Decode Politics: First floated in 2019, Congress brings back NYAY — what is it?

What is NYAY?

The idea to develop a basic income support scheme for India’s poorest was mooted in January 2019 by the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The party then developed the idea into a manifesto promise in consultation with the likes of Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, who roped in a few other renowned economists to give it a final shape.

The manifesto said that the target population of the Minimum Income Support Programme (MISP), or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), will be 5 crore families who constitute the poorest 20% of all families.

“Each family will be guaranteed a 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. There will be a Design phase (3 months) followed by a Pilot and Testing phase (6–9 months) before roll-out. The rollout will be implemented in phases,” said the party.

What is the estimated cost?

At the time, the party said the estimated cost of NYAY would be over 1% of GDP in Year One and over 2% of GDP in Year 2 and thereafter.

“As the nominal GDP grows and families move out of poverty, the cost will decline as a proportion of GDP. Congress will appoint an independent panel of eminent economists, social scientists and statisticians to oversee the design, testing, rollout and implementation of the programme. The programme will move from one stage to the other only after a ‘go ahead’ from the panel,” it said.

The party said it intended to implement NYAY as a joint scheme of the Central and state governments. “The scheme will be funded through new revenues and rationalisation of expenditure. The current merit subsidy schemes that are intended to achieve specific objectives will be continued,” it said.

The party also uses the word NYAY as a political slogan talking about justice in general.

What is the big idea behind Bharat Nyay Yatra?

The Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 that Gandhi will embark on from January 14 will see the slogan of justice being welded into the broader Congress campaign. Senior Congress leaders claim the party touched upon Constitutional values of secularism, liberty, equality and fraternity through the Bharat Jodo Yatra by speaking out against the politics of hate and division.

The Nyay Yatra, they said, would focus on another key aspect of the Preamble — “arthik nyay, samajik nyay, rajnitik nyay (economic, social and political justice)”. As part of its social justice plank, Gandhi and the Congress have been aggressively demanding a caste census focusing on representation for OBCs.

Gandhi also linked his social justice pitch with his other theme: crony capitalism.

Gandhi has often talked about growing income inequalities and how only a handful of industrialists are flourishing under Narendra Modi. Earlier this year, he linked caste census and income disparities, saying, “When we talk about distribution of wealth, distribution of power … the first step should be to find out the population of every caste.”

Gandhi has also often talked about the capture of institutions by the BJP or the RSS, which he accuses of denying the Opposition a level playing field. Adding to that is the oft-repeated charge of misuse of investigating agencies by the government against political opponents. This is where the slogan of political justice would fit in.