The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) has reduced the probability of people consuming less food by 76% and pared their usage of utilities by 75%, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, citing an independent study.
Stressing that the government has been responsive to crises, Ms. Sitharaman cited a KPMG study done with German institution Kfw which confirmed that the PMGKY, announced in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, yielded good results as it was a timely response.
“Overall, the study showed that assistance under the PMGKY reduced the probability of borrowing money for 67% of all the respondents. So they lived their lives with dignity, and that is a study by an agency completely outside the government and all of us can take some comfort from it,” she said.
