MODI READIES BASIC INCOME GAME CHANGER FOR 2019

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Mishra has convened several meetings to work out details of the scheme in such a manner that the benefits go to the deserving.

The Narendra Modi government is working on rolling out a Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme to alleviate poverty in the country. The scheme will guarantee a fixed income to financially weaker sections of society. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally monitoring the preparations for UBI, with the government think-tank, Niti Aayog and the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture working out modalities for the same. The government’s eagerness to launch the scheme can be gauged from the fact that more than 20 meetings have already taken place at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), to assess the feasibility ever since it was suggested in the Economic Survey of 2016-17. The low profile Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Mishra is known to have convened several meetings to work out details of the scheme in such a manner that the benefits go to the deserving.

The scheme is likely to prove to be a game changer for the Narendra Modi government, in a build-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that will be held in a few months’ time.

Government sources said that the scheme could be announced partially and later the benefits would be extended to a larger swathe of the population. To begin with, sources said, the government may announce a basic income of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 a month for farmers, unemployed youths, women and elderly people. Gradually, more beneficiaries are likely to be added, including from the tribal population, those from Other Backward Classes and those belonging to weaker social strata.

Official sources said that a budget that appeals to the rural poor and deals with the agrarian crisis is also likely. “Universal Basic Income is a major step to bring people out of poverty as well as address the agrarian crisis. Government is seriously considering the announcement of UBI to help pull people out of poverty,” said an official.

On the political front, BJP is looking at UBI as a weapon against the Opposition, which has been using farm loan waiver to lure farmers. In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress came to