Narendra Modi's announcements grossly inadequate: CPI
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 01 2020: CPI (M), Manipur State Committee has said that the announcements made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday are totally inadequate to deal with the survival and livelihood crisis being faced by crores of people in the country.

The provision of 5 kg of foodgrain and 1 kg of pulses is grossly inadequate to meet the survival needs of the people who have been deprived of their livelihood or food for over three months, said CPI in a statement while demanding the Centre to ensure 10 kg of foodgrain per individual per month for a period of six months.

Announcement of Rs 500 to all Jan Dhan accounts is a "pittance" and mocks at people's agonies, said CPI while demanding a cash transfer of Rs 7,500 per month for six months to all families outside the tax bracket as 14 crore people have lost their jobs and the Government itself admitted that eight crore migrant workers were on the road for the last two months.

The claim to provide jobs to all returned workers under MNREGA is a fallacy, remarked CPI saying that 100 days work per year for an additional one crore people requires an allocation of Rs 2.46 lakh crore while the budgetary allocations plus the announced measures during the lockdown amount to less than Rs 1.5 lakh crore together.

Until gainful employment is realised, unemployment allowance must be provided across the country, it added.

On PM Modi's claim of nine crore farmers being benefitted with the direct cash transfer of Rs 2,000, CPI stated that PM Kisan Yojana, the scheme under which the cash transfer was made, was announced on the eve of 2019 general elections.

It was to provide three annual instalments of Rs 2,000 each to 14 crore peasants.

As such it was a re-packaging of an earlier announcement and no additional relief, it continued while saying that five crore peasants out of the total 14 crore peasants envisaged earlier, are deprived of the measly relief.

Deriding the PM's claim that India, under his Government, has commendably combated the Covid-19 pandemic, CPI said that the country has the lowest testing rates in the world and the number of positive cases and deaths are rising menacingly.

Thus the Central Government must augment health facilities on a war-footing, ensure PPEs to all health workers and provide universal health care, it said and added that the measures taken up by the Manipur Government is inadequate to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Secretariat of the CPI (M) Manipur State Committee also demanded that the thousands of crores of rupees collected, in the name of combating the pandemic, by a private trust bearing PM's name and CM Relief Fund must be released in detail immediately to ensure augmentation of public health facilities; cash transfer of Rs 7,500 to all families outside the tax bracket per month for six months and 10 kg of free foodgrains to every needy person per month for the next six months.

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