The central government has decided to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, till Diwali this year, the Prime Minister announced on Monday.

"Over 80 crore people in the country will receive free food grains now till Diwali under the scheme, which was launched last year during the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
During this pandemic, the government is with the poor. Over 80 crore of our population will get ration till November. Nobody should sleep hungry," PM Modi said today in his address to the nation.

"Last year, when we had to impose lockdown due to COVID-19, then under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, the country planned to give free ration to over 80 crore citizens in eight months. This year as well, due to the second wave, it was planned for May and June," the prime minister said.

The Prime Minister also announced a centralised vaccine drive in the country, where all Covid-19 vaccines will be procured by the Centre and given to States for free.

"25 per cent of vaccination work with states will now be handled by the Centre, it will be implemented in the coming two weeks. Both the States and Centre to work as per new guidelines in the coming two weeks. From June 21, the free vaccine will be available for people above 18 years," he said.

PM Modi said that people would have to follow protocols to defeat an 'invisible', 'form-changing' enemy like the coronavirus.

Speaking on India's vaccination coverage, he said: "If you look at the history of 50-60 years, you would notice that it used to take India decades to procure help from foreign countries. When the vaccine work had ended in foreign countries, even then vaccination could not start in our country. In 2014, India's vaccination coverage was around 60 percent. In our vision, this was a worrisome issue."

"The speed at which India's vaccination program was progressing, it would have taken 40 years to complete the target of vaccination coverage," he further said.

He also announced that the process of procuring COVID-19 vaccines from abroad has been expedited and that the trials of two vaccines for children are also underway.

The Prime Minister informed that research is being conducted for a nasal Covid vaccine in the country.