Briefly registers my protest against the proposed implementation of NYAYA by the Indian National Congress. It opposes the very idea of unsustainable cash handouts to the indigent.

1. The politics of perpetuating poverty have been endless since 1947. Over the decades, slogans and
schemes have been launched, often without cash flow corresponding to budgeted targets.
Whatever little was available for distribution was mired in ineligible/fake beneficiaries, routing
of funds through middlemen, dubious qualifying criteria and many more lucrative self-imposed
limitations. MNREGA and similar schemes were plagued by all these failures. Not only that,
such schemes created few precious lasting assets. Poverty remained endemic even as the village
moneylender reigned supreme as he/she does even today, loan waivers not having touched them.
How does INC’s proposed Rs. 6000/month financial assistance proposal to 20% of the most
indigent populations compare? Prima facie, like MNREGA and many other schemes, Nyaya, as
the INC program is called, is a cash handout via DBT. It is geared to counter Modi’s Rs. 2000/4
months DBT, the amount being three-fold more in the INC’s proposal.
The crux of the matter, that no political party wishes to address for obvious electoral reasons, to
augment the income of the indigent, is all but forgotten. The indigent needs to be trained and be
provided small seed capital to set up micro-enterprises by pooling of fiscal assistance from state
and central budgets between beneficiaries. That would not only have a cascading effect on
employment but also partly roll back the declining rate of savings and, consequently investment.
For instance, Rs. 72000 x 100 beneficiaries makes for seed capital of Rs. 72 lakh, probably
adequate to set up a chain of low-priced meal thali stalls, tetra pack packaging units, courier
services, minor repair and maintenance works, etc. These would add value and make the lives of
the indigent not only better, but sustainable in the longer run. However, care would have to be
taken to identify areas of application of pooled funds and assuring businesses for these start-ups,
unlike for MUDRA loans that are no better than cash handouts via DBT. For a start, why not
allow these start-ups to provide labor contract to operate govt. canteens, private security, office
machinery, etc?
I have always deprecated MNREGA and all other cash handouts for the reason stated above.
India has come a long way since 1947. Yet, unless a family of four adults is assured monthly
income of at least Rs. 20000 with at least 10-15% hike every year in a sustainable manner, with
one time capital funding from budgetary resources, all electoral promises would be viewed no
more than as vote-catchers. Nyaya is no different. To provide loans of Rs. 50000 each to 10 crore
indigents (that currently have individual income of less than Rs. 10000/month from all sources),
budgetary assistance of Rs. five lakh crore at least would be required. This can be spread over
three fiscals to lower the annual demand on the public exchequer.
Insofar as funding is concerned, a barebones 25%, across the board, cut in the numbers of
Ministries/Depts. in states and the Centre merged could show up corresponding recurring
savings. Start-ups could be allowed to subscribe to group insurance health and life insurance
policies on a contributory basis, as also to pension and welfare funds, that could be mandated in
the condition of loans sanctioned to these start-ups. These are but some random thoughts.

2. My only request to both BJP and INC is that your cash hand outs are not only unsustainable but
provide no long-term gains to the indigent. For my part, I refuse to pay any more taxes to fund
your foolhardy ventures like Nyaya. I am sure my friends will echo my sentiments. The states
and Centre have more than adequate resources if they would only cut down on their giant
profligacy, waste and brazen corruption. No fresh taxes are warranted.
Or is it that BJP and INC are scared, very sacred, of empowering the indigent? In that case, how
are these parties different from the sultans/maharajas of yore that lived off extortion and survived
by paying ransom for centuries while providing worthless famine relief works like Lucknow’s
Bhulbhualiyya. In a poor, uneducated, untrained, hungry homeless and scantily clothed country,
why should we vote for you? Poverty eradication is an oxymoron both for INC and BJP. We
elect you to provide statesmanship and not essay the vices and physiological attributes of a
prostitute. Voters are better off voting NOTA instead of for you. At least a constitutional crisis
may provide much needed cleansing of our brothelized polity.