Govt makes Rs 35K cr DBT transfers to help vulnerable sections fight Covid-19
New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Around 39 crore beneficiaries have been provided with cash support through direct benefit transfer (DBT) amounting to Rs 34,800 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) till May 5, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Rs 1.7 lakh crore PMGKP package was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to protect the weaker and the most vulnerable sections of the society from the impact of the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
Under the package, the government announced free food grains and cash payments to women and poor senior citizens and farmers. Its swift implementation is being continuously monitored by the Central and state governments.
So far, 67.65 lakh tonnes of food grains have been lifted by 36 states/UTs for April and 30.16 lakh tonnes of free ration of food grains have been distributed by the states/UTs to 60.33 crore beneficiaries covered under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana.
Besides, 6.19 lakh tonnes of food grains have been distributed, covering 12.39 crore beneficiaries, by 22 states/UTs for May 2020.
Moreover, 2.42 lakh tonnes of pulses have also been dispatched to various states/UTs.
The Finance Ministry statement said that as of May 5, 4.82 crore free Ujjwala cylinders have been delivered, while a total of 5.09 crore cylinders have been booked. Under the package, the government has decided to distribute free cooking gas cylinders to Ujjwala beneficiaries for three months till June 30.
The plan to give advance benefit to EPFO subscribers has also been lapped up by 9.6 lakh members of EPFO, taking the benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance to Rs 2,985 crore so far.
The government has also released an amount of Rs 1,000 crore for the benefit of 78.74 lakh EPFO account holders where the government has decided to make the contribution of both employers and employees for a period of three months. A total of 44.97 lakh employees have benefitted so far and a total of Rs 698 crore has been transferred.
The government has also released the first instalment of PM-KISAN (Rs 16,394 crore) and transferred it to 8.19 crore identified farmers who got Rs 2,000 directly in their accounts.
A sum of Rs 10,025 crore has also been disbursed to 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders. Moreover, Rs 2,785 crore credited to 5.57 crore women Jan Dhan account holders as second instalment on May 5.
In addition, the government has also released Rs 1,405 crore to about 2.82 crore old age persons, widows and disabled persons. Each beneficiary received an ex-gratia cash of Rs 500 under the scheme as the first instalment. Another instalment of Rs 500 each will be paid during the month.
Also, 2.20 crore building and construction workers have so far received financial support amounting to Rs 3,492.57 crore.
With regard to MNREGS, an increased rate has been notified w.e.f. April 1. In the current financial year, 5.97 crore persons’ man-days of work have been generated. Further, Rs 21,032 crore has been released to the states to liquidate the pending dues of both wage and material.
The insurance scheme for health workers has also been operationalised by New India Assurance covering 22.12 Lakh health workers.
–IANS
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