`1.7 lakh cr for 80 cr in lockdown
FM unveils schemes to help those hit by ‘staying home’
A day after the Prime Minister-ordered 21-day nationwide lockdown to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus began, the government on Thursday announced a
Covid-19 financial relief package worth `1.70 lakh crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), saying that “no one will go hungry” because of the lockdown.
Announcing the stimulus package to help the nation tide over the financial difficulties in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that the economic relief package focuses primarily on migrant labourers, daily wage earners and corona warriors — healthcare worker and safai karamcharis who are risking their lives in the corona battle.
“A garib khazaana of
`1,70,000-crore package is ready for the poor who need immediate help, like migrant workers and urban and rural poor. No one will go hungry,” Ms Sitharaman said, adding that the scheme will come into effect immediately and people will get the benefits from April 1.
The relief package will benefit over 80 crore people, especially the poorest of the poor and the vulnerable sections of the society who are expected to get affected the most due to the lockdown in the country.
Elaborating on the details of the relief package, the finance minister said, “Under the scheme, an additional five kilos of rice/wheat will be given to each individual — over the 5 kilo they already get — along with a one-kilo pulse/dal per household for a period of three months. The government will spend `45,000 crore for undertaking these measures.”
Other relief measures announced to combat disruptions in unorganised sector, especially to daily wage workers, urban and rural poor, include direct cash transfers for farmers under the direct benefit transfer or DBT scheme, free LPG for households, food security-related steps like free grains and pulses for the poor, health insurance for corona warriors and construction workers. Keeping corona warriors in view, who are risking their lives in the corona battle, she also announced a `50 lakh insurance cover for each healthcare worker for three months.
“Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health care workers would be covered by a special insurance scheme. Any health professional who, while treating
Covid-19 patients, meets with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of
`50 lakh under the scheme,” a government statement said.
Under the DBT scheme, Ms Sitharaman also announced direct cash transfers for a large number of people, including senior citizens, widows, farmers and daily wage labourers.
“About 8.69 crore farmers to be immediately benefited through DBT under Kisan Samman Nidhi. An instalment of `2,000 in the first week of April will be transferred,” she said.
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Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that wages under MNREGA would be increased by Rs 2,000 per worker on an average as additional income to help daily wage labourers.
“Three crore senior citizens, persons with disabilities (divyangs) and widows will get one-time additional amount of Rs 1,000 in two installments, to be given through DBT over a period of three months,” she added.
Giving sops to a section of women, the finance minister said that over 20 crore Jan Dhan account holders would be covered under the relief package and will get compensation of Rs 500 per month for the next three months. “The BPL families will get free cylinders for three months under the Ujjawala scheme as well,” she said.
Collateral-free loans have been doubled to Rs 20 lakh for women self-help groups under the Deen Dayal National Livelihood Mission. “It will help seven crore women,” Ms Sitharaman added.
For middleclass or salaried people, the finance minister announced a major relief in the ongoing lockdown period, saying that the government will bear 24 per cent cost of EPF contribution of both employer and employee (12 per cent each) for the next three months. “However, this is only for those establishments which have up to 100 employees and 90 per cent of them earn less than Rs 15,000. This is like to benefit around 4.8 crore employees,” Ms Sitharaman said.
EPF subscribers can now withdraw 75 per cent of their PF balance or three months wages as a non-refundable advance,
Three crore senior citizens, persons with disabilities and widows will get one-time additional amount of `1,000 in two installments, to be given through DBT. Collateral-free loans have been doubled to `20 lakh for women self-help groups under the Deen Dayal National Livelihood Mission
— NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
whichever is lower. This will benefit about 4.8 crore employees, the finance minister said.
Ms Sitharaman also announced that for the welfare of building and construction workers, the Central government has passed orders to states to use funds worth Rs 31,000 crore to provide relief. “This fund is likely to be used to augment medical testing, screening and providing better healthcare facilities,” Sitharaman.
Keeping in mind the severity of the spread of the deadly virus, it is learnt from doctors and global experts that there is a possibility of the lockdown getting extended beyond April 15.
This fear is causing worry to the middleclass, especially over their monthly EMIs for home or car loans as well as credit card payments during the lockdown period.
When asked about such payments, Ms Nitmala Sitharaman declined to comment, saying that the government is working on that and this package is only for the unprivileged classes.
However, a source said, “The government is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and in a due course of time the central bank may come out with a plan in this regard.”
Ms said