Free Ration For Migrants, Subsidy For Middle Class: FM Sitharaman on Centre’s Economic Package | Top Points

New Delhi: In her second tranche of announcements under the Rs 20 lakh crore ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ economic package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman focused on an array of measures to benefit the rural and urban poor and migrant population. Also Read – Rs 30,000 Crore Additional Emergency Funding Through NABARD: How Will it Help 3 Crore Farmers?

The stimulus package included a ration benefits like a universal ration card, affordable rental housing for migrants, more subsidy for middle-class employees and incentives for farmers and street vendors who have suffered due to the coronavirus lockdown. Also Read – Migrant Woman Sets Off With Disabled Son on Shoulders, Walks All The Way From Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh

“There is a legitimate concern about migrants returning to their home states. The government is attending to the plight of migrants, we are not boasting,” the finance minister said in the press briefing. Also Read – FM Announces Rs 1500 Crore Interest Subvention For MUDRA-Shishu Loans of up to Rs 50,000

Here are the nine major boosters announced today:

1. Free food grain supply – 5 kg of rice/wheat and 1 kg of chana – for around 8 crore migrants who do not hold central and state ration cards for the next two months. Government will bear ₹3,500 crore of this cost.

2. Finance Ministry announced ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ throughout the country. PDS ration cards will be portable for migrants and their families across India to be used in any part of the country. This will cover 83% of all PDS population, 100% coverage by March 2021.

3. Affordable rental accommodation for migrants and the urban poor. This will be provided through converting govt. housing, incentivizing industries to develop rental housing complexes on their private land, incentivizing state/central govt. organizations.

4. Rs 1,500 crore Interest Subvention for small loan takers under MUDRA Shishu Loans. Those repaying loans promptly can get benefit of 2% lower interest rate for 12 months. This will benefit up to 3 crore people.

5. Rs 5,000 crore special credit facility for 50 lakh street vendors will be launched within a month. This will benefit up to 50 lakh street vendors.

6. Government has extended credit-linked subsidy scheme for lower strata of the middle-income group, i.e., Rs 6-18 lakh income per annum, to March 2021. A scheme for subsidised housing is under process to enable 2.5 lakh, additional families, to have affordable houses. This will have an immediate impact on demand, the ministry said.

7. For tribals, the government has allocated Rs 6,000 crore employment push Using Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Funds.

8. For small & marginal farmers, Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital fund through NABARD. This will aid nearly 3 crore farmers, especially during the Rabi season.

9. Rs 2 lakh crore concessional credit to farmers, fishermen, and animal husbandry workers who don’t have Kisan Credit Cards.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that the government genuinely worried for the migrant workers who have been struggling to return home due to the lockdown situation. All those enrolled under the central government’s MNREGA scheme will get additional compensation, and states and UTs have been informed about this.

The Finance Minister also announced that the central government was working towards a ‘National Floor Wage’ scheme that aims for a universal right to minimum wages bridging regional disparity in minimum wages.