New Delhi, March 26: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a press conference on Tuesday announced several measures to give relief to poor people being burdened due to the 21-days lockdown in the country. The FM under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna announced that 80 Crore poor people will get 5 kg rice per person each month for free over the course of the next three months. In addition to the 5 kg rice and wheat, they will also get 1 kg pulse per household for free for the next 3 months. Insurance Cover of Rs 50 Lakh Each Announced For Doctors, Nurses, Sanitation Workers, Paramedics And All Other Staff Working on The Frontline Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, 20 Lakh Workers to Receive The Benefit.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced free cylinders under the Ujjawala scheme, where 8.3 crore BPL families would be benefitted over the course of the next three months.

The slew of measures was announced to deal with the economic distress caused due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in the country to deal with the crisis situation. India is in the middle of a 21-days lockdown in order to curtail the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has already claimed 14 lives in the country. The Health Ministry earlier in the day informed that the total number of COVID-19 positive cases increased to 649 in India.

The markets were bleeding heavily for the last few weeks due to the coronavirus scare. However, the news of a bailout package likely boosted the sentiments of the investors and the Sensex opened 1,400 points up and remained in the green all throughout the day.

This was the second media briefing by the finance minister within a week. Sitharaman had earlier announced a series of relief measures for industry and taxpayers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 26, 2020 01:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).