In a latest poll gimmick, Rahul Gandhi promised a quasi-Universal Basic Income to 20 percent of Indian families from the poorest strata of society. There are almost 25 crore families in the country and 20 percent of this means that 5 crore families will benefit from Rahul Gandhi’s proposed scheme. Gandhi said that every family will get 72,000 crore rupees. The total cost of the scheme would be around 3.6 lakh crore rupees which is around 1.9 percent of country’s GDP or 14 percent of central government’s expenditure. Rahul Gandhi obviously did not explain any plans on how the money for the scheme will be collected.
If the Congress comes to power, the government might end some subsidy programs to save money for the direct income transfer. The Modi government allotted 37,478 crore rupees for petroleum subsidy in the fiscal year 2019-20. This is 51 percent increase from previous year’s estimated subsidy of 24,933 crore rupees. But if Congress government comes to power banking on its poll promise of QUBI, the petroleum subsidy might be scrapped. Modi government started Ujjawala scheme on 1st May 2016 with aim to provide LPG connection to BPL households of the country.Under this programme, LPG connections were to be provided to BPL families with a financial support of Rs. 1600 per connection.So far 6.89 crore connections have been provided in the 714 districts of the country.
India has become the second largest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumer after the Modi government’s push to provide clean cooking fuel to every household. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of LPG consumer has been 15 percent under the Modi government. The number of connections has grown from 14.8 crores in 2014-15 to 26.16 crore in February 2019.In April to December 2018, more than 25,000 crore rupees compared to 20,000 crore rupees shelled out from government coffers in FY18. For the next fiscal year, the LPG subsidy is expected to rise to 32,989 crore rupees. There are 24.27 crore subsidy beneficiaries in the country with only 2 crore consumers not availing the benefits of the subsidy scheme.
If Congress comes to power and scraps the Ujjwala scheme and LPG subsidy, the households which got connections under the Ujjawala scheme and many other households will not be able to afford clean cooking fuel. The Kerosene subsidy of 4,489 crore rupees could also be scrapped given as the plan would be to scrap whole petroleum subsidy which comprises LPG and kerosene subsidy.
Ujjwala Yojana contributed to the betterment of the marginalized section of the society. More than 44% of Ujjwala beneficiaries are from SC/ST communities and hence the scheme can be said to be yielding good results by safeguarding the health of women and children in poor households. The poorer North Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme. Most of the people who could not afford clean cooking fuel without government subsidy come from these states.
The implementation of the quasi UBI would force the poor households to go back to coke and wood for cooking fuel. These cooking fuels are harmful to heath and cause of many respiratory disease like asthama.
