Congress President Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the current situation of the economy and stated that the government should take measures to ensure revival and strengthening of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). She also suggested five concrete ideas for redressal, the Congress party said on Saturday, 25 April, as per ANI.
One of the ideas being announcement of a Rs 1 lakh crore ‘MSME Wage Protection’ package. While the second idea is to establish and deploy a credit guarantee fund of Rs 1 lakh crore.
The third step suggested by the Congress leader mentions that the actions taken by the RBI “must get reflected in actions by commercial banks” so that timely credit supply is ensured to the MSMEs.
Further, she recommended that the government should set up a 24X7 helpline in the Ministry to provide adequate guidance and support to MSMEs amid the lockdown.
While highlighting the crisis, she said MSME sector is suffering around Rs 30,000 crore loss every day due to the lockdown and efforts should be made to help revive them as they are the backbone of the economy.
"If ignored, this issue has the potential of having a devastating and expansive ripple effect on our economy," she said in the letter.
The letter also diverted the attention towards factors that lead to lack of accessibility to available credit for MSMEs. These factors include “high collateral security” and “limits on margin money being extremely high.”
“The government should also explore a waiver/reduction of taxes for MSMEs and other sector specific measures,” the letter stated.
She also added that as the nation continues to fight against COVID-19, it is essential to highlight an economic concern that needs immediate attention and intervention.
‘Cong Doing Petty Politics Instead of Helping People’: BJP
Hours after Sonia Gandhi’s letter, the BJP said that the grand-old party has reduced itself to offering comments and writing letters instead of working on the ground to help people during the coronavirus crisis, PTI reports.
"The Congress is doing petty, abhorrent and negative politics. It is writing letters daily. It should go and work on the ground. Its leaders don't do that but keep making new demands," Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
He said that the whole world has acknowledged that India has taken timely and right measures to contain COVID-19, but the opposition party cannot recognise it.
"It (Congress) knows the government is going to take a lot of good measures for the sector, which is why Gandhi has written the letter so that her party can claim that the (Narendra) Modi dispensation acted due to its pressure," he said.
Javadekar said that the government has already announced a Rs 1.7-lakh crore package for the poor, Rs 500 for each of 20 crore poor women every month for three months and free ration for 81 crore people for three months, besides a host of other measures.
"The Congress cannot appreciate them. All it can do is negative and petty politics," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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