News18 Daybreak | Congress' 'Ground-breaking' Poll Promise and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For
Weeks before the national election, Rahul Gandhi has announced what he calls a "historic" minimum income guarantee scheme assuring R s.72,000 a year for India's poorest families if the Congress is voted back to power. "The final assault on poverty has begun," he said of the scheme named Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a recent party conclave in Gujarat.
The money will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of 20 per cent of the poorest in the country. The scheme, said the Congress president, would lift five crore families or 25 crore people out of poverty.
He explained that any family earning less than Rs.12,000 a month will receive Rs.6,000 every month in its bank account.
He said she said:
A political slugfest has ensued over Congress’ ‘ground-breaking’ poll-promise, the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme, which the party chief unveiled in a press conference on Thursday.
The proposed cash handout is seen as modelled loosely on Universal basic income, a concept attracting growing interest around the world. UBI involves people being given a flat lump sum by the state instead of subsidies and social security payments.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley trashed the Congress scheme, calling it chhal-kapat (deceit) and bluff. "Congress has historically believed in political transactions in the name of removing poverty," he said.
“What we are paying to the poor and the farmer today, through 55 different schemes, excluding Rs 75,000 crore through PM-KISAN scheme and Rs 20,000 crore [through Ayushman Bharat also known as ‘Modicare’], is Rs 5.34 lakh crore. So what favour are you doing to the poor by giving them Rs 3.6 lakh crore?” he said.
He added that if one were to add benefits that Indians are receiving through the electrification scheme, through Awaas yojana, and Ujjwala yojana, the amount spent on social welfare would go up to Rs 7 lakh crore.
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Naresh Goyal steps down as Jet Airways chariman, says No Sacrifice Too Big
Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal on Monday resigned from the board of the airline they founded 25 years ago, clearing the way for an immediate bailout of R
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1,500 crore by lenders. Naresh Goyal's exit was a condition set by bankers for the rescue of the cash-strapped airline that has been struggling with grounded fleet and mounting dues to banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors. The banks, led by State Bank of India (SBI), will convert their debt into equity and take a controlling stake in the airline for a token sum of 1 rupee.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he was happy with the lenders' decision. “Banks have kept self interest in mind by trying to keep it as a going entity so that they can recover their dues,” he said.
JNU V-C accuses students of forcibly entering his house, confining his wife inside
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar alleged on Monday that the varsity students forcibly entered his house and confined his wife inside for several hours. Seven students have been on a hunger strike since last week in protest against the online system of entrance exam that will be implemented from this academic session. According to sources, the alleged incident took place after students from Left outfits had earlier attempted to have their concerns addressed by the VC. A student from a Left outfit, however, rejected the allegation and said a group of students had gone to meet the vice-chancellor, but they were allegedly manhandled by the security personnel.
News18 Election Tracker: The change-up in Mumbai Congress, BJP’s star campaigners list and Cong-AAP alliance roadblock
Sanjay Nirupam loses Mumbai Congress Chief's post to Milind Deora, gets poll ticket
The All-India Congress Committee on Monday announced Nirupam's candidature from the Mumbai North-West Lok Sabha seat, but replaced him with former Union minister Milind Deora as the Grand Old Party's Mumbai unit chief. According to sources in the party, this was in the offing for "at least four months". "There were complaints made about Nirupam's style of functioning before Congress president Rahul Gandhi and also general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge. The matter was very much under consideration," a source said. Read Vinaya Deshpande’s report about what could’ve prompted Congress to take this move.
BJP releases list of 40 star campaigners from UP, asks Delhi Unit to send fresh list
BJP on Monday released its list of 40 star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh. The list carried names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj among others. Meanwhile, unhappy with its Delhi unit for objecting to fielding celebrities in the national capital for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has asked it to send a fresh list of probables. The Delhi BJP election committee had shortlisted three names each for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. The list, however, did not include former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, whose name was making rounds as a possible candidate from the New Delhi seat after he joined the party.
Delhi Congress leaves decision regarding alliance with AAP on Rahul Gandhi
Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit and other leaders of the unit on Monday discussed the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls in the city at a meeting with party chief Rahul Gandhi. The opinion remained divided on the issue and everyone in the meeting was unanimous that Gandhi should take the final call on it in the larger interest of the party, a participant of the meeting said. According to sources four former Delhi Congress presidents, including Ajay Maken favoured the alliance but Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit and three working presidents maintained their stand against the alliance.