Chhattisgarh govt launches NYAY scheme

Congress’s main highlight of the party manifesto during 2019 Lok Sabha election, a minimum income scheme called Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme is going to make its pilot appearance in Chhattisgarh, reports The Hindu. Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister Chhattisgarh, met with Sonia Gandhi and K Raju last week. NYAY was the cornerstone of the Congress campaign with the slogan — Ab Hoga Nyay (Justice begins now). The manifesto had a moving picture of an old woman embracing Rahul Gandhi with the tagline- Attack on poverty (Garibi par vaar) guaranteeing ₹72,000/year to the poor.

Rahul Gandhi in his campaign often used this motto against Narendra Modi while debunking Modi’s claim of depositing 15 lakh into every Indian’s account using retrieved black money. However, Congress was not able to popularise this issue enough to create an enthusiasm wave around this.

The scheme was a result of a lot of brainstorming sessions with many economic experts, Rajeev Gowda, convenor of the Congress manifesto committee said to The Hindu. NYAY was actually simplified from the initial idea of providing Universal Basic Income.

The Chhattisgarh pilot assures ₹72000 per annum to one fifth of the poorest households of the State. The Congress has repeatedly emphasised that this kind of fund insertion is pivotal to the economy staying afloat.

“We are discussing it within the party, and it is under consideration. It will begin as a pilot project in a small area at first just the way we started a pilot project against malnutrition in Bastar to begin with and will expand it to the rest of the state on October 2,” Chhattisgarh CM Baghel told The Hindu.

Rajeev Gowda said that in the current economical fiascos, it is exceptionally important to bring in fluidity through schemes like these. He further stressed upon the significance of NYAY by saying, “Rural income has been stagnant if not negative over last few years. This provides them basic level of support that will free them up from worrying about mere survival and to be able to think about other things like health, education and whole bunch of other things,”