Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman says Rs 3,500 crore to be set aside for distributing foodgrain through state government for migrant workers without ration cards.
- This will mandate 5 kilogram rice / wheat and 1 kg gram per family per month for two months.
- Moots national portability for ration cards by March next year.
- Clarifgication suggests portability will be through Aadhaar.
- Nearly Rs 2 lakh cr concessional credit through Kisan Credit Cards; apart from farming, fishing and animal husbandry to be included.
- Immediate release of Rs 30,000 cr top up for Nabard to help in Rabi procurement and Kharif preparations.
- Compensatory Afforestation Funds to be used to generate employment for tribal communities through forestry-related work.
- Promises affordable rental housing scheme.
- Rs 1,500 cr set aside for 2 per cent interest subvention in Mudra Sishu (up to Rs 50,000) loans.
- Rs 5,000 cr worth credit for street vendors within a month.
- Interest subvention on farm credit extended through May 31, 2020.
- Credit-linked subsidy for affordable housing extended up to March 2021.
- Uttar Pradesh has requested and accepted 386 Shramik trains to bring back migrants.
- Bihar has requested and accepted 204 such trains.
- Other states include Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
- India’s novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) death toll was at 2,549, according to the Union health ministry.
- There were 49,219 active COVID-19 cases in the country.
- Until now, 26,234 patients have been cured / discharged.
- India’s total COVID-19 tally was at 78,003.
- The global tally was at 4,452,806, according to aggregator Worldometers.info.
- Worldover, 298,737 people have died.
- Active cases were at 2,478,141.
- The proportion of patients serious / critical remained at 2 per cent.