NYAY scheme will not be able to cater all needy families: Ex Niti Ayog VC

Former vice chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya has asserted that Congress President Rahul Gandhi's proposed minimum income guarantee initiative NYAY scheme (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) will not be able to provide RS 12000 per month to all needy families.

Taking to Twitter, Panagariya said, "Going by 2011-12 expenditure survey, even assuming that incomes of poorest households rose as fast as national average, 40% rural and 10% urban families remained below Rs. 12,000 per month in 2018-19. So NYAY will not bring all families above 12000."

However, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the party had consulted eminent economists including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan before it came up with the minimum guaranteed income scheme, which ensures that nobody in the country remains below the benchmark of Rs 12,000 per month.

The Congress clarified that its minimum income guarantee initiative, NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana), is not a "top-up scheme" but assures Rs 72,000 to 20 per cent of India's poorest families.

This came after Rahul Gandhi had announced that if his party comes to power, it will implement a "ground-breaking" NYAY under which 20 per cent of the poorest families of the country will be entitled to up to Rs 72,000 per year.

Describing the scheme as unique in the entire world, he told media here that the minimum income guarantee scheme will be implemented in a phased manner as part of the "final assault on poverty".