Be bold in declaring economic package of 5-6% of GDP: Congress to PM Modi

The Congress on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare a financial package of at least five to six per cent of the GDP to ensure recovery of the economy badly hit by the coronavirus lockdown. It demanded that the Centre must clear all pending dues to the states to enable them to fight with the pandemic, besides also giving each of them special economic packages.

Congress spokesperson, Anand Sharma said that the government must also allow industry contributions under the corporate social responsibility to the chief minister relief funds in various states along the same lines as that granted to the PM Cares Fund.

"These are extraordinary times and it required extraordinary actions. That is why the prime minister should be bold and declare an economic package to help revive various sectors of the economy post lockdown," Sharma said. "We expect that the economic package should be at least five-six per cent of India's GDP," he said.

The Congress leader added that many countries like the UK, France, and Germany had declared economic packages that were 15 per cent of their GDP, and the USA had it at 10 per cent.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had last week written to PM Modi suggesting five measures to save money the coronavirus, including suspending a project to redo Delhi's central vist and banning media advertisements by the government for two years. She also called for putting on hold foreign visits by the President, Vice president and Union ministers as well as chief ministers of states and bureaucrats, and slashing the government's expenditure budget, other than salaries, pensions and central sector schemes, by 30 per cent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with Parliament floor leaders to discuss Covid-19 pandemic and the government's efforts to contain it, via videoconferencing Photo: PTI

The prime minister is scheduled to address the nation on Tuesday at 10 am and is likely to announce the extension of the nationwide lockdown beyond April 14. He is expected to outlines a plan to revive economic activity in a phased manner in the country.

The government is keen to restart economic activity in ‘green zones’, or areas with a low incidence of Covid-19 (the coronavirus disease) cases. It is considering a blanket approval to all forms of farming activity with proper safety measures in place, and not just specific activities within farming as has been the case, Business Standard reported on Monday.

The nationwide lockdown was announced by the prime minister to curb the rapid spread of the viral infection which has so far claimed 308 lives in India and infected over 9000.