Universal Basic Income: A Human Right for Every Indian
The Issue
The time has come to seriously consider Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a basic economic right for every citizen of India.
India is a nation of enormous human potential, technological capability, natural resources, entrepreneurship and economic productivity. Yet millions of people continue to live with economic insecurity, uncertain employment and inadequate financial protection.
At the same time, the nature of work is changing rapidly.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, automation and digital technologies are transforming industries and labour markets. Machines can increasingly perform tasks that once required human labour. Productivity may continue to rise even when fewer people are required to perform traditional forms of work.
This transformation presents India with a fundamental question:
If technology increases the wealth and productivity of our nation, how should that prosperity be shared among its citizens?
We believe every citizen should have an economic foundation from which they can live with dignity.
Universal Basic Income is about dignity, not charity
Universal Basic Income is a regular, unconditional income provided to citizens, enabling them to meet basic needs and make their own economic choices.
India has already seriously examined this idea.
The Economic Survey of India 2016–17 devoted a substantial chapter to Universal Basic Income and identified three important principles:
Universality — providing a basic income broadly to citizens.
Unconditionality — providing it without complicated means tests or behavioural conditions.
Agency — allowing individuals to decide how to spend the income according to their own needs.
This last principle is particularly important.
People understand their own circumstances better than a bureaucracy does. A farmer may need agricultural inputs. A student may need educational expenses. A worker may need transportation. A parent may need food or childcare. An unemployed person may need time to find suitable work or acquire new skills.
A basic income gives people choice, dignity and agency.
From welfare to economic participation
Social security should not be viewed merely as charity provided to those who are unable to survive.
Every citizen participates in the economy.
People work, consume, pay taxes, raise families, care for children and elderly relatives, build communities and contribute to society in countless ways that are not always reflected in wages.
A universal basic income can therefore be viewed as a mechanism through which citizens participate in the prosperity generated by the wider economy.
The objective is not to reward idleness. It is to establish a minimum economic floor beneath every citizen.
The age of AI makes this debate urgent
The question becomes increasingly important as artificial intelligence and automation reshape employment.
If an economy becomes capable of producing more goods and services with fewer human workers, productivity can increase while the relationship between employment and income changes.
This creates a potential distributional challenge.
If the economic gains from automation are concentrated primarily among owners of capital, technology and intellectual property, economic inequality can increase even as national productivity grows.
We should therefore begin preparing for this transition before it becomes a crisis.
Technology should reduce human drudgery, not human dignity.
If machines can produce more with less human labour, the benefits of that productivity should be shared more broadly across society.
The economy should serve people
An economy is a means to human well-being, not an end in itself.
Economic growth matters. Investment matters. Entrepreneurship matters. Innovation matters.
But the ultimate purpose of economic development should be to improve people's lives.
We should strive for an economy in which prosperity is not concentrated indefinitely among a small number of individuals and institutions while others remain trapped in economic insecurity.
The principle is simple:
The economy should be shared among the many, not accumulated indefinitely by the powerful few.
This does not mean eliminating private property, entrepreneurship or markets.
It means ensuring that economic opportunity and technological progress remain broadly inclusive.
Equity through inclusion, not exclusion
India already operates numerous welfare and subsidy programmes. Many are essential, but targeted systems can involve complex eligibility requirements, administrative costs, exclusion errors and difficulties reaching people who genuinely need assistance.
A universal framework approaches the problem differently.
Instead of asking:
“Is this person poor enough to qualify?”
we ask:
“Should every citizen have a minimum economic foundation?”
Universality can reduce stigma and simplify access while ensuring that people do not fall through administrative gaps.
The goal should be inclusion rather than exclusion.
UBI should complement, not necessarily replace, essential public services
A basic income should not automatically be understood as a replacement for public healthcare, education, food security, infrastructure or other essential public services.
Money alone cannot solve every social problem.
A responsible UBI framework would need to be designed alongside India's existing social and economic institutions and studied carefully for its effects on:
poverty and inequality
employment
inflation
government finances
rural economies
women's economic independence
entrepreneurship
education
healthcare
financial inclusion
labour-market participation
The amount, financing mechanism and implementation model should be determined through rigorous economic research, public consultation and transparent democratic processes.
We call for India to begin the transition
We call upon the Government of India, Parliament, state governments, economists, researchers and civil society to begin a serious national process toward establishing Universal Basic Income as a fundamental component of India's social and economic security framework.
We ask for:
A national UBI feasibility commission to study sustainable models for India.
Large-scale pilot programmes across urban, rural and economically diverse regions.
Independent research into the effects of UBI on employment, inflation, poverty, inequality and entrepreneurship.
Public consultation involving citizens, workers, businesses, economists and civil society.
Transparent evaluation of different financing mechanisms.
A long-term roadmap for progressively establishing a basic income floor for every Indian citizen.
Protection of essential public services such as healthcare and education while developing any UBI framework.
A future where technology serves humanity
India stands at a historic crossroads.
Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics could create extraordinary prosperity. They could free human beings from dangerous, repetitive and exhausting work and allow more people to pursue education, creativity, entrepreneurship, caregiving and meaningful activities.
But this future will not happen automatically.
We must decide how the gains from technological progress are distributed.
We can allow technological wealth to become increasingly concentrated, or we can build institutions that allow society as a whole to participate in the prosperity technology creates.
Universal Basic Income is one possible foundation for that future.
It is a conversation about poverty, but it is also a conversation about freedom.
It is a conversation about economics, but also about dignity.
It is a conversation about technology, but ultimately it is a conversation about humanity.
Let us build an India where no citizen is denied the basic means to live with dignity.
Let us begin the national conversation on Universal Basic Income.
Sign this petition and call upon India to study, pilot and progressively work toward Universal Basic Income as a basic economic right for every citizen.
The nation has enough to meet human needs.
Our challenge is to build an economy where prosperity is shared, opportunity is inclusive, and technology serves humanity.
52
The Issue
The time has come to seriously consider Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a basic economic right for every citizen of India.
India is a nation of enormous human potential, technological capability, natural resources, entrepreneurship and economic productivity. Yet millions of people continue to live with economic insecurity, uncertain employment and inadequate financial protection.
At the same time, the nature of work is changing rapidly.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, automation and digital technologies are transforming industries and labour markets. Machines can increasingly perform tasks that once required human labour. Productivity may continue to rise even when fewer people are required to perform traditional forms of work.
This transformation presents India with a fundamental question:
If technology increases the wealth and productivity of our nation, how should that prosperity be shared among its citizens?
We believe every citizen should have an economic foundation from which they can live with dignity.
Universal Basic Income is about dignity, not charity
Universal Basic Income is a regular, unconditional income provided to citizens, enabling them to meet basic needs and make their own economic choices.
India has already seriously examined this idea.
The Economic Survey of India 2016–17 devoted a substantial chapter to Universal Basic Income and identified three important principles:
Universality — providing a basic income broadly to citizens.
Unconditionality — providing it without complicated means tests or behavioural conditions.
Agency — allowing individuals to decide how to spend the income according to their own needs.
This last principle is particularly important.
People understand their own circumstances better than a bureaucracy does. A farmer may need agricultural inputs. A student may need educational expenses. A worker may need transportation. A parent may need food or childcare. An unemployed person may need time to find suitable work or acquire new skills.
A basic income gives people choice, dignity and agency.
From welfare to economic participation
Social security should not be viewed merely as charity provided to those who are unable to survive.
Every citizen participates in the economy.
People work, consume, pay taxes, raise families, care for children and elderly relatives, build communities and contribute to society in countless ways that are not always reflected in wages.
A universal basic income can therefore be viewed as a mechanism through which citizens participate in the prosperity generated by the wider economy.
The objective is not to reward idleness. It is to establish a minimum economic floor beneath every citizen.
The age of AI makes this debate urgent
The question becomes increasingly important as artificial intelligence and automation reshape employment.
If an economy becomes capable of producing more goods and services with fewer human workers, productivity can increase while the relationship between employment and income changes.
This creates a potential distributional challenge.
If the economic gains from automation are concentrated primarily among owners of capital, technology and intellectual property, economic inequality can increase even as national productivity grows.
We should therefore begin preparing for this transition before it becomes a crisis.
Technology should reduce human drudgery, not human dignity.
If machines can produce more with less human labour, the benefits of that productivity should be shared more broadly across society.
The economy should serve people
An economy is a means to human well-being, not an end in itself.
Economic growth matters. Investment matters. Entrepreneurship matters. Innovation matters.
But the ultimate purpose of economic development should be to improve people's lives.
We should strive for an economy in which prosperity is not concentrated indefinitely among a small number of individuals and institutions while others remain trapped in economic insecurity.
The principle is simple:
The economy should be shared among the many, not accumulated indefinitely by the powerful few.
This does not mean eliminating private property, entrepreneurship or markets.
It means ensuring that economic opportunity and technological progress remain broadly inclusive.
Equity through inclusion, not exclusion
India already operates numerous welfare and subsidy programmes. Many are essential, but targeted systems can involve complex eligibility requirements, administrative costs, exclusion errors and difficulties reaching people who genuinely need assistance.
A universal framework approaches the problem differently.
Instead of asking:
“Is this person poor enough to qualify?”
we ask:
“Should every citizen have a minimum economic foundation?”
Universality can reduce stigma and simplify access while ensuring that people do not fall through administrative gaps.
The goal should be inclusion rather than exclusion.
UBI should complement, not necessarily replace, essential public services
A basic income should not automatically be understood as a replacement for public healthcare, education, food security, infrastructure or other essential public services.
Money alone cannot solve every social problem.
A responsible UBI framework would need to be designed alongside India's existing social and economic institutions and studied carefully for its effects on:
poverty and inequality
employment
inflation
government finances
rural economies
women's economic independence
entrepreneurship
education
healthcare
financial inclusion
labour-market participation
The amount, financing mechanism and implementation model should be determined through rigorous economic research, public consultation and transparent democratic processes.
We call for India to begin the transition
We call upon the Government of India, Parliament, state governments, economists, researchers and civil society to begin a serious national process toward establishing Universal Basic Income as a fundamental component of India's social and economic security framework.
We ask for:
A national UBI feasibility commission to study sustainable models for India.
Large-scale pilot programmes across urban, rural and economically diverse regions.
Independent research into the effects of UBI on employment, inflation, poverty, inequality and entrepreneurship.
Public consultation involving citizens, workers, businesses, economists and civil society.
Transparent evaluation of different financing mechanisms.
A long-term roadmap for progressively establishing a basic income floor for every Indian citizen.
Protection of essential public services such as healthcare and education while developing any UBI framework.
A future where technology serves humanity
India stands at a historic crossroads.
Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics could create extraordinary prosperity. They could free human beings from dangerous, repetitive and exhausting work and allow more people to pursue education, creativity, entrepreneurship, caregiving and meaningful activities.
But this future will not happen automatically.
We must decide how the gains from technological progress are distributed.
We can allow technological wealth to become increasingly concentrated, or we can build institutions that allow society as a whole to participate in the prosperity technology creates.
Universal Basic Income is one possible foundation for that future.
It is a conversation about poverty, but it is also a conversation about freedom.
It is a conversation about economics, but also about dignity.
It is a conversation about technology, but ultimately it is a conversation about humanity.
Let us build an India where no citizen is denied the basic means to live with dignity.
Let us begin the national conversation on Universal Basic Income.
Sign this petition and call upon India to study, pilot and progressively work toward Universal Basic Income as a basic economic right for every citizen.
The nation has enough to meet human needs.
Our challenge is to build an economy where prosperity is shared, opportunity is inclusive, and technology serves humanity.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 6 June 2020