World Bank approves $1 billion package for India's urban poor, migrants

The World Bank on Friday approved of a $1 billion USD package for India's urban poor and migrant population, who are facing a worsening crisis due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-necessitated nationwide lockdown amid the pandemic outbreak, which is spreading like wildfire across the country.

World Bank's Country Director for India Junaid Ahmed said that the financial package announced by the international financial institution will leverage the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to help protect the poor and the vulnerable. Earlier, a package of one billion dollars had been allocated to India for COVID-19 emergency response and health systems. The current package is in addition to that, aimed at social welfare and protection.

Ahmad said that the package will provide a "safety net" to the workers, 90% of who are in the informal and unorganised sectors in India.

"The funding will underpin support to state governments who will use local administrations, self-help groups, and ASHA workers to ensure that safety net is delivered to these citizens," the World Bank's Country Director for India said, adding that the package will ensure portability so that the benefits move with the workers.

Ahmad also said that the financial packages announced by the World Bank are a 'watershed moment' for India for precisely two reasons.

One, it bolsters the central government's commitment that there is no divide between lives and livelihoods and fortifies that link further.

Secondly, this stimulus ties into the existing 460 systems of social protection in India and piggybacks off of pre-existing infrastructures like the Public Distribution System (PDS), Jan Dhan, AADHAAR, MNREGA, and Mobile (JAM) to bring to life a "21st-century social protection system", as described by Junaid Ahmad.

He also said that a third financial package from the World Bank for India is on the way, which will focus on providing economic stabilisation and stimuli to small and medium enterprises in the country, which are hit by the COVID-19 crisis.