The government on March 26 unveiled a Rs 1.70 lakh crore economic package, under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), involving free foodgrain and cooking gas for poor for the next three months, one-time doles to women and poor senior citizens, higher wages to workers and measures to boost liquidity of employees as it looked to contain the impact of unprecedented nationwide lockdown.

Over 80 crore ration card holders will each get 5 kg of wheat or rice and one kg of preferred pulses free of cost every month for the next three months to ensure that poor are not hungry because of the close down of businesses.

Poor women, who got free cooking gas under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana during the last three years, will get free LPG refills in the next three months to tide over tight finance following the nationwide lockdown, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, adding this will benefit 8.3 crore women.

The government also announced Rs 50 lakh medical insurance cover per person for doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and sanitation workers who are at the forefront of dealing with coronavirus pandemic.

Besides, 20.5 crore women Jan Dhan Account holders will get Rs 500 per month for the next three months, while poor senior citizens, widows and disabled will get a one-time cash dole of Rs 1,000.

For workers, the daily wage under the MGNREGA has been increased to Rs 202 from Rs 182, benefiting 5 crore workers who stand to gain about Rs 2,000 in all.

Also, the government will front-load Rs 2,000 payments to farmers in the first week of April under the existing PM Kisan Yojana to benefit 8.69 crore farmers.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, the Centre transfers an amount of Rs 6,000 per year, in three equal instalments, directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.

The government will pay the employee provident fund (EPF) contribution of both the employer and the employee (12 per cent each) for the next three months. The move will benefit over 4.8 crore employees in the organised sector.

Sitharaman said the PF contribution decision has been taken to ensure that employees’ EPF continuity is not lost. This will be applicable to all those establishments having employed up to 100 employees and about 90 per cent of which earn Rs 15,000 per month, she added.

The government will also amend the regulations for the scheme to allow employees to draw up to 75 per cent of their non-refundable advance or up to three months of wages, whichever is lower.

Sitharaman said the limit of collateral-free loans to 63 lakh women self-held groups is being doubled to Rs 20 lakh, impacting 7 crore households.

The free foodgrain and pulses are over-and-above the existing entitlement through the public distribution system (PDS). The ration card holders can take the foodgrain and pulses from the PDS in two installments, she added.

According to official data, the government has a total of 58.49 million tonnes of foodgrain in the FCI godowns so far. Out of which, rice is 30.97 million tonne and wheat 27.52 million tonne.

Number of cases rise to 649 in India

The number of coronavirus cases climbed to 649 in India on March 26 and the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 13, with one death reported each from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, according to the Health Ministry.

Goa featured for the first time in the chart prepared by the ministry, reporting three coronavirus cases.

According to the data, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 593, while 42 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated. The total number of 649 cases included 47 foreign nationals.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases so far at 124, including three foreign nationals, followed by Kerala, where the number of cases has climbed up to 118, including eight foreign nationals, according to the ministry data. The number of cases in Telangana has gone up to 41, including 10 foreigners. Karnataka has reported 41 COVID-19 cases, while the number of cases in Gujarat has climbed to 38, including a foreigner.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store