Overview

• At a two-day Vibrant Villages Programme workshop in New Delhi on August 26, the home minister unveiled the programme’s logo and set Phase 2 implementation priorities.
• He directed district collectors to clear illegal religious encroachments within at least 30 kilometres of international borders, citing Gujarat’s clearance drive as a model.
• Shah instructed chief secretaries, district magistrates, CAPFs and the Army to coordinate beyond routine tasks and to achieve 100% saturation of government schemes in border villages.
• He said pilots in Arunachal Pradesh show population increases in some frontier hamlets and urged security forces to source daily supplies locally to generate employment.
• Phase two, announced in April with a ₹6,839 crore outlay through FY2028–29, seeks to curb out-migration and develop border settlements as assets for national security.