Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu to be continued beyond the 3rd phase

The Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu which was launched on 14th April 2020 has so far supported livelihoods for 34,384 people who had been affected by the pandemic and the Relief Kidu will be extended by three months from January 2021 till March 2021.

The fourth phase of the Relief Kidu will grant Nu 10,000 as full payment and Nu 7,000 as partial payments for the registered individuals.

Applications are open for new applicants who have been displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic and for those who had previously applied or had received the Kidu during the 3rd phase are not required to re-apply.

The new applicants can apply by either contacting the Dzongkhag Administration, Dasho Drangpoen or visit the relief Kidu website at www.royalkidu.bt or contact any of the numbers; 1186/1187 or 1188 (toll free) or 1184 (for Phuentsholing or Chukha).

From 43,855 applications received between 14th April and 30th November 2020, 34,384 (78%) people received Kidu at least once while 9,471 were deemed ineligible.

Off the 78% who received the Kidu, 22 % or 7,731 had been receiving Kidu since April 2020 or for 8 months consecutively.

The figures state that 54 % of the Kidu recipients were male and the rest 46% female. The majority of the recipients are in the age group of 20 to 29 years surmounting to 51% of the total Kidu recipients.

Among them 46 % have middle or higher secondary education level and 34% are from the tourism sector.

A figure of Nu 50.2 mn covered for 25,000 children under the Child Support Kidu with each child being granted Nu 800 per month between the month April and November 2020.

 So far the Kidu has granted an amount of Nu 1.4 bn through the National Resilient Fund and also encapsulates the child support Kidu coverage.

There were 33,829 applications in Phase 1 (April – June 2020), 30,300 applications in Phase 2 (July – September 2020) off which 22,532 were re-applicants from Phase 1 and 7768 were new applicants.

For Phase 3 (as of November) the Relief Kidu had 23,253 applications off which only 2,258 were new applicants and the remaining 20,955 were re-applicants. Additionally from1st to 23rd December, the office has received 403 applications.

As the applicants were to reapply in each Phase, there was a decrease in re-applications; 22,532 applicants i.e. 67% of Phase 1 applicants reapplied in Phase 2, while only 17,831 or 53% of Phase I applicants have re-applied in Phase 3.

The decrease in application were reflective in some of the sectors like taxi drivers and restaurants which were otherwise excluded from eligibility list in some of the phases, however, 1,394 Kidu recipients had withdrawn their  applications between April and October of 2020, of which 1,060 have not re-applied.

While daily applications had dropped to less than 100 from 24th October, applications, which had averaged around 10 applicants per day in December, has been increasing from 20th December following the announcement of the lockdown. 119 applications were received on 23rd December 2020.

 Countless affected people have been supported by the grant, who otherwise would either have been unpaid or have to make ends meet through various arrangements or retreats back to their villages.

Message from The Bhutanese

Dear Reader,

                         You are reading this article for free on the website but it is almost three days after it has been published. If you want access to new stories on the day of its publication, which is early Saturday morning, in your email then subscribe to the Electronic Copy or the PDF version of the paper and stay ahead.

This paper has broken some of the biggest and impactful stories in Bhutan and strives to provide good content that is often exclusive and different from other papers.

For a year’s subscription M-BoB Nu 500 to the BoB Account Number – 100915844 with Account name – The Bhutanese.
For two years subscription send in Nu 1,000.

Then take a screenshot of the transaction and email it along with your email ID to ad.bhutanese@gmail.com .
The PDF copy of the paper will be sent to you.

Please check the email address properly when sending your screen shot. In case you do not get your PDF copy call Sonam Dema 17801081.

Despite the lockdown, The Bhutanese paper is still publishing its paper in the E-Copy format that you can get in your email.

Thank You,

The Bhutanese