Says PM CARES Fund must be audited
Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked the prime minister to devolve power and make the states partner in decision-making in the fight against COVID-19, sayin this battle cannot be won just from the PMO. He also said that the PM CARES Fund should be audited. “We should know about the donors and the donations”.
Gandhi said there will be a “calamity” if the fight against coronavirus is centralised.
Addressing a press conference through video conference, he also asked the government to adopt transparency in its actions to tackle coronavirus and work together with states.
His remarks came after complaints by Congress-ruled states that they were being pushed into fiscal distress in the absence of the Centre providing them resources to fight the pandemic.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also suggested that the Narendra Modi government should consider implementing the idea of NYAY– a direct cash transfer scheme, envisaged by the Congress – to revive the economy.
Addressing a press meet via video-conferencing, Rahul suggested that the government should immediately put cash in 50% households of the country.
“Take the idea of NYAY and start putting money directly into the hands of 50% of India’s poor households. It’s not going to cost too much. The Centre must immediately transfer ₹65,000 crore into the bank accounts of poor and migrant population to give them financial support in these difficult times,” said Rahul.
“You need to create demand, put money in the system, put money in poor people’s hands, help MSMEs and make sure you’re protecting some of the larger players because these are all interconnected,” he added.
It may be noted here that urging the major industries to release the outstanding dues to MSMEs within a month, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday had said that MSME sector is on verge of collapse.
Emphasizing that “decisions have to be made with empathy towards migrants”, Rahul also took a potshot at the PM during the conference and said, “The Prime Minister has his own style, but in my view, in such a situation a strong Prime Minister along with a lot of strong chief ministers and a lot of strong collectors are needed. I want us to tackle the disease at the local level itself.”
I want a strong Indian leader to stand in front of this disease — be it a collector or a farmer. The zones are being decided at the national level while the CMs say that it should be decided at the State level,” he said.
Stating that there is an atmosphere of fear in the country, Rahul suggested, “The atmosphere of fear has to end before ending the lockdown, otherwise no one will come out”.
Rahul also raised the following important points through his press meet:
The PM CARES Fund should be audited. We should know about the donors and the donations.
Working days under the MGNREGA should be increased to 200 days in a year. Currently it is 100 days in a year.
The Coronavirus is not as deadly as being projected. Centre must allay fears over it.
We are in a state of emergency. The idea that we can let our job creators MSMEs drown is not feasible. We have to build a wall for them so that they can fight what is coming. We have to build a financial support for them.
The Constitution is supreme for us. It mentions ways of running the country. There is an emergency today, but we will not allow the laws that are being made now to become permanent.
Stopping migrant workers is inhumane. I urge the Prime Minister that there should not be any delay in giving relief to the farmers.
When asked about the Aarogya Setu App, Rahul said the government should make the contact tracing app free for developers as Singapore did recently.
