5 Big Announcements In Finance Minister's Coronavirus Relief Package Finance Minister Nirmana Sitharaman unveiled Rs 1.7 trillion economic stimulus package to help the poor and migrants tackle the financial difficulties

5 Big Announcements In Finance Minister's Coronavirus Relief Package

Finance Minister Nirmana Sitharaman unveiled Rs 1.7 trillion economic stimulus package to help the poor and migrants tackle the financial difficulties

The relief measures included direct cash transfers and food security-related steps

Finance Minister Nirmana Sitharaman unveiled Rs 1.7 trillion economic stimulus package to help the poor and migrants tackle the financial difficulties arising from Covid-19 outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown. Announcing the relief package under PM Gareeb Kalyan Scheme, the finance minister said, "No one will go hungry" and the immediate focus was on alleviating the hardships of the migrant workers, urban and rural poor. The relief measures included direct cash transfers (under the DBT or Direct Benefit Transfer scheme) and food security-related steps aimed at giving relief to the poor workers hit by the 21-day countrywide lockdown that began this week.

Here are some top announcements:

Medical insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh per person for those on the frontline of the fight against Covid-17 i.e. doctors, nurses and also sanitation workers
Direct cash transfer for eight categories, including pensioners, women and the specially-abled. Farmers will get first instalment of Rs 2,000 of PM Kisan in the first week of April and MNREGA wages will be increased from Rs 182 to Rs 202 and women holding Jan Dhan account holders will get an ex-gratia amount of Rs 500 per month for the next three months

Each household will receive Rs 5 kg of rice or wheat per month free of cost, in addition to the existing 5 kg. In addition, the household will also get 1 kg of preferred dal for free for the next three months.
Women in self-help groups will get up to Rs 10 lakh collateral-free loans under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya National Rural Mission scheme. And the cap has been doubled to Rs 20 lakh.

As far as the organised sector is concerned, the Centre will pay PF for both the employee and employer for the next three months for small companies that have up to 100 employees and 90 per cent of whom earn less than Rs 15,000 per month.

Source: NDTV