The Union Cabinet on Wednesday came up with a good news for lakhs of central government employees. Union minister Prakash Javedkar stated that Union Cabinet has approved ₹3,737 crore bonus for the Central government employees. The bonus is said to benefit 30 lakh non-gazetted employees, including those in autonomous central organisation.
The bonus is productivity linked and non-productivity linked for 2019-2020. This financial assistance will help the employees utilise the bonus ahead of Diwali and as per the government, the bonus will be given in a single instalment, directly into their bank accounts, before Vijayadashami. Javedkar also added, this bonus will encourage the working middle class to spend and thus add to the demand in the economy.
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The diwali bonus announcement is government’s way to resolve to boost spending as COVID-19 had dampened demand in the country.
Earlier this month Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced measures worth ₹73,000 crore including interest free festival loans for government employees to accelerate consumer spending in the midst of COVID-19 induced economic slowdown.
To boost capital expenditure, the government had also announced Rs 12,000 crore special interest-free 50-year loans scheme to states including an additional Rs 25,000 crore on capital expenditure over and above the budgeted amount of Rs 4.13 lakh crore assigned for it. A special one-time festival advance of Rs 10,000 to all central government employees in the form of a prepaid Rupay card was also being announced previously by the Finance Minister.
All these government approvals are meant to boost consumer demand and to give a push to capital expenditure.
