Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday asked the Centre to explain how the poor could survive the lockdown without cash in hands.
Reacting to a news report of a woman in Uttar Pradesh throwing her five children into the river after she was unable to feed them, Mr. Chidambaram, in a statement, called it tragic.
“If true, will the government please explain how the poor can survive the lockdown without cash in their hands to buy food and medicines. With limited resources, States have provided a meagre sum of money to the poor as livelihood support,” he said.
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
“Centre won’t give money to States for livelihood support. Centre won’t directly transfer money to every poor family. We must condemn this callous attitude in the strongest terms.”
The Congress leader said that the Centre could easily find up to ₹65,000 crore in its 2020-21 expenditure budget of over ₹30 lakh crore.
“It will be 2.2 % of the expenditure budget,” he said, adding, “Economists have advised that the Centre should borrow more and also monetise part of the deficit. This is sound advice”.
