Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a massive rural public works scheme, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, in six states. Mr. Modi said that this Abhiyan will help in the development of rural areas by providing livelihood opportunities to the migrant workers and rural Indians. Mr Modi also interacted with people who returned to their villages after the lockdown.
The Prime Minister said, today is a historic day as a mega campaign has been launched for the welfare of the rural poor and their employment. He said, the campaign is dedicated to the brothers and sisters of the working class, for the youth who are living in the villages.
The Prime Minister said, the government is making every effort during the time of the Corona pandemic, so that people do not have to take loans from anyone while living in the villages. He said, the self-reliant India campaign Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan started with the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and within a few weeks, about 1.75 lakh crore rupees were spent on the scheme. He said, in three months, work has been done to provide ration and pulses to 80 crore poor. The Prime Minister said, the mapping of the skills of all labourers has also been started. He said, the skills of the working class will be identified in the village itself, so that they can get employment according to their skills.
The Prime Minister launched the campaign through video conference from Telihar village in Khagaria District of Bihar in presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with other Chief Ministers and Union Ministers. The campaign will be operationalized through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras in the districts. The Abhiyaan is being introduced through the coordinated effort of 12 different Ministries and Departments namely Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture.
The campaign of 125 days will be implemented on mission mode. It will involve intensified and focused implementation of 25 different types of works to provide employment to the migrant workers and create infrastructure in the rural regions of the country. The scheme entails a resource envelope of 50 thousand crore rupees. A total of 116 Districts with more than 25 thousand returnee migrant workers across six States, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha have been chosen for the campaign which includes 27 Aspirational Districts. These districts are estimated to cover about two third of such migrant workers.
