Sam Pitroda admits that Rahul's NYAY scheme will hit the middle class, urges them to not be selfish

“Taxes may go up a little bit but that’s not a major issue. Let’s not worry about that,”  Pitroda was quoted as saying by the media.

When asked by an interviewer to give his message since the middle class felt worried over possible tax hike to fulfill Congress’s poll promises, Pitroda said:  “Don’t be selfish.”

Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, however, recently said no tax hike will be imposed.

Supporting the NYAY scheme, Pitroda said: "Have big heart." He said India would not mind if "somebody is going to take 10 paisa out of you?"

In a desperate bid to promise voters anything to get elected with few days to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha Election, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has promised a ₹72,000 per annum minimum income scheme for nearly 25 crore poor families of the country if the party is voted to power under the ambitious minimum income guarantee scheme which the party has named ‘Nyay’.

While the benchmark for determining the eligibility for this largesse remain hazy, back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the union government if led by the Congress will require ₹3.6 trillion annually to make good on Rahul's promise, which is roughly 2% of  India’s current GDP if one looks at 2018-19 estimates of ₹190 trillion.

Some economists have voiced criticism of basic income schemes, saying they reduce the incentive to work.

India already has more than 900 federally-funded welfare schemes, including subsidized cooking fuel, affordable healthcare, insurance coverage, cheap food, fertiliser subsidies, rural job guarantee, and student scholarships.

But Congress has insisted its plan is workable.