by Andre Coelho | Jan 9, 2019 | News
Indian woman worker with spectacles. Picture credit to: Sarah Day
New ideas seem to be running dry in the Indian political context. Within Congress, Government (BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party) and opposition parties (ex.: AAP – Aam Aadmi Party). Tweaking with the minimum support prices for food production and/or with the multiplicity of welfare programs is not going to substantially change rural population’s main concern, which is declining real wages (purchasing power after adjustment for price variations). These have been steadily falling since 2014, ever since the BJP came to power, which means that to stay too focused on the former issues will not probably get BJP reelected this year. Also farm loan waivers (credit write off) has been used as a political tool, especially by the opposition (mostly center and left-wing) parties, given the high indebtedness rates of rural families (over 50%) and their dependency on predatory lenders (also over 50%).
However, according to political analyst Saubhik Chakrabarti, from The Economic Times, loan waiver is not going to be decisive for these next elections, even though it has been flagged by the opposition in regional suffrage (which has won three states from BJP). This decisiveness might very well come from pushing the basic income policy, an old new idea that has been hot in India ever since the 2016-2017 Economic Survey Report featured a whole chapter to it. And this applies to both parties / coalitions with a shot at forming a government in 2019, because what really impacts real wages is not topping crop prices or forever trying to fix a broken welfare distribution system (very complex and prone to corruption). A real difference may come from directly and unconditionally giving people what they need the most, economically: money.
Even though there will be no time to properly design, let alone implement a basic income scheme regionally – and even less likely a national implementation – before this year’s elections (latest in May), Chakrabarti suggests that one or more pilot tests could be tried out. According to him, that could be done “in chosen districts, accompanied by a blaze of political publicity, [being] enough to take to voters, with the promise that re-election will lead to an across-India UBI program.”
More information at:
Saubhik Chakrabarti, “Doling out a universal basic income scheme may be Narendra Modi’s best chance to win 2019 mandate”, The Economic Times, 24th December 2018
“Farm loan waiver: How to nip it in the bud”, The Economic Times, 7th January 2019
Kate McFarland, “India: Government Economic Survey presents case for basic income”, Basic Income News, February 4th 2017
by Hilde Latour | Jan 8, 2017 | News
At the party’s congress on December 17th, members of Dutch political party Green Left (“Groen Links”) were given the opportunity to vote on amendments to its election program. This document will be released soon, in advance of the country’s parliamentary elections, which will be held on March 15th, 2017.
In the draft version of the election program, a basic income was only mentioned as a possible means to reform the social welfare system.
Two amendments concerning a universal basic income (UBI) were voted on at the party’s congress:
- Implementation of a UBI
“Green Left supports the (eventual) implementation of an unconditional basic income for everyone, high enough to live decently from. Unconditional economic security will lead to possibilities for a fairer distribution of paid jobs, caregiving, volunteer work and income. In addition to that, it will facilitate entrepreneurship. Starting point is that the lowest incomes will not decrease and the basic income will be co-financed through progressive income taxes. Existing additional financial support for citizens in specific circumstances can continue to exist.”
- Experimenting with a UBI
“Implementation of a national representative experiment of a universal basic income, to be conducted on a large-scale and over several years, aimed at a better understanding of the effects on people’s behaviour.”
Before the voting took place, the board of the party advised members to reject both of the amendments, arguing:
“an unconditional basic income is a bridge too far, as an unconditional basic income uses tax money to support people who don’t need it”.
But the members decided differently: approximately 80% of those present, voted in favour of the second amendment: to start a nationwide experiment of a universal basic income.
The first amendment, concerning the implementation of a UBI failed in a much closer vote: 53% rejected this proposal.
“We now are working hard to make changes in the text of the election program and the definite version will be available soon”, Christel Kohlmann (Head Strategy and Information of the party) explains. It could not be confirmed whether the experiments would really be aimed at a UBI for everyone, however.
For comparison, the currently planned experiments in The Netherlands, although they will test elements of basic income, are not examining a representative sample of the entire population. The social security experiments expected to start this year, for example, will examine only a group selected from people currently receiving welfare benefits.
Green Left is now the second Dutch elected political party that is already in Parliament and now in favour of experimenting with a real UBI. (That is, its members are in favour, and with a convincing majority). The Party for the Animals (“Partij voor de Dieren”) is also in favour of a serious experiment with a UBI and has formulated that in their program. In addition to these two parties, sitting Member of Parliament Norbert Klein will participate in the upcoming elections with the Cultural Liberal Party (“Vrijzinnige Partij”). Klein is now in Parliament as an individual member, having left the 50plus party after the last elections. The Cultural Liberal Party is also in favour of research with a universal basic income, and has even produced a rough calculation on how a UBI should be financed.
Compared to the former elections, support for a UBI has clearly spread and grown in The Netherlands. More than 65.000 people already signed a petition and this number is still growing. In the upcoming month, more political parties will have their members voting for amendments to their party programs in advance of the upcoming elections in March.
Info and links
The amendments on a universal basic income can be found on page 75 of the Green Left congress paper (in Dutch).
The election program of Green Left can be found here (when ready and in Dutch).
Information about the upcoming experiments with social welfare can be found here and here (in Dutch).
THE NETHERLANDS: Party for the Animals wants Universal Basic Income to be investigated
[Hilde Latour]
NETHERLANDS: Debate about unconditional Basic Income in Parliament
[Hilde Latour]
Photo: Euro by Alf Melin 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0
Special thanks to Josh Martin and Kate Mc Farland for reviewing this article
by Hilde Latour | Dec 9, 2016 | News
“The Earth offers enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed” is the opening sentence of the election-program of the Party for the Animals (“Partij voor de Dieren”, PvdD). This document has been released in advance of the Dutch parliamentary elections, which will be held on March 15th, 2017.
One would expect huge attention to be paid to environmental issues in the election-program of the PvdD, but economic issues also receive extensive attention. In fact, its first chapter is titled “Economy and Labour, Your Money or Your Life?”
According to the PvdD, the economic crisis was not caused by scarcity, but by flaws in the economic system. They argue that we are capable of producing all we need very efficiently – with ever decreasing demands on labour – which offers great opportunity to spend more time on caring for each other, our environment and ourselves. However, we have organized our economy in such a way that spending time on these latter goods is in fact increasingly difficult. People are forced to work more rather than less. Many people are excluded and production and consumption are forced to grow, regardless of the demands of the people. Labour is very expensive due to taxes which employers as well as employees have to pay, while at the same time being abundantly available. In contrast, raw materials are scarce but cheap and their mining causes imbalances in nature.
“The current economic system causes growth-and-debt slavery, on account of which everything will jam. We will have to organize this differently,” PvdD states in its program.
PvdD proposes making labour cheaper and non-sustainable goods more expensive. Shorter working hours should be available for everyone, they argue, which will help to tackle unemployment and create possibilities to combine paid labour with other activities, such as care work, parenting or voluntary work. PvdD strives for “a society in which paid labour is no longer seen as the only or most important goal in life”.
Party for the Animals sees an unconditional basic income as a possible solution:
“A basic income for everyone will have to be seriously investigated. With such an income we can perform work and activities that today remain untouched because we don’t have time for them or because they are too expensive. […] A basic income could allow a lot more activities that are beneficial to society to be developed.”
According to the PvdD, polls say 19% of Dutch voters are considering voting for the party in the upcoming elections.
Info and links
The election program of PvdD can be found here (in Dutch)
Photo: topheader international website Party for the Animals
Special thanks to Josh Martin and Genevieve Shanahan for reviewing this article
![SPAIN [Basque Country]: Political party Elkarrekin Podemos defends basic income in upcoming elections](https://i0.wp.com/basicincome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Maria-and-Julen.jpg?resize=1%2C1&ssl=1)
by Andre Coelho | Sep 23, 2016 | News
Next Sunday, the 25th of September, will be election day in the Basque Country (regional elections). Because of this, political parties have been frantically campaigning over the last few days—including, especially, the Elkarrekin Podemos, which holds basic income in its political program.
Party leaders like Maria Pilar Artano and Julen Bollain Urbieta take the basic income proposal very seriously, and their efforts to promote it have been supported by Daniel Raventós, president of Red Renta Básica (BIEN’s Spanish affiliate).
If elected, the overall plan will be to launch a large scale debate on basic income in the region, over the first year of legislature. This could be a crucial step to allow the idea to gain traction among the population, paving the way for a regional referendum to be held at the end of that period. In the words of Julen Bollain:
“The Basque population will be the one deciding whether they want the implementation of an Unconditional Basic Income in their region or not. If the result is positive, there nothing else to say. Let’s go for it!”
In this context, the debate has already started. On the 12th of September, a talk dedicated to basic income – which brought together keynote speakers as Nagua Alba, Daniel Raventós, Tinixara Guanche and Julen Bollain – received the attention of the local television station.
More information at:
Elkarrekin Podemos electoral program
