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THE PULSE India’s Universal Basic Income Debate A closer look at a controversial issue. By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg February 01, 2017  Credit: Flickr/ Nicolas MirguetADVERTISEMENT India has always firmly held its ground as a welfare state. Since independence the country has undertaken projects aimed at improving the health, nutrition, and education levels of its citizens. Such projects have included a heavy dose of direct government intervention, in the form of Direct Benefit Transfer subsidies and others. A paradigm shift in Indian welfare came in 2006 when the government launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, later called MNREGA. In this scheme people from the rural areas were offered a guaranteed 100 days of wage employment for Indians in rural areas. While the jury is still out on how MNREGA has changed the rural landscape, it cannot be denied that some areas have indeed prospered with the implementation of the scheme. It is against this backdrop of history that the question of Universal Basic Income in India must be addressed. Universal Basic Income or UBI essentially means that each citizen would be given a certain amount of money as income on a yearly basis. Such ideas are being discussed because new disruptions in the global economy, like migration and automation, threaten to take away traditional wages from a large number of citizens. The idea of implementing UBI in India has caught the imagination of policy analysts and general observers alike since the announcement by the chief economic advisor that there is a plan to devote a chapter to UBI in the forthcoming economic survey. While some commentators have opined that it would indeed be a welcome step, others have reasoned that the same would result in a further fiscal burden on the already weakened Indian economy.

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