Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 13 shared details of the Rs 20 lakh crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She also announced initiatives that will enable India to become self-reliant.
"To build the 'Atma Nirbhar India', India has Direct Bank Transfer (DBT), Ujjawala Yojana, AWAS Yojana, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and Ayushman Bharat. DBT reforms enabled us to put money directly into the hands of the poor. Under Ujwala Yojna, eight crore households would be provided cooking gas cylinder for three months," Sitharaman said.
"The DBT scheme helped the government deliver the money directly to Jan Dhan accounts of the poor. Rs 52,606 crore transferred to 41 crore Jan Dhan account holders under PM Garib Kalyan scheme," Sitharaman said, adding that refunds of Rs 18,000 crore made to income tax assessees, 40 lakh taxpayers benefitted.
She also spoke about other government initiatives like PM Aawas Yojna, which seeks to provide affordable housing for the poor.
In a relief for salaried workers, Finance Minister extended EPF support of Rs 2,500 crore for another three months — June, July and August. Under this, the government will pay employee and employer contribution to EPF accounts.
EPF support was earlier announced for March, April, May under PM Garib Kalyan scheme. Over 3,67,000 organisations will benefit from this scheme.
Sitharaman also extended the income tax return assessment due date for the financial year 2019-20 from July 31 and October 31 to November 30. Additionally, tax audit date was extended from September 30 to October 31.
