On April 3, 2020, To deal with the coronavirus epidemic, the Finance Ministry has released Rs 17,287.08 crore to the states to consolidate their financial resources. Of this amount, Rs 11,092 crore has been given to the States for the State Disaster Response Mitigation Fund (SDRMF). At the same time, the remaining Rs 6,195.08 crore has been released to 14 states under the distribution of ‘Revenue Deficit Grants’ as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission.
Key Points:
i.The amount given to the states to set up a separate quarantine and other arrangements like sample collection and screening, ventilators, medical gears etc. to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
ii.On March 28, 2020, the central government had asked the state & union territory (UT) to use state disaster response funds & allocates Rs 29,000 crore for the fiscal year-FY 21 to provide food and shelter to migrant workers. Subsequently, after the lockdown on 24 March, 2020, the states were allowed to use this fund to prevent the return of large numbers of Migrant labour and to make arrangements for their stay, food and drink.
Home minister Amit shah approves Rs 11,092 crore for all states to deal with coronavirus
The Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah has approved the release of Rs 11,092 crores to all States under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) for 2020-21 after the Chief Ministers raised the issue of lack of funds in the state during a meeting through video conferencing with Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.
Key Points:
i.The 14 states are Andhra Pradesh (AP), Assam, Himachal Pradesh (HP), Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu (TN), Tripura, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal (WB).
ii.Under the SDRMF, the state of Maharashtra got the largest amount of Rs.1,611 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh ( Rs.910 crore) and Odisha ( Rs.802 crore), while out of the total Rs.74,340 crore revenue deficit grants, Kerala received Rs.1,277 crore followed by Himachal Pradesh ( Rs.953 crore) and Punjab (Rs.638 crore).
About Finance ministry:
Headquarters– New Delhi
Union Minister– Nirmala Sitharaman
About Ministry of Home Affairs:
Headquarters– New Delhi
