Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation a day after the government released guidelines for Unlock 2.0, said while India is doing well in terms of the mortality rate because of the timely lockdown and other decisions, people have shown "carelessness" since Unlock 1.0.
"Lockdown saved lakhs of lives, but we are also witnessing ever since Unlock 1.0, people have been careless," PM Modi said, adding that the nation needs to be more careful now that we entering Unlock 2.0.
"People had followed rules properly during the lockdown period. They need to continue to follow those rules even now. Be it the pradhan of a village or the prime minister of the country, no one is above the law," the prime minister said.
The prime minister also announced that PM Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana will be extended till the end of November and the extension to cost over Rs 90 thousand crore.
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"The success of the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana goes to India's farmer and the taxpayer. Without them, the scheme to feed the poor would not have scaled such heights," PM Modi said, adding that under the scheme, the government announced a package of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore. I
"In the last 3 months, Rs. 31,000 crore deposited in bank accounts of 20 crore poor families. Also, Rs. 18000 crore deposited in bank accounts of more than 9 crore farmers," the prime minister said.
He added that the government is mulling over 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme which will benefit the poor "immensely".
"We will continue our fight against coronavirus crisis – we will follow guidelines and ensure precaution to contribute to the reopening of the economy. We will work towards becoming Atmanirbhar or self-reliant, we will be vocal for local. We will maintain do-gaz-zoori and will not be negligent," PM Modi said.
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This was the prime minister's sixth address to the nation since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Modi had last addressed the nation on May 12 when he had announced a Rs 20-lakh-crore financial package to boost the economy recovering from coronavirus-induced lockdown.
On COVID-19, he had urged the people to be more vigilant in the unlock phase and take necessary precautions, stressing that not doing so will put at risk their lives and those of others.
In his recent interaction with the chief ministers, he had urged them to think about phase 2 of unlocking to boost the economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown.
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