Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Monday, 8 June 2026, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's twelve years in office as a 'historic chapter' in India's development journey, citing large-scale welfare delivery under the Antyodaya (upliftment of the last person) principle as the defining achievement of the period.

Context

Posting under the hashtag #12YearsOfGaribKalyan, CM Sharma described the twelve-year span as dedicated to 'service, dedication and good governance' (seva, samarpan aur sushasan). He said the government had worked to bring 'comprehensive transformation' to the lives of the poor, marginalised and needy, ensuring that the benefits of development reach 'the person standing in the last row.'

The post enumerates three flagship infrastructure milestones: construction of more than 12 crore toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission; distribution of more than 10.5 crore LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana; and provision of more than 16 crore tap-water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Policy Backdrop

The schemes cited by CM Sharma span the full tenure of the Modi government. The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2 October 2014 with the goal of making India open-defecation-free. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, announced in May 2016, initially targeted five crore LPG connections for below-poverty-line families and has since been expanded in successive phases.

The Jal Jeevan Mission was unveiled in August 2019 with the ambition of piped water to every rural household. Alongside these, CM Sharma highlighted the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Direct Benefit Transfer, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana housing scheme, and Ayushman Bharat — the government-funded health assurance scheme rolled out in September 2018 offering up to Rs 5 lakh in annual coverage per family — as the 'strong cornerstones of poor empowerment.'

The ideological anchor for this cluster of programmes is the Deendayal Upadhyaya concept of Antyodaya, which frames state action around improving the condition of society's most vulnerable members. The Modi government has consistently invoked this principle to position welfare delivery as both a governance priority and a moral commitment.

Stakeholders and Impact

Rajasthan, governed by CM Bhajan Lal Sharma's BJP administration since December 2023, has reported high saturation levels for several of these centrally sponsored schemes. Rural women, below-poverty-line households and residents of water-stressed districts in the state stand among the primary beneficiaries of the Ujjwala and Jal Jeevan programmes.

The post frames the aggregate impact as touching 140 crore Indians, describing the ongoing journey as giving 'new energy' to the resolve of building a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) — the overarching national vision the Modi government has set for 2047, the centenary of independence.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to state-level progress reports on Jal Jeevan Mission saturation and any announcements on an Ujjwala Phase III target ahead of the next Union Budget. For Rajasthan, the convergence of these central programmes with the state's own welfare initiatives will be a key metric as the Sharma government approaches its mid-term mark. The Viksit Bharat roadmap implies continued scaling of direct-benefit infrastructure through 2047, making the twelve-year review a baseline for future accountability.