PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Friday urged the Centre to provide relief such as tax breaks, easy loans for micro, small and medium-sized industries and unorganised workers who depend on these industries as economic activity has ceased markedly due to the lockdown imposed to tackle COVID-19.
In a statement, Dr. Ramadoss pointed out that 90% of the workers who belong to the informal sector will be severely affected due to the lockdown imposed in India.
“The International Labour Organisation has said that 4 out of 5 workers or 81% of the work force in the world will be affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have said that unorganised workers in India, Brazil and Nigeria may experience worse crises and 40 crore workers may lose their jobs and be mired in poverty in India. They have also said that the situation could continue throughout 2020 and could get worse by the year end,” he said.
Hence providing immediate relief to unorganised workers and the unorganised sector is essential to ensure that they return to pre-COVID-19 days.
“Only these two steps will help alleviate the trouble in the economy due to COVID-19. The Centre’s relief measures were announced even on March 26 which is just a few days after the COVID-19 scare began in India. The relief couldn’t have been calculated according to the actual need as it was just announced a few days after March 26. Only a section of unorganised workers will get the relief. The unorganised workers work for very low wages and all their savings would have been gone in a few days of the lockdown. The Centre should give them relief measures,” he added.
