Sachin Pilot terms Centre's financial aid as 'non-existent' compared to other countries

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has called on the Central Government to announce more financial packages for the state governments amid Coronavirus-forced lockdown. Earlier, the government had introduced a financial package of Rs 1.75 lakh crores to aid the economy. Sources have also reported that a second financial package is in talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having chaired several meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Cabinet over the introduction of the package. 

Speaking to ANI, Sachin Pilot was critical of the Centre's financial assistance to the states. Pilot remarked that the financial aid provided by the Union Government is almost 'non-existent' compared to other countries. He added that the Central government should announce a package for the state governments and the needy. 

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According to the Central government, around 39 crore people have received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore amid the COVID-19 lockdown under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package as of May 5. 

The COVID-19 death toll in Rajasthan increased to 90 with one more fatality reported on Wednesday, while 35 people tested positive for the disease, taking the number of cases to 3,193 in the state, an official said. The state has 1,567 active cases now, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said.

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Financial packages introduced by other countries

Meanwhile, Italy which has recorded over 29,000 deaths due to the deadly virus had announced a rescue package of $28 billion on March 16 to support employment, healthcare system and included individual cash bonuses. China, where the virus is believed to have originated from, had expanded reverse repo operations by $174 billion on February 3. On March 5, the Chinese authorities allocated $15.93 billion for Coronavirus-related funding and on March 13, China's central bank launched $79 billion stimulus effort to help the country's ailing economy. Thailand too had approved $17.6 billion to battle the impact of the pandemic and the government also announced that it would set up a 20 billion baht fund to help firms or workers affected by the pandemic. 

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