Why income transfers are not enough | The Indian Express

Why income transfers are not enough | The Indian Express

Written by Harsh Mander |Updated: April 12, 2019 4:08:51 am

Mander is a human rights worker and writer

Why income transfers are not enough

An urban employment guarantee programme is an idea whose time has come.

All poverty lists of governments so far have been ridden with fatal flaws. (Illustration by CR Sasikumar)

Temperatures are rapidly warming up in what promises to be a blistering summer of India’s electioneering. Amidst the belligerent grandstanding on national security and the communal messaging barely below the surface, Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of a minimum income guarantee scheme came as a relief, if only because it tried to steer the public discussions to the struggles of India’s poorest people to survive with dignity. It is perhaps telling that even for this, Rahul Gandhi felt compelled to use a military metaphor: Of a surgical strike.