Universal Basic Income (UBI) & India’s Welfare Architecture

Syllabus: GS3/Economy; Financial Inclusion

Context

• The idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is now emerging as a pragmatic policy imperative, as India grapples with widening inequality, technological disruption, and persistent welfare inefficiencies.

What Is Universal Basic Income (UBI)?

• Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a social welfare policy proposal under which every citizen receives a regular, unconditional cash transfer from the government, ensuring a minimum standard of living and social security.
• Its core principles include:
  • Universal: Given to all citizens, irrespective of income level, employment status, or wealth.
  • Unconditional: No preconditions such as work requirement, asset ownership, or means testing.
  • Periodic: Paid at fixed intervals (monthly, quarterly, etc.), not as a one-time grant.
  • Cash Payment: Delivered directly in cash or through bank transfer, allowing people to spend according to their needs.

What Makes UBI Different From Other Welfare Schemes?

• Traditional welfare programs rely on complex eligibility criteria, circumstances and bureaucratic proof of need.
  • However, UBI focuses on every citizen, regardless of income or employment status, receiving a periodic cash transfer.
• UBI’s universality eliminates the stigma of ‘being poor enough’ and prevents the exclusion errors that plague targeted schemes.
  • It ensures that no one is left behind due to administrative inefficiency or arbitrary eligibility filters by providing a basic floor of income security.

Rationale / Need for UBI in India

• Job Displacement: Automation, AI, and robotics threaten traditional employment. For example: McKinsey projects 800 million jobs could be lost globally by 2030.
• Precarious Work & Inequality: Gig economy lacks social security. India’s top 1% owns 40% of the wealth (World Inequality Database 2023).
• Administrative Inefficiency: Fragmented welfare architecture with duplication and leakage. UBI via Aadhaar-linked DBT can streamline delivery.
• Economic Stabilizer: Increases purchasing power and demand during economic downturns.
• Social & Psychological Well-being: Reduces stress, improves nutrition and education (as seen in SEWA pilot in Madhya Pradesh).
• Moral and Gender Justice: Recognizes unpaid care work (mostly by women) as an economic contribution.

Challenges and Considerations

• Inflation: Historical evidence contradicts the claim that UBI triggers runaway inflation.
  • Major inflations occur due to production collapse or external debt crises — not from moderate income transfers.
  • If funded prudently, UBI stabilizes demand and prevents hardship without price spirals.
• Fiscal Feasibility: A minimal UBI equal to the poverty line (₹7,620 per person annually) would cost about 5% of GDP.
  • Funding can be achieved by rationalizing subsidies, introducing progressive taxation, and phasing implementation — beginning with vulnerable groups like women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
• Technological and Access Challenges: Inclusion gaps persist in remote and tribal regions despite digital advances.
  • Ensuring universal access to banking, mobile connectivity, and financial literacy will be critical before full-scale rollout.

Evidence From India and Beyond

• Pilot programs in Madhya Pradesh (2011–13) led by SEWA demonstrated measurable gains: improved nutrition, school attendance, and small enterprise growth.
• Similar global trials — from Finland to Kenya — have found better mental health, food security, and no decline in work participation. 
• These results suggest that a well-designed UBI can enhance both social and economic outcomes.

Case for UBI in India

• Administrative and Moral Efficiency: India’s welfare architecture, though vast, remains fragmented and leak-prone.
  • Multiple overlapping schemes lead to duplication and exclusion. A UBI, enabled by mature digital platforms like Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), can streamline welfare delivery.
• Inequality Beyond the Headlines: The World Inequality Database (2023) reports India’s wealth Gini coefficient at 75 — with the top 1% owning 40% of national wealth.
  • The apparent prosperity reflected in GDP growth (8.4% in 2023–24) conceals deep divides, evident in India’s 126th rank on the World Happiness Index.
  • A UBI, by distributing purchasing power more equitably, can reconnect economic growth with human wellbeing.
• From GDP to Genuine Prosperity: As Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, GDP alone does not measure wellbeing or justice.
  • A modest, unconditional transfer to every Jan Dhan account can reignite local demand, stabilizing consumption for millions living paycheck to paycheck.
  • Growth, then, becomes tangible — visible in kitchens, not just spreadsheets.
• Redefining the Citizen-State Relationship: UBI aims to transform the citizen’s relationship with the state from one of dependency to one of rights.
  • By decoupling welfare from political patronage, UBI weakens populist ‘freebie’ politics and restores accountability to governance.
  • Citizens become participants, not petitioners — empowered to demand better schools, healthcare, and ecological responsibility.
• Not a Cure-All, but a Foundation: A UBI will not replace public investment in health, education, or infrastructure, but it can form a secure base upon which citizens build productive lives.
  • It recognizes unpaid care work, largely done by women, as a vital economic contribution — embedding gender justice into welfare design.

Conclusion

• A universal basic income is not a luxury but a necessity, in an age of deepening insecurity, automation, and inequality, and the foundation of a renewed social contract.
• India can reimagine the 21st-century welfare state by embedding universality, dignity, and autonomy into welfare policy — not as a patchwork of schemes, but as a guarantee of shared citizenship.

Source: TH