Rent, ration and food for migrants in Nirmala Sitharaman's second press conference as part of PM Modi's Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package

A day after announcing a set of 15 relief measures related to MSMEs, NBFCs, real estate sector, etc, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released  the second tranche of the ₹20 lakh crore economic package today. In a big relief to the migrants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of the National Portability Cards (One Nation One Ration Card) which can be used in any ration shop in any part of the country as migrants move from state to state. Besides, the FM said the government will give 5 kg/person of wheat or rice and 1 kg/family of channa for non-PDS card holders for two months which is going to cost the national exchequer Rs 3,500 crore. In order to employ the migrants workforce returning home, FM Sitharaman said the the government has generated 14.62 crore person-days of work till May 13 to help migrants find work who have returned to their home states. 

The Centre has approved 63 lakh loans of Rs 86,600 crore in agriculture between March 1 and April 30, the finance minister said. The Centre has also provided support of Rs 4,200 crore under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to states during March 2020 for rural infrastructure, the FM said. For middle income group (annual Income: Rs 6-18 lakh), the government will give a Rs 70,000 crore boost to the housing sector through extension of CLSS Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Group, which was operationalized from May 2017. CLSS was extended up to March 31, 2020. The scheme will  benefit 3.3 lakh middle class families. 

For street vendors, the government has announced Rs 5000 crore special credit facility. Govt to launch special scheme within a month to facilitate easy access to credit to street vendor. The government has also announced the following for small businesses under the MUDRA scheme, which have been disrupted the most due to the coronavirus, and, in turn, do not have the capacity to pay EMIs. Liquidity support for farmers and rural economy has been happening for last 2 months i.e during coronavirus crisis. 63 lakh loans of 86,000 crore have been approved in agriculture area. NABARD has re-financed 29,500 crore only in march to rural banks only in march, support of 4,200 crore for rural infrastructure. This is the second phase of announcements by the Union Finance Ministry elaborating on the Centre’s Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package.