BHUBANESWAR: Universal Basic Income, or a single unconditional income that reduces government efforts to ensure last-mile delivery of individual social security schemes, could feature in the next economic survey India 's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian told a packed auditorium of students at an outreach here last week. What are the pros and cons of having an universal basic income," said Subramanian in reply to a question from a student.Universal basic income promises every citizen unconditional cash transfer in place of the many benefits, (health for example) and subsidies (like Odisha's popular Re 1 a kilo rice). The case for a single unconditional income is that it reduces government efforts in trying to make sure individual schemes reach the right targets. Its critics fear it will be expensive and disincentivise work or fail to bring the specific results that schemes like school midday meals achieve.Subramanian was speaking at the Economic Survey Outreach event organised by Odisha television and XIMB. On the question of whether India was ready for such an idea, he said, "The answer to whether or not we could have a universal basic income could well be "a yes, but under certain conditions."

Source: Economic Times September 05, 2016 08:37 UTC