Nyuntam Aay Yojana {न्यूनतम आय योजना}

Overview

In the 2019 general election manifesto, Indian National Congress committed to providing a remittance of Rs.72000 a year or Rs.6000 per month to 20% of 5 crore poor and marginalized families, or 25 crore individuals, if the party voted back to power. The scheme was announced in the presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, former President Dr Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi, and various other high leaders. This scheme primarily focused on issues like unemployment, women security, farmers' torment, and backward socio-economic section, which include SCs, STs, slum-dwellers, etc. The enormous expenditure of this scheme is between Rs 3.6 lakh crore and Rs.7.2 lakh crore a year. This scheme is modelled loosely on Universal Basic Income (UBI), an idea highly pushed by politicians and economists.

What is UBI?

UBI stands for Universal Basic Income. This concept ensures guaranteed annual income or guaranteed basic income to all the citizens of the country or any geographical area. This concept mainly focuses on securing every citizen's dignity and equality. Money is sent to the beneficiaries directly to the bank account in a fixed time interval. In this method Government's capital is the least wasted. Every individual in the country is benefited by ignoring their sources, income, or employment status. 

Salient Features of Nyuntam Aay Yojana

The features of Nyuntam Aay Yojana are as follows:

• A sum of money, i.e., Rs.6000, will be distributed to the individuals whose monthly income is less than Rs.12000 in the form of cash.
• The amount would be delivered to an individual's bank account at a fixed interval of time every month. 
• A basic and guaranteed income is provided to the citizens ignoring their income, sources or employment status. 
• It will allow the individual to purchase things of his choice.
• Decrease inequality and poverty in the country.

Pros and Cons of NYAY scheme

Pros

• Under Nyuntam Aay Yojana, every citizen whose monthly income is less than Rs.12000 will be benefited. For example, a person's monthly salary is Rs.6000; he will fall under the NYAY scheme, and his income will boost to Rs.12000.
• Eligible people are provided with basic pay every month so that they can fulfil their necessities, send their children to schools, and can give them nutritional diets.
• This scheme primarily emphasizes on every individual's dignity as poor people are always mentioned with informality.
• No minimum qualifications or documents are required to get benefits from this scheme.
• A lump sum amount is sent to the recipient's bank account without involving any via media.
• The Government's money is the least wasted through this process.
• The party has committed to sending the amount directly to the bank accounts of women, enhancing women empowerment.
• As people have a guaranteed and fixed income every month, they will not attract low paying jobs. Hence employers will pay more which will accelerate higher minimum pay.

Cons 

• The Government has to find eligible people to fall under the scheme. i.e., people with a monthly income of less than Rs 12000.
• If the Government distributes free money without any terms and conditions, people are getting something for nothing, which ultimately makes people lazy. An average Indian family has five members, so Rs.1200 each. If they take this thing for granted and drop out of their jobs, then there will be no change in their situation. This regard mostly comes from the pessimistic belief that wealthy and middle-class people are hardworking and poor people are poor because they are lazy.
• People will spend their money on tobacco, alcohol, and paan rather than purchasing household things as poor people are more likely to spend their money on these things. To get a grip on this problem, the party planned making the payment to women. Former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram has said: "We will insist that every family should open an account in the name of the women in the family and the money will be transferred to her account."
• The income of the ballpark population will increase suddenly following the purchase of the same goods in the market, leading to an increment in the price of the goods. When the Government gives such a considerable amount every month to the poor people, it should also be taken into consideration the availability of the products and selling price of the products. Otherwise, there is no success in spending so much money.
• NYAY scheme will increase taxes. P.Chidambaram said, the program will not exceed 2% of the GDP; it will be 1.8% at any given time. This is a considerable amount to be very particular, which will drain the entire Indian Economy. In the Economy, there is no law for the distribution of free money, then from where this money will come from. The party has signalled about some subsidies including food, oil, and many more which sum up to Rs.2.9 lakh crore approximately, or 1.41% of GDP.

You will be able to learn more about it on the official menifesto.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who will be benefited from the Nyuntam Aay Yojana?

The poor and marginalized peoples with a monthly income of less than Rs.12000 will be benefited from the NYAY scheme.

Q: Who will monitor NYAY, State Government or Central Government?

The NYAY scheme will be a joint scheme. i.e., it will be monitored by both the State Government and Central Government.

Q: Are there any steps before ascending to the scheme?

Yes, there will be three phases. The design phase followed by the pilot and testing phase before the scheme unfolds.

Q: What is the estimated GDP for the scheme?

The estimated GDP for the scheme is 2%. But according to the former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, the GDP will be 1.8% at any given point of time.

Q: Already the Government is running so many schemes for the poor and the privileged, how will the Nyuntam Aay Yojana benefit them?

It is a transparent scheme. There are no terms and conditions, and no qualifications are required for this scheme. The money is directly sent to the recipient's account. But as the Government is driving so many programmes, the GDP will be high if this scheme rises. But if this scheme is run, then no other program is required as it is helping the poor people of our country with no doubt.