We are proposing that the real income from the Goenchi Mati Permanent Fund be distributed equally to all as a right of ownership over the commons, a Citizen’s Dividend. The Citizen’s Dividend is actually a form of Unconditional Basic Income. A group of concerned citizens have formed the India Network for Basic Income, to examine all varieties of Basic Income. Like …
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UK loss of North Sea Oil
UK & Norway largely share the North Sea Oil. While similar amounts were extracted, UK received some GBP400 billion less than Norway. “Given political stability and competent institutions, a state can have both a relatively high tax burden on its industry and direct ownership of assets, and deliver more revenue for its citizens and still attract investment” – this is the lesson that …
Tracking mining trucks & barges
Since the Commonwealth games, Delhi has had an app, PoochhO, that allows the tracking of even nearby autorickshaws. Using GPS of course. We had recommended the implementation of a similar system of electronic tracking of mining trucks and barges to the Goa government and the center. We had even predicted that miners would welcome the additonal control over their ore. …
The AI case for a Universal Basic Income
Scott Santens warns that the recent victory of Google’s Deep Mind in the game of Go portends a very rapid automation of an overwhelming majority of jobs. For instance, “Amelia is just one AI out there currently being beta-tested in companies right now. Created by IPsoft over the past 16 years, she’s learned how to perform the work of call center employees. …
Gross National Happiness and poverty
Casey Ready muses about the link between our values, Gross National Happiness, poverty and the Mincome experiment (a Universal Basic Income experiment in Canada between 1974 & 1978). The image is from Bhutan.
Is Kazakhstan planning a UBI
The Kazakhstan government is banning smartphones within the government. The reason is the continuing leak of government information. Among the leaks is a presidential decree to the government ordering the ministers to analyze possibilities of introducing unconditional basic income. Unfortunately, there isn’t much more information available online in english. Kazakhstan set up the Natural Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2000 from …
Nauru’s Citizen’s Dividend
The tiny pacific island of Nauru is a cautionary tale for mineral royalties being saved in a Permanent Fund and paying out a Citizen’s Dividend. The island was covered by guano, a form of phosphate, a fertilizer. The royalties from phosphate mining resulted in Nauru having the highest per capita income in the world. The phosphate royalties were paid into the Nauru …
Cognitive Capitalism, Silicon Valley & Basic Income
Evgeny Morozov discusses the recent interest in Silicon Valley with Universal Basic Income. He takes a cognitive capitalism frame and concludes that Silicon Valley is also part of the problem. On the other hand, Scott Santens shows how jobs will disappear worldwide. “The White House, in a stunning report to Congress this week, put the probability at 83 percent that …
Goa’s debt burden is soaring
The Herald points out that the per capita public debt burden is around Rs. 100,000. While large, this is a fraction of the loss from mining estimated at Rs. 53,833 crores over the eight years of 2004-05 through 2011-12. Had this loss been captured, saved in the Permanent Fund and a Citizen’s Dividend paid, each of us would be receiving around Rs. 1,000 every …
Satellites & drones
Strong controls & high transparency over mining is one of our key supporting recommendations. Aerial imagery is an obvious technology that can be used to monitor illegal mining, the forests, rivers, transport and much else. The World Bank has a fascinating blog post on the various ways that satellite and drones can be used by civil society for monitoring. Imagery is becoming higher resolution, more …