The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi began working on Monday with two big decisions. The first decision was to release another instalment under PM KISAN. The second decision was to approve a proposal for constructing three crores more houses.
On Monday morning, Modi reached the South Block which houses the Prime Minister offices. He was received by senior official and greeted by all officers and employees of the PMO. Modi and his Council of Ministers were administered oaths of office and secrecy on Sunday.
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Later, he signed the first file after assuming charge. It authorized release of 17th instalment of PM KISAN Nidhi. This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20,000 crores. After signing the file, PM Modi said “Ours is a government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come.”
It may be noted that the PM KISAN Nidhi was announced in the interim budget of 2019-20 for small and marginal farmers. However, in the first Cabinet meeting post formation of the Modi Government for the second time in 2019, it was decided to expand the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) all land holding eligible farmer families (subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria). While the interim budget prescribed the scheme for over 12 crore farmers, but first Cabinet decision of Modi 2.0 increased the coverage to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.
After assuming charge, Modi addressed officers and staff of the Prime Minister Office. He asserted that it has been an endeavour to make the PMO an institution of service and the people’s PMO from the very beginning. “We have tried to develop the PMO as a catalytic agent which becomes a source of new energy and inspiration,” the Prime Minister said.
Housing
Later, he chaired the first meeting of the Union Cabinet. The Cabinet approved a decision to provide assistance to 3 crore additional rural and urban households for the construction of houses, to meet the housing requirements arising out of the increase in the number of eligible families. The government is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) since 2015-16 to provide assistance to the eligible rural and urban households for construction of houses with basic amenities.
Under PMAY, 4.21 crore houses have been completed for eligible poor families under the housing schemes in the last 10 years. All the houses constructed under PMAY are provided other basic amenities such as household toilets, LPG connection, electricity connection, functional household tap connection and so forth. through convergence with other schemes of Central Government and State Governments.