Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her fifth and last press briefing on Sunday to unveil Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package informed that the Union Health Ministry has released over Rs 4,113 crore "for direct anti-COVID activities."
Talking about the support already extended by the Centre to state governments, FM Sitharaman said, "Devolution of taxes worth Rs 46,038 crore in April was given fully as if budget estimates were valid, even though the actual revenue shows unprecedented decline from budget estimates."
She added that "revenue deficit grants worth Rs 12,390 crore were given to states on time in the months of April and May, despite Centre's stressed resources.
The finance minister further stated that the central government has released in advance the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) amount of Rs 11,092 crore in the first week of April.She also informed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at Centre's request has increased the ways and means advance limits of states by 60%, number of days states can be in continuous overdraft from 14 days to 21 days, and the number of days states can be in overdraft in a quarter from 32 to 50 days
India's total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped to 90,927 on Sunday, according to the latest update by the Union Health Ministry. The tally includes, 53,946 active cases, 34,108 cured/discharged, 1 migrated, and 2,872 deaths.