E-Paper
Centre Covid relief: 323 mn poor get cash aid under scheme
The finance minister last month announced financial assistance of ₹500 per month to 200 million women Jan Dhan account-holders for three months to help tide over household expenditure needs without disruption.
The Union government has disbursed ₹29,352 crore in the bank accounts of 323.2 million beneficiaries since the March 26 launch by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman of a ₹1.7 lakh crore welfare scheme aimed at protecting the poor from the impact of national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), according to an official statement on Monday.
The welfare package under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) has already covered financial support to 198.6 million women under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the finance ministry statement said, adding that this covering 97% of PMJDY’s women account-holders and amounted to ₹9,930 crore.
PMJDY is a national mission for financial inclusion, launched in August 2014, to provide universal access to banking facilities to the poor. According to the PMJDY website, there were nearly 381 million accounts under the scheme with total deposits of ₹1,19,707 crore as on April 1, 2020.
The finance minister last month announced financial assistance of ₹500 per month to 200 million women Jan Dhan account-holders for three months to help tide over household expenditure needs without disruption.
The 21-day national lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came into effect on March 25.
“The robust digital payment infrastructure has enabled the prompt transfer of cash payment under the PMGKY. About 93% of the 8 crore (80 million) farmers have already received ₹14,846 crore cash assistance under the PM-KISAN,” a finance ministry spokesperson said, citing the latest figures.
While launching the ₹1.7 lakh crore package, Sitharaman announced that the ₹2,000 installment of PM-KISAN would be “front-loaded” and given immediately. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched in December 2018, provides cash support of ₹6,000 per year to all farmer families across the country in three equal instalments.
The spokesperson said the government has transferred ₹1,405 crore in the bank accounts of 28.2 million widows, senior citizens and persons with disability as on April 13, 2020. The welfare package had promised a ₹1,000 ex-gratia amount to economically backward widows, citizens above the age of 60, and the physically challenged, under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). The amount is to be given in two instalments. NSAP is centrally sponsored scheme that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions.
The government has so far disbursed financial support to 21.7 million building and other construction workers, amounting to ₹3,071 crore, the spokesperson added.
Sitharaman said last month that a ₹31,000 crore fund for the welfare of construction and other workers already existed, and that 35 million workers were registered under it. “We have given directions to state governments to utilise the funds to provide assistance to construction workers to protect them,” she said.
Vijay Kumar Gupta, former Central Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said, “Direct financial assistance to millions of poor people in this hour of crisis is appreciable and it could be possible because of the government’s financial inclusion [Jan-Dhan] mission, else middlemen would have siphoned off most of the money mid-way. But, this is not enough for a country of India’s size and the government must offer more such packages to ensure sustenance of all poor, particularly daily wagers and migrant workers who are jobless.”
