Critics Question The Workability Of NYAY Scheme

While the Congress hopes to cash in with NYAY, critics have questioned the fiscal prudence and workability of the scheme.

- Soni Mishra

About four months ago, the Congress began mooting the idea of an unconditional cash transfer into the accounts of poor families. Party president Rahul Gandhi was keen that the idea be fleshed out and presented as a workable scheme. Former Union minister P. Chidambaram and Praveen Chakravarty, the party's prime data cruncher, were entrusted with the task.

The inspiration, it is said, came from the writings of economists Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel, whose works Rahul is reportedly familiar with.

The Congress team consulted the two, and many more economists, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian and International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath.

The idea was firmed up at a lunch hosted by Chakravarty at his Mumbai residence, where Chidambaram and some economic experts were present.

Rahul, however, was keen that former prime minister Manmohan Singh be consulted before anything was finalised. The economist-turned politician was in favour of the scheme, but asked the team to account for fiscal prudence.

And then, on March 25, Rahul announced the scheme, named NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana), and said it was “the final assault on poverty”. A week later, launching the manifesto, he said, “The prime minister had promised 115 lakh in every account. It is clear that it was a lie. We took inspiration from [the idea], and we discussed what realistically could be put into the accounts of the poor.”