Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/no-way-congress039-minimum-income-guarantee-will-work-without-raising-taxes-yogendra-yadav-4686488.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | No way Congress' minimum income guarantee will work without raising taxes -Yogendra Yadav | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

No way Congress' minimum income guarantee will work without raising taxes -Yogendra Yadav

-ThePrint.in

Irrespective of its merits and eventual fate, the basic income proposal means that this election is now focused firmly on the economy.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s announcement about minimum income guarantee (MIG) is the first big idea introduced in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. So far, the election was building up towards one of the many vacuous and noisy contestations that we have witnessed in the last few years: a last-minute too-clever-by-half quota for poor upper castes, brazen attempts at stoking Hindu-Muslim conflict, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t mahagathbandhan, cynical coalitional moves, election eve party hopping and media games of who-abused-whom.

In this context, political commitment by the largest opposition party to guarantee minimum income to all poor cannot but stand out.

Long road ahead for minimum income guarantee

MIG is not yet a game changer. At the moment it is an empty shell, a shiny cover with nothing inside. Rahul Gandhi’s speeches in Raipur and Cochin were woefully short on any substance to back this big idea up. All we know is that the Congress is committing itself to some kind of income transfer to benefit the poor, should they fall below a minimum level.

We also know, from Rahul’s tone, that this is not a casual throwaway remark, that the Congress attaches a lot of weight to this promise, that we can expect a lot in the coming days.

However, unless you are an ardent Rahul Gandhi fan and trust that he will implement whatever he promises, at the moment there is nothing to distinguish this announcement from ‘pipe dreams’ like doubling of farmers’ income.

For all these limitations, the announcement about minimum income guarantee has already achieved something: it indicates the direction this election is likely to take. The Congress has already all but committed to a nationwide farm loan waiver.

Add to this the idea of minimum income guarantee, and it is clear that the opposition is pushing this election towards economic agenda.

Please click here to read more.