First priority is to provide relief to migrants, says FM on Rs 50,000 crore for job creation

The sum, she said, would be spent on migrant workers, who have returned to their native places, to find livelihood opportunity amid COVID-19. Credit: PTI Photo

The Rs 50,000 crore for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan is not a new expenditure and has already been budgeted for, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday.

Read: PM Narendra Modi to launch Rs 50,000 crore job guarantee scheme for migrant workers

She said the government will front-load the expenditure, meaning it would spend a major portion of the sum allocated in the 2020-21 budget to provide job opportunities to poor, in the first few months of the year.

The sum, she said, would be spent on migrant workers, who have returned to their native places, to find livelihood opportunity amid COVID-19.

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“The first priority is to provide immediate relief to migrant workers, who have returned to their states. In the first installment, jobs will be provided for four months. As we go ahead, we have to see how this works out for migrants and the central government,” Sitharaman told the press.

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