[Music]
happiness in India is mostly economic
don’t believe the Guru’s who tell you
happiness is a state of mind and if they
still insist ask them to talk to a
housewife who’s living a life of
depression and in bondage unable to feed
her four children I have a very simple
proposition here for all each one of you
how about rupees 100 thousand into the
bank account of every household every
year no questions asked no strings
attached
I can see most of you already excited
some of you still not breathing hard but
imagine just imagine if this proposition
was made in a small town called Quechua
about 30 kilometers from Benaras or even
in a smaller town called pelea or
somewhere in a slum of Hyderabad near
home for the next 15 minutes friends
we’re going to talk about a very very
special initiative that we’ve been
working on and it’s called universal
basic income in the layman’s language
it’s something like getting money for
free every year no questions asked now
this idea may sound far-fetched but
universal in basic income is one of the
most hotly debated policy themes going
around in the world it’s a theme which
seeks to address the issue of poverty
inequality and several others like
life-changing events of Flay offs of dot
and other disruptions like most hotly
debated topics the truth is somewhere
right in the middle ubi has many
cheerleaders and they come from
different ideologies some of them talk
about the challenges associated with the
implementation of ubi
some of them talk about the benefits
some of them talk about the features but
trends we still have many people who
question the ideology itself ubi is a
concept where most of them talk about
the society about the community they
talk about what can you be I really do
for the people who are really deprived
the capitalists have viewed ubi as a
road leading to communism and the
Communists see the whole thing as the
death of the welfare state
but like most debates that I mentioned
about the truth is somewhere right in
the middle yes the basic income seems to
be having its moment down today it gets
a knowing node and not a puzzle glance
that we experienced three four years ago
when we started working on the concept
of ubi the critics of ubi need to
appreciate and understand and accept
even that UVI is not a general
obligation it is not an attempt to avoid
the revolt of the masses giving money
free to everyone sounds crazy it sounds
morally corrosive and it sounds
extremely expensive what’s really
incredibly expensive is poverty itself
as some of us grow rich most of us are
getting poorer poverty is both a cause
and a consequence of inequality and
poverty is bad for the economy as well
it’s a death knell of inclusion and
equity the political cost of poverty is
even much more staggering inequality
threatens public conviction in democracy
and it’s several institutions and that’s
the big picture maths friends some of
you must be wondering where 100,000 gone
before you raise it up let’s find out
what can hundred thousand rupees do to
the people who are not sitting here in
the auditorium
what can hundred thousand mean
to a farmer who’s at the verge of
committing suicide because he’s lost his
crops to the rain gods and is convinced
and he’s convinced that inequality is
creeping into the next generation as
well what does the hundred thousand mean
to an aged couple who have no money and
no health benefits what does
hundred-thousand mean to the end house
wife over the last seven decades India
has emerged as the third largest economy
in purchasing power parity growing at a
healthy 7% or so our contribution to
global growth is no less flattering we
have accounted for about 10% of all
growth in economic activity across the
world in the last ten years or so our
positive demographic indicators as well
as a healthy democracy are the other
highlights we are in the sweet spot
friends and the envy of the developed
world this should make us all happy the
numbers don’t lie two days back the
Human Development rank was revealed and
we are still at her 9:30 at the current
rate of growth we will take another 20
years to be in China’s neighborhood
which itself is lowly ranked this rank
of horn a 30 tells a grim story but let
me let me tell you it’s fairly accurate
indicator of where we are let me tell
you some other figures India’s home to
about 45 percent that deprived a term
used by the UNDP for the less fortunates
who suffer from multi-dimensional
poverty they are malnourished uneducated
employed and lived a life of misery and
they number about half a billion people
they mostly live in the hinterland a
place known to each one of us
it’s called paratha
they have neither participated in the
indian growth story nor hope to they
just stand and wait outside the
inclusive purview there’s no dignity in
distress credits his report says it well
in numbers today ten percent of Indians
own more wealth than 70 percent of the
rest of the people the super-rich that
one percent owned close to about fifty
percent of India’s wealth can these
issues be wished away let’s also discuss
about why have we been running away from
the universal basic income concept how
can it be implemented and why should it
be implemented we also want to talk
about if this really indeed is the magic
bullet in the meanwhile let me share
with you our experience of working with
about 250,000 people across 400 trips in
the last seven years and start us more
than the several interactions that I
have with the policy makers with the
corporate gurus that I work with our
work has taught us that 85 percent of
Indians are in debt paradoxically no
bank has given them that loan eighty
percent of the port will lose their
entire life saving if one of their
family member is hospitalized we’ve also
learned that a financially independent
woman can change the fate of an entire
[Applause]
we’ve learnt that in India two segments
matter most and I call them the Javan
and the Kisan they relate to poverty
skill employment hunger and several
others we’ve also learnt over the last
seven eight years working with these
250,000 people that our education system
is in a vicious cycle
we have a copybook demographic but this
is turning out to be demographic
disaster because just to capitalize on
this demographic dividend we need to
create a million jobs every year for the
next 20 years and how do we do that we
have a labor force which has poor skills
inadequate technique and little
knowledge the government’s effort in
skill development is a good idea is a
good intent but badly implemented
there’s a new concept coming up
it’s called entrepreneurship or
self-employed I call them the reluctant
entrepreneurs over the last seven
decades self-employment has been the
last recourse of the unemployed if you
can’t find a job try to become
self-employed and as they feel because
of the lack of knowledge the lack of
skill the lenders and other
collaborators and enablers they tend to
suffer as well most of you can probably
understand that all these issues that we
talked about are in some way the cause
and the effect most of them are both
certainly all of them are intertwined we
also learned that agriculture has many
more people than it needs and the
feeders to the nation are malnourished
do
need to say anything more feeders to the
nation are malnourished all sea makers
debate with me and mention why are you
so upset is a growth not adequate enough
the right question should be is a growth
inclusive is a growth inclusive the
Prime Minister’s aim towards inclusive
growth is laudable and the vehicle he
had chosen is through centrally
sponsored welfare schemes in my view
he’s probably riding the wrong horse a
few months back we heard the finance
minister announced an outlay of two
hundred thousand clothes for rural
development and agriculture alone this
is over several such announcements every
social scheme has been announced do we
see any difference the policymakers have
good advisers but I think they have
better copywriters they sell these
schemes really well these schemes
include housing food sheltered poverty
and and and every possible scheme has
been announced still close about 50% of
Indians can’t have two square meals a
day a recent government study said this
well that twelve of the largest poverty
eradication programs have been a failure
well let’s come back to ubi ubi is
forward the idea of universal basic
income is not new over the last 200
years several governments have assured
in basic income by building a cradle to
the grave welfare states they call me in
the business floated with minimum wages
insurance and retirement funds the
capitalism’s inability to provide a
decent standard of living for the poor
has been his most glaring in
the Communists have measured themselves
by a lower and less tangible standard
and that is intent for some of you who
think ubi is a new concept let me share
with you that in the 18th century a
philosopher a should one called Thomas
Paine urged the government to pay
fifteen pounds to every citizen he was
bartering to build private property
rights some of the illiterate listeners
here may be aware that a basic form of
ubi is already in practice in Alaska for
the last 35 years similar experiences
underway in countries like the
Netherlands Finland and in Brazil as
well is the ubi the magic bullet now
what can you be I really do for
everybody the universal income will help
build an ecosystem for the poor to march
out of the poverty trap there are many
more great benefits like providing
everyone a life of dignity they all seem
like a good reason for us to pledge at
least some part of our income to the 65%
of the Indians who are abundant to me
ubi is buying the poor out of poverty
plain and simple
let’s buy them out of poverty I’ve also
been confronted by policymakers about
can we afford it and this is the
question most of you must be asking here
can we afford ubi a back-of-the-envelope
calculation clearly indicates that
dismantling and this assembling the
thousand welfare schemes that we have
doing away with a non merit subsidy that
some of us are entitled to tinkering
with the defense budgets and doing away
with the outlays for the corporate
sector should easily do it eradicating
corruption and building an efficient
system will only
to the threshold here is the key let’s
rethink India where the farmers are not
malnourished where the housewife is not
distressed about the next meal for the
family where entrepreneurship is not the
last recourse but the first choice of
every young person in my view ubi
implementation is not economic but
political most policymakers ask me can
we really afford this and I tell them
the right question is can we afford not
to it’s not if
it’s not if but when if Marvin Gandhi
was alive today he would give it much
more than an order he will approve it
he will endorse it and he will make sure
that it’s implemented thank you so much [Applause]
happiness in India is mostly economic
don’t believe the Guru’s who tell you
happiness is a state of mind and if they
still insist ask them to talk to a
housewife who’s living a life of
depression and in bondage unable to feed
her four children I have a very simple
proposition here for all each one of you
how about rupees 100 thousand into the
bank account of every household every
year no questions asked no strings
attached
I can see most of you already excited
some of you still not breathing hard but
imagine just imagine if this proposition
was made in a small town called Quechua
about 30 kilometers from Benaras or even
in a smaller town called pelea or
somewhere in a slum of Hyderabad near
home for the next 15 minutes friends
we’re going to talk about a very very
special initiative that we’ve been
working on and it’s called universal
basic income in the layman’s language
it’s something like getting money for
free every year no questions asked now
this idea may sound far-fetched but
universal in basic income is one of the
most hotly debated policy themes going
around in the world it’s a theme which
seeks to address the issue of poverty
inequality and several others like
life-changing events of Flay offs of dot
and other disruptions like most hotly
debated topics the truth is somewhere
right in the middle ubi has many
cheerleaders and they come from
different ideologies some of them talk
about the challenges associated with the
implementation of ubi
some of them talk about the benefits
some of them talk about the features but
trends we still have many people who
question the ideology itself ubi is a
concept where most of them talk about
the society about the community they
talk about what can you be I really do
for the people who are really deprived
the capitalists have viewed ubi as a
road leading to communism and the
Communists see the whole thing as the
death of the welfare state
but like most debates that I mentioned
about the truth is somewhere right in
the middle yes the basic income seems to
be having its moment down today it gets
a knowing node and not a puzzle glance
that we experienced three four years ago
when we started working on the concept
of ubi the critics of ubi need to
appreciate and understand and accept
even that UVI is not a general
obligation it is not an attempt to avoid
the revolt of the masses giving money
free to everyone sounds crazy it sounds
morally corrosive and it sounds
extremely expensive what’s really
incredibly expensive is poverty itself
as some of us grow rich most of us are
getting poorer poverty is both a cause
and a consequence of inequality and
poverty is bad for the economy as well
it’s a death knell of inclusion and
equity the political cost of poverty is
even much more staggering inequality
threatens public conviction in democracy
and it’s several institutions and that’s
the big picture maths friends some of
you must be wondering where 100,000 gone
before you raise it up let’s find out
what can hundred thousand rupees do to
the people who are not sitting here in
the auditorium
what can hundred thousand mean
to a farmer who’s at the verge of
committing suicide because he’s lost his
crops to the rain gods and is convinced
and he’s convinced that inequality is
creeping into the next generation as
well what does the hundred thousand mean
to an aged couple who have no money and
no health benefits what does
hundred-thousand mean to the end house
wife over the last seven decades India
has emerged as the third largest economy
in purchasing power parity growing at a
healthy 7% or so our contribution to
global growth is no less flattering we
have accounted for about 10% of all
growth in economic activity across the
world in the last ten years or so our
positive demographic indicators as well
as a healthy democracy are the other
highlights we are in the sweet spot
friends and the envy of the developed
world this should make us all happy the
numbers don’t lie two days back the
Human Development rank was revealed and
we are still at her 9:30 at the current
rate of growth we will take another 20
years to be in China’s neighborhood
which itself is lowly ranked this rank
of horn a 30 tells a grim story but let
me let me tell you it’s fairly accurate
indicator of where we are let me tell
you some other figures India’s home to
about 45 percent that deprived a term
used by the UNDP for the less fortunates
who suffer from multi-dimensional
poverty they are malnourished uneducated
employed and lived a life of misery and
they number about half a billion people
they mostly live in the hinterland a
place known to each one of us
it’s called paratha
they have neither participated in the
indian growth story nor hope to they
just stand and wait outside the
inclusive purview there’s no dignity in
distress credits his report says it well
in numbers today ten percent of Indians
own more wealth than 70 percent of the
rest of the people the super-rich that
one percent owned close to about fifty
percent of India’s wealth can these
issues be wished away let’s also discuss
about why have we been running away from
the universal basic income concept how
can it be implemented and why should it
be implemented we also want to talk
about if this really indeed is the magic
bullet in the meanwhile let me share
with you our experience of working with
about 250,000 people across 400 trips in
the last seven years and start us more
than the several interactions that I
have with the policy makers with the
corporate gurus that I work with our
work has taught us that 85 percent of
Indians are in debt paradoxically no
bank has given them that loan eighty
percent of the port will lose their
entire life saving if one of their
family member is hospitalized we’ve also
learned that a financially independent
woman can change the fate of an entire
[Applause]
we’ve learnt that in India two segments
matter most and I call them the Javan
and the Kisan they relate to poverty
skill employment hunger and several
others we’ve also learnt over the last
seven eight years working with these
250,000 people that our education system
is in a vicious cycle
we have a copybook demographic but this
is turning out to be demographic
disaster because just to capitalize on
this demographic dividend we need to
create a million jobs every year for the
next 20 years and how do we do that we
have a labor force which has poor skills
inadequate technique and little
knowledge the government’s effort in
skill development is a good idea is a
good intent but badly implemented
there’s a new concept coming up
it’s called entrepreneurship or
self-employed I call them the reluctant
entrepreneurs over the last seven
decades self-employment has been the
last recourse of the unemployed if you
can’t find a job try to become
self-employed and as they feel because
of the lack of knowledge the lack of
skill the lenders and other
collaborators and enablers they tend to
suffer as well most of you can probably
understand that all these issues that we
talked about are in some way the cause
and the effect most of them are both
certainly all of them are intertwined we
also learned that agriculture has many
more people than it needs and the
feeders to the nation are malnourished
do
need to say anything more feeders to the
nation are malnourished all sea makers
debate with me and mention why are you
so upset is a growth not adequate enough
the right question should be is a growth
inclusive is a growth inclusive the
Prime Minister’s aim towards inclusive
growth is laudable and the vehicle he
had chosen is through centrally
sponsored welfare schemes in my view
he’s probably riding the wrong horse a
few months back we heard the finance
minister announced an outlay of two
hundred thousand clothes for rural
development and agriculture alone this
is over several such announcements every
social scheme has been announced do we
see any difference the policymakers have
good advisers but I think they have
better copywriters they sell these
schemes really well these schemes
include housing food sheltered poverty
and and and every possible scheme has
been announced still close about 50% of
Indians can’t have two square meals a
day a recent government study said this
well that twelve of the largest poverty
eradication programs have been a failure
well let’s come back to ubi ubi is
forward the idea of universal basic
income is not new over the last 200
years several governments have assured
in basic income by building a cradle to
the grave welfare states they call me in
the business floated with minimum wages
insurance and retirement funds the
capitalism’s inability to provide a
decent standard of living for the poor
has been his most glaring in
the Communists have measured themselves
by a lower and less tangible standard
and that is intent for some of you who
think ubi is a new concept let me share
with you that in the 18th century a
philosopher a should one called Thomas
Paine urged the government to pay
fifteen pounds to every citizen he was
bartering to build private property
rights some of the illiterate listeners
here may be aware that a basic form of
ubi is already in practice in Alaska for
the last 35 years similar experiences
underway in countries like the
Netherlands Finland and in Brazil as
well is the ubi the magic bullet now
what can you be I really do for
everybody the universal income will help
build an ecosystem for the poor to march
out of the poverty trap there are many
more great benefits like providing
everyone a life of dignity they all seem
like a good reason for us to pledge at
least some part of our income to the 65%
of the Indians who are abundant to me
ubi is buying the poor out of poverty
plain and simple
let’s buy them out of poverty I’ve also
been confronted by policymakers about
can we afford it and this is the
question most of you must be asking here
can we afford ubi a back-of-the-envelope
calculation clearly indicates that
dismantling and this assembling the
thousand welfare schemes that we have
doing away with a non merit subsidy that
some of us are entitled to tinkering
with the defense budgets and doing away
with the outlays for the corporate
sector should easily do it eradicating
corruption and building an efficient
system will only
to the threshold here is the key let’s
rethink India where the farmers are not
malnourished where the housewife is not
distressed about the next meal for the
family where entrepreneurship is not the
last recourse but the first choice of
every young person in my view ubi
implementation is not economic but
political most policymakers ask me can
we really afford this and I tell them
the right question is can we afford not
to it’s not if
it’s not if but when if Marvin Gandhi
was alive today he would give it much
more than an order he will approve it
he will endorse it and he will make sure
that it’s implemented thank you so much [Applause]
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