Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday made it clear that her ministry had not been taken into confidence about the nationwide loc...
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday made it clear that her ministry had not been taken into confidence about the nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus that had been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two days before. Never mind that Modi had himself called on Indians to carry out a self-imposed janata curfew a week before and expressly described it as a drill. Forget also that, by Sunday, it was clear that huge swathes of India would be going into complete lockdown.
Sitharaman described Modi’s Tuesday evening announcement of the national, three-week lockdown as if it were itself an unforeseen natural disaster that her ministry quickly stepped up to address. “We’ve immediately responded within 36 hours of the lockdown,” Sitharaman said, at a press briefing to announce a financial package of welfare services.
This is broadly what Sitharaman announced:
- 80 crore people, or 800 million, will get 5 kg of wheat or rice and 1 kg of pulses for the next three months, for free, over and above the 5 kg of wheat or rice that they already do. This can be collected in two instalments.
- The first payment of Rs 2,000 under the PM-KISAN, a farmer income support measure, will...
