India has pledged 15 million dollars to GAVI, the international vaccine alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this while addressing the virtual Global Vaccine Summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday. Over 50 countries - business leaders, UN agencies, civil society, government Ministers, and Heads of State participated in the Summit.

In his address, Prime Minister Modi said India stands in solidarity with the world in these challenging times. He said, India’s civilization teaches that the world is one family and that during this pandemic, the country had tried to live up to this teaching. He said India shared the country’s available stocks of medicines with over 120 countries. He said this was done by forging a common response strategy in its immediate neighborhood and by providing specific support to countries that sought it, while also protecting India’s own vast population.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic, in some ways, has exposed the limitations of global cooperation and that for the first time in recent history, the human kind faces a clear common enemy.

The Prime Minister said that one of the first programmes launched by his government was Mission Indradhanush, which aims to ensure full vaccination of the country’s children and pregnant women.

He said in order to expand protection, India has added six new vaccines to its National Immunization Programme.

The Prime Minister has elaborated that India had digitized its entire vaccine supply line and developed an electronic vaccine intelligence network to monitor the integrity of its cold chain.

The Prime Minister said India is also the world’s foremost producer of vaccines and that it is fortunate to contribute to the immunization of about 60 percent of the world’s children. He also said India recognizes and values the work of GAVI.

Prime Minister said India’s support to GAVI is not only financial but that India’s huge demand also brings down the Global price of vaccines for all, saving almost 400 Million Dollars for GAVI over the past five years.

Back home, Government will start sending the amount of 500 rupees to the women account holders of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) for the month of June from today. The amount is the third installment under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package. The Department of Financial Services said, beneficiaries can withdraw the amount on any day after 10th June. The Department of Financial Services said, the amount will be sent as per time table based on the last digit of the beneficiary's account number.

Ten thousand 29 crore rupees were credited to 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders as the first installment. The number of women PMJDY account holders whose accounts have been debited by customer induced transactions under 1st instalment is 8.72 crore. Ten thousand 3 hundred 15 crore rupees were credited to 20.62 crore women Jan Dhan account holders with second installment. The number of women PMJDY account holders whose accounts have been debited by customer induced transactions under 2nd instalment is 9.7 crore.

As part of the 1.70 lakh crore rupees Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, the Government announced free food grains and cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers.