The State government, with a view to offsetting the economic loss caused by the lockdown, should take steps to enhance the people’s buying power by ensuring that they had more cash at hand.
This is the first of the seven pieces of advice for immediate action that the Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin has offered to the government after holding a discussion, through video conference, with medical, economic and business experts.
Urging the government to at least take his advice seriously now, Stalin, in a statement on Monday, reiterated his demand for payment of Rs 5000 to every family as the second advice.
Allowing movement of goods and people with regulations during the lockdown, the state and central governments paying MSMEs their dues, increasing the annual working days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to 250 days, increasing the investment expenditure in health and such essential services and restructuring the GST with the State recusing itself from it now are the other advice he had for the government.
The two long-term advice he had were building a common income generating infrastructure that will ensure basic financial security to people, not just at times of crisis but at all times, and an universal medical insurance scheme that services offered by the private hospitals were also available to the poor.
Both the measures would have all citizens a comprehensive social security and help solve problems arising in a future crisis, Stalin said.
