The Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu will be launched today.

As the name suggests, the kidu is to provide relief to those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The target beneficiaries are people who have been laid off or placed on reduced salaries to provide them immediate financial support. Officials involved in delivering the kidu are working on the details; deserving beneficiaries will see the benefits by the end of the month.

Together with the relief kidu are other initiatives like the loan interest waiver and the deferment of loan payment by three months. Other fiscal and monetary measures are already put in place to ensure that the pandemic leaves the minimum impact on the economy and livelihood.

The kidu from His Majesty The King is unprecedented. The command is that the State must provide whatever support it can to every affected citizen and community with speed, efficiency and impact.

In the coming days we will see a lot of people coming forward to apply. These are tiring times. There are sectors that are bearing the direct brunt of the pandemic. People have lost their livelihood overnight. Businesses who opened with grand plans are now closed and people who began new lives with new jobs are suddenly finding themselves unemployed.

The kidu will, besides providing a relief, build public confidence.

Many countries, to cope up with the Covid-19 impact, have come up with fiscal and monetary policies, but waiving off loan interests is an unprecedented move. And this applies to all loans, including those taken by people who are not affected by the pandemic.

While the relief Kidu is intended for those affected, a unique feature of the kidu is that many will benefit from the system, especially the loan interest waiver and the deferment. We know that huge group of people, especially the salaried in the government and corporations are not affected. Many are still receiving their salary and housing allowance. Yet, they are included in the kidu.

It is said that some are already doing their math to see how much saving or profit they would make at the end of the three months. There are no directives on how to make use of the benefits that some would enjoy from the loan interest waiver or the three-month deferment. But it could come as a good test to many who are willing to contribute to the country.

How a landlord benefitting from the interest waiver let the benefit trickle down to his affected tenants, how a business let his employee, sent on unpaid leave, reap the benefits of the kidu will depend on how each individual understand the purpose of the kidu.

Kidu has to benefit the most deserving or those in need. It is not an opportunity to maximise profit or improve savings. The most generous kidu from His Majesty The King could blur the noble intention if people fail to understand the purpose of kidu.

If we can understand the wisdom, the ripple effect will see many more benefiting from the several initiatives.