Finance Minister Nirmana Sitharaman on Thursday made an announcement of ensuring relief package worth Rs 1.70 lakh crore to help the nation’s poor tackle the financial difficulties arising from Covid-19 outbreak.
Sitharaman states in her official statement to the media that the economic relief package will focus primarily on migrant labourers and daily wage labourers.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna (PMGKY) which is a part of the relief package, at least 80 crore poor people will be covered.
The government will spend Rs 45,000 crore for undertaking these measures.
All of this assistance has been covered under PMGKY scheme, Let’s see who all will benefit from it:
- She also announced that there will be Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for each healthcare worker for three months.
- Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health would be covered by a special insurance scheme. Any health professional who while treating Covid-19 patients meets with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh under the scheme.
List of Benefits Under Direct Benefit Transfer:
- 8.69 crore farmers will derive direct benefits from cash transfers under Kisan Samman Nidhi. Instalment of Rs 2,000 in the first week of April will be transferred
- MNREGA wages will also see a slight jump as approx. as Rs 2000 per worker on an average as additional income to help daily wage labourers.
- The finance minister also announced that three crore senior citizens, persons with disabilities (Divyangs) and widows will get a one-time additional amount of Rs 1,000 in two instalments
- On a whole, DBT cash transfers and benefits will broadly cover farmers, MNREGA workers, poor widows, pensioners and Divyangs, Jan Dhan Yojna accounts, BPL families under Ujjawala scheme, self-help women groups, EPFO organised workers, construction workers and district mineral workers.
- Sitharaman has also made an announcement for the welfare of building and construction workers, the central government has passed orders to states to use funds worth Rs 31,000 crore to provide relief.
