Nothing for poor, hungry migrants in 20 lakh crore package

The migrants, on painful, long walks home, would have thought there would be some relief for them on their way when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his Rs-20-lakh-crore COVID19 package.

1.Migrants expected relief when PM announced 20 lakh crore package

Day 1 of the ‘series of policy announcements’ provided no hope. The informal sector is also wondering what comes next.There is no mention of the poor who is in hunger and pain

2. No mention of poor migrants in the package

Half the money of the PM’s Rs 20 lakh crore relief package has already been spent without much impact. The common man and the poor workers saw no relief

3. Half of 20 lakh crore has been spent without kuch impact

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made announcements adding to Rs 4.4 lakh crore but they were mainly credit guarantee schemes for MSMEs (Rs 3 lakh crore) and the power sector (Rs 90,000 crore) and reduction of TDS rates by 25% (Rs 50,000 crore).

5. 4.4 Lakh crore for MSMEs and power sector

Ex finance minister haa said, "There is nothing in what Finance Minister said today for the lakhs of poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers walked and many thousands are still walking back to their home states. It's a cruel blow to those who toil everyday"

6.Nothing for poor, hungry migrant workers:P.Chidambaram

While the FM skirted all questions on how the government plans to help the workers in need

7. FM skirted all questions how it will reach the hungry migrants

The government revised its market borrowings cap from Rs 7.8 lakh crore to Rs 12 lakh crore earlier this month, which would provide them with an additional Rs 4.2 lakh crore.

8 Government is running short on fiscal space

It would be important to mention that the stress on the government’s finances is not just caused by the present COVID crisis, it has been accentuated by this crisis. Signs of trouble were visible in 2019-20, as gross tax revenues saw a contraction of almost 1% from April 2019 to February 2020.

9 Government had already failed on economic front long before Covid-19

The fiscal space is limited for a government which has failed to provide free rail travel to millions of migrant workers who were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres.

10 .Migrants are still forced to walk hundreds of kilometers

The first round of Prime Minister’s Rs 20 lakh crore package has nothing for the poor

11. Plight of poor remains distressed