New Delhi: To address the growing livelihood concerns of lakhs of migrant workers who returned home since the nationwide lockdown was announced on 25 March, the Narendra Modi government Thursday said it will launch the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, a massive public works campaign, to provide them work in 25 government schemes.
Prime Minister Modi will launch the campaign on 20 June from Khagaria district in Bihar, which goes to polls later this year.
The BJP has already started its campaign with Home Minister Amit Shah holding a virtual rally in the state on 7 June.
The total outlay of the 25 schemes, all of which are part of the budget and allocated funds, is Rs 50,000 crore.
Giving details of the scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday said in a press conference that the campaign will run for 125 days and will cover 116 districts across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. These are states where two-thirds of migrant workers have returned since the lockdown started.
Each of the districts included are those where more than 25,000 migrant workers have returned.
Sitharaman said that the Centre, along with the state governments concerned, has carried out skill mapping of these migrant workers and a majority of them have been found to be skilled in some kind of work.
Based on their skill-mapping and to mitigate their difficulties during the next four months, the government has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens.
“The states and Centre have mapped the skill sets of the migrant workers who have returned to these districts and will now give them work in the schemes for infrastructure and asset creation,” Sitharaman said.
Sitharaman said that funds allocated to the schemes will be frontloaded and the government will ensure that there is no dearth of funds.
“There will be convergence of all the schemes to ensure that migrants who have returned get work,” Sitharaman added.
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First priority is to deal with immediate requirement of migrants
The campaign of 125 days, which will work in mission mode, will involve intensified and focused implementation of 25 different types of works to provide employment to the migrant workers on one hand and create infrastructure in the rural regions of the country on the other hand, with a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore, rural development secretary N.N. Sinha said.
The schemes under which employment will be provided involve building community sanitation complexes, rural housing, rural roads, railway works, work under Jal Jeevan Mission, building gram panchayat bhawans, national highway works, construction of wells, etc.
Sitharaman said that the government’s first priority is to deal with the immediate requirement of those who have gone back to their village so that they get immediate livelihood for the next four months.
“As of now, we do not know for how long the migrant worker will stay in his native place and how many will return to work. Through the campaign, we will give them a clear blueprint of the work available for them,” the finance minister added.
The campaign will be a coordinated effort between 12 different Ministries/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.
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