Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday criticised the Centre’s economic package of ₹20 lakh crore to deal with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced its third tranche dedicated to agriculture and allied activities. Mr. Gehlot said there was nothing for the landless labourers and the urban poor in the package.
“It was the third day of the Finance Minster’s announcements... The first thing the FM should have done was to give a complete break-up of the numbers, figures [and] details regarding the package. It is important for transparency, clarity and for understanding the impact,” Mr. Gehlot tweeted.
Mr. Gehlot regretted that 90% of the Centre’s rescue package was in the form of bank loans. This was done when the gross domestic product (GDP) was dipping into deep recession and was predicted to grow at minus 3% this year and more than 14 crore people had lost their jobs, while a large number of people were living at near starvation level, he said.
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Mr. Gehlot said the States had not been given any financial assistance even though the entire expenditure on fighting COVID-19, enforcing the lockdown and providing support to migrant labourers and relief to the poorest had had to be borne by the States.