Govt must transfer Rs 15,000 per month to all citizens of the country, says network of civil society organisations

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 27

A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the relief package, a network of civil society organisations demanded a universal social protection for all, asking the government to transfer Rs 15,000 per month to all citizens.

“We feel the relief package declared by the Finance Ministry is inadequate and disrespectful to the recipients as it involves transfer of less than Rs 1,000 a month to their accounts and is less than the minimum wages. 

“What we demand instead is universal social protection to all the people living and working in India in this hour of acute crisis,” said the Social Security Now (SSN), a network of civil society organisations.

A petition, demanding immediate financial relief to all citizens of the country to address the social and economic crisis created by COVID-19, has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office and other ministries.

The petetion to the PMO and Ministries of Labour, Health and Finance is seeking transfer of Rs 15,000 to all citizens for the next three months. 

More than 900 people have signed the petition, the SSN said. 

While taking note of the 1.7 lakh crore package announced by the Finance Minister to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the poor in India, Social Security Now (SSN) said the package is inadequate and disrespectful to the recipients as it involves transfer of less than Rs 1000 a month to their accounts.

The petition was signed by more than 900 people including representatives from trade unions and working peoples organisations such as AITUC, AICCTU, UTUC, SEWA-Kerala, National Domestic Workers Union, Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch and prominent people.