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Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana

Launched on:

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) was launched by the Government of India and came into effect in 2016.
It allows individuals to deposit money that has not been taxed. Under the scheme, 50% of the untaxed amount must be paid.
The scheme was initially valid from December 2016 to March 2017.

Ministry involved:

The scheme is under administritative control of ministry of finance.
Finance minister of india – Nirmala Sitharaman.

Objectives :

The PMGKY was initially launched to bring back black money from tax evaders by offering them protection from government prosecution.
Under the PM garib kalyan yojana scheme, the govt. opened a window for tax evaders to disclose unaccounted income with a 49.9% tax rate.
The plan was to use the deposited amount for eliminating income inequality in the country.
With the scheme extension in 2020, the govt. announced relief packages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objective of the extension was to prevent employment disruption of low wage earning employees and support small establishments (with up to 100 employees).
Under the extension, the central govt. provided entire employee EPF contributions (12% of the total wages) and employers’ EPF & EPS contributions (12% of wages), totalling 24% of the monthly wages for three months.
Along with this, the govt. also announced relief packages to support the poor through various schemes.
A relief package worth Rs. 1.70 lakh crore was announced by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman under the PMGKY.
The scheme was initially planned for three months, but it was extended until November 2020.

Benefits:

Insurance cover of Rs 50 Lakh per health worker fighting COVID-19 to be provided under Insurance Scheme – extended for one year effective April 2021
80 crore poor people will to get 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses for free every month for the next three months – extended to November 2021 (initially, the package was extended to May & June 2021; originally, it was extended to November 2020)
20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders to get Rs 500 per month for next three months
Increase in MNREGA wage to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 13.62 crore families
An ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 to 3 crore poor senior citizen, poor widows and poor disabled
Government to front-load Rs 2,000 paid to farmers in first week of April 2020 under existing PM Kisan Yojana to benefit 8.7 crore farmers
Central Government has given orders to State Governments to use Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund to provide relief to Construction Workers

Policy Details

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2020 aims to provide relief to different sections of the society such as migrant workers, farmers, urban & rural poor and women. The govt. identified sections that were hit the hardest amid COVID-induced economic disruptions. To focus on each section, the govt. launched several schemes under the PMGKY. The following three schemes are noteworthy:

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana – Provision of food grains to the poor (rural & urban) through the PDS
Cash Transfer Scheme – Rs. 500 each to women who have Jan Dhan accounts
Insurance Scheme – Medical insurance to health workers including doctors, nurses, Asha workers, paramedics and sanitation workers

Components of PMGKY
The following are components of the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana package:

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
This is the worlds’ largest food security scheme launched by the Government of India to combat COVID-induced economic disruptions. The scheme aims to ensure food safety (of the poor) by providing food items including 5 kg rice/wheat per individual and 1 kg gram per family every month for free.

All beneficiaries of the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority household (PHH) ration cardholders are eligible for food grains under this scheme. Key features of the scheme include the following:

80 crore individuals, i.e., ~66% of India’s population was covered under this scheme
Each one of them received double of their current entitlement. This additionality was free of cost.
To ensure availability of protein, 1 kg of pulses were provided to families (as per regional preferences)

Cash Transfer Scheme

Under this, a total of 20.40 crore PMJDY women accountholders received a monthly cash transfer of Rs. 500. In the first three months of the scheme, over Rs. 31,000 crore was deposited in the bank accounts of these women accountholders.

Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19

Under this scheme, the govt. has insured health professionals treating COVID-19 patients. In case of accidental death of these healthcare professionals, the family would be compensated with an amount of Rs. 50 lakh. Accidental death includes death due to COVID or accident while engaging with COVID-related duty. The premium of this scheme is being borne by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Public healthcare providers including community health workers, private hospital staff and retired /volunteers/local urban bodies/contracted/daily wage/ad-hoc/outsourced staff requisitioned by the states/central hospitals/autonomous hospitals of the Central/States/UTs, AIIMS and INIs/hospital of the Central Ministries are included in this scheme.
Apart from these healthcare professionals, employees such as ’safai karamcharis’, ward boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors & specialists and other health workers were also covered.
The scheme covered ~22 lakh health workers who are fighting the pandemic.

Corpus:

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana / Package is a comprehensive relief package of Rs 1.70 Lakh Crore Yojana for the poor to help them fight the battle against Corona Virus.
This was announced in March 2020, to reach out to the poorest of the poor, with food and money in hands, so that they do not face difficulties in buying essential supplies and meeting essential needs.