On the eve of general elections, there is an increasingly heated debate in India over the wisdom of introducing a universal basic income for its poorest citizens. This public conversation was triggered by Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s announcement on Monday that, if elected to power, the Congress would introduce a minimum income guarantee for all poor households.

I have a short piece in the Washington Post on the Congress announcement, which came on the same day as a new proposal by Arvind Subramanian and colleagues for a QUBRI–or quasi-universal basic rural income.

You can read the entire piece here.