New Delhi: France and India, on Thursday, signed an agreement committing 200 million euros to increase the state and central governments’ capacities to support India’s most vulnerable people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
The credit financing agreement was signed by CS Mohapatra, Additional Secretary – Department of Economic Affairs, and Bruno Bosle, Director – AFD (French Development Agency) in India in the virtual presence of Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India, according to a statement by French embassy.
“Through this loan, France will work with India to increase the state and central governments’ capacities to support the country’s most vulnerable people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis,” it said. The programme design, developed by the World Bank in collaboration with the Indian authorities, seeks to optimise and scale up the Indian government’s existing social protection measures.
“Focusing on boosting the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna, the programme will provide further benefits to low-income families to ensure that the health, social and economic shocks arising from Covid-19 do not endanger people’s well-being or their contribution to the country’s economic growth in the long run,” it said.
The programme also seeks to protect essential frontline workers of the pandemic by providing them with health insurance. (PTI)
