To counter Covid19 impact, Rahul Gandhi prescribes NYAY-like scheme worth Rs 65,000 crores

Delhi, May 8th: 

Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi held a video conference to take stock of the situation prevalent in the country amid the Corona Pandemic. In that, the senior Congress leader talked about several issues that need to be done to counter the Covid19 crisis. He mentioned the need for decentralisation at the Centre, States, and the district level. "I request the government that they view State governments and district magistrates as partners and that they do not centralize the decision making", says Rahul Gandhi.

Extending the issue further, he maintains that "the Prime Minister has his own style, but in my view, in such a situation a strong Prime Minister along with a lot of strong Chief Ministers & a lot of strong collectors are needed. I want us to tackle the disease at the local level itself".

He evokes the role of responsibility in times of the crisis and calls for strong leadership. "I want a strong Indian leader to stand in front of this disease - be it a collector or a farmer. The zones are being decided at the national level while the CMs say that it should be decided at the State level", says Rahul Gandhi.

Here's a roundup to the important suggestions he mentioned in the press conference:

• Everyone has a responsibility. Everyone should forget which party they belong to, the only thing to be remembered is that we are all Indians and together we have to end the fear & the economy has to be brought back on trackThere is an atmosphere of fear in India an.d the world today. The atmosphere of fear has to end before ending the lockdown, otherwise, no one will come out. Media colleagues also need to help end this fear

  Information about zones is with the state-level leaders and collectors. This information is not available at the centre.

• The Indian economy has stopped, businesses are collapsing and you need to create demand immediately. You need to get the system started else there will be a catastropheYou need to create demand, put money in the system, put money in poor people’s hands, help MSMEs and make sure you’re protecting some of the larger players because these are all interconnected
• You have to take care of big and small businesses alike because everything is connected. If you want to start the engine, you cannot think of starting just one part of the engine
• Regarding the transfer of migrants, a conversation between States has to happen and these decisions have to be made with empathy towards migrants, and the Centre has to oversee
• Take the idea of NYAY and start putting money directly into the hands of 50% of India’s poor households. It’s not going to cost too much. ₹65,000 crores is what it is going to cost
• We simply cannot continue without providing support to the people who are suffering as a result of this lockdown. We have been in lockdown for 45 days now and we are beginning to run into a little bit of a problem

The following video conference comes at a time when the MP held discussions with domain experts and intellectuals from various sectors to understand the situation.

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