News18 Daybreak I Rahul Gandhi Promises Minimum Income Guarantee to Every Poor if Congress Wins Lok Sabha Election and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For
What to Watch Out For
The Congress in a rally in Chattisgarh on Monday announced that it would implement a minimum income guarantee plan for every poor if it is elected to power in the 2019 elections.
Breakdown: Universal Basic Income is a social security plan where all citizens receive an unconditional sum of money.
In developing countries, the scheme is usually implemented through a direct cash transfer scheme wherein the cash or “income” is directly deposited in the beneficiaries' bank account.
Why it matters: Rahul’s move comes ahead of the February 1 budget in which the BJP-led government is expected to dole out their own version of an income scheme for farmers.
The government under PM Modi had been mulling over the idea of an UBI scheme ever since it was first brought up by the former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian in the 2017 Economic Survey.
But, it wasn’t until BJP’s defeat in the recent Assembly Elections, particularly in the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which signaled an unhappy rural electorate, that the plan was seriously considered. The Centre is now likely to make an announcement in the interim budget.
However, Gandhi clinched the first mover’s advantage, which many say could have dire ramifications on BJP ‘s chances in the polls.
He said, she said: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram backed the move in an interview with CNN-News18 saying that the scheme is possible to implement considering the fiscal situation of Indians.
The BJP however lashed out at the Congress with the Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying, “The people of India know the reality of the Congress and have seen through its games.”
In depth: Earlier, pilots of the minimum income guarantee plans were run by UNICEF in villages of Madhya Pradesh from 2011 to 2012. The pilot programme, in which cash transfers were made to the several villagers, yielded positive the results.
However, economists have pointed out that apart from the huge administrative and fiscal costs that would have to be borne, the scheme will also have a negative impact on the state’s impetus to deliver on other welfare schemes.
Critics have also highlighted that the resources going towards such a poverty alleviation scheme should instead be utilized to generate jobs to directly address the rising rate of unemployment.
Shiv Sena-BJP
Sources have told the CNN-News18 that the Shiv Sena and the BJP are in seat-sharing talks in Maharashtra for the upcoming polls. The BJP claimed that there has been an agreement on almost 90 percent of issues while the Sena has hinted that an alliance will be formed on its own terms. It is expected that the BJP will agree to a 50-50 seat sharing formula. Shiv Sena senior party leader Sanjay Raut on Friday however said, “"We are the big brother in Maharashtra, we were the big brother and will stay the big brother".
Kumbh Cabinet Meeting
The Yogi Adityanath-led government will be holding the first-ever cabinet meeting at the Kumbh Mela on Tuesday. The agenda of the meeting wasn’t disclosed but there are speculations that the 24-minister cabinet will be taking major decisions. Special security arrangements have been made around the integrated command and control centre in Sector 1 of the Kumbh Mela area where the cabinet meeting is slated to take place. After the meeting, the CM along with other ministers are likely to take a dip in the holy waters of Sangam and watch the recently released movie – ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ which will be screened in a mobile theatre.
Citizenship bill
Meghalaya CM along with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will convene an all-party meeting on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Bill at Guwahati on Tuesday. On Monday, 64 civil society organisations in Manipur called for a statewide 24-hour long ban on January 30 following a core committee meeting of the Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MPACAB). Meanwhile, an all-party meeting chaired by Biren Singh was held at the CM residence in which it was decided that a delegation comprising of representatives of all parties will be sent to pressure the Centre to include a clause in the bill protecting the state’s indigenous population. Today’s meeting in Guwahati will be attended by CM Conrad Sangma, Mizoram CM Zoramthanga and representatives of political parties from Tripura, Arunachal, Manipur and Nagaland.
What You May Have Missed
Death Penalty data
In data that was released by the National Law University, Delhi showed that 2018 to be a year with the highest number of death penalties in nearly two decades. According to the information that was released in the third edition of ‘The Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics 2018’ 162 persons were sentenced to death in 2018. With 22 death sentences, Madhya Pradesh topped the list, using the capital punishment mostly in cases of sexual assaults on children. Maharashtra followed in the list with 16 deaths, followed by Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh which witnessed 15 capital punishments each last year. There were no death sentences in Jammu and Kashmir, Goa and six of the seven north-eastern states, excluding Assam. Read Utkarsh Anand’s special report here.
Jind
Tuesday’s bypolls held in Jind in Haryana witnessed a turnout of over 70% with people of the constituency cast their votes in the 71 polling booths. Major parties including the Bhartiya Janata Party, Aam Admi Party and the Congress have fielded their candidates for yesterday’s elections, that is being touted as a litmus test for the upcoming polls.The bypoll was necessitated following the death of INLD MLA Hari Chan Middha, whose son Krishna Middha recently joined the BJP and is the saffron party's candidate for the by-election.
Meghalaya miner
The Navy and the NDRF are engaged in efforts to rescue the body of a second miner from 370-foot deep coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills, officials said on Monday. On December 13, water from the nearby Lytein River flooded a network of tunnels in the illegal rat-hole coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills, trapping 15 men and prompting a multiple-agency rescue attempt. Nearly 37-days into the rescue operations, the rescue teams managed to retrieve the remains of the first miner, identified as Amir Hussain from Assams Chirang district.