After using Coronavirus outbreak to whine about the economic crisis back home, urging the international community to consider for a debt waiver for poor and vulnerable countries like his, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has now audaciously offered help to India. Taking to Twitter, Imran Khan said “I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India.”
Prime Miniater Imran Khan offers financial help to India
Sharing a report by a Pakistani news daily The Express Tribune titled: “84% Indian households suffered a decrease in monthly income since lockdown”, Imran Khan’s heart went out for the “34% of households across India”, who according to him would “not be able to survive for more than a week without additional assistance”. The Pakistani PM offered to help Indians by means of its “successful cash transfer program” through which his government has supposedly “successfully transferred Rs 120 billion in 9 weeks to over 10 million families in a transparent manner to deal with the COVID19 fallout on the poor”.
Acc to this report, 34% of households across India will not be able to survive for more than a week without add assistance. I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India.https://t.co/CcvUf6wERM
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 11, 2020
The outlandish proposal by Prime Minister Imran Khan leaves Twitterati in splits
This outlandish proposal by the Prime Minister of a cash-strapped nation left Indian Tweeterati in splits. Rebuffing the proposal, netizens were quick to remind Imran Khan of how he and his country are more in need of help.
Pointing out how his government did not have money to clear his offices’ electricity dues, a Twitter user asked him to first use the fund to clear his electricity bill.
bas itni hi bheekh mili international community se? anyway, apne office ka electricity bill time se bhar diya kar.. pic.twitter.com/hhM3hCeFSV
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) June 11, 2020
Others shared memes to poke fun at Pakistani Prime Minister.
— Tapas Patra🚩🇮🇳 (@trptapas) June 11, 2020
Afsoos jai bhikhari pe pic.twitter.com/JjypoP4xuw
— kaushal kumar choudhary (@Kaushal65300084) June 11, 2020
But what was most humourous was that even Pakistani’s didn’t let go of this opportunity and asked Imran Khan to first focus on his own country. “The whole health system is in tatters and you have to behave like a fake global leader. There are people literally dying on the streets right now in Pakistan. No hospital beds are available. But no, let’s mediate in affairs of others”, wrote a Pakistani Twitter user.
Can you first focus on your own country? The whole health system is in tatters and you have to behave like a fake global leader. There are people literally dying on the streets right now in Pakistan. No hospital beds are available. But no, let’s mediate in affairs of others. https://t.co/cHnUzTHBJd
— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) June 11, 2020
Indian Government launched mega cash transfer to fight Covid
Perhaps it important for Imran Khan to realise, that when his government was busy begging richer economies to write off the debts of the world’s poorer countries which includes Pakistan, the Indian government had launched one of the largest ever cash transfer schemes, which included the deposit of over Rs 30,000 crore into the account of woman Jan Dhan account holders. Moreover, Rs 5,000 crore was deposited into the linked accounts of eight crore poor households with LPG connections provided under ‘Ujjwala’.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman had announced direct cash transfers to help poor during the covid crisis.
- Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme: Poor widows poor pensioners and poor disabled will be given ex-gratia an additional amount of Rs 1000 over the next three months
- Old age, Divyang, pensioners: 3 crore people covered, one-time amount of additional Rs 1000 in two instalments through DBT (hence no middlemen) over 3 months to be given
- Increase in MNREGA wage to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 5 crore families.
- 20 crore women Jan Dhan Yojana account holders will get Rs 500 per month for the next three months.
- Cash transfer based on DBT: Farmers who get Rs 6,000 annually under PM-Kisan got the first instalment of Rs 2,000 in addition which was given immediately in the first week of April.
On Day 1 of the PM Jan Dhan transfer scheme, Rs 500 was deposited into the accounts of 4 crore women, with the government ordering banks to ensure that the dormant accounts were reactivated to ensure that no beneficiary was left out.
According to reports, during the lockdown period, the India Post has achieved a new milestone in the history of Indian banking as postmen across the country have delivered Rs 1,000 crore in cash to various account holders of different banks at their doorstep across the country. In addition to this, the transactions of the post office savings bank amount to another Rs 66,000 crore in nearly four crore transactions during the lockdown period.
According to the reports, nearly Rs 1,051 crore have been delivered in as many as 59 lakh transactions during the lockdown between March 23 and May 11.
