Fifth Tranche: MNREGA, Health and Education Sector, Businesses, Companies Act, Ease of Doing Business, etc

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over a period of 5 days has laid out the economic stimulus package to deal with the global pandemic. She listed 7 such steps in the package that included the MNREGA, businesses and COVID-19, health and education-related sector, decriminalisation of the Companies Act, Public Sector Enterprises, Ease of Doing Business, state govt. and related resources.

MNREGA

Allocation of Rs.40,000 crore over the estimated budget which will generate 300 crore person-days of work to address the need for work for the returning migrants. The budget estimate for the MNREGA scheme was Rs.61,000 crore.

Health and Education Sector

●     Public expenditure on health will increase at rural and urban levels with investment at grassroots for health and wellness centers

●     Technology-driven education through DIKSHA-

●     Full multi-mode access to digital and online education will launch immediately under the PM e-VIDYA program

●     Top 100 universities are permitted to start online classes from May 30. Psycho-social support to students, families, and teachers called Manodarpan will also be extended for mental and emotional well being

IBC

●     Debts related to Covid-19 shall be excluded from defaults under IBC. No fresh insolvency proceedings will be initiated up to 1 year

●     A special solvency framework will be notified under section 240-A of the IBC. The minimum threshold to initiate the proceedings for insolvency raised from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1 crore

Companies Act

●     The majority of compoundable offenses sections will be shifted to internal adjudicating mechanisms. The move will de-clog the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and the criminal courts of the country

Ease Of Doing Business

●     Listing of securities by public companies can be done in the permitted jurisdictions. The private companies that list non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on the stock exchange shall not be considered as listed companies

Public Sector Enterprise Policy

●     The private sector will be allowed to participate in all sectors. The govt. will announce a new policy that will categorise the strategic sectors along with the other sectors. At least one public sector enterprise will have its presence in the strategic sectors with the presence of the private sector

State Governments

●     The state is witnessing a sharp in revenues with over Rs.46,038 crores devolved as tax revenues to the states. Rs.12,000 crore will also be dispensed on time. The Health Ministry has also released the Rs.14,000 crores. The number of days that a state can be in overdraft situation in a quarter have been increased

The state govt.s have till now borrowed only 14% of the limit authorised to them. They have been allowed to borrow up to 5% of GSDP which is more than the earlier limit of 3%. This will mean that the states can borrow an additional amount of Rs.4.28 lakh crore