NEW DELHI: In its report titled "The State of Inequality in India," the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister recommends that the government develop a demand-based guaranteed employment scheme for the urban unemployed and implement a universal basic income system to eliminate inequality in the country.
While earnings are rising, the panel highlighted that they are becoming more concentrated, marginalising the poor. In light of this, the report suggested raising the minimum wage and increasing funding for the social sector in order to "make the most vulnerable people resilient to sudden shocks and prevent their plunge into poverty." "Given the disparity in labour force participation rates between rural and urban areas, it is our belief that the urban equivalent of demand-based, guaranteed employment schemes like MGNREGS should be implemented to rehabilitate surplus labour," the paper stated.
The EAC-PM commissioned the research, which was written by the Institute for Competitiveness and issued by EAC-PM Chairman Bibek Debroy on Wednesday. According to the report, increasing the minimum wage and establishing universal basic income can help close the income gap and ensure that wages are distributed equally in the labour market.