Hyderabad:Launching its 2019 Lok Sabha political campaign with the slogan 'Ab Hoga Nyay', the Congress assured direct transfer of ₹72,000 annually to the poorest 20 percent of Indian households under its Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY).
The Congress leaders said that India’s ₹200 lakh crore economy would be doubled by the year 2024 and it could easily mobilize the ₹3.6 lakh crore required to implement the NYAY scheme.
But is it the right way to fight poverty and its outcomes hunger and diseases?
In a scathing observation in 2011, the Supreme Court had questioned, “Why is the percentage of people below poverty line fixed at 36 percent? Why has there been no change in their purchasing power since 1991?”
Wealthiest people in the country constitute just 1 percent of its population. Last year, the income of this section grew by 39 per cent. These Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by ₹2,200 crore a day last year, an Oxfam study said.
The poorest 13.6 crore people of the country could not wriggle out of their indebtedness since the past 14 years. Only 59 per cent of the daily wage earners in the country are earning just ₹5000 a month.
In such a situation, can offering freebies help eradicate poverty? The answer is no.
Any surgical strike against poverty can be successful only when the nation’s attention is focused on creating quality human resources through education and skill development, and generating enough employment opportunities.
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