Context: Recently, Union Home Minister has launched the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP) in the border village of Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh.

About the Vibrant Villages Programme

• It aims to boost development in these villages to prevent migration, and thus boosting security in border villages.

• Type: centrally sponsored scheme

• Coverage: 2,967 villages in 19 districts in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh.

• It will not overlap with the scheme- Border Area Development Programme (BADP).

• It will promote social entrepreneurship, empowerment of youth and women through skill development.

• It intends to leverage tourism through promotion of local, cultural, traditional knowledge and heritage in the border areas.

• It encourages development of sustainable eco-agribusinesses on the basis of “One Village-One product” through community-based organisations, cooperatives, SHGs, NGOs etc.

• The district administration will prepare action plans with the help of Gram Panchayats for the identified villages to ensure 100% merger of Central and state schemes.

• Under this programme, the development work of villages will be done at 3 levels.

Vibrant Villages Programme vs Border Area Development Programme

• Unlike VVP which is strictly restricted to villages at Indo-China border, BADP covers all the villages at international border.

• BADP has coverage 16 States and 2 UTs whereas VVP covers 4 states and 1 UT.

Additional Fact

About Kibithoo Village

• Location: It is located in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh.

• It lies on the right bank of the Lohit River.

• Elevation: 1305 meters.

• The Meyors tribe form bulk of its population.

• It is one of the most remote Circle Headquarters in Arunachal Pradesh and the only Circle Headquarters facing the border of India and China.

• It has also been the witness of the war between India and China in the year 1962.

Key facts about Lohit River

• It is the farthest east tributary of Brahmaputra River.

• Origin: Tirap Phasi Ranges located in the Eastern Tibet.

• It enters India via Kibithoo village lying at the border post in Arunachal Pradesh.

• The river after entering the country travels through Mishmi Hills of Anjaw and then move towards Lohit district.

• The river travels all along from Tibet to Arunachal Pradesh for about two hundred kilometers, before merging in Brahmaputra River, Assam.