About Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, a huge human initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, the Government of India has launched this project to ensure social security and health security of the people of India during the corona environment, through this scheme The India Govt has ensured of providing Social Security to the poor people of India (whose main income is based on their daily work) and all health workers who are constantly fighting against the corona,
A total budget of Rs 1.73 lakh crore has been presented by the Government of India for this project
Objective
- The main objective of launching this scheme is to help to manage the household of the rural people and overall rural development in this corona Situation
- To provide employment to the workers returning from different states to their respective states in this Corona Environment
- To make the villages self-reliant
- Improving the economic Structure of the villages
- Providing life protection insurance to health workers who are constantly fighting against the corona
Benefits
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a package of Rs 1.70 lakh crore under the project soon after the announcement of the national lockdown.
The benefits of the package are divided into two parts. That’s are:
- Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
- Food security
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
The benefits under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) category under this scheme are given below
- Benefits to farmers: An additional Rs 2,000 will be paid to the farmers by the government under the Kisan Samman Nidhi programme.
- Increase in daily wages: The wages of workers under daily work have been increased from Rs. 182 to Rs. 202 per day for the next 100 days of MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). It is expected to benefit 13.62 crore families.
- Ex-gratia of Rs 1,000: The government will provide ex-gratia (grant) of Rs 1,000 for three months to 3 crore poor senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and widows.
- LPG connection under the Ujjwala scheme: 8.3 crore BPL families holding LPG cylinders will be provided free of cost for the next three months.
- Ex-gratia for women account holders: Under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, 20 crore women account holders will get an ex-gratia amount of Rs 500 for the next three months.
- Interest-free loans: Under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), 63 lakh women self-help groups (SHGs) will be able to get interest-free loans up to Rs 20 lakh.
- EPF benefits for workers in the organized sector: For the next three months, the government will pay EPF contributions (12% each) for both employers and employees. In businesses that have less than 100 employees, wage-earners below Rs 15,000 per month will be given 24 percent of their monthly wages in their PF account. The government has also amended the EPFO’s regulations to allow employees to pay non-refundable, or 75% of the total funds, in advance of three months’ salary. And each eligible member will be paid double of their current entitlement for the next three months under the scheme. This addition will be free
- Welfare and utilization of District Mineral Funds: The government has directed the state governments to use the welfare fund and the district mineral fund. The welfare fund is being asked to protect the construction workers, the district mineral fund will be used for screening, testing, and other requirements to fight COVID-19.
- Healthcare life protection: Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health workers will be given a cover of Rs 50 lakh. 22 lakh health workers will be covered under this new scheme.
Since the launch of this scheme, Rs 50,000 crore has been spent to provide employment opportunities to the poor under the scheme.
The expansion of the project will cost the government an additional Rs 90,000 crore. If the amount spent on the scheme in the previous three months is added together, the total expenditure for the scheme till November will be around Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Food Security
Pradhanmantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
Through the launch of this project, the Government of India has decided not to allow anyone, especially a poor family, to be harmed/Suffered due to the unavailability of food grains due to the disruption of COVID-19
- The project will cover 80 Cr people or about two-thirds of India’s population.
- Under this scheme, more than 80 crore people have been provided with five kg of free wheat/rice/ration per head along with free 1 kg of chicks per household per month, the scheme has been extended till November 2021 (initially, the package extended May and June 2021; basically, it was extended from November 2020)