The Indian National Congress’s president, Rahul Gandhi, has unveiled the Nyuntam Aay Yojana as a fresh election pledge (NYAY).
If a Congress party is brought to power, the bottom 20% of the poorest families—those making less than Rs. 12,000 per month—will receive Rs. 6000 per month immediately paid to their bank accounts.
According to the Congress Manifesto, this programme will help 5 crore poor families and cost around 3.6 lakh crore rupees.
How can the scheme help the poor?
A basic wage can assist low-income families in feeding and educating their children. Consequently, they may eventually develop into contributing individuals to society.
Moreover, funds required to carry out this project may be generated by absorbing less successful schemes. Tax increases might also aid in raising money. With the minimum income plan, people won’t be drawn to low-paying professions. And as a result, firms will spend extra, which raises the basic wage.
Since this plan uses direct cash transfers, leakages are prevented unless there are fictitious recipients. Also, the transmission of this money to the family’s ladies has been promised by Congress. Thus, this will contribute to the empowerment of women.
What are the loopholes?
The lower classes of society cannot escape poverty when there is not enough employment accessible for them. Instead, it will render them permanently reliant on benefits.
The fiscal deficit for 2018–19 is 3.4%. Given that, it might not be possible to raise the required Rs. 3.6 lakh crores for NYAY.
It is far more efficient to spend money on development than to provide it outright.
People who work in the unorganised sector earn varying amounts of money every year. Agriculture also offers temporary jobs. Targeting the bottom 20% of impoverished families will be quite challenging in light of all of these variables since sometimes they will fall into the group and other times they won’t.
Furthermore, India currently has the fastest-growing economy in the world. However, the rate of poverty is continuously increasing. It is due to the absence of inclusive growth. Simple minimum income programmes might not be successful if we don’t focus on taking action for inclusive growth. Additionally, there’s the risk of rising inflation. All of these are the setbacks to the scheme.
