Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s relief measures for the poor are welcome but should have come two days earlier – with PM Modi’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown announcement. It would have prevented the widespread panic and exodus of migrant workers. The government must now ensure speedy implementation and last mile delivery without corruption.
Modi govt relief package in, now migrant workers must be stopped from returning to villages
The sight of migrant workers trudging for days to reach their villages amid the coronavirus pandemic is tragic, alarming. Now that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a relief package for the poor, states and the Centre must immediately intervene to give them money and ensure they stop walking home.
When Demonetization came, it was plan less…. when Fulwama came, no body had any pre information…when onion price soared, it was miss planned….now it is Corona…which was also underestimated initially.It Corona(Karo Na) means don’t do anything!!!
it’s heartbreaking. does the government have any plans for the most vulnerable?
What gets my vote in this relief package is that it focuses on the most vulnerable, and gives them an intravenous feed just when they need it. No $ 2 trillion stimulus, no support for troubled sectors like airlines or automobiles. Gareeb ka chulha jalte rehna chahiye. Save the humblest Indians – some trekking a couple of hundred kilometres – from both the virus and hunger.
It does seem as if the government is responding to a challenge which has been manifest since at least the end of January with changes on an almost daily basis. When the announcement was made for a voluntary Janata curfew on Sunday, although there was some speculation that tougher measures were on the anvil, a national lockdown just a couple of days later could not have been foreseen. Apparently even the top brass of Delhi Police were caught by surprise. The rush of shoppers just before midnight not only undercut social distancing, it showed an inability to plan things through. 2. One would have expected much more intense consultation with the state governments which will actually ensure supply of essential commodities and maintenance of services. A distinctive style of politics is giving us a distinctive style of governance.