India TV : Mar 26, 2020, 02:34 PM
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced government's coronavirus relief package for people whose livelihood is dependent on daily earnings as they have been directly affected by COVID-19 lockdown. Among a number of announcements, Sitharaman said under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, more than 80 crore poor people will be provided additional 5 kg rice or wheat and 1 kg pulse every month for next three 3 months. People can take avail these food items in one or two installments.As many of 20.5 crore women Jan Dhan Account holders will also get Rs 500 per month for next three months to run their households. For poor senior citizens, widow and disabled will get an ex-gratia of Rs 1,000. Also, the daily wage under MNREGA has been increased to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 5 crore workers.The minister said the government will front-load Rs 2,000 payment to farmers in the first week of April under the existing PM Kishan Yojana to benefit 8.69 crore farmers. Also, the beneficiaries of Ujjwala LPG scheme will get free cooking gas for the next three months, she said. This forms part of the Rs 1.70 lakh crore Gramin Kalyan Package.