Here is why Congress believes 'Rs 6000/pm to 20% poor scheme' is doable

Some, including the NITI Aayog chief, have slammed the Congress party of fiscal imprudence in proposing minimum income guarantee, or NYAY, of Rs 6,000 per month to 20 per cent poorest households. The estimated Rs 3.6 trillion payout looks prohibitive. However, a closer inspection of the proposed scheme and current political dynamics make it eminently workable.

To begin with, Congress does not intend to implement it as soon as it comes to power, that is if it does, on May 23, 2019. Experts in the party, which include Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who were helped by its data analytics chief Praveen Chakravarty in putting together the scheme, have proposed a new committee that would be constituted to steer the implementation of the scheme.

It is likely that former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian could head such a committee. Subramanian, as Chakravarty has acknowledged in his interviews, is closely involved in helping Congress with the details of the scheme. In the 2016-17 Economic Survey, Subramanian had proposed a basic income for the poor. Readmore