India remains under a partial lockdown, as the number of novel coronavirus cases continues to rise. The lockdown was put in place towards the end of March, and was recently relaxed after it entered its third phase.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, over 70,700 positive cases have been recorded so far. Of these, 46008 cases remain active as of Tuesday evening, while 2293 people have passed away.
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation at 8 PM on Tuesday. The address came a day after Modi with chief ministers on ways to deal with the spread of coronavirus and also boost economic activity. This was his fifth address to the nation since the virus outbreak began.
Speaking on Tuesday Modi announced an economic package to help those who had been affected by the virus outbreak. In the coming days, the PM says, the Finance Minister would be conveying further details about the same.
The Prime Minister said that if one takes all the relief packages granted so far, the Indian government has allotted aproximately Rs. 20 lakh crore package for independent India. This includes the relief package announced on Tuesday, as well as the relaxations announced by the RBI and the first economic package.
"If you combine them, this package is approximately around 10% o the country's GDP", Modi said.
The new package, which Modi dubbed the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' will, in his words, grant care and support to all those who require help at this time.
Modi also said that the package covers all aspects -- land, labour, liquidity and laws -- and would support all small businesses and MSMEs. This is for the farmers and workers and other such people who, has been working day and night, irrespective of the situation to help the people of India.
