Numerous articles about Basic Income have appeared in the press in India, contributing to an already lively debate about Basic Income in the country.
In March, Neil Howard and Sarath Davala wrote an article for Al Jazeera:
Alongside securing a regular supply of food, therefore, unless our governments plan to supplant the market economy entirely and move towards a system of resource-allocation that is less anarchic, one of their primary tasks must be to ensure that people have enough money in their pockets to buy it. This is where introducing a basic income becomes an option.
Also in March, Prem Das Rai and Sarath Davala wrote an article for the Financial Express asking for an Emergency Basic Income:
We advocate that an emergency basic income be provided through the direct cash transfer mechanism that Government of India has implemented. This will not only arrest potential social unrest but also ensure that there is continued aggregate demand to sustain our economy.
(Further articles about the needs of migrant workers in India can be found here and here)
More recently, Guy Standing, Renana Jhabvala and Sarath Davala have written an article in the Indian Financial Express recommending a Basic Income.
For society to have the required resilience to survive this crisis and to recover from it, everybody must have the capacity to try to respond responsibly. If some groups are left vulnerable and deprived, all groups will be vulnerable and deprived. A basic income would give meaning to the claim that ‘we are all in this together’.