Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday, 8 June 2026, took to X to mark 12 years of welfare initiatives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the decade-plus of Garib Kalyan (welfare for the poor) has brought security, dignity, and self-respect to crores of deprived citizens across India.

Context

Posting under the hashtag #12YearsOfGaribKalyan, CM Gupta invoked vivid ground-level imagery — a mother receiving a pucca (permanent) home, an elderly person freed from medical anxiety, a woman liberated from cooking smoke, and a family receiving food grain — to illustrate how central welfare programmes have reached the last mile. In her words, 'अंतिम पंक्ति में खड़े व्यक्ति तक सम्मान और सुरक्षा पहुंचाने का यह संकल्प' ('the resolve to deliver dignity and security to the person standing in the last row') is the greatest strength of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India).

The post spans Delhi's slum settlements to remote villages across the country, framing welfare delivery as a national achievement that transcends geography.

Policy Backdrop

The four welfare pillars referenced in CM Gupta's post correspond to flagship central schemes. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, launched in 2015, has provided pucca homes to urban and rural poor households and has been extended beyond its original 2022 target. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, introduced in 2016, replaced traditional biomass fuels with LPG connections for women in below-poverty-line families — directly addressing the 'freedom from smoke' imagery in the post.

On healthcare, the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, rolled out in 2018, offers up to Rs 5 lakh health insurance cover per family for secondary and tertiary care, providing the relief from medical worry that CM Gupta highlighted. Food security is anchored by the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, launched in March 2020 and extended through multiple phases to supply free food grain to eligible households.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the schemes cited are urban slum dwellers — including those in Delhi's jhuggi (slum) clusters — rural poor households, women in low-income families, and elderly citizens dependent on public health infrastructure. By invoking Delhi's slums alongside distant villages, CM Gupta positions the national capital's marginalised population as co-beneficiaries of central welfare, a framing that carries political weight in a city where urban poverty and housing remain live issues.

The message also reinforces the BJP's broader narrative of 'saturation' — ensuring every eligible household is covered — as the operational metric of inclusive growth. This framing has been consistently deployed across both NDA-governed and opposition-governed states.

What's Next

The #12YearsOfGaribKalyan campaign signals coordinated BJP communications around the anniversary of PM Modi's first term, with state leaders amplifying the central message. In Delhi, attention will turn to state-level coordination on urban housing and health coverage, including progress on jhuggi rehabilitation under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Nationally, any announcements on scheme extensions or fresh targets in the next Union Budget and parliamentary discussions will test whether the Viksit Bharat 2047 welfare arc translates into new programmatic commitments.