There is a new SI board to discuss the concept of basic income: Subject 59841
Over the last six months, the adoption of a universal basic income program has been widely discussed in India. In January 2017, India's Finance Ministry issued its annual economic survey. In its discussion of India's anti-poverty and social programs, the survey noted that India's bureaucracy was so inefficient that much of the funding targeted to the poor was “leak[ing] to non-poor and…corrupt local actors." The survey suggested that India should consider the adoption of a universal basic income.
In the article linked below Shamiki Ravi, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, notes that, "The Finance Ministry’s economic survey estimated that a modest sum of $4 per person per month could reduce India’s poverty level from 22 percent at present to seven percent. The cost would be a mere two percent of GDP, or $42 billion."
Even more damning, Ravi notes that, "The government estimates that 36 percent of the subsidies never make it to any household, and another 36 percent finds its way to non-poor households. The remaining 28 percent reaches its intended beneficiary—India’s poorest 40 percent. That means most of the government’s welfare spending is essentially wasted."
Why India Is Ready for a Universal Basic Income How It Could Cut Poverty and Bureaucracy
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A Universal Basic Income for India? – Podcast with Arvind Subramanian
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