Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the fifth and final installment of the economic package. He informed that an additional 40 thousand crore rupees have been allocated for Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA). This will help migrant laborers going back to their villages.
The Finance Minister said that an allocation of Rs 61,000 crore has already been made in the budget for MNREGA. Now this allocation is being increased to Rs 40,000 crore above that. In addition, public expenditure on health will be increased. He said that investment in health institutions at the grassroots level would be increased.
Sitharaman said that migrant labor trains have been run to take the laborers home. 85 percent of the cost of taking laborers by trains is borne by the Central Government while 15 percent of the expenditure is borne by the State Governments. Food was also provided to the workers in trains. Ration has been made for eight crore migrant laborers.
He said that a program of multi-mode access for digital or online education will be launched soon. Apart from this, separate TV channels will be started for every class from first to twelfth. The top hundred universities will be allowed to automatically start online courses by May 30, 2020.
