Ramaswami: The Prime Minister of India has apologised to the poorer section of the population for the hardship imposed upon them by the necessary lockdown due to the coronavirus threat. However, the point is to reach out to the poorer section of the population as early as possible. This piece tries to argue that, along with other measures that the government is planning to execute through public distribution system and PM Jan Dhan Yojana, old age and widow pension, free gas cylinder to the poor etc., the rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGS, could be one of the main vehicles to make the required cash transfer in this emergency situation.