If and when Congress’ Nyuntam Aay Yojana, or NYAY scheme, for minimum income guarantee is implemented, it’ll be the biggest basic income globally. Here’s a snap analysis
On 25 March, Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced the Nyuntam Aay Yojana, or NYAY scheme. The plan is to give Rs.6,000 every month to the bottom 20% of the population of around 5 crore families or 25 crore individuals. Gandhi’s proposal is not that of universal basic income (UBI), of which there has been a lot of talk in the recent past. UBI is basically a small amount of money paid every month to every citizen of a country, without any terms and conditions. In the case of NYAY, the plan is to pay money to the bottom 20% only and not every citizen as UBI envisages.
If and when it is launched, NYAY will be by far the biggest basic income scheme anywhere in the world. Given that there are valid concerns on the viability of the scheme and the impact it is likely to have on the Indian economy, we try and address some of the concerns in detail.
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