Here’s What Rahul Gandhi’s Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme Will Look Like

Congress President Rahul Gandhi promised a minimum income guarantee scheme for the poor if voted to power in the next general election. But what will it look like?

We cannot build a new India while millions of our brothers & sisters suffer the scourge of poverty.

If voted to power in 2019, the Congress is committed to a Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person, to help eradicate poverty & hunger.

This is our vision & our promise.

January 28, 2019

Arvind Subramanian, India's former chief economic adviser, had floated the idea of a universal basic income for the poor in the Economic Survey for 2016-17. The Congress' promise is not exactly the same.

This would be a progressive income scheme, said Praveen Chakravarty, former investment banker and head of the party's data analytics department. Unlike Subramanian's idea, the Congress scheme would determine a certain threshold marked as a minimum income level, according to Chakravarty who has worked on the party's scheme, told BloombergQuint in an interview.

Families falling below this threshold would be compensated an amount up to a pre-determined level through direct transfer, he said, adding that the scheme would be funded through a combination of increase in revenue and rationalising expenditure.

The Congress is betting that more cash in the hands of the poor will also boost consumption.

Income in the hands of the poor automatically also leads to a consumption boost of the economy. All the details of funding will be in the Congress manifesto.

Praveen Chakravarty, Chairperson, Data Analytics Department, Indian National Congress

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