Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced an income support of Rs 72,000 per annum to the poorest 20% families of the country. Gandhi had first mentioned such a scheme in January and gave details on Monday.
The scheme will be called “Nyoontama Aay Yojana, or NYAY”, Gandhi said. The name means “minimum income scheme” in Hindi, while the acronym means “justice”.
“The minimum income support proposal will be called ‘nyay’,” said Gandhi at a press conference after attending the Congress Working Committee meeting. “The scheme will bring justice to the poor.”
Five crore families and 25 crore people will benefit from the scheme, he said. The money will be directly transferred to their bank accounts.
“It is fiscally possible,” said Gandhi. “We have been studying the scheme for four-five months. We were committed to the MGNREGA, we delivered MGNREGA...now we will ensure justice for the poor.”
Gandhi said the rural job security scheme MGNREGA had brought 14 crore people out of poverty. “In the second phase, 25 crore people will be pulled out,” he said, according to the Hindustan Times.
He said the scheme was “extremely powerful, dynamic, well-thought-through idea”. It will be world’s largest minimum income scheme, Gandhi said. “Final assault on poverty has begun. We will wipe out poverty from the country,” he said.
The Congress has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over demonetisation and the lack of jobs. Taking a jibe at Modi, Gandhi said, “If PM Modi can give money to India’s richest, then we can do the same for India’s poorest.”
Also read: ‘NewREGA’? What we know so far about Rahul Gandhi’s Minimum Income Guarantee promise
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