The second tranche of announcements made by the finance minister today as a part of the ₹20 lakh crore “AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” stimulus package,addressed the needs of migrant workers, small farmers, small traders and street vendors via 9 major steps. The sectors addressed todaycomprisepeople most affected by a pandemic that has battered economies across the globe.
The second tranche of announcements made by the finance minister today as a part of the ₹20 lakh crore “AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” stimulus package, addressed the needs of migrant workers, small farmers, small traders and street vendors via 9 major steps. The sectors addressed todaycomprisepeople most affected by a pandemic that has battered economies across the globe.
Migrant Workers:
The FM announced a “One Nation, One Ration (card)” technology driven system which would enable a person to get their food provision in any part of the country by using their ration card. This is indeed a welcome move by the government as it will aid migrant workers’ access to the Public Distribution System (PDS). The government will also extend benefits to non-card holders by providing them with 5kg of grains and 1 kg of Chana per family for the next two months.
There is also a proposal to create an affordable rental housing scheme for migrant workers via a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. This will ensure that there is a roof over the heads of all people at all times.
Mudhra Loans:
To provide benefit to the small traders who have obtained a credit limit under the Shishu scheme of Mudhra loans, the government has rolled out an interest subvention of 2% for all prompt payers for a period of 12 months. This may provide a small benefit to the traders during this difficult time.
Special Credit Facility for Street vendors:
The government has proposed ₹5000 Crore as a part of the Special credit facility to street vendors to facilitate easy access to credit by the street vendors. While this may help the street vendors at large to resume activities, there maybe some practical challenges faced in adequate identification of street vendors, lack of sufficient data and the agency through which this benefit will be passed on to them.
Housing Loan:
For the lower middle income class with an annual income of between ₹6 Lakhs - ₹18 Lakhs, the government now proposes to extend the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for affordable housing till 31 March 2021. Apart from the affordable housing created under this scheme, we can also reasonably expect this scheme to create a demand for other ancillary products such as cement, steel etc and thereby provide adequate employment opportunities.
Farmers:
Additional provision of ₹2 Lakh crore is allocated to 2.5 Crore farmers as a part of the Kisan credit. This has now been extended to include Fisheries and Animal Husbandry also. This is intended to help these sectors recuperate from the impact of COVID – 19. An additional ₹30,000 crore emergency fund through NABARD is also proposed to aid the marginal and small farmers.
The Finance Minister also mentioned that 44 laws are being reduced into 4 Acts.
Certain areas of critical importance have been addressed by the Finance Minister in the first two tranches. However, it must be noted that most of today’s schemes are extension of the existing measures that seem to have been refurbished and presented. Concern also remains about the extent of these measures trickling down and benefiting the common man. Street vendors or migrant workers typically lack awareness so the question would be who will bell the cat? They need to know a scheme exists before they can utilize it. Other practical challenges might also be encountered such as lack of address proof, sufficient documentation etc. As they say, the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. One must wait and watch the overall and trickle down effects of these measures on the targeted sectors.
G K Shrinivas is a Chartered Accountant by profession, also a qualified lawyer and a Certified Information Systems Auditor from US. He is also a Forensic Auditor certified by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.