India had been in a state of lockdown since the end of March. People have been asked to stay at home and practice social distancing. Most businesses have been shut, as have public spaces and all other non-essential agencies.
In such a situation, many now face a rather grim financial situation. For many people belonging to the poorer segments of society, there is neither an abundance of available funds, nor are employment opportunities available at present.
On Thursday, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra put forward a suggestion for the Finance Minister. She suggested that ESI (Employees' State Insurance), PF (Provident Fund) and BOCW cess be utilised to pay bottom 5 crore families for the next three months.
In her "quick math lesson" for Sitharaman, Moitra said:
"Over ₹75,000 cr in ESI
Over ₹40,000 cr in unclaimed PF
Over ₹35,000 cr in BOCW cess
= ₹150,000 cr
Enough to pay ₹7500 each to bottom 5cr families for next 3 months & have change to spare
Will ensure 25cr people will be looked after"
Her suggestion seems to have piqued Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's interest, who tagged Nirmala Sitharaman and hoped that she would "consider it".
"Interesting solution proposed by @mahuaMoitra for the problem of getting survival money into the hands of the poorest," Tharoor wrote on Twitter.
There have so far been more than 12,300 cases in India. As per data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday, 414 people who had tested positive have since passed away. 1488 people have also been 'cured' and discharged.
Globally the number of cases has crossed 2,000,000, with more than 137,600 people dying.
