ITC Facilitates Creation of Livelihood Opportunities in Rural Sector During the Pandemic

Opportunities

* Leverages the MGNREGS scheme of the Government of India

* Adopts a 4 pronged approach –Mobilisation of people, Facilitation by engaging with local authorities, Technical Support during execution, Focus on Asset Building

In line with its commitment to put Nation First and responding to the needs arising out of the unprecedented lockdown implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, ITC has spearheaded a unique initiative to enable the creation of an eco-system that would lead to signification livelihood generation for farmers and daily wage earners under the ambit of the Government’s MGNREG Scheme.  

While ITC had already put in place a comprehensive plan to provide relief to the needy as well as the frontline warriors in 25 states within days of the lockdown, the Company also recognized that economic rehabilitation of its rural stakeholders was the crying need of the hour, given that there was significant loss of livelihood among marginal farmers and landless labourers. The situation was compounded further by challenges arising out of reverse migration.

As soon as restrictions on agricultural activities were eased, ITC swung into action. Initiating discussions with the government and people on the ground, ITC galvanized its NGO partners to mobilise farmers and wage earners in the catchment areas of its operations to enable them access work opportunities under MGNREGS. Extensive dialogues were carried out with authorities at the Taluk and block levels to identify families in distress and help them apply for job cards if they don’t have one already. A holistic plan was put in place covering the safety of the workers and ensuring the creation of long-term assets for the people, including structures for water conservation like irrigation tanks, farm ponds and field bunds that would also enhance crop productivity.

Commenting on this pioneering initiative, Mr S Sivakumar, Group Head of ITC’s Agri Business said “Inspired by its credo of Nation First: Sab Saath Badhein, ITC, in collaboration with district administrations and NGO partners, is enabling the rural workforce in the catchment of its operations to access income generating opportunities under the MGNREG Scheme.The objective is to scale up this programme by extending it to more regions in these unprecedented and challenging times”.

ITC also provided technical support for planning and execution of work in different areas. To demonstrate outcome, impact data was shared with the Government. Emphasis was laid on adoption of requisite precautions, quality of work and output, large-scale employment generation and asset creation as well as helping in timely muster submission and payments.

The scale and impact of the programme was significant. Within just 45 days, 7.6 lakh person days of work, valued at Rs 17 crores, was created. This was heartening, given that initially there was lack of clarity on protocols for initiating work under MGNREGS. In the short span of time, the programme has been scaled up to cover 1,467 villages in 63 districts across 14 states.  

Atal Pension Yojana: Upgrade/Downgrade of Pension is Now Available Throughout the Year

In its endeavor to make the Atal Pension Yojana attractive and to benefit 2.28 Crore subscribers enrolled under the scheme, PFRDA has asked all banks to process upgrade/ downgrade of pension amount requests of APY subscribers throughout the year with effect from 1st July 2020, however; once in a financial year. This arrangement will enable the APY subscribers to increase/decrease their pension plans as per their changed income levels and capacity to pay APY contributions, which is very important to continue contributions in the scheme till 60 years. Earlier this facility was available only during the month of April of every year.

Apart from the above, from 1st of July, 2020 auto-debit of APY contributions has also started ,which was stopped till 30th June, 2020 due to PFRDA’s circular issued on 11th April, 2020 for providing relief to the APY subscribers from out-break of Covid-19. As per current arrangements, if all the pending APY contributions due between April-August, 2020 get auto-debited from Savings account of the subscribers, latest by 30th September, 2020; then no penal-interest would be charged to them.

Further, in order to enable subscribers to follow social-distancing norms and promote digital utilities PFRDA has also sent one communication to all Banks describing usage and ways to access digital utilities for few functionalities available online for facilitating APY subscribers to access their APY accounts and get various forms without visiting their Bank branch. These functionalities include downloading Upgrade/ downgrade form, PRAN Card Printing, View/download of APY e-PRAN with complete subscriber’s details ,Transaction Statement, APY Subscriber Information Brochure and Subscriber Details Modification Form.  Subscriber’s can also lodge their grievances at Central Grievances Management System (CGMS), download of Mobile Application, access to Youtube videos on APY Ki Pathshala. The information on these features is expected to benefit APY subscribers and empower them to carry out APY related activities smoothly.

The Atal Pension Yojana is launched by Government of India in the May, 2015 and is being administered by PFRDA. This scheme is open to all Citizens of India for joining who are in the age group of 18-40 years, through the bank-branches or post offices where they have their Savings Bank accounts. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years, depending upon his contributions. After the death of such subscribers, same pension amount would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth as accumulated till age 60 years of the subscriber would be returned to the nominee.

The scheme is currently being distributed through 258 active APY Service Providers consisting of Banks and post-offices as this scheme is only available to those who have a Savings Bank account. PFRDA regularly advises all its APY Service Providers to promote the scheme for its outreach to the ultimate prospective customers. All Public Sector, Private, Regional Rural, Small Finance, Payment and Co-operative Banks enthusiastically participate in the various promotional campaigns run by PFRDA throughout the year.

More than 5 lac new subscribers have been enrolled under APY in first quarter of the FY 2020-21 out of which around 4 lac subscribers joined APY in the month of June, 2020.

PNB Sanctions Loans of Rs. 6757 Crore to Around 3 Lakh MSMEs Under Credit Guarantee Scheme

Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest public sector lender has been one of the top lenders to small businesses under the government’s emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS). As of 25th June, PNB has sanctioned Rs 6757 crore in 296753 eligible MSME accounts under 3 Lakh crore Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) out of which disbursements have been made to 59204 accounts amounting to Rs 2030 crore.

27th June is observed as the International Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Day by the United Nation since 2017. This year’s global theme reflects on “MSMEs: first responders to societal needs”. Government of India has acknowledged and focused on the MSMEs as it is the building block of the country; the sector is also the second largest employer.

Post pandemic reigniting their operation will bring back vibrancy to the economy and social fabric of the country  

On the occasion of International MSME Day, Sri S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao, MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank assured its customers in the statement, “PNB values its esteemed MSME customers and the bank will stand by them and support them through this crisis. This year we commit our support to overcome this crisis and reignite the country’s economy."

Indian MSMEs are in need of urgent credit to reinitiate their working capital and business operation. MSMEs have suffered losses and were unable to pay the previous loan because of the current economic distress. The government have extended a lifeline by giving them 100 per cent guarantee credit from the date of announcement till 31st October. 

Employees of Wipro asked to work 2 days a week

Wipro, the third largest Indian IT service giant has introduced a scheme under which employees in the bench has to come for two days in a week. "We found value in people being given flexibility instead of asking them to come to work when there is no work," said Girish Paranjpe, Joint CEO-IT, Wipro.

The scheme named 'Project Enrich' has also given an alternative to the employees that allows them to work 10 days a month, with a pay that is 50 percent of their cost to company (CTC). They will be absorbed back into projects once deployment opportunities come up. The scheme has already enrolled 1000 of their employees.

The company has also introduced Project Rejuvenate, which is though primarily aimed at benched staff, will also be open to some senior employees. The scheme will allow them to take a leave for one to one-and-a-half years, while they will be offered 25 percent of their CTC. Currently, the company has 10-12 percent of overall employees in the bench which will surge as it plans to recruit more 6,000 employees. "They are good resources and we don't want to lose them. We don't want to do anything drastic as well," said Pratik Kumar, Head of Human Resources (HR) at Wipro.

Agencies