Sigh of relief for economy; risk of competitive populism eases post poll results
₹3,100 per quintal in its manifesto. The Congress announced that it would buy paddy from farmers at ₹3,200 per quintal. It also promised a farm loan waiver, free electricity up to 200 units, a 50% discount on power bills for up to 400 units, and a 50% loan subsidy for self-employment.
In Rajasthan, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government announced top-up on the subsidy on cooking gas cylinders over and above the subsidised price of ₹500 each. Gehlot launched a scheme for the free distribution of pulses, sugar, salt and oil to more than a crore people in the state through ration shops. His government also started giving free smartphones and three years of free internet to women.
The state provides free electricity up to 200 units for every household and up to 2,000 units for farmers. The Congress repeated its promise to reinstate the Old Pension Scheme, the perils of which were earlier pointed out by Mint Snapview. In Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government sweetened its ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ in August, increasing cash payments to women in low-income families from ₹1,000 to ₹1,250 a month.
The minimum eligibility age was also reduced from 63 to 60 years. He promised to increase the monthly payment to ₹3,000 eventually. His government reduced the price of subsidised cooking gas cylinders to ₹450 each.
The Congress promised a farm loan waiver initiated earlier by the short-lived Kamal Nath government, free electricity to farmers and subsidies for farm inputs in the state. The big-bang announcement, however, came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the extension of the union government’s free food grains scheme for the next five years at an election rally. The scheme that covers over 800 million
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