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Put money in hands of people, will be catastrophic if this doesn't happen: Rahul Gandhi to Centre

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday said the Centre should stop acting like a "money lender" for its children by giving them credit instead of cash, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the coronavirus economic stimulus package.

Speaking with journalists of regional media via video conferencing, Rahul said he was trying to put pressure on the government for generating demand by putting money into the accounts of the poor and vulnerable sections of society.

The Congress leader said a 'storm' was brewing on the economic front that will cause damage and hurt many. "The storm has not come yet, it is coming and will cause big economic damage and hurt many," he said. The Congress leader asserted that if demand is not generated, the country will suffer a bigger loss economically than from the novel coronavirus.

He also said it's important to lift the lockdown intelligently without compromising the health of the old and vulnerable population.

As part of the economic package to overcome the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the past three days, the Finance Minister has provided relief for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and migrant labourers, farmers and street vendors with measures worth Rs 5.94 lakh crore and Rs 3.1 lakh crore, respectively. Of the entire Rs 20 lakh crore package to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have already announced measures worth Rs 9.74 lakh crore.

As part of the third tranche, Sitharaman Friday announced 11 measures to help agriculture and allied activities as part of the third tranche of India's economic package to overcome the fallout due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These measures will help the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' (India's self-reliant mission).

Of the 11 measures, eight were related to strengthening infrastructure, logistics and storage, while the remaining three were on governance administration and reforms.

The eight measures included a Rs 1 lakh crore fund to boost agricultural infrastructure; Rs 10,000 crore scheme for the formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (MFE); Rs 20,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for development of marine and inland fisheries; Rs 15,000 crore Animal Husbandry Infra Development Fund for the dairy sector; Rs 13,343 crore for National Animal Disease Control Programme; Rs 4,000 crore for the promotion of herbal cultivation; and Rs 500 crore scheme of infrastructure development related to integrated beekeeping development centres.

(Inputs from theindianexpress.com)

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