UBI is again in the limelight following an ILO report. Unemployment is getting severe now. Trouble is no longer jobless growth but job-loss growth; growth that causes job losses because of automation and AI. Another related problem is that of poverty. The rich are getting richer on one side taking advantage of new technologies and the poor are becoming poorer.
UBI, i.e., the Universal Basic Income is seen as the solution to these crises; scholars in greater numbers now agree. And, there should be no doubt that it is now unavoidable. The late-starter nations would be laggards as a well-thought-out model of the same promises many advantages for a country.
There are two ways of providing UBI. The socialists prefer free or subsidised services and goodies to people, and the capitalist method is direct cash transfers.
The efficacy and effects of the latter are yet to be tested on a large scale but the former is a proven failure. It brings in only inefficiency and scarcity. The latter is the only way left but much would depend on how a county formulate and fine-tune the arrangement.
Niraj Kumar Jha
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