Context
Recently IMF released a paper on poverty titled as Pandemic,Poverty & Inequality: Evidence from India which observed that India maintained its extreme poverty as low as 0.8% in 2019 and 2020 as well despite the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic.
News Highlights
- It is being mentioned in the paper that post food subsidy inequality at 0.294 reached near its lowest level at 0.284 observed in 1993-94.
- This paper has estimated the poverty and consumption inequality in India for each of the years from 2004-5 to 2020-21.
- As per the report, 89.1% of rural eligible households and 77.3% of urban households with an all India average of 84.6% received food from the public distribution system. This effective targeting of food played the most appropriate policy response to pandemic-induced poverty.
- The food security act(2013) and the usage of Aadhar have accelerated the declining proportion of leakages in the program which has further enhanced the effectiveness of the government's efforts.
- This paper has also credited the government`s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana(PMGKY) to keep the poverty level the same during pandemics.
PMGKY
- The scheme was launched by the government of India as part of the Taxation laws act 2016 with an initial objective to ensure that tax evaders declared their unaccounted money and avoid penalties and criminal prosecutions.
- This deposited black money will be used by the government for the welfare of the poor people.
- It was launched earlier with the validity from December 2016 to March 2017 but later extended till the end of November 2020.
- The government also announced a relief package worth Rs.1.70 lakh crore during the pandemic time under this scheme to provide support to the poor through various schemes.
- PMGLY 2020 extension aimed to provide relief to different sections of society such as migrant workers, farmers, urban and rural poor, and women.
- The government has launched several schemes under the PMGKY such as:
- PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna - The scheme was to provide food grains to the poor through the PDS
- Cash transfer scheme- In this scheme government has transferred Rs.500 to women who have Jan Dhan Accounts.
- Insurance Scheme- This includes the provision of medical insurance to health workers including doctors, nurses, Asha workers, paramedics, and sanitation workers.
