Modi government to launch this new scheme for street vendors - What it is and what are its benefits

The government on Wednesday has announced a new scheme which will benefit street vendors in the coming days. While addressing media, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the scheme will be launched within a month to facilitate easy access to credit to street vendor and initial capital of Rs 10,000 will be provided as part of it. She said that Rs 5000 crore special credit facility will also be implemented to provide aid. 

The finance minister said that digital payments will be incentivised through monetary rewards and enhanced working capital credit would be made available for good repayment behaviour. She said that support will be extended to around 50 lakh street vendors across the country. A total of Rs 5000 crore liquidity will be provided. 

Another major announcement was the implementation of 'One Nation One Ration Card' by March 2021 to provide easy access of ration to migrants. She announced that the government is coming up with the National Portability Cards (One Nation One Ration Card) which can be used in any ration shop in any part of the country as migrants move from state to state.  

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This will be implemented by August for 67 crore beneficiary (83% of the entire PDS population). The entire PDS population will be on the system by March 2021, the finance minister said. This initiative is a technology-driven system, as announced as a pillar of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (India self-reliant campaign), by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The Finance Minister also announced a 2 per cent interest subvention on the smallest category of loans given under the MUDRA scheme. As much as Rs 1,500 crore interest subvention would be given for MUDRA-Shishu loans of up to Rs 50,000.