Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference to address more details regarding second stimulus comprising ₹20-lakh-crore economic package as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The announcements laid emphasis on the plan to help migrants street vendors and poor farmers.
Meanwhile the opposition party Congress on Thursday strongly censured the “second tranche of the stimulus package” (Rs 5,000 crore) for the migrant workers announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today. The party asserted that Modi government was “clearly blind” to the hardships of migrants who have been left stranded and helpless in the ongoing lockdown.
Congress said the finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s announcement of second economy package has failed to address the precise needs of migrant workers who have been most badly effected owing to the economical fallout in the troubled times.
In a video conference call, party spokespersons Manish Tewari, and Supriya Shrinate depicted the FM Nirmala’s Press Conference as “a classical display of arrogance, ignorance and insensitivity” towards the migrants workers.
At a news conference, the finance minister stated 5 kgs of grains and 1 kg of pulses will be offered free for two months to 8 crore migrant labours who are in below poverty line, while 50 lakh street vendors left jobless due to the lockdown would get a working capital loan of Rs 10,000 each.
Congress leaders criticised Rs 5,000 crore package for these effected people as a ‘peanut’ amount and out of it, Rs. 1,500 crore for Shishu MUDRA loans is a joke as it doesn’t meet the financial needs of them.
Senior leader and former union minister Tewari also addressed the migrant workers problem as the biggest “human disaster”as over 90 migrant labours lost their lives on the way back to their native.