Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojan

• 80 crore Indians are being benefited through the Rs 1.70 lakh crore PM Garib Kalyan Package.
• Women who hold Jan Dhan Accounts get Rs.500 deposited into their accounts.
• The daily wage of MGNREGA workers has been increased to Rs.202 from Rs.182. 
• Insurance benefit of Rs. 50 lakhs to all health workers.
• An additional amount of Rs.1000 shall be deposited into the accounts of Senior citizens and widows till November 2020.
• PM Kisan Samman Nidhi launched to give a fixed income of Rs. 6000 p.a to all small and marginalised farmers.

Benefits of PM Garib Kalyan Yojana

Let us have a detailed look at some of these benefits:

Food Subsidy Benefits: Approximately 80 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana will receive an additional 5 kg of rice or wheat per person, and each household will receive 1 kg of preferred pulse over the next three months. It will be distributed in two instalments, in addition to the 5 kg of rice or wheat per person per month.

Direct Benefit Transfer: The subsequent sections included eight relevant notices:

Benefits to farmers: Rs 2,000 (on top of Rs 6,000) will be provided as a front-load under the Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to offer a benefit to 8.69 crore farmers. The money is to be credited to the bank account of the farmer by April 1st week.

MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) Workers: Wage hike of Rs 20 per day (from Rs 182 to Rs 202) was also announced for 100 days. This results in a net raise of Rs. 2,000 for five crore households.

Under-privileged senior citizens / widows / Divyang: 3 crore poor senior citizens, widows and Divyang (disabled persons) will earn an ex-gratia of Rs 1,000. They'll receive the amount over the next three months in two instalments.

Benefits to registered women under the Jan Dhan Yojana Scheme: For the next three months, women with Jan Dhan accounts will get an ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 per month. Around 20 Crore women will benefit from this move.

Women / household registered under the Ujjwala Scheme: For the next three months, the 8.3 crore BPL families holding LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, will receive free LPG cylinders.

Self-help groups (NRLM): 63 lakh women SHGs, under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), covering seven crore households, will now benefit from Rs. 20 lakh collateral-free loans instead of Rs. 10 lakh loans.

Organized Sector Employees Via EPFO: Under PMGKY, the Government of India will pay the EPF share for both employer and employee for the next three months (12% each totalling 24%). The change would gain about 80 lakh workers and 4 lakh establishments. This benefit is valid for all those institutions with up to 100 workers and where 90% of those workers receive a wage of less than Rs. 15,000 a month.

EPF scheme regulations have been amended to enable 75% of the fund's non-refundable advance or three-month pay, whichever is lower. This amendment would gain approximately 4.8 crores of registered EPFO employees.

Building Workers: The Rs. 31,000 crore healthcare fund will now be applicable to 3.5 crore enrolled housing and maintenance workers. The central government has instructed the governments of the state to use the fund to protect these workers.

District Mineral Fund: The central government has advised the state governments to use the amount available for medical research, monitoring and other provisions in the District Mineral Fund to combat COVID-19.

Insurance scheme for Frontline Health Workers in the fight against COVID-19

This is one of the flagship programmes under the scheme. A Special Insurance Program will include safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, ASHA staff, surgeons, mechanics, doctors and professionals, and other health employees.

Any health care worker, who experiences any accident or injury while treating Covid-19 patients, will then be credited with a sum of Rs. 50 lakhs under the program.

Approximately, 22 lakh health staff will be given medical protection under this system to combat this pandemic in all Government Health Centres, Wellness Centres and all State and Central Government hospitals.

How to avail the benefits under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana?

There is no specific process to apply for benefits under the scheme. All eligible beneficiaries are screened and given the benefit by the respective state governments. Beneficiaries should hold a Jan Dhan Account in any bank that has been authorized by the Reserve Bank of India. The screening is done based on the income documents they submit while opening the account and the benefits are transferred to their accounts directly.

FAQs on PM Garib Kalyan Yojana

End Note

The PM Garib Kalyan Scheme aims at benefitting crores of Indians who are suffering due to the socio-economic issues caused by this Corona Pandemic. By distributing free food grains, subsidised loans, EPFO advances and cash benefits, the Government has been assisting the underprivileged citizens to recover from this situation.