As a part of the nation celebrating the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (AKAM) to commemorate the 75th year of Indian independence, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi interacted with the beneficiaries of about sixteen schemes/Programs spanning nine Ministries/Departments of the Government of India on 31st May 2022.
During National Level Sammelan, Prime Minister released the 11th installment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. More than Rs. 21,000 crore was transferred to more than 10 crore farmers.
As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Prime Minister's nationwide interaction with beneficiaries of Government schemes/ programmes was held at State Cultural Hall, Kohima on 31st May 2022. The event is named “Garib Kalyan Sammelan” since all the schemes address the poorest sections of the population.
The principal objective of the interaction was not only to understand how these schemes have brought about ease of living for the citizens but also to explore the possibility of convergence and saturation.
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said that Nagaland joined in the National program, "Garib Kalyan Sammelan" which was led by the Prime Minister and many Centrally Sponsored Schemes which are under this programme are being implemented in the State of Nagaland. Through these schemes, around Rs. 5000 crore are being transferred for various projects or to the beneficiaries in the State. In addition, Rio also said that infrastructures are built to benefit people at large, and the schemes are aimed directly for the benefit of individuals and families.
The schemes in which the beneficiaries are participating today are aimed at providing: Housing (urban and rural), providing tapped drinking water, community/public toilets, support through subsidized food grains, providing direct transfer of Rs. 6000 per farmer, providing affordable loans, and health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family.
Rio further mentioned that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (both urban and Grameen) provides for housing to socially and economically weaker sections in towns and villages. 18,430 beneficiaries in the rural areas and 31,241 beneficiaries in the urban areas have been assisted so far in the State.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) food security welfare, he said that it is a scheme announced by the Government of India on 26th March 2020, as part of an economic response to COVID-19 to ameliorate the hardship faced by the poor due to economic disruption caused by Corona Virus. Under the scheme, the CM said that the State is allocated additional food grains @ 5 kg/person/month FREE OF COST to all the beneficiaries of AAY &PHH covered under TPDS as per the provision of NFSA. This allocation is over and above the normal monthly quota of NFSA. The Department has completed the Scheme from Phase I to Phase V, covering about 14.03 lakh population in the state while the Phase VI is ongoing.
Under The Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) Rio mentioned that as a flagship health insurance scheme by the GOI for the poor and vulnerable population launched on 23rd Sept 2018, it provides free health insurance coverage up to Rs. 5.00 lakh per family per year for hospitalized care. In Nagaland, the scheme has a target of 2.33 lakh households that were identified through SECC 2011, of which 1,03,718 families (44.5%) have been covered with at least 1 e-Card and more than 2.78 lakhs of individual e-Cards have been generated to eligible beneficiaries.
Further, the CM said that the State is contemplating rolling out Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) from the 1st of October 2022 which aims to provide every citizen of Nagaland with hospitalization insurance cover of up to ₹ 5.00 lakh per annum, irrespective of the family's income. The scheme will provide cashless services for predefined packages covering secondary and tertiary care procedures at empanelled Government or private hospitals, both within and outside the State.
The State Government has also designed a Micro-Finance Scheme which will provide subsidized loans to the farmers and entrepreneurs in the State, which will be introduced in the coming month.
While interacting with the Chief Minister, the beneficiaries thanked the government for introducing different welfare schemes to uplift the economic status of the poor and downtrodden section of the society. The beneficiaries also expressed satisfaction and contentment over the implementation of different welfare schemes by the government departments.
Rio concluded by saying that the State Government and the Central Government will continue to build the capacities of our people, and provide the environment with sufficient opportunities for the innate strengths of our people to grow equally with the National economy. With the active participation of the departments, legislators, and the village councils, there will be a change in the present scenario and the future of the State too.
This event is also one of the largest ever single-event nationwide interactions spanning all the districts where the Prime Minister interacted with beneficiaries about the impact that the wide-ranging schemes/programmes covering housing, availability of potable water, food, health and nutrition, livelihood, and financial inclusion, etc. have had on their lives.
(Nongozo Rikha, Asst. Director & Takumpula, IA)
