Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan – Announcement of IInd & IIIrd Tranche of Economic Measures by FM Nirmala Sitharamana

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced on March 13th, 2020 the first Tranche of Rs 20 Lakh Crore Special Package. As part of the first tranche of the economic relief plan, packages were announced for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector that lies at the heart of the industrial ecosystem and employs an estimated 11 crore persons, including much of the country’s migrant workforce. While the 16 specific announcements announced in the first tranche cut across sectors that range from MSME and Non Banking Finance Companies to real estate and power distribution and the salaried, the overarching theme was that of infusing liquidity.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 14 unveiled the next set of measures to alleviate the hardships caused to the farmers, migrant workers and street vendors due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown restrictions.

Key highlights from Nirmala Sitharaman’s Press Conference

#FM announced a total of 9 steps. Three for migrant workers, two for farmers and one each for small businesses, street vendors, housing sector and employment generation.The focus was on migrants workers, street vendors, small traders, small farmers and self-employed people.
#Between March 01 and April 30, nearly 63 lakh loans of farmer worth Rs 86,600 was approved. Support of Rs 4,200 crore was provided under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to states during March 2020 for rural development.
#Support has been given to migrants and urban poor during the last two months. Three meals a day has been provided to residents for Urban Homeless during the lockdown period.
#A sum of Rs. 11,000 crore has been given to states for taking care of migrant workers.
#Nearly 12,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) have produced more than 3 crore masks and 1.2 lakh litres of sanitizers during Covid-19 period. Nearly 7,200 new SHGs were formed during the lockdown period.
#A total of Rs 10,000 crore under MNREGA has been spent in just 43 days. So far, 14.62 person-days of work has been generated under MGNREGS till May 13. Average wage rate rose to Rs 202 from Rs 182 in the last fiscal year.
# Govt. has made adequate provisions to ensure that returning migrant workers needing work will be engaged, states and UTs have been asked to provide them with work as per provisions of MNREGA Act.
#Govt. wants to have a better definition for inter-state migrant workers, to better reach benefits to them. Portability of welfare benefits for migrant workers and making ESIC coverage pan India are other aspects we are working on.
#Migrant families are not able to access food in other states. For that, "One Nation One Ration scheme" will be implemented. It will benefit 67 crore people in 23 states covering and about 83% of PDS population will be covered August 2020.
#Free food grains supply to all migrants for the next 2 months. For non-card holders, they shall be given 5kg wheat/rice per person and 1 kg chana per family per month for the coming 2 months. Nearly 8 crore migrants will benefit from this. And a sum of Rs 3,500 crores will be spent on this.
#Govt will launch a scheme for affordable rental housing for migrant workers and urban poor to provide ease of living by converting govt-funded housing in cities into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC). This will be done under the PPP mode through the concessionaire.
#For the lower strung of the middle class earning ₹6-18 lakh annual income, the govt will extend the CLSS scheme for affordable housing till March 2021.
#A Rs 5,000 crore special credit facility will be provided to street vendors. The scheme will support nearly 50 lakh street vendors. to facilitate easy access to initial working capital of up to ₹10,000.The scheme will be launched within a month.
#Central government will provide interest subvention of 2 per cent for prompt Mudra-Shishu Loans payees for a period of 12 months.₹1500 crore interest subvention for MUDRA-Sishu loans
#To create job opportunities for tribals, plans worth Rs 6,000 crores will be approved shortly under the Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds.
#Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital fund will be provided through NABARD to small, marginal farmers.
#A Rs 2 lakh crore concessional credit boost will be provided to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan credit cards.
#Everyday 300 Shramik special trains can run: Sitharaman
#Fishermen and animal husbandry farmers will be included in Kisan credit card scheme
#Special credit facility of about ₹500 crore for street vendors. The scheme will be launched within a month. There are 50 lakh street vendors

Labour reforms

"We want to bring in universal minimum wage, and bring in a national floor wage for minimum wages, so that there is no disparity between states," she said.

She also said there is a proposal to make all occupations open to women, including night shifts with proper safeguards, in the pipeline in the proposed Labour Code.

Among other things, there will be mandatory ESIC coverage for employees of hazardous industries, social security schemes for gig and platform workers and re-skilling of retrenched workers. Focus will also be on employment for adivasis and tribals.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Friday, the 15th May 2020  the Third Tranche of Rs 1.63 lakh crore package for agriculture and allied sectors aimed at strengthening infrastructure, logistics and capacity building at farm gate.Eleven measures have been announced today. Eight are related to strengthening infrastructure, the rest three will deal with governance and administrative reforms.

She  announced a Rs 1 lakh crore Agri Infrastructure Fund that will finance projects at farm-gate and aggregation point for efficient post-harvest management of crops. Besides, schemes for micro food enterprises, cattle vaccination, dairy sector, herbal plantation, beekeeping, and fruits and vegetables were also announced. She also announced major reforms in the agricultural sector, which are being considered as landmark decisions by converting the ongoing coronavirus crisis into an opportunity.

In a major move, FM Sitharaman announced amendments to the Essential Commodities Act, enabling better price realisation for farmers.She also proposed to bring in a central law to provide adequate choices for the farmers to sell their produce at attractive prices by removing barriers to inter-state trade and providing a framework for e-trading of agriculture produce.

11 Steps taken by FM Nirmala Sitharaman for the agrarian economy

The first eight measures were related to strengthening infrastructure, capacities, logistics:

1. First one deals with farm-gate infrastructure, cold chains, etc - Rs 1 trillion will be provided for aggregators, primary agriculture cooperative organisations, farmer producer organisations. Not only this will be strengthening farm-gate infrastructure, but will also improve Storage and boost exports. Farmers income is also expected to increase with this initiative.

2. Second is regarding food organisations which is micro in size - FM announced Rs 10,000-crore fund for formalisation of local products. Health and wellness, nutritious, organic products to be pushed in an organised manner — through tech upgrade, brand-building.This will be a cluster-based approach. 200,000 producers to benefit by this.

3. Third announcement was for Logistics and other facilities for marine, aquaculture, fisheries - The initiative is named Pradhan Manti Matsya Sampada Yojana which worth Rs 20,000 crore. Rs 11,000 crore will be allocated for aquaculture development. Rs 9,000 crore to be invested in laboratories, fishing harbours, and fishing equipment to be provided. With this 5.5 million jobs expected to be created. Insurance for persons and boats will also be provided. Well, 7 million tonnes of additional marine produce expected through these measures

4. Fourth measure aims to provide 100% vaccination of all cattle - This measure is announced by FM for eradicating foot and mouth diseases. Rs 13,343 crore to be invested in this and 530 million animals to benefit by this

5. Measures for animal husbandry, dairy farmers -  Rs 15,000 crore to be spent on animal husbandry and dairy infrastructure building. Well, this is done for encouraging Private investment.Cattle feed infrastructure to be built for domestic use and exports and incentives will be given for setting up healthy processing plants

6. FM's sixth announcement relates to promotion of cultivation of herbal and medicinal plants - Rs 4,000 crore allocated for this purpose. A corridor for growing herbal and medicinal plants to be created on 800 hectares of area on both sides of the Ganga. 1 million hectares will be brought under cultivation. And with this move Govt aims to generate Rs 5,000 crore of additional income for farmers. Network of regional mandis will also be created.

7. Next steps are for bee-keeping - Rs 500-crore scheme provided to promote bee-keeping. 200,000 bee-keepers to benefit with this. Quality of honey produce will improve and this move will help in producing wax, and reduce its import

8. Eight one deals with Operation Greens which will build supply chains for farmers - Additional Rs 500 crore to be spend on building logistics and storage facility. Well this will be extended beyond tomato, potato, onion and include other vegetables and fruits. This is a six-month pilot project; decision to be taken based on the success of the pilot project. 50% subsidy on transportation and 50% subsidy on storage cost will be provided.

Next three steps are governance and administrative reforms:

9. This is one of the big steps taken today. Essential Commodities Act, 1955, will be amended. Onions, potatoes, pulses, edible oils, cereals to be completely deregulated. Stock limits will be invoked only under exceptional situations. - Food processing industry will benefit by this. While, Farmers prices will remain unaffected by exigencies, their income will get a boost. Agri investment will get a fillip

10. Tenth announcement by FM was that farmers will now get a choice to sell at attractive price - Central law to be brought to provide farmers the choice to sell at best price. Barriers in inter-state trade to be lifted. Provisions will be brought to enable e-trading.

11. Last steps relate to the Legal structure that will provide assured returns to farmers - Legal framework to be brought in to ensure a fixed fair price for farmers even before they start sowing. Farmers at present do not have a standard mechanism to charge a predictable price. Well this move will improve income and standard of living of farmers.Farmers will be able to deal with aggregators and other intermediaries in a risk-free transparent manner

Source: Economic Times, Business Line, PIB, Business Standard, Financial Express & Indian Express