From penury to affluence

Labour households displayed a lower probability of moving up into moderately better-off but a higher probability of becoming (relatively) affluent

The Congress manifesto for 2019 elections announced with elan an ambitious Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) that guarantees a cash transfer of Rs 72,000 a year to the poorest 20 per cent of the families without compromising fiscal prudence. This is inspired by Rawlsian difference principle that “...social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are... to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged”. 

The spate of recent commentary is largely ill-informed, hostile, and ideological, and occasionally favourable but with serious fiscal concerns. Some are even concerned about its perverse incentives such as discouraging job search. Apart from the