Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference in New Delhi, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the country. The package is the second largest in Asia after Japan. 15 minutes into her speech and still no details on what the allocation of funds is going to be.
Sitharam says, “PM laid out a comprehensive vision, and that vision was laid out after wide consultations with several sections of the society. Essentially this is to spurt growth and to build a very self reliant India and that is why this whole initiative is called Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat are economy, infrastructure, system, demography and demand.
“Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) India does not mean India is to be an isolationist country. “The Direct Benefit Transfer, Micro insurance schemes, PM Awas Yojana, PM Ujjwala Yojana, Swachh Bharat and Ayushman Bharat were all transformative reforms which have benefited the poor in a big way.”
