With the general election only a few months away, proposals to appease voters have started arriving at the Finance Ministry.

Earlier this month, the Textiles Ministry moved a proposal for a Saris/Dhotis/Cloth Scheme for the economically weak and for those below the poverty line. The Ministry also wants the housing proposal for workers to be introduced as part of the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy aimed at providing “affordable housing for all.” The scheme is implemented through Public Private Partnerships.

The Finance Ministry has returned both the proposals to the Textiles Ministry saying they were not properly framed, highly-placed Finance Ministry officials told The Hindu.

Ahead of the general election, the Finance Ministry usually receives “populist proposals,” the officials said. In the run up to the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the UPA-I government approved a Rs. 52,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme. The Rural Development Ministry has also proposed changes to the schedule of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It is proposed that an entitlement for an individual toilet be provided to every job card holder for which the MGNREGA contribution is to go up from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 10,000. It has also proposed that the construction of houses in convergence with the Indira Awas Yojna or any other State rural housing scheme be included in list of permissible works under the MGNREGA. “The MGNREGA proposal is not really a sop but it makes the scheme more beneficiary-friendly,” said an official source.