Calling it "a final assault on poverty", Rahul Gandhi has promised BIG. He has announced that if voted to power, Congress government would offer Rs 6,000 per month or Rs 72,000 per annum to the poorest of poor, he called it the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (Minimum Income Scheme) or, in short, NYAY Scheme. The scheme would benefit 5 crore households. According to his scheme, Rs 12,000 should be the minimum income per month to each household. The average income that this 20 per cent actually gets is Rs 6,000 per month. So, NYAY will hand out Rs 6,000 per month to this 20 per cent poor families, to bridge that gap.
Congress must have thought this to be the second masterstroke after bringing Priyanka Gandhi into an active election campaign. The move has the potential to attract people, who are unemployed and also those who don't want to work for a living, to vote for the Congress party. The concept is new in India, however, the US and some European nations have a similar scheme that offers minimum income to those who have no source of income.
The question is - will it really help or is it just a 'poll jumla'? The 20 per cent cut-off is also extremely arbitrary. The party did not think about the households who are not among the bottom 20 per cent, but still fall below the poverty line? They also need support for survival. If they are ignored, how will the scheme eradicate poverty?
The challenges and issues are many and so are the risks. For the start, how will he stop people from quitting their 'low-paying' jobs and declaring themselves poor?
There are some states that have a low per-day wage. How will Rahul Gandhi incentivise people to earn or do better in their work?
If NYAY scheme involves government officials in implementing, it could lead to corruption in a big way and there is no way to ensure that non-deserving people do not take the benefits of the scheme. Many loopholes will also find their way into the system to manipulate the policy and benefit a handful.
Impact on the middle class
Yes, what you suspected all along could be true. The middle class, that already suffers TDS (Tax Deduction At Source) and multiple taxes daily, might have to shell out 50% more tax to fund the scheme, all current subsidies for households could be rolled into this scheme, inflation would soar, the commodities will become expensive to generate enough cash, hiring daily wagers will get more expensive. If botched, the scheme has the potential to ruin our economy.
Is this no country for middle class?
