Income Support for Landless Farmers

Bio : Harsha Kavi holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from KL University, Vijayawada, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Kautilya School of Public Policy. After graduating from Kautilya, Harsha entered the field of government advisory and now works as a Knowledge Manager at the National Institute of Urban Management (NIUM) in Hyderabad.

His primary interests lie at the intersection of Social Protection and the Informal Economy.

Project Outline: The paper examines the vulnerabilities of landless farming households in India by analyzing the existing social protection systems available to them and identifies the inadequacy of these schemes with respect to landless farmers. After conducting a systematic literature review of universal basic income (UBI) and unconditional cash transfers (UCT), this paper suggests a targeted and unconditional cash transfer for landless farmers. The suggestion is justified through the results of the systematic literature review which shows that there has been a positive correlation between cash transfers (UBI, UCT) on health, education, reduction in poverty, increase in household expenditure, overall betterment of the children, and the autonomy of the elderly.