Morung Express News
Kohima | April 13
In view of the nationwide lockdown which has deeply affected the lives of the vulnerable and marginalised, the Center announced relief measures under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor specifically in the battle against the Corona virus pandemic.
The 1.70 lakh crore relief measures which were announced on March 26 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman covers a varied sector such as farmers, widows, senior citizens, health workers, construction workers, PwDs, etc.
Some of the special measures under the PMGKY includes the insurance cover of Rs 50 Lakh per health worker fighting COVID-19, provision of 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses for free every month for the next three months to 80 crore poor in India, Rs.500 per month for the next three months to be debited to 20 crore women with Jan Dhan account holders, increase in MNREGA wage from Rs. 182 to Rs 202 per day to benefit 13.62 crore families, ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 to 3 crore poor senior citizen, poor widows and poor disabled.
A press statement issued by the Press Information Bureau also states that the Government will front-load Rs 2,000 paid to farmers in the first week of April under the existing PM Kisan Yojana which will benefit 8.7 crore farmers. It also states that, “The Central Government has given orders to State Governments to use Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund to provide relief to Construction Workers”.
The major components of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package are as follows:
PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN PACKAGE
I. Insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 in Government Hospitals and Health Care Centres
• Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health workers will be covered by a Special Insurance Scheme.
• Any health professional, who while treating Covid-19 patients, meet with some accident, will be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh under the scheme.
• All government health centres, wellness centres and hospitals under the Centre as well as States would be covered within this scheme. An approximate of 22 lakh health workers will be provided insurance cover to fight this pandemic.
II. PM Garib Kalyan Yojana
• Believing that no one should suffer, especially any poor family, on account of non-availability of foodgrains due to disruption in the next three months, the GoI will be providing pulses free of cost to 80 crore individuals, i.e, roughly two-thirds of India’s population will be covered under this scheme.
• To ensure adequate availability of protein, 1 kg of pulses per family, would be provided according to regional preferences for next three months.
III. Benefit to farmers under PMGKY:
• The first instalment of Rs 2,000 due in 2020-21 will be front-loaded and paid in April 2020 itself under the PM KISAN Yojana.
• It would cover 8.7 crore farmers
IV. Cash transfers under PMGKY:
Help to Poor: A total of 20.40 crores PMJDY women account-holders would be given an ex-gratia of Rs 500 per month for next three months.
Gas cylinders: Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, gas cylinders, free of cost, would be provided to 8 crore poor families for the next three months.
Relief to low wage earners in organised sectors: Wage-earners below Rs 15,000 per month in businesses having less than 100 workers are at risk of losing their employment; Under this package, government proposes to pay 24 percent of their monthly wages into their PF accounts for next three months in order to prevent disruption in their employment.
Support for senior citizens (above 60 years), widows and Divyang: With over 3 crore aged widows and people in Divyang category who are vulnerable due to economic disruption caused by COVID-19, the government will ensure Rs 1,000 to tide over difficulties during next three months.
MNREGA: Under PMGKY, MNREGA wages will be increased by Rs 20 with effect from 1 April, 2020. Wage increase under MNREGA will provide an additional Rs 2,000 benefit annually to a worker. This will benefit approximately 13.62 crore families.
V. Self-Help groups:
A limit of collateral free lending will be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakhs to women organised through 63 lakhs Self Help Groups (SHGs) supporting 6.85 crore households.
VI. Other components of PM Garib Kalyan package
Organised sector: Employees’ Provident Fund Regulations will be amended to include Pandemic as the reason to allow non-refundable advance of 75 percent of the amount or three months of the wages, whichever is lower, from their accounts; Families of four crore workers registered under EPF can take benefit of this window.
Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund: Welfare Fund for Building and Other Constructions Workers has been created under a Central Government Act with 3.5 Crore registered workers in the Fund; The State Governments will be directed to utilise this fund to provide assistance and support to these workers to protect them against economic disruptions.
District Mineral Fund: The State Government will be directed to utilise the funds available under District Mineral Fund (DMF) for supplementing and augmenting facilities of medical testing, screening and other requirements in connection with preventing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic as well as treating the patients affected with this pandemic.
