Rs 1.7 lakh crore lockdown package for poor announced today!
Posted on: 26/Mar/2020 5:56:09 PM
Today, (Thursday, 26th March), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled relief measures to deal with the impact of the countrywide lockdown due to coronavirus. The minister announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package under Garib Kalyan Yojana that would largely benefit unorganised sector workers, especially daily wage workers, and urban and rural poor.
The relief measures were announced a day after the country went into a 21-day lockdown to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus, which has so far infected more than 600 people and led to 13 deaths.
Nirmala Sitharaman, who is heading the COVID-19 task force, said at a press conference, observed, “A package is ready for the poor who need immediate help like migrant workers and urban and rural poor. No one will go hungry. The package is worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore,”
The minister further said 80 crores poor or two-third of population would get 5 kg rice or wheat free for the next three months. This will be over and above the 5 kg they already get. Additionally, they will also get 1 kg of preferred pulse.
The ration card holders can take the food grains and pulses from the Public Distribution System (PDS) in two installments. She said, “This measure will ensure no gareeb (poor) remains hungry”.
According to official data, the government has total 58.49 million tonnes of food grains in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns so far. Out of which, rice is 30.97 million tonnes and wheat 27.52 million tonnes.
Insurance cover for health-care workers
The minister Sitharaman also announced Rs 50 lakhs per person as medical insurance for paramedics, ASHA workers and doctors. She said, ‘There will be Rs 50 lakh insurance per health care worker as a medical insurance cover for three months. Hopefully, we would be able to contain the virus in this period.”
Ahead of Sitharaman’s press conference, the Sensex jumped 1500 points or over 5 per cent to cross the 30,000 mark. The rupee also rose 64 paise against the dollar to settle at 75.24.
Sops for farmers, senior citizens, women
The Finance Minister also said 8.69 crores farmers would be given Rs 2,000 immediately through direct cash transfer under the existing PM Kisaan Yojana. She said, “Installment of Rs 2000 in the first week of April will be transferred”.
An ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 in two installments over three months would be given to poor senior citizens over 60 years, widows and the disabled. She said,“This will benefit 3 crore poor senior citizens, widows and disabled”.
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Moreover, 20 crore women Jan Dhan Account holders will get Rs 500 per month for next three months to help them run their households. Besides, the government also doubled collateral-free loans to Rs 20 lakhs for 63 lakhs women self-help groups. The move will benefit 7 crores households.
In a move aimed at benefiting 3.5 crores registered construction workers, the Finance Minister said the Centre had directed the state governments to use a Rs 31,000 crores fund corpus to support them. She further observed that states had been asked to use the District Mineral Fund for supplementing and augmenting medical testing and screening of coronavirus.
Earlier this week, the Finance Minister had announced a series of regulatory and compliance related relaxations for taxpayers, MSMEs, company directors and bank customers.
In a significant relief for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Finance Ministry raised the threshold default by 100 times for companies being taken to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh now.
The government extended deadlines for income tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST). The deadline for filing monthly GST summary returns due in March, April and May was extended till June 30 with no interest, penalty and late fee for those with turnover below Rs 5 crores, and a reduced 9 per cent interest on taxpayers above Rs 5 crores turnover threshold from current 18 per cent.
The deadline for filing I-returns for financial year 2018-19 and that Aadhaar-PAN linking has also been extended to June 30 from March 31.
On the consumer banking side, the government provided relaxation to debit cardholders to withdraw money from any bank’s ATM without paying extra charges for next three months, while fee for maintaining minimum balance in bank accounts have also been waived for this period.
