Prime Minister Chairs First Cabinet Meeting of Second Year in office
- Historic decisions for MSME sector, Street vendors and Farmers taken.
- MSME Definition revised for the first time after 14 years.
- Definition of Medium units enhanced further to Rs.50 crore investment and Rs.250 crore turnover.
- Special Micro Credit Facility Scheme “PM SVANidhi’ for Providing affordable loans to street vendors launched.
- For Kharif season 2020-21, government keeps its promise of fixing MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the Cost of Production.
- Repayment dates for short-term loans for agriculture and allied activities extended, farmers to also get benefit of interest subvention and prompt repayment incentive.
- Caring for the poor is Top Focus of the Government.
MSME –
- Micro, small and Medium Enterprises popularly called as MSMEs are the backbone of Indian economy. Silently operating in different areas across the country, more than 6 crore MSMEs have a crucial role to play in building a stronger and self-reliant India.
- PM Shri Narendra Modi was quick to recognise the role of MSMEs in building the Nation. That is why MSMEs formed a very prominent part of the announcements made under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
- Proposal for provisioning of Rs 20,000 crore as subordinate debt to provide equity support to the stressed MSMEs has been formally approved by the cabinet today. This will benefit 2 lakh stressed MSMEs.
- Proposal for equity infusion of Rs. 50,000 crores for MSMEs through fund of funds has also been approved by the Cabinet today. This will establish a framework to help MSMEs in managing the debt-equity ratio and in their capacity augmentation. This will also provide an opportunity to get listed in stock exchanges.
Street Vendor –
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched a Special Micro-Credit Facility Scheme – PM SVANidhi (PM स्वनिधि ) – PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbharNidhi,for providing affordable loans to street vendors.
- Over 50 lakh people, including vendors, hawkers, thelewalas, rehriwala, theliphadwala etc. in different areas/ contexts are likely to benefit from this scheme.
- The goods supplied by them range from vegetables, fruits, ready-to-eat street foods, tea, pakodas, breads, eggs, textiles, apparel, footwear, artisan products, books/ stationaries etc. The services include barber shops, cobblers, pan shops, laundry services etc.
A Historic First-
- This is for the first time in India’s history that street vendors fromperi- urban/ rural areas have become beneficiaries of an urban livelihood programme.
- The vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly installments in the tenure of one year. On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on six monthly basis. There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.
Igniting the spirit of Jai Kisan-
- For the Kharif season 2020-21, the government has kept its promise of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the cost of production.
- Today, the MSP of 14 crops for the Kharif season 2020-21 has been announced, based on the recommendation of CACP. The return over cost for theses 14 crops ranges from 50% to 83%.
- The Government of India has also decided to extend repayment date up to 31.08.2020 for all Short-Term loans up to Rs.3 lakh advanced for agriculture and allied activities by banks. Farmers will also get benefit of interest subvention and prompt repayment incentive.
- The agricultural short-term loan due between 1st March 2020 and 31stAugust 2020 will continue to get benefit of 2% Interest Subvention (IS) to Banks and 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) to farmers.
- Government of India’s decision of providing such loans to farmers through banks @ 7% per annum, with 2% per annum interest subvention to banks and 3% additional benefit on timely repayment by farmers thus provides loans upto Rs.3 lakh at 4% per annum interest.
- Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) was started to provide concessional short-term crop loans including loans availed through Kisan Credit Cards to the farmers. In the last few weeks, many farmers are not able to travel to bank branches for payment of their short-term crop loan dues. Hence the cabinet decision would help crores of farmers.
Caring for the poor the Government’s top focus-
- The poor and vulnerable are at the top of the priorities of the Government led by the Prime Minister. During the Coronavirus pandemic, right from the day of announcement of the lockdown, the government has been sensitive to the needs of the poorest of the poor. This was seen in the announcement of the Pradhan MantriGaribKalyanYojana package on 26th of March 2020, within just two days of the start of lockdown.
- From ensuring coverage of around 80 crore people with food security to direct cash transfers into the bank accounts of 20 crore women, from putting money into the hands of senior citizens, poor widows and poor Divyangs to front-loading of the PM-KISAN instalment to crores of farmers, steps were announced.
- These covered a wide range of vulnerable sections who would have borne the brunt of the lockdown if not for the immediate intervention of the government. Moreover, these were not mere announcements. Within days, assistance reached crores of people directly, either in cash or kind.
- As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, One Nation One Ration card, free food grains even for those without ration cards, a new affordable rental scheme for their housing and many more measures have been announced for the welfare of the migrant labourers.
जीके और दैनिक करेंट अफेयर्स अपडेट हिंदी में प्राप्त करें – क्लिक करें
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