Rajan says migrant workers need money for vegetables, cooking oil, shelter; foodgrains not enough

Calling India's Rs 20.9 lakh crore stimulus inadequate in providing for recovery of an economy pummelled by COVID-19, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the package gives free foodgrains but migrant workers, rendered jobless by lockdown, need money to buy milk, vegetables and cooking oil and pay rent.

The world is facing the greatest economic emergency and almost any resource is inadequate, he said.

"I think it is particularly so in the case of India because we have years of economic drift in which our growth had slowed, our fiscal deficit has gone up. There is a lot more we need to do to put economy back on track. We have to pull all stop," he said in an interview to Karan Thapar for news portal 'The Wire'. "The package has some good points but it probably needs to do more."
"It's important to both send more money and open foodgrain. They need vegetables, they need oil to cook, they need other stuff that means a certain amount of money along with foodgrain. They need shelter," he said. "Saving the economy, saving people is most important."