{"id":323207,"date":"2020-05-15T08:15:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T08:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=323207"},"modified":"2020-05-15T08:15:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T08:15:14","slug":"world-bank-approves-1-billion-social-protection-package-for-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/world-bank-approves-1-billion-social-protection-package-for-india\/","title":{"rendered":"World Bank approves $1 billion social protection package for India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-323208 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-bank.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"577\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2020\/05\/world-bank.jpg 577w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2020\/05\/world-bank-300x165.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\" \/>The World Bank on Friday announced\u00a0$1 billion social protection package for India in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cThe World Bank\u2019s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $1 billion\u00a0Accelerating India\u2019s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program\u00a0to support India\u2019s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">This new support will be funded in two phases \u2013\u00a0an immediate allocation of $750 million for fiscal year 2020 and a $250 million second tranche that will be made available for fiscal year 2021, it said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The\u00a0first phase\u00a0of the operation will be implemented countrywide through the\u00a0Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana\u00a0(PMGKY). It will immediately\u00a0help scale-up cash transfers and food benefits, using a core set of pre-existing national platforms and programs such as the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT); provide robust social protection for essential workers involved in COVID-19 relief efforts; and benefit vulnerable groups, particularly migrants and informal workers, who face high risks of exclusion under the PMGKY., the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">In the\u00a0second phase, the program will deepen the social protection package, whereby additional cash and in-kind benefits based on local needs will be extended through state governments and portable social protection delivery systems, it said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cThe response to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world has required governments to introduce social distancing and lock downs in unprecedented ways. These measures, intended to slow down the spread of the virus have, however, impacted economies and jobs \u2013 especially in the informal sector.\u00a0India with the world\u2019s largest lockdown has not been an exception to this trend,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Junaid Ahmad,\u00a0World Bank Country Director in India.\u00a0\u201cIn this context, cash transfers and food benefits will help the poor and vulnerable access a \u2018safety bridge\u2019 towards a time when the economy will start to revive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Bank on Friday announced\u00a0$1 billion social protection package for India in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cThe World Bank\u2019s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $1 billion\u00a0Accelerating India\u2019s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program\u00a0to support India\u2019s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":323208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[167,36],"tags":[9334],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323209,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323207\/revisions\/323209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/323208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}