Basic Income

[This book] provides a convincing argument for the positive effects of a universal basic income on the multiple dimensions of poverty. * Indian Journal of Labour Economics * If you want to help the poor along all dimensions - education, health, financial inclusion, basic amenities and even asset creation - put additional money in their hands with no conditions attached. This is the simple but powerful message of this pioneering study. Vulnerable groups including women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the disabled gain more from the cash transfers than the general population. And - surprise, surprise - the cash has no effect on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. * Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA * This important book contributes to the debate on basic income in India by analysing data and detailed case studies. Many countries have adopted cash transfers as a way of improving human development and building resilience. This book shows that the time has come to do the same in India. * Lise Grande, UN Resident Representative, India *

Sarath Davala is Senior Researcher for SEWA, the Self-Employed Womens Association of India, and has a doctorate in sociology from the University of Delhi. Renana Jhabvala is President of SEWA Bharat and National Co-ordinator of SEWA, a trade union of women with about two million members, and is a mathematician with degrees from Harvard and Yale. Soumya Kapoor Mehta is an economist working as a consultant for the World Bank in Delhi; she has written extensively on social policy issues and worked with UN bodies and the Government of India. Guy Standing is Professor of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. He is co-president of BIEN, the Basic Income Earth Network, and the author of The Precariat (2011) and A Precariat Charter (2014).

Preface 1. The Transformative Challenge 2. Basic Income Defined 3. A Little More, How Much It Is 4. Escaping the Debt Trap 5. Creeping Towards Social Citizenship 6. From Subsidised Malnutrition to Healthy Development 7. Agency and Cultural Citizenship 8. Rolling Out Basic Income Bibliography Index