19. Pilots, Evidence and Politics: The Basic Income Debate in India

Davala describes the Basic Income pilot conducted in India between 2011 and 2013 by the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in collaboration with UNICEF. Across nine villages, about six thousand individuals were given a Basic Income for twelve to seventeen months. A modified Random Control Trial methodology was employed. The results showed that the Basic Income allowed poor people to make better choices about their livelihoods and employment, and that they ate better food, accessed better health care, and borrowed less, cultivated and produced more, and that several women became entrepreneurs. Since the project, interest in Basic Income has grown among Indian policy makers, to whom Basic Income’s administrative efficiency is attractive, as is Basic Income’s popularity with the electorate.