities and link with local needs.
- Border-village visits are meant to expose youth to local culture and border community aspirations, and to highlight the role and dedication of India’s armed forces.
- Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) is described as a youth platform that brings large numbers of young citizens into national development initiatives.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi contrasted how border villages were earlier treated as “last villages” with the current aim of treating border villages as “first villages” in national development.
What happened (Modi’s remarks on youth nation-building and border villages)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in “Mann Ki Baat”, urged young Indians to contribute constructively to nation-building by connecting with border villages under the Viksit Vibrant Village Programme 2026. Modi expressed confidence that youth can shape India’s future when youth engage directly with national challenges and opportunities.
The remarks highlighted youth participation across India. Modi interacted with participants and welcomed youth representatives from around 250 districts. Modi also praised the expanding reach of the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) platform, which the remarks describe as involving crores of young citizens in national development initiatives.
UPSC can frame this as how youth participation is operationalised through exposure to rural and border realities and then scaled through a youth platform. Focus on the stated inputs (selection size, district spread, border states) and the intended public-service outcome framing (border villages as “first villages”).
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