NEW DELHI, Mar 15
Ahead of an uphill Lok Sabha election battle, the Congress on Wednesday dusted off and revived NYAY, the centrepiece of its 2019 manifesto promise, and announced that the party, if voted to power, would give Rs 1 lakh annually to a woman of every poor family. The party also said it would provide 50 per cent reservation for women in new appointments in the central government.
NYAY, or Nyuntam Aay Yojana, was the highlight of the Congress’s 2019 election manifesto, under which it had promised “five crore families who constitute the poorest 20 per cent of all families” a guaranteed cash transfer of Rs 72,000 a year. “As far as possible, the money will be transferred to the account of a woman of the family who has a bank account or who will be urged to open a bank account,” the manifesto had said. On Wednesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in a video statement, and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, at a women’s rally in Maharashtra’s Dhule district, announced five “Mahila Nyay” guarantees. The first of the promises — Mahalakshmi guarantee — was to give Rs 1 lakh to one woman in each of the poorest families. The Congress did not spell out the overall financial implication of the promise or the estimated number of families which would be covered.
Asked how many families would benefit, former Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister and convenor of the Congress manifesto committee, T S Singh Deo, told The Indian Express: “We are still waiting for the Government of India to do the Census. Once the government does it… we will identify the women.
There are figures by various bodies… but they don’t match. So obviously, it will be an exercise that the government will have to do.”
“One figure puts it (the number of poor families) at 6 or 7 per cent. Another puts it at 12 per cent, yet another puts it at 15-16 per cent. The government has not gone ahead with the Census. The only figures we have is that of the 2011 Census… But that is not an issue. It is a goal that is to be achieved and it will be done,” he said.
In its 2019 manifesto, the Congress had said the estimated cost of its NYAY promise would be over 1 per cent of the GDP in the first year, and over 2 per cent of the GDP from the second year. “As the nominal GDP grows and families move out of poverty, the cost will decline as a proportion of GDP,” it had said.
Among the other “Mahila Nyay” guarantees announced on Wednesday was a promise of “aadhi aabadi, poora haq” — providing 50 per cent reservation for women in new appointments in the central government. Deo said the promise could be implemented through “executive orders”. “Job reservation is not a Constitutional issue,” he said. The other big promise was to double the Centre’s contribution in the salaries of Anganwadi, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and mid-day meal scheme workers.
The party also promised the appointment of a legal assistant in every panchayat to educate women on their rights and provide necessary help, and the construction of at least one working women’s hostel in all district headquarters across the country.
, to be named after social reformer Savitribai Phule.
Kharge said the Congress’s guarantees are “pathar ki lakeer” (set in stone) and not a “jumla”.
