The Nyuntam Aay Yojna (NYAY) or the minimum income guarantee Scheme proposed by the Congress Party as part of its manifesto for the 2019 General Elections was proposed to the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in 2017.

This was revealed by Praveen Chakravarty, Chief of Data Analytics Cell of the Congress Party confirmed the same to India Today TV.

In an exclusive interview, he said that the data analytics team of the Congress party took four months to convert the idea into a proposal for which experts and economists from India and abroad were consulted.

"Former Chief Economic Adviser had suggested Universal Basic Income Scheme to Modi Government in 2017 itself, but it chose to ignore the idea as it does with all good schemes," said Praveen Chakravorty.

He said that Congress Data Analytics Cell worked "day and night" for four months on the idea to give it a shape.

"We consulted reputed experts and economists from India as well as abroad," he said.

The data cell scanned income distribution data of households in India, consumption patterns and data sets from Government, the private sector and global surveys to plan the scheme.

"We had to choose between a small amount for a large number of people and a meaningful income for the poorest, we chose the poorest, which is 20 per cent of India and 5 crore families in number,' he added.

Praveen Chakravorty said, "The poorest in India, which is 20 per cent of the population, is earning about Rs 6000 a month, we will give them an additional six thousand rupees a month."

"This will help them live a life with dignity and self-respect," he added.

Reacting to apprehensions expressed by certain economists, who said it will be difficult to identify the beneficiaries, he said it would not be difficult to identify poorest 5 crore families as there are data sets available like socio-economic survey, household data.

He said, "The Modi govt announced Ayushman Bharat scheme for 10 crore poor families, to give them free health benefits."

"If they can identify such a large population, why can't we for the NYAY scheme?" he asked.

The Congress Data Analytics head also trashed criticism that NYAY will impact other pro-poor schemes.

He said, "No core schemes like the food subsidy, MNREGS, fertilizer subsidy will be touched."

"At its peak usage, the scheme will cost us is between 1.2 to 1.4 per cent of the GDP which is certainly doable, and India with Rs 200 lakh crore of GDP, which is going to double over the next five years, we will be able to take out Rs 3.5 lakh crore for the poorest of the poor," he added.