Use gold lying with trusts, says Prithviraj Chavan

As India reel under Covid-19 pandemic and stares at a big economic crisis, veteran Congressman Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday suggested using the huge quantity of gold lying with religious trusts.

Chavan, a former Maharashtra Chief Minister and ex-Minister of State in PMO, said that the gold should be put to use to tide over the crisis.

"#Stimulus.@PMOIndia... government must immediately appropriate all the gold lying with all the religious trusts in the country, worth at least $1 trillion, according to the #WorldGoldCouncil. The gold can be borrowed through gold bonds at a low interest rate. This is an emergency," he tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The technocrat-political also pointed out that when he says religious trust, it is cutting across religion.

He said the figure that he quotes is from the World Gold Council. "It is about Rs 75,000 lakh crore," he said, adding that when the country needs, it should be used.

Chavan said that a gold bond scheme could be issued. "During the wars that India has seen, people have come out at given gold to the government.... we can have a scheme and some small interest could be given," he said.