Social Security Must Not Be Left To The Mercy Of The Market: Rajasthan CM Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that social security should not be left to the mercy of the free market and that this was the responsibility of the state, which it could not shirk.

Officially announcing the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023 at his residence in Jaipur, Chief Minister Gehlot stressed the need for social security, read out quotes from heads of state like Barack Obama and Roosevelt and explained the Bill by linking it to the 'Nyay Yojana' document released by the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"You cannot imagine the conditions people have been living in since Covid. People's salaries have been cut, journalists' jobs have become precarious," he said. "The prime minister does not understand these things. He did not even understand MNREGA when he made a statement in Parliament to end it. Could he have it abolished? Neither does he understand the situation in Manipur. On the contrary, he has even hurt the pride of Rajasthan."

Referring to the right to equality enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution, Chief Minister Gehlot said it was to the credit of Rajasthan that all social security laws, from right to information to minimum income guarantee, had been implemented for the first time. Gehlot said, "We have been saying for a long time that we should create a social security law here, like in Germany and America. Social security for citizens is the responsibility of the government."

The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023 was passed last week. Rajasthan is the first state to give it the form of a law and it is being promoted in a big way in the state.

Gehlot described the bill as an extension of the welfare laws enacted by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, such as the Right to Information, Right to Education, Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee and Food Security Act.

Broadly speaking, three concessions have been made in the existing law. First, the duration of employment has been increased from 100 days to 125 days. Second, the Rs 500 and Rs 750 categories of social security pension have been abolished and increased to Rs 1,000 per month. There is also a provision that the applicant must find a job within 15 days of application. If no job is available, the claimant will receive unemployment benefit. There is also a provision that the social security pension will be increased by 15 per cent annually.

Asked by Outlook how the beneficiaries of the Act will be identified using 12-year-old data as the 2021 census is delayed, the Chief Minister said, "We have asked the Centre to conduct the caste census. This demand was raised in the Congress session in Raipur. Why is the central government delaying this? Even then, we guaranteed that everyone would get employment. For this purpose, we introduced Janadhar cards. The Central government's formula and the NSSO's figures are available, which have been made the basis of the scheme."

It is worth mentioning that the Rajasthan government has prepared Janadhar cards for about 1.60 crore families by calculating the data of Aadhaar card and beneficiaries of government schemes. In Rajasthan, there are about 1.93 crore families. This Janadhar card  differs from the Centre's Aadhaar card in the sense that it is not prepared for individuals but for families in which the Aadhaar information of all family members is included.

In the Janadhar Yojana, the woman is considered the head of the family. The government has provided an insurance policy of Rs 25 lakh. An official of the Chief Minister's office told Outlook that an additional 1.80 crore people have registered in the inflation relief camps in the state. So, the absence of a census is not an impediment for the state to implement the new law and related schemes as the Janadhar Yojana and registration in the inflation camps play the role of a continuous census.

Chief Minister Gehlot also said that the Prime Minister recently pointed at a board and said that he was giving insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to the people. "He wanted to introduce the scheme in Bikaner but was told that there was already an insurance of Rs 25 lakh in Rajasthan. He must have been told that this would boomerang and hence his programme was cancelled."

In Rajasthan, the Mahatma Gandhi Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme, the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Chief Minister's Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Social Security Pension have already been implemented and brought within the ambit of this Bill. A committee will be formed to frame the rules of the Act.

It is believed that this bill has been introduced because elections are to be held in Rajasthan this year. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, while welcoming this bill, questions the timing and political motives. The state government itself believes that votes can be won by putting women at the centre of social security. For this reason, the government has decided to provide smartphones to 1.35 crore women in the state.

The government is also involving the common people in its election campaign through initiatives like 'Video Banao, Inaam Jeeto'. Critics of the government believe that elections are not won by legislating at the last moment. The question is whether elections can be won today by following the welfare model of the state
On this question, Gehlot says: "After Independence, it was the Congress that laid the foundation for the rights-based system. All the social security laws were enacted during the Congress era. Therefore, this law and its accompanying ordinances are an extension of that thinking."