Congress manifesto pledges to set up Accountability Commission allowing citizens to audit govt’s performance

Yes, and the good thing is that word has spread about the scheme amongst the target population. After extensive data collection, research and analysis and after extensive consultation with experts from many fields, we came to the conclusion that a direct, unconditional cash transfer to 20 percent of India’s poorest i.e about five crore families is a moral imperative.

A country like India can’t let 25 crore people languish in abject poverty.

NYAY will give India’s rural and urban poor purchasing power and free them of the worries of survival. Their aspirations will increase. With rise in consumption, even the economy will be boosted, more jobs will be created.

Our experience with MGNREGA showed that when rural demand rises, the economy grows faster. And we are going to implement it in a phased manner. The money will be deposited in the bank account of the woman member of the household so that she gets to ‘husband-control’ the expenses.

Our calculation suggests that in the first year of the phased roll-out, it will come to less than 1% of the GDP in the first year and less than 2 per cent next year onwards. Our GDP will also grow. So NYAY’s share of the GDP will go down further. There may be rationalisation of some subsidies here and there but important targeted schemes will not be tampered with.

It has to be a joint effort of the states and the Centre. We believe every state government wants to be re-elected, to deliver better services to its people and I am sure we will get them on board. We also want to devise a mechanism so that a share of the GST revenue goes to local bodies.

Farmers’ problems are multifarious and we want to focus on them and solve them. Access to institutional credit, techniques, information sharing, risk management, access to markets, storage and so many others. We want to create a separate budget so that we can lay emphasis on their specific problems. Under the present government, they have been totally neglected. Ask anyone who is the Union Agriculture Minister now. It shows the lack of seriousness the Modi government accords to the farm sector.

Sedition is a law that was brought in by the British colonialists to curb dissent. Gandhiji was also slapped with sedition. The present government has misused it against journalists, students and scholars for voicing their dissent against the government. It is just not compatible with Freedom of Speech and the times.

As for waging war against the country or cases of serioustreason, there are plenty of other watertight laws which are stringent. Time has come to say goodbye to this law.

About AFSPA, we feel it is important to balance national security with human rights. It is important to take note that we are talking about our own people, all Indian citizens. AFSPA can’t be a cover for rape and torture of one’s own fellow citizens.

Again, these are matters of national priority and have to bedone. Today, the cost of private healthcare is astronomical. And we know what sacrifices an autorickshaw driver makes for sending his child to a private school. The point is to revamp these two so that people have access to quality education and healthcare, both of which have transformational effect on people.

Climate change is a reality and so is air pollution. You live in Delhi. Breathing this air every day reduces our lives by a certain period. This has to be dealt with. We have to build resilience and concerted political will across states, parties and domains such as industry has to bethere. Promoting public transport is just one means. We have a concrete plan of action.

See, we brought that in as a safeguard against money laundering, to prevent people from turning black money into white. The start-up ecosystem was very different then. But we never really used it to target start-ups to pay up. This government has actually treated it as a taxing tool, a hound which never happened during our tenure.

That will have to be complied with, I am sure. We can’t afford to let polluting units spring up all across the country.

Yes, we will set up an Accountability Commission consisting of distinguished citizens from various walks of life. They will evaluate the government’s performance vis-à-vis the manifesto every year and will come outwith a report so that people know if we have delivered or not.

This country is what it is today, a strong democracy, a flourishing economy, a harmonious society because of Congress governments’ vision in the past. We have done it and we will do it again.