Rahul Gandhi Assures Monthly Income Guarantee Scheme for the Poor

Guwahati: Congress President Rahul Gandhi assured to roll out a monthly income guarantee scheme if his party comes to power at the Centre.

Addressing a Press Conference today, Gandhi said that the scheme is to ensure India's 20 percent poorest families could make at least Rs. 12000 per month. He said that the scheme would cover up to 5crore families and benefit nearly 25 crore people.

Gandhi said that this is about justice for the poor and announced the contours of the guarantee scheme that will make its way to the Congress manifesto ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

He further said, "We are going to give you justice and asked to remember the number. The Congress guarantees that 20 percent of the poor in the country would make at least Rs. 72k annually which would be a historic move."

Gandhi further insisted that the scheme was fiscally prudent and implementable.

Explaining about the scheme, Gandhi said that the scheme doesn't mean that everyone would get the Rs. 12000 dole and said that if a family makes Rs. 6000, the government would chip in the rest to raise the monthly family income to Rs. 12k.

He also said that they have checked it again and again and that it is fiscally perfectly possible. Talking about the MGNREGA scheme, he said, "We committed it and we did it. We will eradicate poverty in India. The job guarantee scheme had pulled out 14 crore people out of poverty and this is the first phase."

Gandhi further stated that 25 people will be pulled out in the second phase and it is an extremely powerful, dynamic and well thought-out idea and that they have done the calculations.

He also said that this country has one flag and that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's politics creates two India. The scheme is widely seen as a version of Universal Basic Income (UBI) which is a concept that entitles families to a certain threshold sum of money regardless of whether they work or not.

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