Congress-led Ashok Gehlot government on Tuesday introduced ‘The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023’ in the Assembly, what is widely expected to be the last session before the State goes for polls in less than four months. The legislation, for the first time in the country, provides legislative backing for urban employment guarantee schemes and also makes pension a legal right with the provision of 15% annual increment.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that such a law should be brought for the entire country, the Rajasthan cabinet also passed a resolution to this effect on Wednesday.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections the Congress in its manifesto had promised Nyay — a minimum income guarantee programme — which promises ₹72,000 each annually as a minimum income to the 20% families in the poorest of the poor category. Since then the party has rarely spoken about the scheme. This Bill comes the closest to the Congress’s 2019 promise.
