Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar today launched the web portal of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan through video conferencing from New Delhi. The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is the massive employment generation-cum-rural infrastructure creation programme of the Government of India which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi <u>on Saturday</u>. Its objective is to provide employment to returnee migrant workers at their native places for next four months, because of the situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br />'' <br />''Mr Tomar expressed happiness at the launch of the portal which will provide information to the public about the various district-wise and scheme-wise components of the Abhiyaan. It will also help to monitor the progress of completion of the works being undertaken with a fund outlay of 50 thousand crore rupees in 116 districts of 6 states, where there are more than 25000 returnee migrant workers per district. The Minister said, the Centre in coordination with the State Governments has been successful in dealing with the difficult situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic. He said, because of the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even during the period of lockdown, activities related to agriculture, small industries and implementation of government welfare and development schemes continued to function in order to alleviate livelihood problems of poor people.<br />''  Mr Tomar said, MGNREGA with an allocation of 1 lakh 1 thousand 500 crore rupees during the current financial year is the greatest employment generator for unskilled persons. He said, Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan and it is working in close coordination with 12 other Ministries for the 25 categories of works which are to be completed in the identified districts in 125 days. Mr Tomar said that these ongoing works which were progressing at a normal pace as per schedule, have now been fast-tracked to transform the challenge presented by the pandemic into an opportunity to create infrastructure in rural areas in a short duration.<br />'' <br />''The launch of the web portal was followed by a workshop for the Central Nodal Officers of the 116 identified districts.<br />'' <br />''The video conference was attended by Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Rural Development Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha, 116 Central Nodal Officers appointed by the Government for monitoring the implementation of the Abhiyaan in the identified districts and top officials of the Ministries and State Governments associated with the Abhiyaan.<br />