The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan launched by PM Modi in mid-June has been providing livelihood to migrant workers of 6 states who have returned to their native villages. These states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Within 6 weeks of its launch, a total of about 17 crore man days employment has been provided under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan. 13,240 crore rupees have been spent so far to implement the scehme at a large scale.
A large number of structures have been created under the Abhiyan. These include 62,532 water conservation structures, 1.74 lakh rural houses, 14,872 cattle sheds, 8,963 farm ponds, and 2,222 Community Sanitary Complexes. A total of 564 Gram Panchayats have been provided internet connectivity, and 16,124 candidates have been provided skill training through Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
The Abhiyaan of 125 days is being implemented on mission mode. The Abhiyan has resulted in 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. 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.
What is the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan?
As the lockdown was imposed at the end of March 2020 and later extended due to the prevailing scenario over the COVID-19 pandemic, lakhs of migrants were forced to go back to their native villages as they had no daily jobs. To ameliorate their condition and to provide them decent livlihood, PM Narendra Modi on June 20, launched the a massive rural public works scheme, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, in six states. The aim of the scheme was to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural areas, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. The Abhiyan also planned to help in the development of rural areas by creating local infrastructure.
Launching the Abhiyan, PM Modi had said that the government is making every effort so that people do not have to take loans from anyone while living in the villages during this corona pandemic crisis. He had said that the 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. Free ration and pulses have been provided to 80 crore poor people in three months, he had informed.
Prime Minister launched the campaign through remote from Telihar village in Khagaria District of Bihar in presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with other Chief Ministers and Union Rural Development Minister.
The campaign was operationalized through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras in the districts. The Abhiyaan is the result of 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.
