South Indian superstar and politician Kamal Haasan on Monday wrote an open letter to PM Modi, urging him to take measures to save the livelihood of millions of workers, agriculture and manual labourers, fishermen during the coronavirus outbreak. In his letter, the actor requested the Prime Minister focus on the 'unsung heroes' on the country along with taking necessary steps to keep people protected at this time.
Kamal Haasan wrote, "I write this letter to urge the Government to not lose sight of the plight of these unsung heroes who toil hard to power our economy and build our nation. The 'Economic Response task force' set up by the government needs to address the issue with alacrity." He added, "...More than 90 per cent of our workforce is the informal sector who make their daily ends meet. If we consider the workforce even in the 'formal' sector that does not enjoy standard employee benefits, this could be more than 95%. They are our construction workers, agriculture and manual labourers, fishermen, MSME workers and so on."
The actor also came forward with a suggestion and stated that economic experts have suggested measures like tax breaks, deferred credits and grants to protect those in need. He wrote, "The taskforce should ensure that there is no drop in wages of our labour force. It should also consider direct cash transfer to this most vulnerable populace to enable them tide over this crisis."
There is no denying that a daily wage earner has been hit the hardest during this coronavirus pandemic. It has created a disruption to their livelihood and the worldwide economy has also gone down. However, the need for the hour is for everyone to take precautionary steps to stay protected from this deadly COVID-19.
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