Free Food Grains for 2 Months, ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ for Migrants
Staff Reporter / NEW DELHI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today gave details about the second tranche of relief measures under the Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
Addressing media here today, Ms. Sitharaman said, the second set of announcement would cater to the issues pertaining to Migrant Workers, Street Vendors, Small Traders, Small Farmers and Self Employed People in the country. The stimulus was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, during his address to the nation. He had called on Indians to be vocal for local.
Referring to the swift government response to address the COVID situation, Ms Sitharaman informed about the three crore marginal farmers who availed agricultural loans worth over four lakh crore rupees. Finance Minister announced an extended relief till 31st of May in the form of interest moratorium to the farmers on these loans.
The government announced five kilograms per person of wheat or rice and one kilogram chana per family to migrants who do not have any Public Distribution card. The measure will benefit over eight crore migrants for the next two months.
Referring to the National Portability Cards as the One Nation, One Ration Card Scheme, Finance Minister explained that these will be beneficial for all migrant workers. Proposed to be benefitting over 67 crore people, this scheme will enable use of Ration Card to procure food grains from any ration shop across the country.
For migrants and the urban poor, government announced affordable rental accommodation.
Government funded housing in cities will be converted into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Both government and private bodies will be incentivized to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes on their land.
Under the MUDRA scheme, small businesses will be revamped through the 1,500 crore rupees interest subvention scheme. Government will provide interest subvention of two per cent for the next 12 months for beneficiaries of the MUDRA-Shishu Loan Yojana.
Benefitting the street vendors, special credit facility of five thousand crore rupees have been announced. The decision to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors will also provide an initial working capital of up to 10 thousand rupees.
Special emphasis has been laid on employment creation through Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds. Ms. Sitharaman informed that, proposals worth six thousand crore rupees to help generate employment for tribals for afforestation and plantation related works is already under pipeline.
Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) has been extended up to March 2021 benefiting 2.5 lakh middle income families. This will lead to an investment of over 70 thousand crore in the housing sector. It will also create jobs, stimulate demand for steel, cement, transport, and other construction material.
The government announced 30 thousand crore rupees as emergency working capital fund to the farmers through NABARD. This is in addition to the 90 thousand crore rupees announced earlier and is aimed to benefit over three crore farmers in the country.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a two lakh crore concessional credit boost for 2.5 crore farmers through the Kisan Credit Card Special drive. Fishermen and animal husbandry farmers will also be included in this scheme. This scheme will enable 2.5 crore farmers gain access to institutional credit at concessional interest rates.