The Congress on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. As the manifesto stresses on Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), agrarian distress, education and health sector, top economists deliberate on the viability and reservations of the proposed schemes.
Speaking on the NYAY scheme, Abhijit Sen, former Planning Commission member said the party should have focused on pilot schemes instead of flaunting numbers.
바카라They wanted to give a certain minimum income to the poor, but I don바카라t think they have any idea how they are actually going to do it. The only sensible idea is that they should have pilot schemes to plan what they are going to do,바카라 Sen said.
바카라Identifying beneficiaries under NYAY is going to be a tough exercise and I don바카라t know what result they will achieve because data changes on a day to day basis and it바카라s not reliable,바카라 he added.
On Congress바카라 promise of 바카라kisan budget바카라, Sen said 바카라Separate budget on farmers is possible. The problem is that the central government spends only a fraction of what is being spent on farmers. Much of the expenditure and agriculture comes at the state level. Budget is another piece of paper.바카라
Sudha Pai, economist and political scientist, JNU called the manifesto 바카라progressive바카라.
바카라It got something for everyone. It addresses students, farmers, and every section of society. NYAY scheme is the highlight of the manifesto and it looks plausible for me. The more important part is that the party has to take the campaign to people. Nobody reads manifesto so they should explain it to people how it works,바카라 she said.
바카라NYAY is doable than any other programmes that Prime Minister Modi has put forward,바카라 Pai said.
Meanwhile, Arun Kumar, professor, Institute of Social Sciences said the NYAY scheme can be implemented if there is a political will.
바카라Going by the proposals in the manifesto, I would say that Congress is going back to the pre-1991 days. Then the Congress had the political will. Good part is that the party has consulted experts from various spheres, and I appreciate it,바카라 he said.
Kumar said the pertinent questions about the scheme are -- generation of money and identification of five crore beneficiaries. Third is the political will to do it.
Citing reports, he said if the govt taxes one per cent of Indians who possess above 70 per cent of the country바카라s total wealth, it will be able to generate Rs 1.6 lakh crores from them. So, if people above Rs 50 lakh wealth are taxed, the money for NYAY scheme can be covered. He says money can additionally be raised through wealth tax, estate duty, gift taxation and cess on corporate profits.
바카라It바카라s a poor argument that people will stop work if NYAY is implemented. Today바카라s youth is aspirational. People wouldn바카라t become rich after getting Rs 6000 monthly,바카라 Kumar said.
Terming separate budget for farmers as 바카라window shopping, Kumar said, 바카라What is required is more investment for rural areas, which will in turn benefit farmers and infrastructure building. There should be more rural budget than kisan budget.바카라
