Minimum income for poor

Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s promise of a guaranteed minimum income for every poor person in the country, if voted to power, may have stolen PM Modi’s thunder kept in store for the vote-on-account. It is an idea that was first talked about in the 18th-century war-torn England and it basically means an unconditional, periodic grant paid on an individual basis. The Congress tweak to the concept assures a minimum amount (speculated at Rs 1,000 per month) to an estimated 27 crore people living below the poverty line. While the economics will follow, it is the politics shadowing the announcement that is at the moment more pertinent.

More than the 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections among upper classes, this blanket reachout to the poor appears more tantalising. And the reflex criticism from the BSP indicates that Rahul’s promise could rearrange the caste matrix. The Congress would hope a similar undercurrent will help it return to conversations in regions long polarised on caste lines. The Modi government too was not immune to the lure of a minimum income guarantee, but in this instance, Rahul may have run away with the political ball. The BJP may have baulked because being in the government, it would have been obliged to explain the economics that would make it sustainable in the long run.

And feasibility is the concept’s Achilles’ heel. The estimated annual public expenditure of Rs 3.25 lakh crore was in the Modi government’s grasp if demonetisation had played out differently and GST had brought in the anticipated additional income. Its advocates are confident the gap can be bridged by scrapping the leakage-prone PDS and MNREGA to bring in the required money. The problem is both PDS and MNREGA now have entrenched interest groups and stakeholders who will resist any structural change. For an idea whose time has come, it requires both political will and a deep pocket to realise the concept. Trying to leverage minimum income to set the narrative may be the easier part.