Indian economy expert Saahil Parekh writes a pro-UBI article in the Business Standard, India’s leading business daily, arguing that commodity subsidies should be scrapped and replaced by a nationwide basic income.
Saahil Parekh
Parekh shows that India can do this in a revenue-neutral and poverty-eliminating way and cites the curtailment of agricultural price distortions, crippling personal debt and corruption in public provision as significant additional benefits.
The economist also references a notable UNICEF-supported basic income study carried out in India’s Madhya Pradesh which showed that the rural pilot project actually increased work levels and economic activity in stark contrast to arguments regularly employed by anti-UBI commentators.
Saahil Parekh, “Let’s be done with subsidies already”, Business Standard (India), 13 November, 2015
SEWA Bharat, “Piloting Basic Income Transfers in Madhya Pradesh, India”, UNICEF, January 2014
