States would be able to borrow more money, the Centre said today, increasing their borrowing limit from 3 per cent to 5 percent. This would give them an Rs 4.28 lakh crore, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiling the Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus in the fifth and the last tranche.

The states are facing sharp decline in revenues following the countrywide lockdown imposed to counter coronavirus. “We have consistently provided the necessary support because they are at the front end of fighting the pandemic,” Ms Sitharaman said.

The states have a net borrowing ceiling, the minister said. They can borrow upto 3 per cent of state’s GSDP. “The government is increasing the borrowing limit to 5 per cent from 3 per cent. This will give an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore to states,” the minister said.

The minister said the government has also asked the Reserve Bank to increase the advance limits for states by 60%.

The number of days a state can stay in continuous overdraft days has been increased from 14 days to 21 days and from 32 to 51 days quarterly, Ms Sitharaman said.

The states have been demanding financial assistance for long. Last week, during their videoconference with Prime Minister Narenra Modi, all Chief Ministers underscored the point. The Centre must release their share of the Goods and Services Act, they said, and provide further assistance in the battle against coronavirus.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is addressing the media to share details of the fiscal and monetary measures worth Rs 20 lakh crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, to tackle the impact of coronavirus and weeks of lockdown on the economy. This is the first of a series of press briefings by the Finance Minister in the coming days.

The Finance Minister’s address comes at a time when the country remains in a nationwide lockdown with few exceptions to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The coronavirus-triggered lockdown has pushed an already-ailing economy into a standstill, hampering businesses and landing thousands jobless. Economists say details of the package will be watched closely for assessing its effectiveness to aid the economy’s fight against COVID-19.

Once again the water war has begun between in the Telugu states. To provide water for Rayalaseema region, AP CM YS Jagan has issued G.O. number 203 to use the flood water from Srisailam dam. The YSRCP government has also issued administrative sanctions regarding the same. Telangana CM KCR has severely opposed this and lodged a complaint against AP government at Krishna Tribunal.

However, the oppositions in Telangana smell something fishy here and added that there is a secret deal between Jagan and KCR in this issue. Speaking on it BJP leader DK Aruna said, “This fresh action of AP government will do a lot of damage to the joint Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts. It will also affect the irrigation projects like Kalvakurthi and Palamuru-Rangareddy. I suspect an understanding between the CMs of Telugu states.”

The former minister also said, KCR is neglecting South Telangana and is doing complete injustice to the region. “For North Telangana irrigation projects, KCR passes orders in hours, sanctions budget in days whereas for South Telangana projects, they take years to complete,” said Aruna and added that she had met CM KCR on couple of occasions and urged him to complete projects in south Telangana at faster pace.

“Palamur-Rangareddy project was allotted two TMC of water. But very recently this was reduced to just one TMC and still the government is yet to allocate funds for it. This is an evidence of KCR’s pure negligence and he has no intentions of completing irrigation projects of South Telangana. I don’t think KCR has no knowledge about AP CM Jagan’s order on G.O. 203,” said Aruna.

While few states in the country have already started bringing back their citizens who are stuck in different parts of the world, Andhra Pradesh COVID taskforce has on Saturday appealed the people stranded in other countries should be prepared as flights are being readied to bring them back to AP.

Speaking to media on Saturday, Andhra transportation department chief secretary Krishna Babu said “Over 30,000 people have registered to return back to the state and we are offering both paid and free quarantine centers with all facilities. As soon they arrive in AP, we will be conduct COVID tests and send them to respective quarantine centers or hospitals if needed.

External Affairs Ministry has accepted our request to tag people of East Godavari & North Costal districts to Vizag Intl airport, Nellore & Rayalaseema district people to Tirupathi airport, and the rest of the districts to Vijayawada airport. But, since we do not have landing facilities for white-bodied aircrafts from long distance like North America, South America, South East Asian nations, these flights will take landing at Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai from where we are arranging hopping flights.”

Announcing that Harish Kumar and Babu Rao are nodal officers for Delhi and AP, he further said “The first flight coming from US will arrive in Hyderabad on 11 May. While symptomatic persons will be sent to the nearest COVID centre, the asymptomatic passengers will be hotel quarantined for two weeks and we are making necessary arrangements with minimal cost. After 2 weeks of quarantine, these ex-pats should also take up 14 more days of home quarantine.”

Until now, 11 passenger trains have left AP and 11868 migrant were ferried to their respective places. Also, government is set to arrange 14 more trains to other parts of India. While Jharkhand has allowed to send one train, Andhra is yet to receive an approval from Rajasthan and Bengal to send the trains to their states. The COVID taskforce chairman said that Andhra government is paying for train fares of all migrants besides giving Rs 500 to each person.

Pawan Kalyan’s BJP bhajana is going overboard. When Pawan’s Janasena officially join hands with BJP in Andhra Pradesh, a big change is observed in Pawan Kalyan. With each passing day, Pawan is showing his over enthusiasm in supporting the Lotus Party and going to every possible extent to impress the top bosses of the party. His tweets on BJP netas are rather surprising to his fans and Janasena party leaders.

The same Pawan had earlier made critical comments of BJP during 2019 elections. If go few years back, Pawan is the man who officially starts fight against BJP on the injustice done to AP. He had stated that the Centre had given ‘Pachipoyina Laddus’ (rotten Laddus) to Andhra Pradesh state. He had literally targeted BJP and Modi back then and made several sharp comments.

Quite contrary to this, Pawan has now started heaping praises on BJP leaders. From national leaders to AP BJP leaders to Telangana BJP leaders, Pawan has been trying to please them. In fact, he is retweeting many of their tweets. This sharp U-turn on BJP is not digestible to his fans and party workers.

Like TDP went silent on BJP after 2019 elections result and the ruling YSRCP is always trying to stay in good book of BJP, with Pawan directly doing BJP Bhajana, who is there to fight with Centre on issues like Special Category Status, Financial Aid to the state have not been kept. Several other issues in the AP Reorganizaction Act are still pending.

The Telangana CM once again proved that he is very good at giving left and right when he slammed at the center for not lending the helping hand but above that levying prices on migrants travel. He even proved that he is equally good at appreciating the good work when he showers praises on Kerala’s exemplary model in flattening and crushing the curve to the ground with minimal damage.

KCR, though extended the lockdown to 29th of May, his explanation in need for opening the liquor shops and the imposing low percent tax than other states appeared agreeable, be it the reason for local breweries, liquor licenses or the state revenue. He pleaded the public to cooperate with him, and he also warned them to follow the guidelines, saying that saving lives is important.

Well, the Telangana CM’s sense of humor needs a special mention here. When the CM spoke about the valuation of Intermediate examinations, he said it as ‘invigilation’ ‘instead of ‘valuation’. It made them all smile when the CM said it’s been a long time since he came out of college and forgot the word.

KCR never minces the words during his address to media and state, or even when he is answering the questions shot from journos at the meet. There is undoubtedly no other Chief Minister in the country with so much clarity and knowledge on any aspect given, which makes most us feel strongly that he should not be the leader for just Telangana but needs to be a national leader leading the nation with his dynamism and diligence.

AP CM YS Jagan has conducted review meeting with higher officials at Tadepalli camp office over controlling Corona and the measures to be taken after lifting the existing lockdown. CM Jagan asked officials to work upon the fear factor among people and help them to decrease the fear over Corona and increase the awareness on physical distance. He said people should give up fear to fight Corona pandemic.

Meanwhile, CM Jagan directed officials to implement the Central Government’s directions. He asked officiails to ensure the shops are opened and operated between 10 AM to 7 PM in the permitted regions. He also discussed with officials on the Health Protocol to be followed after the lockdown.

As several Indian people who stranded in various countries are all set to return to their home towns, he asked officials to make necessary arrangements for the return of Andhra people from abroad. CM said they will be deboarding at Mumbai, Hyderabadi, Chennai airports and asked officials to follow strict protocol.

Officials have informed CM Jagan that those who return from the abroad and enter Andhra Pradesh would be sent to Quarantine Centers at Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada. Officials said all those returned would undergo thorough tests and all the people who return from other states would also go through the tests.

CM Jagan told officials that there are 11 entry checkposts to enter into AP from the neighbouring states. He explained officials to follow the protocols to be followed at the checkposts. He said though people have permitted passes, they should be monitored till they reach their destination.

He directed officials to gather data of the people returned from other states from Volunteers, ANM, Asha workers and asked them to share data with the Health Assistants. CM Jagan told officials that those who returned from other states should be Home Quarantined and if necessary they should be shifted to hospitals provided any symptoms of Corona

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with Chief Ministers of the all the states is underway. In this meeting, Modi is discussing about the lockdown that is going to end on May 17th. Over the last week or so, there is a huge spike in Corona cases in the country and in this view, Modi is chalking out a plan. Accordingly he held this conference with CMs.

In this conference, Modi is said to have informed the CMs to take all the measures to restrict Corona virus from spreading to the rural parts i.e, villages where the population is more than the tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

On the migrant workers walking towards to their places, Modi reportedly said “It is Human nature to go back to their places and there is nothing wrong in it.” However, there is lack of coordination between the Railways and the states and so many migrant workers are getting stranded at cities. For them the Railways has changed the plan too.

In this conference Modi appreciated the CMs for their efforts in containing the virus but added that still there is a lot to be done.

The chemical gas leak in Vizag city has shook the entire nation. From PM Modi to AP Governor, all have expressed deep concern about this incident while the AP government is doing everything that is in his hands.

Condolences are pouring down from all corners to the deceased while the rescue operations for the affected people are going on. Telangana IT minister KTR too reacted on this incident and added that he was disturbed by the visuals of the tragic incident.

“Shocked & deeply anguished by the visuals from #VizagGasLeak. My wholehearted condolences to those who lost their near & dear. Let’s pray for the well-being of the hospitalized,” tweeted KTR.

Lastly he said ‘What a horrible year this has been’ which he meant about the Corona virus that has created a devastation across the globe.

As Vizag gas leak tragedy turned out to be fatal for 11 people and over 1000 fell sick, AP CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy has rushed to Vizag. He has met the victims and their families at the King George Hospital in the city where the victims are being treated. Later, he conducted a meeting with the officials and reviewed the situation. After review meeting with officials, CM Jagan has addressed the media.

CM Jagan announced Rs 1 crore compensation to the bereaved families in this gas leak tragedy. He also appointed a high-level committee to look into the issue and submit its findings. He said the decision would be taken after the committee’s report.

He also assured that the bereaved family members would be given jobs in the LG Polymers after shifting the company from the existing location – based on the recommendation of the committee’s report. He also announced Rs 1 lakh compensation to the people who have fallen sick due to this chemical leak.

He asked district collector and officials to provide high quality food to the victims of the gas leak.People who are being treated on ventilator would get compensation of Rs 10 lakh. The people in the affected villages would get an individual compensation of Rs 10,000, reported Sakshi news. The compensation for the loss of cattle is fixed at Rs 25,000, announced CM Jagan. He further added that the government would provide new cattle to the owners in addition to the compensation.

In this Corona virus lockdown along with migrant labourers, farmers are also severely hit. In Telangana, despite the crop coming to their hands, they could not sell for a best price and at many places, unseasonal rains have destroyed the crop leaving famers in deep anguish.

In such tiring times, Telangana government has relieved farmers by waiving off the crop loan. CM KCR has released a sum of Rs 12,000 crore which waives off all the loans below Rs 25,000. About 5.5 farmers are likely to get benefitted from this.

Apart from this, the TRS government has released approximately Rs 7,000 crore towards farm input assistance i.e, Rythu Bandhu which would help over 57 lakh farmers.

Just when the oppositions are trying to corner the TRS government on not doing adequate measures to support the farmers in this crisis times, KCR has waived off the crop loan. This move by KCR is a checkmate that would certainly keep the oppositions silent for a while.