The Economic Survey of 2016-17 had first flagged the Universal Basic Income (UBI) as “a conceptually appealing idea” and a possible alternative to social welfare programmes targeted at reducing poverty.

UBI

UBI is a fixed income every adult – rich or poor, working or idle – receives from the government. The idea is that a society, as a first priority, should look out for its people’s survival; the lesson is that possibly it can do so without unequal redistributive plans.

According to the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a global network of academics, students and social policy practitioners, promoting and serving as a repository of published research on UBI, “A basic income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.”

Need for UBI

The idea of UBI is not new, but in the past few years, it has resurfaced globally in a very big way as a means of redistributing income. Several experiments/pilots are being currently run across the world, but not yet adopted by any country as such.

The primary reasons for the tilt towards UBI are two:

• Growing and vast inequality; and
• Threat of automation affecting jobs and creating joblessness