Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the second consecutive press briefing today, announced further details regarding the Rs 20 lakh crore financial package that was announced by PM Modi a few days ago. Today’s details revolved only around the benefits that have been made available to the migrant workers, small farmers and other vulnerable sections of the society.
Focus given only to migrant workers and other vulnerable sections today
At the beginning of her press conference today, Nirmala Sitharaman said: “Three steps for migrant workers, one related to street vendors, one for housing, one for tribal employment, and two related to small farmers is the highlight of this press briefing.”
One Nation, One Ration Card
One of the major announcements today, the Finance Minister revealed that the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme will come into place, majorly to help the migrant workers in the country. Regarding the new scheme, she said: “One Nation One Ration Card will be implemented- 67 crore beneficiaries in 23 states covering 83% of PDS population will be covered by national portability by August 2020. Further, 100% national portability will be achieved by March, 2021, she says.”
She added that technology systems will be utilized to enable migrants access Public Distribution System (Ration) from any Fair Price Shop in India by March 2021. Nirmala Sitharaman elaborated that families of the migrant workers are currently not able to access PDS in different states, and with this scheme, they can do it, irrespective of the state they are in. Further, she said that Intra-State portability has been introduced in 20 states so far.
Source: Free Press Journal
