(Image source from: india.com)

On Thursday, Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister announced the second phase of measures to be taken under the “Atmanirbhar” with an intention to refocus and boost the economy with the available Rs 20 Lakh crore package announced by Modi.

Highlights

• Announcement of Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for businesses and 30,000 crore liquidity facility for NBFC’s
• Farmers will be provided concessional loans
• Free food will be provided to all the migrant workers. Even people who don’t have ration cards under the public distribution network will receive 5 kgs wheat or rice and 1 kg gram free of cost. This initiative will help 8 crore migrant workers
• PM Kisan credit card to be revised with concessional credit of Rs 2 lakh crore to increase up to 2.5 crore for the farmers. This scheme is applicable for all the animal husbandry workers and fisherman too
• CAMPA Funds will assist Rs 6000 crore employment announced by FM
• Prompt payees of the Mudra Shishu loans to get 2 percent subvention on the interest amount for a year. As MUDRA has been affected the most and it has become difficult for them to clear EMI’s
• Street vendors to get Rs 5000 crore special credit facility and a working capital of Rs 10, 000 will also be provided to them in a month’s time
• Migrant workers to get Vacant Government Housing Complexes at lower rates. Besides, the PPP model will be considered under the PM Awas Yojna
• By March 2021, PDS will get 100% coverage as the Government will introduce one nation, one ration card scheme
• In 1.87 lakh Gram Panchayats, MNREGA to give work to 2.33 crore wage seekers. The wages for MNREGA has increased by Rs 20. The idea behind providing this benefit is to help the poorest individuals
• Self help groups are proactively providing livelihood to the Urban poor. Since March 15th the Government has started SHGs to give shelter to the poor
  The Self-Help Groups have worked on making 3 crore masks and 1.2 lakh liters of sanitizers during this pandemic. In total, there are 7,200 new Self-Help Groups now
• Government gives permission to the State Governments to make the most of SDRF and provide food and water to all the migrants

Yogi Adityanath, CM of Uttar Pradesh provided Rs 50,000 each to the families of 6 migrant workers who dies in the Muzaffarnagar bus accident.

As of now, the entire nation is under this lockdown since March 24th to control COVID-19. This hasn’t been easy for businesses across industries, factories, manufacturing units, shops, malls and restaurants.

This lockdown might be extended and it will be addressed as lockdown 4.0. This would be an entirely different scenario and its details will be shared before 18th May.

By Neha Makhija