Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana | Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PM Garib Kalyan Yojana on Thursday through virtual means. He also interacted with the five beneficiaries of the Bhishampur village in Varanasi.
PM Modi launched the free food distribution scheme Anna Utsav Programme at 1 pm today. He directly interacted with the five beneficiaries of Varanasi through video conferencing. Badami, Chabila, Laxman, Hiraman, and Sara from Bhishampur village in the Sewapuri block are the five beneficiaries of the scheme. They shared their experiences with the Prime Minister.
What is Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana?
In 2020, the world was affected by Covid-19 (Corona Virus). The pandemic forced governments around the globe to enforce lockdowns as a safety measure. Due to the lockdown, the economy was hit badly. Many people lost their lives while many lost their jobs and livelihoods.
To save the poor people from the harsh effect of the lockdown. The government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana is a comprehensive relief package. This package is worth INR 1.70 lakh crores of rupees. The package was announced to help the poor fight the battle against the Corona Virus. This package was announced in March 2020. This package aims to reach the poor to help them with food and money so that they do not face difficulties in buying essential supplies and meeting their daily needs.
The package included the benefits listed below from 30th March 2020:
- Insurance Scheme: An Insurance cover of INR 50 lakhs is provided for every health worker who’s fighting Corona Virus.
- Free Food Grains: 5 kg of wheat/rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses have been provided for free to 80 crore people in the country. (Extended till November 2021)
- Cash Benefit: INR 500 will be transferred directly into the Jan Dhan bank account of around 20 crore women for the next three months.
- MNREGA Wage Increment: 13.62 crore families will be benefited from the MNREGA wage increment from INR 182/day to 202/day.
- Cash Benefit: 3 crore poor senior citizens, poor widows, and poor disabled citizens have been provided with an Ex-Gratia of INR 1000.
- PM Kisan Yojana: An amount of INR 2000 will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the 8.7 crore Farmers in the first week of April 2020.
- Relief For Construction Workers: The state government has been ordered by the Central government to use the Building and Construction workers welfare fund to provide relief to construction workers.
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Insurance Scheme for Health Workers
The health workers are covered by the insurance scheme announced by the government of India. The original validity of the scheme was of 90 days from 30 March 2020. Now, the government has extended the validity to one year till April 20, 2021. This insurance scheme for health workers covers both losses of life due to COVID-19 and accidental death due to covid related duties.
An amount of 50 lakhs will be paid to the claimant of the insured person in case of any eventuality. Under this scheme, all the government health centres, wellness centres, and hospitals of central and state are covered. Under this scheme approximately, 22 lakh health workers would be provided insurance covers to fight COVID-19. A new mechanism has been announced by the government of India for verifying the claims by the District Collector and insurance companies to approve and settle claims within 48 hours of application.
Main highlights of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana
The main motive behind Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana is to eliminate the food crisis. The government has made sure that nobody, especially the poor people suffers from the shortage of food grains due to COVID-19.
- Around two-thirds of the population of India i.e. 80 crores, people have benefitted under this scheme.
- Each individual will receive double the benefits of their current entitlement over the next 3 months.
- The additional benefits are free of cost.