Bihar wins award for its financial assistance scheme for workers amid COVID-19 pandemic

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Bihar government took an innovative initiative to transfer financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of 21 lakh stranded workers outside Bihar through the 'Bihar Sahayata Mobile App'. For the effort, the state won the Digital India Awards 2020. The Chief Minister Secretariat, the Disaster Management Department besides the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the state have jointly been chosen as winners in the “pandemic category” Digital India Awards 2020. 

Award for aiding the stranded workers 

"The Bihar government’s initiative to transfer money directly to the accounts of beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic has made its departments win the Digital India Awards, started by the central government, this year for innovative steps in e-governance", an official statement said on Sunday

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The Digital India Awards is given by the Centre for bringing to the fore innovative digital solutions for the citizens of the country. President Ram Nath Kovind will give away the Digital India Awards to winners on December 30 in New Delhi.

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On June 4, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had strongly hit out at those states from where poor labourers were forced to leave after the nationwide lockdown was announced due to COVID-19. While interacting with the panchayat-level public representative across Bihar, Nitish Kumar also objected to Bihari labourers being called 'Migrants'. Nitish Kumar said that every Indian citizen has the right to work anywhere in India; 'How are they, migrants?' The CM had raised objections against Bihari labourers being called migrants and against the step- treatment by the states where they worked.

In other news, the Bihar Cabinet on Saturday gave its nod for the creation of 103 new Nagar panchayats, eight new Nagar Parishad, and upgrading five municipal councils to municipal corporations, an official release said. The decision was taken to boost urbanization and increase the state's share in central resources, the release said. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, approved the Bihar Municipal (Amendment) Act 2020 in order to create/upgrade/expand 160 urban local bodies. 

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(With PTI Inputs)