Three meals a day provided for residents of shelter homes during lockdown

New Delhi, May 14: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that three meals a day will be provided for residents of shelter homes during the lockdown.

She also said that the second tranche of the economic stimulus package will be for the benefit of migrant workers, street vendors and small farmers. At a press conference, she said 3 crore marginal farmers have already availed Rs 4 lakh crore of loans on concessional rates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a cumulative package of Rs 20 lakh crore (nearly 10 per cent of GDP) to provide relief to various segments of the economy. This included Rs 1.7 lakh crore package comprising of free foodgrains and cash to poor for three months announced in March, and Rs 5.6 lakh crore stimulus provided through various monetary policy measures by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The remaining of the Rs 20 lakh crore package is being announced in tranches.

Sitharaman had in the first tranche on Wednesday unveiled a Rs 5.94 lakh crore plan that mostly comprises off-budget items such as Rs 3 lakh crore of credit line to small businesses as support to shadow banks and electricity distributors.

Off-budget items do not result in any outgo from the government exchequer but these will aid in easing liquidity constrains for businesses once the lockdown is lifted.