Parliament Panel Calls Government’s Stimulus Package “Inadequate”

A excessive degree Parliamentary panel has mentioned that because the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic “even more vigorously ripped the economy, particularly the micro small and medium (MSME) sector”, the Centre’s stimulus bundle for financial revival has proved to be “inadequate”.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry of Rajya Sabha, in its report on the impression of the pandemic on the MSME sector, mentioned in its statement on Government’s efforts to counter its ailing results, “the stimulus package announced by the Government for the economic revival from the pandemic hit economy has been found to be inadequate as the measures adopted were more of loan offering and long-term measures instead of improving the cash flow to generate demand as immediate relief.”

In this mild, the panel has advisable that “the Government should immediately come out with a larger economic package aimed at bolstering demand, investment, exports and employment generation to help the economy, including MSMEs to recover from the pandemic fall-out”. 

The committee additionally famous that a lot of jobs have been misplaced on account of Covid-19 pandemic and financial situations of the households suffered a jolt and their common revenue declined considerably throughout lockdown durations.

It has advisable that “Government should focus on employment generation and ensure that new means of livelihood are generated especially for the youth of the country. A new National Employment Policy may be considered along with exploring the feasibility of establishing a National Electronic Employment Exchange and building a skill-based database to provide employment to skilled manpower in their area of expertise”.

Expressing concern on the grim state of affairs of small enterprises because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the panel mentioned that not like giant enterprises, the small items rely upon common money flows to remain afloat.

It due to this fact advisable that to make sure their survival, it’s crucial for the Government to supply MSMEs with much-needed liquidity assist to maintain their companies operating and generate job alternatives for the workforce. 

The Government knowledgeable the committee that it had not performed any intensive examine to establish the precise losses suffered by the MSME sector, and was requested to evaluate the MSME sector’s precise losses and chalk out a method to revive the sector.