Which government distributed more sops? NDA or UPA?

Who has targeted more people with its schemes? The answer may surprise you

If sops win votes, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has raced ahead of its rival United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Targeting more people with its welfare schemes than any previous government, the current one looks set to protect its electoral track record.

In its two terms from 2004 to 2014, the UPA sops potentially benefitted 200 million people.

With five schemes, the NDA has gone well ahead, targeting 260 million people. The schemes are: Housing for All, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and two insurance schemes for financial inclusion.

This is in addition to existing schemes such as rural employment guarantee, and revamp of direct benefit transfer and Pay Commission bonanza for government employees.
 

To put things in perspective, the UPA-I had directly offered sops to nearly 94 million households with the help of three schemes - the rural employment guarantee, farm loan waiver and Pay Commission award. Assuming at least two voting members in a household, it works out to directly impacting lives of nearly 200 million voters.

The Congress, the leading party of the UPA, ended up with 119 million votes in 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

The UPA-II tried to exceed that mark by adding food security and direct benefit transfer to its existing welfare schemes.

The Congress, however, ended up getting 105 million votes.

"In a democratic governance structure like ours it is important to know how people belonging to different economic groups feel at the end of a five-year term. If they feel that they are better off compared to what they were, they are more likely to be favourably disposed towards the ruling dispensation," said A K Verma a senior academic at the Kanpur-based Christ Church College.

He is a regular contributor to leading journals on the country's electoral politics.

Verma added with the help of targeted schemes accompanied by constant "marketing", the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA was aiming to woo those who are not its core voters.

In Uttar Pradesh, at least, the BJP got more votes in rural areas rather than urban areas. "With the help of targeted welfare schemes, it wants to retain them (rural votes," said Verma.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana happens to be one of the flagship welfare schemes of the NDA government, aimed at targeting 50 million households.

"The government has set a target of 50 million LPG connections to be distributed to the BPL (below-poverty line) households across the country under the scheme," its website says.

To be implemented in three years with a budgetary allocation of Rs 8,000 crore, a financial assistance of Rs 1,600 is to be provided to each of the eligible households. The government also provides "EMI facility for meeting the cost of stove and refill."

Housing for all by 2022 is yet another ambitious scheme. According to the details, an estimated 20 million houses are to be built in urban areas and another 10 million in rural areas. That is to say, altogether 30 million households are likely to be covered under the scheme.

Another 58 million people are likely to be touched by the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Bank Yojana. Under this scheme, micro credit up to Rs 10 lakh would to be provided to small business owners to be repaid in five to seven years.

The two insurance schemes - Surakhsa Bima Policy and Jeevan Jyoti Bima Policy - have been subscribed by 94 million and 29 million people, respectively, according to latest data available.

While the former is an accidental insurance plan at an annual premium of Rs 12, the latter offers term insurance with a coverage of Rs 2 lakh at an annual premium of Rs 330.

These five schemes together have the potential to directly impact the lives of 261 million households. Assuming overlap among beneficiaries of these schemes, there is a possibility of these schemes directly touching many more voters than what the UPA governments had sought to target.

"The kind of welfare policies being pursued by this government is like continuation of what the UPA did. They have coincided with the state's withdrawal from two crucial areas where welfare is required - health and education," said Manindra Nath Thakur, a senior academic at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He added whether or not these schemes have impacted people's lives will depend a great deal, for instance, on whether people have the capacity to pay for refill of LPG or what is the claim-settlement record of the insurance schemes that have got a good response.

Experts say that the NDA has taken off from where the UPA had left. While it has not abandoned any, it has launched several targeted programmes. And with constant marketing of these programmes across all media platforms, it wants to take credit for all them, they argue. It is something the UPA could not do, they add.

The direct benefit transfer, which was started by the UPA, has been renamed PAHAL with a specific purpose of directly crediting subsidy amount to eligible consumers for LPG. According to data, Rs 14,779.31 crore had been disbursed to about 148 million LPG consumers by 31 December last year. Similarly, the number of beneficiaries of the rural employment guarantee scheme is more than 46 million people.

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SHORT & SWEET
The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre has been prolific in coining acronyms for various bodies and scheme

NITI Aayog Jan, 2015
Full: National Institution for Transforming India
Purpose: Replaced the Planning Commission.

UDAY Nov, 2015
Full: Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana.
Purpose: Scheme to provide a financial turnaround plan for power distribution companies of states

Amrut Jun, 2015
Full: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
Purpose: Planning urban renewal

Hriday Jan, 2015
Full: Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana
Purpose: Development of heritage cities

JAM Mar, 2015
Full: Jan-DhanYojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers
Purpose: Welfare schemes

PAHAL Nov, 2014
Full: Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh.
Purpose: Direct benefit transfer of LPG subsidy

PRAGATI Mar, 2015
Full: Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation
Purpose: A platform for the Prime Minister to interact with secretaries of Union government and chief secretaries of states

USTTAD May, 2015
Full: Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development
Purpose: Skill development

PRASAD Apr, 2015
Full: Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive
Purpose: Development of 12 pilgrim centres

Setu Feb, 2015
Full: Self Employment and Talent Utilisation
Purpose: Providing support to start-ups

Mudra Bank Apr, 2015
Full: Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank
Purpose: Giving micro credit to small businesses

AIM Feb, 2016
Full: Atal Innovation Mission
Purpose: Promoting innovation