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Direction (1-10): Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
With the announcement of a minimum income guarantee (MIG) scheme by the Congress president, the agenda of universal basic income (UBI)has moved from an academic discussion to the political arena. As o fnow the proposal of MIG is only an electoral promise with no further details available. On Friday, the general budget announced a scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, under which vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support of ₹6,000 a year.The appeal of some form of income transfer is now seriously being discussed by all political formations. The idea is not new and has been in discussion for sometime among academics in India but attracted attention after it was proposed in the Economic Survey of 2017.
In simple terms the proposal of transferring some income to every citizen is built on the twin principles of universality and a notion of minimum basic income to those living at the poverty line. The principle of universality is at the core of it given the problems of targeting. But some form of income support to those who are unable to participate in labour market has been there in most countries in some form or other including in India, like the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) pensions for widows, elderly and disabled.
Although the idea of UBI has been in discussion for decades, no country has implemented it.While a proposal for UBI was rejected by a three fourth majority in Switzerland, Finland which started a pilot has now discontinued it. But even in Finland, the pilot was not a strict UBI but a social protection scheme aimed at only the unemployed. While there have been some pilots by NGOs in developing countries in Asia and Africa, they have varied in content of transfer and coverage with only few being fully universal and only the Namibia pilot experiment provided income transfer to people in the poverty line.
The proposals in the Indian context have mostly been for a targeted income transfer scheme and not UBI. In developed countries,the UBI is supposed to supplement existing social security provisions and a top up over and above universal provision of health, education and so on. In the Indian context, most arguments in favour of UBI are premised on the inefficiencies of existing social security interventions and seek to replace some of these with direct cash transfers.
It is not just the fascination for targeting the poor which is at the core of these proposals but also a belief that all existing forms of social security transfers are inefficient. While there is certainly some exaggeration in such claims,it is not true that the system of cash transfers is efficient and therefore leakage proof. Several studies on cash transfers including one by JPAL South Asia for NITI Aayog found that cash transfers are not greatly superior in terms of leakages compared to other schemes of in kind transfer such as the public distribution system(PDS). On the other hand, numerous studies have documented that a move towards universalization and use of technology enabled Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu to reduce leakages in the PDS. But the real message from these experiments is also that universalisation is the key to efficient delivery of services against targeting proposed by these cash transfer schemes.
The obsession with cash transfers also comes with an understanding that these will take care of all problems. The current sets of proposals claim these as silver bullets for agrarian crisis to malnutrition to educational deficit and also a solution for the job crisis. This isa tall order with different reasons for persistence for some of these. A good example is the public distribution system (PDS) where it is clearly established that in kind transfers are twice as effective in increasing calorie intake compared to equivalent cash transfer.
The real issue with the approach of a targeted cash transfer scheme is that it envisions the role of the state to only providing cash income to the poor. This kind of‘Robin Hood’ approach seeks to absolve the state of its responsibility in providing basic services such as health, education, nutrition and livelihood. But it is also iniquitous since it seeks to create demand for services without supplying the services, leaving the poor to depend on private service providers.There is now sufficient evidence which shows that privatisation of basic services such as health and education leads to large scale exclusion of the poor and marginalised. In any case, India is among the countries with lowest expenditure to GDP ratio as far as expenditure on health, education and soon are concerned.
1) As per the passage, which of the following is/are the basis of income transfer scheme?
i. It is based on the principle of universality.
ii. The system of cash transfers is efficient and therefore leakage proof.
iii. It is based on the concept of minimum basic income to those living at the poverty line.
a) All except i
b) i and ii
c) All except ii
d) All are true
e) None of these
2) According to the passage, which of the following is true about the experiment of universal basic income?
i. Proposal for UBI was rejected in Switzerland.
ii. In the context of India UBI has moved from an academic discussion to the political arena.
iii. UBI is considered as a social protection scheme in Finland.
a) i and iii
b) All except i
c) i and ii
d) All are true
e) None of the above
3) As per the passage, which of the following is/are true about public distribution system?
i. In-kind transfers of calorie intake through PDS are much more effective.
ii. Leakages in the PDS can be reduced by the Universalization and with the use of technology.
iii. Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu used to be the states with the most outflows in PDS.
a) All except i
b) i and ii
c) All except ii
d) All are true
e) None of these
4) As per the passage,which of the following differences between UBI and income transfer is/are discussed in the above passage?
a) UBI is supposed to be the supplement for the existing social security scheme whereas it replaces some of the existing social security scheme with direct cash transfers.
b) The idea of UBI was introduced in the budget of 2017 whereas income transfer was announced in the economic survey of this year.
c) Namibia provided income transfer to people in poverty line whereas Social protection schemes provided by Finland come under UBI.
d) All of the above
e) None of these
5) According to the passage, which of the following is/are not true about income transfer scheme?
a) It envisages the role of the state to only providing cash income to the poor.
b) The state pledges its responsibility for providing basic services such as health, education, nutrition andlivelihood.
c) It will create poor people’s dependency on private service providers.
d) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi is a kind of income transfer scheme.
e) None of these
6) ‘Cash transfer can take care of all the problems’, is revealed in the passage. Which of the following is not one of those problems?
a) Agrarian crisis
b) Educational deficit
c) Calorie-intake under PDS
d) Job-crisis
e) All are correct
7) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaning as the word “persistence” printed in bold as used in the passage.
a) Debauched
b) Fumble
c) Determination
d) Collaborations
e) Hushed
8) Choose the word which is most nearly the same in meaning as the word “fascination” printed in bold as used in the passage.
a) Affluence
b) Plethora
c) Captivation
d) Advancing
e) Bounteous
9) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word “exaggeration” printed in bold as used in the passage.
a) Ensnare
b) Hyperbole
c) Overstatement
d) Understatement
e) Variance
10) Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word “iniquitous” printed in bold as used in the passage.
a) Propound
b) Ethical
c) Wicked
d) Sinful
e) Finish
Answers:
Directions (1-10):
1) Answer: c)
Option ii is incorrect, so option c is the right answer.
2) Answer: d)
All the given option are true. So option d is correct answer.
3) Answer: b)
‘How did Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu reduced leakages in the PDS’ is given in the passage but it nowhere gives the comparison among the states, so Option iii is not correct. So option b is correct.
4) Answer: a)
Option a is the correct answer.
5) Answer: b)
Option b is exactly opposite to the statement given in the passage. So it is not correct, hence the answer to this question is b.
6) Answer: c)
The writer has emphasized that in-kind transfer through PDS is more effective than equivalent cash transfer. So option c is correct.
7) Answer: c)
The meaning of persistence is determination.
8) Answer: c)
The meaning of fascination is captivation/ attraction.
9) Answer: d)
The meaning of exaggeration is overstatement. So Understatement will be an antonym word.
10) Answer: b)
The meaning of iniquitous is immoral. So the antonym will be ethical.
