Need to think of ‘Unlock 2’: PM in meeting with chief ministers
UNLOCK PHASE-2 More relaxations, minimising Covid-19 spread discussed during meeting
NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that instead of a lockdown, India now needs to focus on the next phase of unlocking the country; speed up economic activities; continue to expand testing, and trace-trackisolate Covid-19 positive cases; and battle the fear of being afflicted by the disease and overcome the stigma around it by highlighting the number of recoveries.
Speaking at the second — and concluding day — of his meeting with chief ministers (the sixth such interaction on the coronavirus pandemic) on Wednesday, PM Modi also reiterated the fact that the economy was witnessing a revival. “We need to now think about phase 2 of the Unlock and how to minimise all possibilities of harm to our people,” he said.
Six chief ministers spoke at the meeting, with Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray urging PM Modi to extend the PM Garib Kalyan Package for another three months to help the poor.
Tamil Nadu, where the BJP supports the ruling AIADMK, asked for a Covid-19 relief package of ~9,000 crore, and ~1,000 crore for the power sector from the National Disaster Relief Fund.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that instead of a lockdown, India now needs to focus on the next phase of unlocking the country; speed up economic activities; continue to expand testing, and trace-trackisolate Covid-19 positive cases; and battle the fear of being afflicted by the disease and overcome the stigma around it by highlighting the number of recoveries.
Speaking at the second — and concluding day — of his meeting with chief ministers (the sixth such interaction on the coronavirus pandemic) on Wednesday, PM Modi also reiterated the fact that the economy was witnessing a revival.
Six CMs spoke at the meeting, and their demands included extension of the PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana for another three months, greater financial support, and policy initiatives to attract investments in their respective states. They also spoke about the challenge of providing employment to migrant workers who had returned home.
The PM began the interaction by paying tribute to the personnel of the armed forces who had been killed in the India-China border face off.
The PM mentioned that the country has entered the phase of unlocking and added, “We need to now think about phase 2 of the Unlock and how to minimise all possibilities of harm to our people.” Unlock 1.0 — which has seen relaxations in economic activity, travel, and opening of businesses and markets — will last till the end of the month.
PM Modi also talked about the need to fight rumours of lockdown, after Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao mentioned in his speech how people thought this PM-CM meeting has been called to extend lockdown and rollback relaxations.
On the economic front, PM Modi spoke of the reduction in restrictions outside the containment areas and how indicators of economic performance are showing signs of revival. He pointed out that inflation is under control and asked states to boost infrastructure and construction related work, with an eye to engage the large number of construction workers who have returned to their villages.
The PM also listed the measures under the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme to help different sectors and asked states effectively tackle the challenges faced by the migrants in the coming months.
NR Bhanumurthy of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said, “India already had a stringent lockdown period and it has managed it well. But now I am glad that PM Modi understood the weakness in economy. In unlock 2, there are a series of proposed measures, and time has come to roll them out quickly.”
On the health front, the PM reiterated the importance of testing to quickly trace, track and isolate Covid-19 positive cases and said that apart from maximising the existing testing capacity, there must be a constant effort to expand it. He also emphasised the “emotional aspect” of the challenge and asked states to help people “battling fear of being afflicted and the stigma” by highlighting the large number of recovered patients.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Telangana CM Rao urged the PM to extended to PM Gareeb Kalyan package by another three months to help the poor. The ₹1.7 lakh crore package was announced after the first lockdown, and provides income support and welfare to vulnerable segments of the population.
Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswamy asked for a relief package of ₹9,000 crore, another package for power sector and ₹1000 crore from the national disaster relief fund. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath spoke about how they have mapped the skills of all 3.4 million migrant workers who returned to the state and now plans are afoot, across 80 skill areas, to give them employment.
Bihar CM said 3 million migrant labourers had returned to the state and now they did want to go back. He urged the PM to help Bihar get more private investments to create jobs as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and other programmes could not absorb such a large workforce.