Ahead of the launch of ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ by Prime Modi on June 20, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the Central and state governments made arrangements for migrants to return to their natives.
Addressing media in Delhi, Sitharaman said the Government has found that migrant workers returned in large numbers to 116 districts, spread over six states – Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.
The Central and state governments have meticulously mapped the skill sets of the migrants who have returned in large numbers to the 116 districts in six states, she added.
The massive rural public work scheme ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’, aimed at empowering and providing livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens, will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 June at 11 am through video-conference in presence of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
“This 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,” the PMO said.
“A total of 116 Districts with more than 25,000 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 2/3 of such migrant workers,” it added.
In the virtual launch event, the Chief Ministers of other five States and Union Ministers of concerned Ministries will also participate in the virtual launch.
The villages across 116 districts in the six States will join this programme through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, maintaining the norms of social distancing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.