As the general election approaches, critics say a government-led plan to stimulate the economy from the grassroots level is being used as a vehicle to canvass support for the regime while political parties are still straitjacketed by a blanket ban on most political activities.
Launched in February, the Thai Niyom Yangyuen (sustainable Thai-ness) campaign aims to deliver up to 200,000 baht in cash to each of 82,371 villages across the country to develop local businesses and improve living conditions in a sustainable way.
The campaign will run for four months and was initially budgeted at 16.4 billion baht, before the government opted earlier this month to raise the total cap to 100 billion baht.
