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10286
Universal Basic Income and Caste
Fri Feb 27, 3:00 PM
Niyut
Universal Basic Income, Caste, and Redistribution in India
Abstract: Labour and access to employment in India are deeply shaped by caste and structural inequalities, with historical concentrations of wealth and opportunity continuing to reproduce social hierarchies. This talk explores whether Universal Basic Income (UBI) can act as a transformative policy tool in such a context, not only as income support but as a means to challenge entrenched caste-based disadvantage.
Drawing on the WorkFREE project, a UBI+ pilot in Hyderabad that combines unconditional cash transfers with participatory, relational community organising, the presentation explores how UBI can enhance financial autonomy, improve access to education and healthcare, and strengthen everyday decision-making among marginalised communities. It also highlights how collective support structures can enable political participation and claims-making, moving beyond individual outcomes.
The session will include a screening of Unconditional (with English subtitles), a documentary that follows two UBI+ policy experiments in Hyderabad, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Told through the voices of pilot participants and community organisers, the film foregrounds lived experiences of unconditional cash and collective organising, offering a grounded perspective on how such interventions reframe social policy debates.
By situating UBI within a broader framework of redistribution and social justice, we argue that UBI, when paired with community organising and complementary structural reforms, holds potential not just to reduce economic precarity but to contribute to longer-term social transformation.
Abstract: Labour and access to employment in India are deeply shaped by caste and structural inequalities, with historical concentrations of wealth and opportunity continuing to reproduce social hierarchies. This talk explores whether Universal Basic Income (UBI) can act as a transformative policy tool in such a context, not only as income support but as a means to challenge entrenched caste-based disadvantage.
Drawing on the WorkFREE project, a UBI+ pilot in Hyderabad that combines unconditional cash transfers with participatory, relational community organising, the presentation explores how UBI can enhance financial autonomy, improve access to education and healthcare, and strengthen everyday decision-making among marginalised communities. It also highlights how collective support structures can enable political participation and claims-making, moving beyond individual outcomes.
The session will include a screening of Unconditional (with English subtitles), a documentary that follows two UBI+ policy experiments in Hyderabad, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Told through the voices of pilot participants and community organisers, the film foregrounds lived experiences of unconditional cash and collective organising, offering a grounded perspective on how such interventions reframe social policy debates.
By situating UBI within a broader framework of redistribution and social justice, we argue that UBI, when paired with community organising and complementary structural reforms, holds potential not just to reduce economic precarity but to contribute to longer-term social transformation.