GoM meets to take stock of relief work, stimulus package

A group of senior ministers that included home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, railways minister Piyush Goyal, and aviation minister Hardeep Puri met on Monday to review Covid 19-related relief work, the stimulus package announced by the Modi government , and the opening up of the economy, two officials said on condition of anonymity.

The officials added that the ministers also discussed relief to migrant workers returning to villages.

“There was no specific issue and there had not been any specific decision taken,” one of the officials said. A finance ministry spokesperson declined comments.

According to the second official, the meeting started at noon and went on for about an hour. The broad theme of the meeting was the road ahead for the country, the official said.

“Now that the stimulus package is out, there was a freewheeling discussion on the economy and the road ahead. The steps to be taken, what the ministers see as the immediate future, and broad themes,” the official added.

Over the past five days the finance minister has announced the government’s five-part policy reform and fiscal incentive package worth a total of Rs 20,97,053 crore under the Atamnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Initiative). This also includes the Rs 1.7 lakh crore welfare package under Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and Rs 8,01,603 crore monetary measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

According to the second official, there will be another meeting of this group of ministers by the end of this week and the Prime Minister will also be briefed about its outcome.