Universal Basic Income

There are media reports about NaMo government planning to introduce a universal basic income scheme before the Lok Sabha election due in next 90 days. [see- https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/universal-basic-income-modi-government-1418711-2018-12-28 and https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/doling-out-a-universal-basic-income-scheme-may-be-narendra-modis-best-chance-to-win-2019-mandate/articleshow/67236374.cms]. Rahul Gandhi has tried to pre-empt the same and clinch the first mover advantage by promising something on similar lines, called the “minimum income guarantee,” if voted to power [see- https://www.news18.com/news/india/rahul-gandhis-minimum-income-guarantee-vs-narendra-modis-universal-basic-income-what-it-means-for-you-2016963.html ] 

Sikkim is the smallest state in India.  Its ruling party has announced an ambitious plan to implement a universal basic income for every one of its 610,577 citizens by 2022. [see- https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/tiny-indian-state-sikkim-runs-biggest-assured-income-experiment-foreign-media-1980444 and https://futurism.com/india-launching-largest-basic-income-experiment ]

Opinion against the UBI scheme or words of caution have also started flowing in. [see- https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/opinion-universal-basic-income-scheme-may-not-be-right-for-india-story-1548005316639.html]

UBI proposes that governments tax the billionaires and corporations and use the money to provide every person with a generous stipend covering his or her basic needs. This will cushion the poor against lack of jobs or loss of employment and economic dislocation, while protecting the rich from the populist rage. It is debatable whether it is better to provide people with universal basic income (the capitalist paradise) or universal basic services (the communist paradise).

India has experimented with subsiding healthcare, education, transport and so forth. The system leaked, the quality of service delivered continued to spiral down and not everyone got access.  By giving money to people, who then shop around for whatever they want, how do we know that they would be responsible shoppers for fulfilling their basic needs?

Further, the money they spend would travel back to the same coffers of those very billionaires and corporations from whom it came to the government, because only they would be the providers of fulfillment of basic needs. The real purpose of UBI capitalism is to extract value from the economy and deliver it to those at the top.

The plan is no gift to the masses, but a tool for our further enslavement. UBI really just turns us from stakeholders or even citizens to mere consumers.

In the quest for choosing a utopian vision for the country, no matter which paradise the politicians want to create, no one knows the meaning of ‘universal’ and ‘basic.’

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