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Govt provided direct cash benefits of ₹34,800 crore to 390 million poor till May 5
The package, equivalent to around 0.8% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), included the distribution of food and cash to the poor for three months starting in April.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has so far provided cash assistance of ₹34,800 crore to the poor since it announced the ₹1.7 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on March 26 to alleviate distress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
The package, equivalent to around 0.8% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), included the distribution of food and cash to the poor for three months starting in April. Besides direct financial assistance, PMGKY, targeted at 390 million beneficiaries, included free distribution of wheat, rice, pulses and cooking gas cylinders.
In a statement, the finance ministry said the government was front-loading payment of ₹16,394 crore towards the first instalment of payment to 81.9 million beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KiSAN) scheme
PM-KISAN, launched on December 1, 2018, provides cash support of ₹6,000 per year to farming households across the country in three equal instalments. While launching the ₹1.7 lakh crore relief package on March 26, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the ₹2,000 first instalment under PM-KISAN this fiscal year would be front-loaded and paid immediately.
The finance ministry statement said ₹10,025 crore had already been credited to over 200 million (98.33%) women account holders under the Jan Dhan Yojana; it was towards the first instalment of three monthly payments of Rs.500 to women to tide over difficulties caused by Covid-19 and its aftermath. The government has also credited Rs. 2,785 crore to 55.7 million women Jan Dhan account holders in the second instalment as of May 5, it said.
The finance ministry said ₹1,405 crore has been disbursed to about 28.2 million elderly, widows and disabled. On March 26, Sitharaman had promised an ex-gratia payment of ₹1,000 to 30 million poor senior citizens, widows and divyang (disabled) to cope with economic disruptions caused by Covid-19.
About 22 million building and construction workers have received financial support amounting to ₹3,492.57 crore, the statement said.
Besides cash transfers, the government has already distributed foodgrains to millions of poor, it said. The PMJKY promised 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses free every month till June this year to 800 million poor.
According to the finance ministry statement, 960,000 members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had availed of the benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advances from their EPFO accounts amounting to Rs. 2,985 crore. The government also transferred 24% EPF contribution to nearly 4.5 million employees’ accounts amounting to ₹698 crore, it said.
To help low-wage earners in the organised sector, the government on March 26 announced that it would pay 24% of monthly wages into the PF accounts of people who earn below ₹15,000 per month, employed in businesses having less than 100 workers, for the next three months.
“This would prevent disruption in their employment,” Sitharaman had said while announcing the welfare package.
The government has also notified the increased wage rate under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) effective from April 1, 2020, the finance ministry said.
Sitharaman had raised wages for MNREGA workers under the PMJKY package by ₹20 a day with effect from 1 April to provide an additional ₹2,000 benefit a year to workers.
PMGKY had also promised insurance cover of ₹50 lakh per health worker engaged in the fight against Covid-19. “Insurance Scheme for Health workers in Government Hospitals and Health Care Centres has been operationalised by New India Assurance covering 22.12 Lakh health workers,” the finance ministry said.
