New Delhi: Days before the national election, Rahul Gandhi on Monday pulled out what he called a “historic” minimum income guarantee scheme assuring Rs. 72,000 a year for 20 per cent of India’s poorest.
The money would be directly transferred to bank accounts. The scheme, said the Congress president, would lift 25 crore people out of poverty.
“It is fiscally possible. We have been studying the scheme for four-five months. We committed to the MGNREGA, we delivered MGNREGA … now we will ensure justice for the poor,” said Rahul Gandhi.
He also described it as an “extremely powerful, dynamic, well-thought-through idea.”
Rahul Gandhi announced the scheme on a day the poll process formally took off as candidates for the first round of polling filed their papers. Hours before the press conference, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top policy-making body had met.
After making the big announcement, he asked the media, “Haan, surprise hue na? (so, you look shocked)”
