PM launches Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to employ migrant workers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a massive rural public works scheme, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, in six states. During the launch of the scheme, the Prime Minister said, this Abhiyan will provide livelihood opportunities to the migrant workers and will help in the development of rural areas by creating local infrastructure.

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.

At the outset, the Prime Minister paid his homage to the martyr who sacrificed their lives while protecting the borders in Ladakh saying that he wants to assure that the entire country stands with the Army and families who lost their beloved ones.

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 a 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. 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-thirds of such migrant workers.

In Jharkhand, three aspirational districts of Hazaribagh, Godda and Giridih out of the 116 selected districts have been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyaan Rozgaar Abhiyaan inaugurated online today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Migrants who have returned to their native places post the COVID -19 lockdown situations are hopeful of finding a job based on their skills.

The new scheme shall provide employment opportunities to around 45,000 people who have migrated back in these three districts, and are hopeful of finding skill-based jobs in MSME, small sector units, agricultural and telecom units.

According to the government's data, around 5 lakh and 12,000 migrant labourers have returned to the state so far.

While launching the scheme, PM Modi said, the government is making every effort to make sure that people do not take loans from anyone living in the villages during this Coronavirus pandemic crisis. He added, the self-reliant India campaign-Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan was started with the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and the government has spent around Rs 1.75 lakh crore on the scheme within few weeks.

He said free ration and pulses have been provided to 80 crore poor people in three months. PM Modi said, more than Rs 10,000 crore has been transferred to 20 crore women-Jan Dhan's accounts. He said this was made possible due to the infrastructure created in the past years for the smooth transfer of money directly in the accounts of the poor people.

He said, for self-reliant India, self-reliant farmers are equally important and by keeping this in mind, the government has abolished several discriminatory laws in the past few days. He said, now farmers can sell their products to anyone and anywhere without any hurdle and it will empower them.