MHA: Reverse migration reported in Arunachal Pradesh’s ‘Vibrant Villages’

NEW DELHI: Signalling early gains from the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP), the Union home ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that at least three villages in Arunachal Pradesh have witnessed reverse migration, with residents returning to border areas.

While no formal impact assessment of the programme has been conducted so far, minister of state for home Nityanand Rai said the Arunachal Pradesh government has reported people moving back to villages in the border districts of Kurung Kumey, Dibang Valley and Shi-Yomi.

The VVP aims to improve living conditions and generate sustainable livelihood opportunities in border villages, strengthen connectivity, curb trans-border crime and integrate border populations more closely with the national mainstream. The programme also seeks to prevent outmigration by encouraging residents to act as the “eyes and ears” of border guarding forces—an aspect considered critical for internal security.

Rai said the home ministry sanctioned projects worth Rs 3,431 crore under the first phase of VVP, with Arunachal Pradesh receiving the largest share—Rs 2,750 crore—for 2,082 projects. Across the five states covered in VVP-I, over 8,500 activities were undertaken, including awareness campaigns, service delivery camps, training and capacity-building programmes, health and veterinary camps, fairs, festivals and tourism promotion initiatives. Of these, 2,966 activities were held in Arunachal Pradesh, followed by Ladakh (2,221), Uttarakhand (1,836), Himachal Pradesh (1,016) and Sikkim (530).

Rai also informed the House that VVP-II was approved on April 2, 2025, for the comprehensive development of 1,954 identified villages along international borders across 15 states and two Union territories. An outlay of Rs 6,839 crore has been approved for the programme up to 2028–29.

The second phase covers border villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.