The world is buzzing the new concept of Universal Basic Income which means giving a standard income irrespective of the employment and now India is also talking about it.
In an Annual meet, the finance minister announced about the Universal Basic Income (UBI) in his budget speech. The idea behind this new concept is providing a basic salary to all its citizens which enable them to have a standard of living.
As per the 2016- 2017 economic survey, Universal Basic Income in India guarantees a financial security to the poor people. In this method, a fixed amount is transferred to the citizen’s bank accounts directly instead of the existing welfare programs.
In the West, this idea is gaining popularity and the reason behind it is the fear of consequent job losses.
It guarantees an income which covers their basic needs for every adult and child either poor or rich.
It helps to promote social justice as the current state benefits programs are plagued due to corruption and even empowers the poor to make their own economic choices.
UBI can become a powerful tool to combat poverty, implemented effectively
The Swiss government rejected a proposal which guarantees 2500 Swiss francs for every adult citizen per month. However, Finland is on a move to experiment this idea and implementing it as a pilot project. The reason behind it is the fear of continual job losses which affect the national economy and even currency.
Many find it appealing in India due to the present scenario of the existing welfare programs. These programs offer cheap and low-quality goods such as wheat, rice and much more are supplied only to a few selected people.
Some people may object UBI as it involves even rich people benefiting from the income. It is wise to include only a selected list of beneficiaries and exclude rich people.
As per the latest Manpower report, in the coming years, the workers will be replaced by the machines due to increased automation and outdated skills of the labours. It leads to unemployment and to help the workers to sustain Universal Basic income can play a vital role.
A universal income is also applicable for jobs not done for wages, like housewives. Also, an antipoverty measure can also be controlled, because there will be a guaranteed right to a minimum income.
However many people are debating that UBI will reduce the agricultural labourers and even make people lazy.
If implemented in India, Universal Basic Income cannot be corrupted as the implementation is done by direct transfer of money through JAM (Jan Dhan accounts-Aadhar cards-Mobile). It welcomes a hassle free and direct transfer of money. Only half of the people have proper bank accounts linked with adhar card.
Another question many are raising is what if the money is used for harmful expenditure such as tobacco, drugs or alcohol. As for how to spend the money is wholly depend on the individual will it benefit to decrease the poverty lines?
However, some studies showed that it most of the people are willing to spend it on healthy living such as food, health care and for their child education.
Conclusion: Considering all these facts we can hope that our Indian government will implement this plan in the coming years. At the same time, Jaitley says that our politics are not so mature that they will allow this new scheme excluding all the cons with this process. Though it cannot be implemented in a short-term, we can expect that it will be the future norm.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.