india

Updated: Mar 06, 2019 07:24 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched the nationwide pension scheme promised in his government’s interim budget for unorganised sector workers, from rickshaw pullers to domestic helps, using the occasion to attack the Congress and the Left for ignoring such workers for years.

Launching the scheme in Gujarat’s Vastral, Modi recalled Congress president Raul Gandhi’s remark at a rally in 2013 that “poverty is a state of mind.” Only those who do not know what it means to sleep hungry at night would think that poverty t is a state of mind, Modi said.

The pension scheme, named Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM), promises an assured payment of Rs 3,000 per month, with a contribution of Rs 100 per month, for workers in unorganised sector after 60 years of age, offering them a security net for their old age.

Tuesday’s launch was witnessed by over 20 million unorganised sector workers at 300,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) across the country through video conference.

The scheme intends to cover 100 million workers from the unorganised sector with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000.

“Those who collected votes from the poor governed for 55 years. But they never brought any welfare scheme for the unorganised sector. Even the Left parties did nothing. This is because they lacked will,” Modi said.

“The opposition wants to get rid of me. They want to remove Modi. I want to remove corruption. They want to strike Modi. I want to strike terrorism”.