New Delhi: Defending Rahul Gandhi’s minimum income guarantee scheme, ‘Nyuntam Aay Yojana’ (NYAY), Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the country has the ability to pay the amount.
Speaking at a press conference held at Chennai, on Wednesday, March 27, the former finance minister, said, “The details of the scheme will be announced in the party manifesto. We have considered all the economic factors before putting out this scheme-it is Rs 72,000 per family per year. We have spoken to many economic and financial experts and got a positive response.”
“We believe India has the ability to implement this programme. We have taken into account all the factors and we are confident that we can pay Rs 6,000 per month each to 20% of India’s poorest families,” he added.
Lashing out at Narendra Modi for his Rs 15 Lakh promise, Chidambaram said no one questioned the prime minister on the math of his 2014 poll promise. He also highlighted that the scheme would be rolled out in phases and not implemented in one go if Congress forms the government.
Speaking at a rally in Rajasthan, on Monday, March 25, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, had said that 20 percent poorest families will be given Rs 72,000 each annually as a minimum income under the NYAY scheme.
“The time for change has come. Five crore families and 25 crore people will directly benefit from the scheme,” added Gandhi.
However, several leaders of from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have drawn reference to Indira Gandhi’s 1970s ‘Garibi Hatao’ campaign and said that the Congress has always been promising so many things to the poor but never actually delivered.
