Congress revives the NYAY pledge to provide impoverished women with Rs 1 lakh annually if won in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections

The Congress party has announced the return of its flagship 2019 manifesto program, NYAY, in advance of the Lok Sabha election. They said the party would provide Rs 1 lakh a year to all the women in poor households if they were elected. Additionally, they have promised to reserve 50% of new positions in the central government for women.

Nyuntam Aay Yojana, or NYAY, was prominently featured as the main initiative in the Congress’s 2019 election program. It promised to provide “five crore families, constituting the poorest 20 percent of all families,” with a guaranteed yearly cash transfer of Rs 72,000. The manifesto said that the money should ideally be sent into a female household member’s bank account, which should already be open or urged to be established for this reason.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Senior Leader Rahul Gandhi presented five “Mahila Nyay” guarantees on Wednesday at a women’s rally in Dhule, Maharashtra. The original pledge, called the Mahalakshmi guarantee, was to provide one lady from each economically deprived household Rs 1 lakh. Congress did not, however, reveal the full financial implications of this promise or the approximate number of families it would cover.

TS Singh Deo, the convenor of the Congress manifesto committee and a former deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh, said, “We are waiting for the Government of India to conduct the census,” when asked how many households will benefit from the program. We’ll go on to finding the qualified ladies when the government finishes this assignment. Even though other groups have offered data, they are inconsistent. Thus, the government will need to make a concerted effort.”

“One estimate places it (the proportion of impoverished families) at 6 or 7 percent,” he said. One estimate has it at 12%, while another places it at 15% and 16%. The census has not been carried out by the government. The 2011 Census data is the only data we have. However, that is not a problem. It is an objective that must be fulfilled, and it will be.

The Congress party’s 2019 platform said that the estimated cost of their NYAY program would be more than 1 percent of GDP in the first year and more than 2 percent of GDP in the second year. It also stressed that spending would fall in relation to GDP as the nominal GDP increased and households moved out of poverty.

One of the extra promises made as part of the “Mahila Nyay” campaign, which was unveiled on Wednesday, was “aadhi aabadi, poora haq,” which guarantees a 50% reservation for women in new positions within the central government. Deo said that “executive orders” may be used to carry on this promise. He made it clear that the Constitution does not apply to employment reservations.

Doubling the Center’s salary contribution to the Anganwadi, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist), and midday meal program workers’ pay was another noteworthy commitment.

Kharge referred to the promises made by Congress as “pathar ki lakeer,” or “set in stone,” rather than “jumla.”

The party has promised to provide a legal assistant to each panchayat to inform women of their rights and provide the support they need. Additionally, it pledged to build a working women’s hostel, named after the renowned social reformer Savitribai Phule, in every district headquarters throughout the country.