The Finance Minister announced a Rs. 1.7 lakh crore package to help the poor & vulnerable tide over the lockdown crisis due to COVID-19. A slew of measures was announced under this package. How many of these measures are new and how many are existing benefits? Inthe wake of the spread of COVID-19 in India, the government of India had announced a nation-wide lockdown, effective from the midnight of 24 March 2020, for aperiod of 21 days which was later extended to 03 May 2020. It is now extended for two more weeks with certain relaxations. Oneof the key influencing factors for this decision making is the economicsituation. The nation-wide lockdown has brought the whole nation to astand-still with little or no economic activity. This economic situation has affected people from different walks of life. Respectivestate governments have announced various measures to help poor & vulnerablecitizens during the turbulent times. Factly has earlier written a story on this. Similarly, even the centralgovernment has also announced measures during the lockdown. Oneof the key measures was the relief package announced by Finance Minister,Nirmala Sitharaman for those impacted by the lockdown. We take a look at thisrelief package and ascertain, if these are new benefits that the government hasannounced specific to the lockdown. Rs. 1.7 lakh crore relief package announced by the Centre On 26 March 2020, the Union Minister of Finance, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman announced a relief package worth Rs.1.7 lakh crores to aid the poor during the lockdown due to COVID-19. This package was announced under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Thekey relief measures & assistance announced as part of this package includethe following. Therelief measures announced in this package are meant to address the needs of thevarious marginalized sections. Few of the already existing schemes areleveraged to transfer benefits announced under the relief package. However, ithas to be noted that some of these measures are not fresh & specificmeasures, but are existing schemes recalibrated to provide relief. Wetake a look at each of these relief measures in detail. New Insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 Incontext of COVID-19, the government has announced a new Special insuranceScheme specifically for the health workers engaged in fighting COVID-19 duties. They include – Safai karmacharis,ward-boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and other specialistswho are in COVID-19 duties. Thehighlights include: Thisscheme is totally a new one and tailor made in respect to COVID-19. MOHFW hasreleased the relevant guidelines for this insurance scheme. Although the initial announcement has particularly specified healthcare workers in Government hospitals and Health Care centres, the detailed guidelines issued also included those working in Private facilities and who are in COVID-19 duty. Not all the Cash transfer benefits announced in the Relief Package are new ones Aspart of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, there are different cashbenefits announced by the government. The beneficiaries include – farmers,women, widows and others. Rs. 2000 benefit extended to farmers is not a new one Thecentre has announced the first instalment of Rs. 2000 to be paid under PM KisanYojana for 2020-21 would be moved forward to be paid out in April 2020. Thefirst instalment was due between April and July which has now been paid inApril. The government estimates that 8.7crores farmers would be benefitted by this. PMKisan Yojana is an existing scheme under which, the farmers who are thebeneficiaries listed under this scheme are entitled for an annual amount of Rs. 6000 which is paid out in three instalments every 4months. Hence,this not a new benefit being announced to the farmers. The first instalment isbeing paid early in the wake of COVID-19. These farmers would have eventuallyreceived Rs.2000 irrespective COVID-19. The overall benefit announced by centrefor this comes up to approximately Rs. 17.4 thousand crores. Rs. 500 per month to women holding Jan Dhan accounts Womenare one of the most effected and vulnerable sections of the population duringthe lockdown. As a part of the reliefpackage, central government has announced ex-gratia of Rs. 500 to women accountholders under PM Jan Dan Yojana. This would be provided for a period of threemonths, i.e. a total amount of Rs.1500 per account holder. The government estimates a total of 20.4crores beneficiaries for this cash benefit totalling to Rs. 31 thousand crores.This is a new and additional benefit announced by the centre.