NEW DELHI: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh Saturday claimed the Congress’ NYAY minimum income guarantee scheme will not result in any new taxes and help restart the “economic engine” which has come to a “stop”.
The senior Congress leader’s remark comes as the BJP has claimed that the scheme will “ruin” fiscal discipline and the Congress will impose new taxes on middle class to finance it. The Congress has promised to give an annual income support of Rs 72,000 to poor families under the scheme, if voted to power.
The former prime minister, also a noted economist, said his party is committed to fiscal discipline. “NYAY scheme will cost between 1.2-1.5 per cent of GDP at its peak. Our nearly USD 3 trillion economy has the fiscal capacity to absorb this expenditure.
There will be no need for any new taxes on the middle class to finance NYAY. The economic stimulus it will provide will further help in fiscal discipline,” he said. The scheme has been conceptualised after much thought and consultations with experts, he added.
Singh said as the Congress government in 1991 brought in a new paradigm for India’s development with the de-licensing regime and a rights-based approach to governance in 2004-14, he was confident that a Congress-led dispensation in 2019 will implement NYAY scheme successfully and usher in a new model for social justice and prudent economics.
