PM Modi announces economic package amounting to Rs 20 lakh crore
New Delhi: In a big push to revive the COVID-hit economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced massive new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore, saying the coronavirus crisis has provided India an opportunity to become self-reliant and emerge as the best in the world.
Apart from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assistance, the government had last month announced a Rs 1.74 lakh crore to provide benefits to the poor, including cash transfers, Rs 50 lakh insurance cover and steps to ensure food security.
In a televised address to the nation, Modi also said there will be a fourth phase of the lockdown which will be very different from the earlier three phases. The third phase of the lockdown is scheduled to end on May 17.
About the financial package, the prime minister said it will be around 10 percent of the GDP and "will play an important role in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' (self-reliant India campaign), adding that the "announcements made by the government so far, the decisions of the RBI and today's package totals to Rs 20 lakh crores".
The special economic package will have emphasis on land, labour, liquidity and laws, and will be for "our labourers, farmers, honest tax payers, MSMEs and cottage industry", Modi said.
India's self-reliance will be based on five pillars -- economy, infrastructure, technology driven system, vibrant demography and demand, he said.
The prime minister also hinted at big-ticket economic reforms in coming days, and said beginning Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce details of the special economic package.
Modi said getting fatigued or exhausted was not an option in confronting the unprecedented challenge posed by the pandemic and India has to make sincere efforts to become a self-reliant nation by transforming the crisis into an opportunity.
Asserting that just one virus has destroyed the world, Modi said the pandemic has provided an opportunity to India to become self-reliant and emerge as a powerful country globally in the 21st century.
"We are standing at a crucial juncture. This crisis has a message for us. It has provided us an opportunity," he said, asserting that "we have to protect ourselves and move ahead as well".
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Death toll in Mundathikode fireworks explosion rises to 16
Thrissur (Kerala) (PTI): One more person who had been hospitalised following the Mundathikode fireworks explosion died at Thrissur Medical College on Sunday, police said.
With this, the death toll in the incident has risen to 16.
According to Thrissur Medical College police, the deceased has been identified as Unnikrishnan from Edappal, who was among the 38 persons present at the fireworks manufacturing unit in Mundathikode where the explosions occurred on April 21.
Police said Unnikrishnan had suffered over 80 per cent burns and had remained in critical condition.
The condition of the two other injured persons remains critical, police said.
Of the 38 persons present at the site, 16 have died, while four remain missing.
The fireworks were being manufactured for Thiruvambady Devaswom as part of the Thrissur Pooram festivities.
The licensee of the unit had also suffered burn injuries and had died earlier.
