Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a slew of economic measures to support people to survive through coronavirus scare. The Finance Ministry said that under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 2000 will be immediately front-leaded in the account of 8.7 crores farmers. FM Sitharaman has announced free of cost 5 kg rice or wheat, and 1 kg pulse under PM Garib Kalyan Package, while LPG cylinders will also be given free of cost to the beneficiaries of Ujjwala Yojana for the next three months.
Insurance cover of Rs 50 Lakh per health worker fighting COVID-19 to be provided under Insurance Scheme
80 crore poor people will to get 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses for free every month for the next three months
20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders to get Rs 500 per month for next three months
Increase in MNREGA wage to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 13.62 crore families
An ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 to 3 crore poor senior citizen, poor widows and poor disabled
Government to front-load Rs 2,000 paid to farmers in first week of April under existing PM Kisan Yojana to benefit 8.7 crore farmers
Central Government has given orders to State Governments to use Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund to provide relief to Construction Workers
The Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Niramla Sitharaman today announced Rs 1.70 Lakh Crore relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor to help them fight the battle against Corona Virus. While addressing the press conference here today, Smt. Sitharaman said “Today’s measures are intended at reaching out to the poorest of the poor, with food and money in hands, so that they do not face difficulties in buying essential supplies and meeting essential needs.”
The Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Singh Thakur was also present besides Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Shri Debashish Panda, Secretary, Department of Financial Services. Following are the components of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: —
PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN PACKAGE
I. Insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 in Government Hospitals and Health Care Centres
Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health workers would be covered by a Special insurance Scheme.
Any health professional, who while treating Covid-19 patients, meet with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh under the scheme.
All government health centres, wellness centres and hospitals of Centre as well as States would be covered under this scheme approximately 22 lakh health workers would be provided insurance cover to fight this pandemic.
II. PM Garib Kalyan Ann (अन्न) Yojana
Government of India would not allow anybody, especially any poor family, to suffer on account of non-availability of foodgrains due to disruption in the next three months.
80 crore individuals, i.e, roughly two-thirds of India’s population would be covered under this scheme.
Each one of them would be provided double of their current entitlement over next three months.
This additionality would be free of cost.
Pulses:
To ensure adequate availability of protein to all the above mentioned individuals, 1 kg per family, would be provided pulses according to regional preferences for next three months.
These pulses would be provided free of cost by the Government of India.
III. Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana,
Benefit to farmers:
The first instalment of Rs 2,000 due in 2020-21 will be front-loaded and paid in April 2020 itself under the PM KISAN Yojana.
It would cover 8.7 crore farmers
IV. Cash transfers Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana:
Help to Poor:
A total of 20.40 crores PMJDY women account-holders would be given an ex-gratia of Rs 500 per month for next three months.
Gas cylinders:
Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, gas cylinders, free of cost, would be provided to 8 crore poor families for the next three months.
Help to low wage earners in organised sectors:
Wage-earners below Rs 15,000 per month in businesses having less than 100 workers are at risk of losing their employment.
Under this package, government proposes to pay 24 percent of their monthly wages into their PF accounts for next three months.
This would prevent disruption in their employment.
Support for senior citizens (above 60 years), widows and Divyang:
There are around 3 crore aged widows and people in Divyang category who are vulnerable due to economic disruption caused by COVID-19.
Government will give them Rs 1,000 to tide over difficulties during next three months.
MNREGA
Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, MNREGA wages would be increased by Rs 20 with effect from 1 April, 2020. Wage increase under MNREGA will provide an additional Rs 2,000 benefit annually to a worker.
This will benefit approximately 13.62 crore families.
V. Self-Help groups:
Women organised through 63 lakhs Self Help Groups (SHGs) support 6.85 crore households.
Limit of collateral free lending would be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakhs.
VI. Other components of PM Garib Kalyan package
Organised sector:
Employees’ Provident Fund Regulations will be amended to include Pandemic as the reason to allow non-refundable advance of 75 percent of the amount or three months of the wages, whichever is lower, from their accounts.
Families of four crore workers registered under EPF can take benefit of this window.
Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund:
Welfare Fund for Building and Other Constructions Workers has been created under a Central Government Act.
There are around 3.5 Crore registered workers in the Fund.
State Governments will be given directions to utilise this fund to provide assistance and support to these workers to protect them against economic disruptions.
District Mineral Fund
The State Government will be asked to utilise the funds available under District Mineral Fund (DMF) for supplementing and augmenting facilities of medical testing, screening and other requirements in connection with preventing the spread of CVID-19 pandemic as well as treating the patients affected with this pandemic.
The minister also said that the announcements will come into effect immediately as, at this point, it is only focussing on reaching out to the people in need. While the government announced 20 crore woman Jan Dhan account holders to get an ex-gratia amount of Rs 500 per month for the next three months, it also doubled collateral-free loans to Rs 20 lakhs for Self Help Group women, helping 7 crore women. In other major announcements, an amendment to PF regulation, relief for construction workers, etc were included.
“FM’s announcements are focused mostly on rural poor. Positive for consumers as a theme but mostly low-priced products. Rs1.7 lakh crore is about 0.8% of GDP. The collapse of demand, as was being feared by many, looks unlikely. So the period of lockdown may not be extended. These measures, if effectively and quickly implemented, would make the total shutdown more complete.
This is the biggest positive for listed companies,” said Sujan Hajra, Chief Economist and Executive Director, Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.
‘Comprehensive package for the poor and vulnerable. The focus is ‘ nobody should go hungry. ‘ No announcements for stimulating the economy. Perhaps later. This is a package for lockdown impacted segments. Regarding relief to MSMEs etc, the FM said: ‘ we will look into it.’ So industry-specific measures likely to be announced in the next package.
The govt is prioritising. This can go a long way in implementing the lockdown. A deficiency is that the states who have to implement lots of measures have not been given any significant transfer.’ – V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
In addition to the 5 kg of wheat or rice, each person to get additional 5 kg of wheat / rice per person for free for next three months; additional 1 kg of pulses to be given for each household so that no poor person goes hungry – FM Sitharaman
Support to Jan Dhan account holders could have been extended to all account holders instead of restricting it to women
“Indian version of helicopter Money- Welcome stimulus targeted at the bottom of the pyramid. However, support to Jan Dhan account holders could have been extended to all account holders instead of restricting it to women account holders only” Hari Hara Mishra, a policy commentator, told Financial Express Online.
Rs 1.7 lakh crore PM Garib Kalyam Yojna announced Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has come up with a Rs 1.7 lakh crore relief package for the daily wage earners, women workers and migrant workers as the country remains in a 21-day lockdown period.
The Finance Minister announced that an additional 5 kg of rice or wheat will be given for free by the government of India to the poor household in India. MoS Finance Anurag Thakur said that the government is fighting this emergency on a war footing. The government has also hiked the MNREGA wages from Rs 182 to Rs 202 a day. This is likely to benefit about five crore families.
Those workers who fall under the essential service category such as doctors etc have also been given an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh. “We are giving Rs 50 lakh insurance cover per person for the warriors who are exposing themselves to the virus. This includes workers, doctors, nurses etc,” FM said.
The State Government have issued orders to lockdown the entire State of Telangana with immediate effect till 31st March, 2020, prescribing certain regulations and measures during the lockdown period. The Government has decided to provide relief assistance during the lockdown period by way of providing @12Kg. of rice per person in the family to all the food security cardholders in the state.
Finance (EBS-VII) Department have issued budget release order for an amount of Rs.1103 Crores (Rupees One Thousand One Hundred Three Crores) as additional funds in relaxation of treasury control and quarterly regulation order towards meeting the expenditure due to lockdown to all87.59 lakhs food security cardholders in the state @12Kg. of rice per person under SDRF, COVID-19.
After careful examination of the matter Government hereby release an amount of Rs.1103 Crores (Rupees One Thousand One Hundred Three Crores)to meet the expenditure to provide relief assistance during the lockdown period by way of providing @12Kg. of rice per person to all the food security cardholders in the state.
The Expenditure accorded in Para (3) above shall be debited to the following Head of Account. MJH – 2245 – Relief on account of Natural Calamities SMJH- 80 – General M.H – 800 – Other Expenses GSH – 25 – State Sector Schemes SH – 14 – Covid-19 Pandemic 500 – Other Charges 503 -Other expenditure
The Commissioner, Civil Supplies Department is requested to allocate the budget to the concerned drawing officers as per the requirements. Further, it is also requested to refund the unspent balances if any to the Government Account.
The Commissioner, Civil Supplies Department is requested to obtain and furnish the consolidated utilization certificates for the amounts sanctioned now for the State Audit Authorities.
This order issues with the concurrence of the Finance (EBS-VII) Dept., vide their U.O.No.1341/39/EBS.VII/Rev/2020,dated.23.03.2020.
Revenue (DM) Department – Administrative Sanction for an amount of Rs.1314 crores to the Commissioner, Civil Supplies Department to meet the expenditure for essential commodities to all the food security card holding families as one time support of Rs.1500/- in view of declaration of lockdown of the State to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19- Under Epidemic diseases act, 1897 – under SDRF – Orders – Issued.
G.O.Rt.No. 7 Dated: 23-03-2020 Read the Following
- The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
- The Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- G.O.Ms.No.45, General Administration Department, dated.22.03.2020.
- BRO.No.267, Finance (EBS-VII) Department, dated.23.03.2020.
The State Government have issued orders above to lockdown the entire State of Telangana with immediate effect till 31st March, 2020, prescribing certain regulations and measures during the lockdown period. The Government have decided to provide relief assistance during the lockdown period by way of providing one time support of Rs.1500/- per family to all the food security cardholders in the state to meet the expenditure on other essential commodities such as dal, vegetables and salt etc.
Finance (EBS-VII) Department have issued budget release order for an amount of Rs.1314 crores (Rupees One Thousand Three Hundred Fourteen Crores) as additional funds in relaxation of treasury control and quarterly regulation order towards meeting the expenditure for essential commodities under SDRF, COVID-19.
After careful examination of the matter Government hereby release an amount of Rs.1314 Crores (Rupees One Thousand Three Hundred Fourteen Crores) to meet the expenditure to provide relief assistance during the lockdown period by way of providing Rs.1500/- per family to all the food security cardholders in the state.
The Expenditure accorded in Para (3) above shall be debited to the following Head of Account. MJH – 2245 – Relief on account of Natural Calamities SMJH- 80 – General M.H – 800 – Other Expenses GSH – 25 – State Sector Schemes SH – 14 – Covid-19 Pandemic 500 – Other Charges 503 -Other expenditure 5. The Commissioner, Civil Supplies Department is requested to allocate the budget to the concerned drawing officers as per the requirements. Further, it is also requested to refund the unspent balances if any to the Government Account.
The Commissioner, Civil Supplies Department is requested to obtain and furnish the consolidated utilization certificates for the amounts sanctioned now for the State Audit Authorities.
This order issues with the concurrence of the Finance (EBS-VII) Dept., vide their U.O.No.1341/39/EBS.VII/Rev/2020,dated:23.03.2020.