COVID-19: Govt to transfer financial assistance only through DBT mechanism

There have been various rumours since the government announced the Rs 1.70 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to help the poor withstand the hardship caused by the coronavirus lockdown.

PTI

April 16, 2020 / 21:36 IST

The finance ministry on Thursday clarified that financial assistance to people hit by the COVID-19 crisis will be provided only through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism and no other means. The clarification came amid various rumours doing the rounds on financial assistance by the government.

"India has JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) based DBT mechanism for diff. schemes. Successfully deposited Rs. 28,256 Cr. to 31.77 Cr. beneficiaries bank a/cs under COVID relief. DBT is fulcrum for targeted delivery of such measures. Pls don't believe any outlandish rumours!," the Department of Financial Services said in a tweet.

There have been various rumours since the government announced the Rs 1.70 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to help the poor withstand the hardship caused by the coronavirus lockdown.

Earlier this week, there was a rumour on social media that money transferred to women's Jan Dhan accounts will be taken back if the beneficiary does not withdraw immediately from the account.

This led to serpentine queues outside bank branches as worried women scrambled to claim the amount, thus putting social distancing measures in jeopardy.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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