OUR CORRESPONDENT
More than 33 crore poor people have been directly given financial assistance of 31 thousand 235 crore rupees under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. The package was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 26th of March to protect the poor from the impact of the lockdown due to COVID-19. As part of the package, government announced free food grains and cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers.
Over 10 thousand crore rupees has been disbursed to 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders. A total of 1,405 crore rupees have been disbursed to about 2.82 crore old-age persons, widows and disabled persons. Under first instalment of PM-KISAN, an amount of 16,146 crore rupees have been transferred to eight crore farmers.
Around 162 crore rupees have been transferred to over 68 thousand establishments as Employees’ Provident Fund contribution, benefiting 10.6 lakh employees. A total of 2.17 crore building and construction workers have received financial support amounting to 3,497 crore rupees.
Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, free ration of food grains have been distributed to 39.27 crore beneficiaries. In all, 2.66 crore free Ujjwala cylinders have been delivered under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana