Salient points of press conference : BJP National General Secretary, Shri P. Muralidhar Rao

 

Salient points of the press conference of the BJP National General Secretary Shri Muralidhar Rao on the steps taken by the Modi Government under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' campaign

 

Under the able leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign is not only playing an important role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic crisis but is also becoming the identity of a New India.

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On the one hand, 16 schemes have been implemented for the welfare of MSMEs under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign while on the other hand many steps are also being taken for the poor, downtrodden, workers and farmers.

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s ‘Vocal for Local and make it Global’ campaign will make the country self-reliant in every sector. It will empower local entrepreneurs and businesses. 

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The National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Muralidhar Rao, addressed the press conference held at the party's central office today and elaborated on the steps taken under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign by the BJP government at the Center under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Atmanirbhar Bharat is the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of making India a self-reliant nation. It was announced by the PM on May 12, 2020. Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman elaborated the package in 5 tranches in 5 consecutive days between May 13 and May 17, 2020. The package includes additional liquidity injected into the system by the Reserve Bank of India and the Rs 1.7 lakh crore PM Garib Kalyan Yojana. Within less than two months, the Modi government has moved forward to completely bring the idea of a self-reliant India campaign to the ground. 

 

MSMEs & Industry

 

Shri Rao said that Rs. 3 lakh crore Collateral free Automatic Loans were announced for Businesses, including MSMEs. As of July 1, loans worth more than 1.10 lakh crore have been sanctioned under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme to more than 30 lakh units of MSMEs & other businesses. The “Distressed Assets Fund–Sub-ordinate Debt for MSMEs” was launched in this aspect by the Government on June 24, 2020 with Rs.20,000 crore credit guarantee for 2 lakh MSMEs facing pressure.

 

Shri Rao said that in government contracts (procurements) of value Rs.200 crores or less, global tenders will not be allowed. This will help MSMEs to grow their business. To ease financial stress as businesses get back to work, the government decides to continue EPF Support for Business and Workers for 3 more months providing a liquidity relief of Rs 2,500 crore to 3.67 lakh establishments and for 72.22 lakh employees.

 

Garib Kalyan Yojana and Initiatives taken for Poor

 

The BJP national general secretary said that within days of announcing lock down Govt. came out with a detailed PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana with free ration to 80 Cr people & DBT to 36 Cr accounts. Rs.64,500 cr has been disbursed so far till 28 June, 2020 under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana of Rs.1.70 lakh crore.

 

S.No.	Scheme	Total Beneficiaries	Amount
01	Pradhanmantri Krishi Samman Nidhi	8.70 cr	17,890 cr
02	Women Jan-Dhan accounts	20 cr	30,611 cr
03	Social Security Pension	3 cr	3000 cr
04	Ujjwala	8.19 cr	13000 cr
	Total	39.89 cr	64,500 cr

 

He said, Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modi has announced another big relief in the form of free ration of 5kg grains per person & 1kg Chana per family per month for 80 Cr people for next 5 months (from July 2020 to November 2020). It will cost another 90,000 Cr (estimated). Together with the earlier PM Annapurna Yojana is worth Rs. 1.5L Cr.

 

Shri Rao said, in a move that will help migrant workers massively, One Nation, One Ration Card has been introduced which allows migrant workers to get food grains from any fair price shop pan-India. As of now, about 20 states have come on board to implement the inter-state ration card portability. One Nation, One Ration Card’ system is supposed to be implemented 60% by October 2020 and 100% in all states and Union Territories by March 2021. In addition, he said, the government of India allocated an additional Rs 40,000 crore to MGNREGA to provide employment boost. The earlier budget estimate for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was Rs 61,000 crore. PM Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana worth Rs 50,000 crore being implemented in a mission mode campaign in 125 days in 116 Districts of 6 States which includes Bihar (32), Uttar Pradesh (31), Madhya Pradesh (24), Rajasthan (22), Odisha (4) and Jharkhand (3).

 

Agriculture & Farmers

 

Shri Rao told reporters that till June 2020, 70.32 lakh Kisan Credit Cards have been sanctioned with credit limit of Rs 62,870 crore out of Rs 2 lakh crore concessional credit under the Aatmanirbhar package. This will benefit 2.5 crore farmers, including fishermen & dairy farmers. The agri ecosystem is being strengthened by several enabling schemes like the Agri Infra Fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore for post harvest infrastructure and schemes for 10000 FPOs. It was announced that NABARD will extend additional refinance support of Rs. 30,000 cr for loan crop requirement. As on 30.06.2020, Rs 24,586.87 cr has already been disbursed to Cooperative Banks, RRBs & MFIs under Rs 30,000 cr Special Liquidity Facility by NABARD. This will help 3cr small & marginal farmers.

 

The BJP national general secretary said that The Cabinet approved the historic Amendment to the Essential Commodities Act on June 3, 2020. Cabinet also approved 'The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020'. This is a visionary step towards transformation of agriculture and raising farmers’ income. Now the farmers can sell their produce anywhere including electronic platforms at competitive prices. There will be no tax on sale outside APMC markets. Cabinet also approved ‘The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020’. It will empower farmers to engage with processors, wholesalers, aggregators, large retailers, exporters etc., on a level playing field without any fear of exploitation.

 

Based on the recommendation of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the Cabinet has approved MSP of 14 kharif crops for 2020-21 on June 1, 2020. The MSP was increased in October last year on rabi crops. Rs.74,300 crore worth of procurement at MSP done during lockdown.

 

Infrastructure Reforms

 

Shri Rao said that in order to give impetus to domestic coal production so as to substitute the quantity of replaceable coal that is imported now with domestic coal, Commercial coal mining has been permitted. On June 18, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the auction process for commercial mining of 41 coal mines. This will allow more and more companies to come forward. Auction for commercial mining of coal mines is expected to bring in a capital investment of Rs 33,000 crore in the next five to seven years in the country.

 

Shri Rao said, the Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi made it mandatory to give information about the producer country on government e-marketplace (GEM) goods to promote Make in India - Self-reliant India. According to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry this will help in identifying the goods produced in the country. He said, The Union Cabinet under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi  has given its approval for setting up of an “Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) and Project Development Cells (PDCs) in Ministries/Departments of Government of India for attracting investments in India”. This new mechanism will reinforce India’s vision of becoming a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

 

The BJP national general secretary said that now we are witnessing ‘Make in India’ impact in defence production. DAC approves capital acquisition of various platforms & equipment worth Rs 38,900 crore. Focus on indigenous design and development; acquisitions from Indian industry worth Rs 31,130 crore already done for reinforcing India’s defences. The DAC also cleared a project to upgrade the army’s fleet of 1,500 BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles. FDI under automatic route increased from 49% to 74%. In order to further encourage procurement from local suppliers, 26 items out of 127 already notified, have now been notified under clause 3(a) of the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017 and henceforth, procuring entities shall procure these items only from local suppliers, irrespective of purchase value, provided that the local suppliers meet the Minimum Local Content (MLC) as prescribed for each item. He said, India’s focus on indigenous manufacturing in the defence space is paying off as the Ministry of Defence over the last two years unveiled several products manufactured in India like the HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, the composites Sonar dome, a Portable Telemedicine System (PDF) for Armed Forces, Protective Gears, Penetration-cum-Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) ammunition specifically designed for Arjun tanks. India has begun exporting bulletproof jackets as per its own standards, which conform to international norms, to over 100 countries, including European nations, according to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

 

Shri Rao said, Cabinet approved far reaching reforms in the Space sector aimed at boosting private sector participation in the entire range of space activities on June 24, 2020. The decision taken is in line with the long-term vision of the Prime Minister of transforming India and making the country self-reliant and technologically advanced. The Cabinet also approved setting up of a new space board called Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). The new board will provide a level-playing field to private companies to use India’s space infrastructure and will also hand-hold, promote and guide the private industry in space activities through encouraging policies and a friendly regulatory environment.

 

Shri Rao said, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched a new campaign ‘Vocal for Local’ to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ i.e. self-reliant. It will help to develop local manufacturing and businesses and boost the economy. On 27 March 2020 & 17 April 2020, the RBI announced stimulus packages comprising multi-pronged measures to ease some of this stress faced by Indian businesses, he further added.

 

Mahendra Pandey

(Office Secretary)