Lok Sabha Question No. 4364 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-29
Subject: Citizens in BPL Category
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Locket Chatterjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4364

ANSWERED ON 29/03/2022

## CITIZENS IN BPL CATEGORY

## 4364.   MS. LOCKET CHATTERJEE:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any plan for the citizens who have fallen into the category of Below Poverty Line (BPL) because of Covid Pandemic; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the action taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a)& (b): The Government has taken several initiatives to mitigate the hardship faced by the citizens  of  the  country  because  of  Covid  pandemic.  Ministry  of  Finance,  Government  of India,  on  26th  March  2020,  announced  relief  package  under  Pradhan  Mantri  Garib  Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to help the poor fight the battle against Corona virus. The relief package announced, inter-alia, included:

- i. One-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 per month for 3 months (April, May and  June  2020)  to  women  Jan  Dhan  Account  holders.  In  pursuance  of  this, Ministry  of  Rural  Development  (MoRD)  implemented  the  scheme  of  relief package  of  one-time  ex-gratia  payment  of  Rs  500  per  month  for  3  months (April,  May  and  June  2020)  to  women  Jan  Dhan  Account  holders  through various Banks. A total of Rs.30,944.90 crores has been released towards direct benefit  transfers  to  20.64  crore  women  beneficiaries  of  Jan  Dhan  account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) @ Rs. 500/- each for three months.
- ii. Ex-gratia of Rs.1000/- in two installments (Rs.500/- each) to the existing old age, widow and disabled/Divyangjan beneficiaries of the schemes of National Social  Assistance  Programme  (NSAP).  A total  of  Rs.2814.50  crore  as  exgratia  was  released  in  two  tranches  in  April  and  May,  2020  to  States/UTs under PMGKY for the existing 282 lakh beneficiaries of NSAP schemes.
- iii. Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act  (Mahatma Gandhi  NREGA)  wage  rate  revised  w.e.f.  1.4.2020  with  average  wage  rate increase of Rs.20 over the wage rate of 2019-20.

Apart  from  this,  Government  of  India  launched  the  Garib  Kalyan  Rojgar  Abhiyaan (GKRA) on 20 th June, 2020 for a period of 125 days to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for returnee migrant workers and similarly affected citizens in rural area, in the  wake  of  COVID-19  pandemic.  The  objectives  of  the  Abhiyaan  were  to  provide immediate  employment  &  livelihood  opportunities  to  the  distressed,  to  saturate  the villages with public infrastructure and creation of livelihood assets to boost the income generation activities and enhance long term livelihood opportunities by giving focus on

25 works in 116 selected districts across 6 States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The  list of these districts is available at http://gkra.nic.in.   The  Abhiyaan  is  a  convergent  effort  of  ongoing  25  schemes  of  12 Ministries/  Department  of  Central  Government.  Under  GKRA,  a  total  of  50.78  crore persondays employment has been generated during the Abhiyaan with a total expenditure of Rs. 39,293 crore.

Other  major  steps  taken  by  the  MoRD  under  various  schemes  during  the  outbreak  of Covid-19 are listed below. All these programmes of MoRD are being implemented for socio- economic development in rural areas.

- i. Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  which  is  a  demand  driven  wage  employment programme, provides at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment  in  every  financial  year  to  every  rural  household  whose  adult members  volunteer  to  do  unskilled  manual  work.  During  the  previous  FY 2020-21,  389.17  crore  person  days  were  generated  and  in  current  financial year 2021-22 (as on 24.03.22), 350.63 crore person-days have been generated under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
- ii. PMAY-G  aims  to provide assistance to eligible rural households for construction of 2.95 Crore Pucca houses with basic amenities to achieve the objective  of  'Housing  for  All'  in  rural  areas.  The  PMAY-G  provides assistance  to  eligible  rural  households  on  the  basis  of  the  Socio  Economic Caste  Census  (SECC), which was conducted in 2011 and the Awaas+  2018 survey  (conducted  to  identify  eligible  households  claiming  to  be  left  out  of SECC  2011). In  the  FY  2020-21,  a  total  of  33,99,511  houses  had  been completed and during the current FY 2021-22 (as on 21.03.2022), a total of 38,76,243 houses have been completed under PMAY-G.
- iii. PMGSY was launched in the year 2000 as a measure towards alleviation of poverty  in  rural  areas  by  providing  access  to  basic  services  to  the  rural population  by  providing  them  good  quality  roads.  During  the  period  of COVID, states were directed to accelerate the pace of works so as to create more employment opportunities and boost rural economy. Further, since 1st April  2020  till  17 th March  2022,  a  total  of  66,980  km  roads  have  been sanctioned under various interventions/ verticals of PMGSY and  68,929 km have been completed.
- iv. Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana  -  National  Rural  Livelihoods  Mission  (DAYNRLM) aims to reduce poverty by organizing the rural poor women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them to take economic  activities  till  they  attain  appreciable  increase  in  income  over  a period of time. During the FY 2020-21, 6.02 lakhs SHGs have been promoted and an amount of Rs. 73777.60 crores of bank loan have been disbursed to SHGs. During the current FY 2021-22 (till February 2022), a total of 5.43 lakh SHGs have been promoted and an amount of Rs. 100019.48 crores bank loan have been disbursed to SHGs.
- v. There  are  two  skill  development  programmes  for  rural  poor  youth  under DAY-NRLM, namely,  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen  Kaushalya  Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs).  Both these schemes are aimed at increasing employability of rural poor youth either for wage or self-employment. Under DDU-GKY, a total of 38289 candidates had  been  trained  and  49563  candidates  had  been  placed  in  jobs  during  FY 2020-21 and during the current FY 2021-22 (as on 28.02.22), a total of 52060
6. candidates have been trained and 24178 candidates have been placed in jobs. Under  RSETI,  a  total  of  255141  candidates  had  been  trained  and  185234 candidates had been settled during the Financial Year 2020-21 and during the current FY 2021-22 (as on 28.02.22), a total of 274960 candidates have been trained and 203785 candidates have been settled.
- vi. NSAP is a social security/social welfare programme which provides financial assistance  to  old  aged,  widows,  and  disabled  persons  belonging  to  Below Poverty  Line (BPL) and fulfilling eligibility criteria prescribed in the NSAP guidelines.  Financial assistance is provided ranging from Rs.200/- to Rs.500/per month and in the case of death of the breadwinner, a lump sum assistance of Rs.20,000/- is given to the bereaved family. During the FY 2020-21, 296 lakh beneficiaries have been covered and an amount of Rs.8686.60 crore have been released to States/UTs and for the current FY 2021-22( as on 16.03.2022) 298  lakh  beneficiaries  have  been  covered  and  Rs.6455.95  crore  have  been released to States/UTs for the implementation of NSAP schemes.

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