Madhya Pradesh Unconditional Cash Transfers Project (MPUCT)
An 18-month unconditional basic income pilot (June 2011-Nov 2012) run by SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) with funding and backing from UNICEF, testing unconditional monthly cash transfers to every man, woman, and child in eight rural villages of Madhya Pradesh, compared against 12 control villages. A parallel 12-month tribal-village pilot (2012-13) covered one additional treatment village against one control village. In total, over 6,000 individuals across nine treatment villages received the grants. Results showed improved nutrition, sanitation, school attendance and performance, reduced debt, higher savings, and a rise in new small businesses and self-employment.
Universal basic income, Village-level RCT, Unconditional, Guy Standing / SEWA, One of first UBI pilots in Asia, Historical (2011-2012)
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- SEWA Bharat / UNICEF
- City
- New Delhi
- State / Province
- Delhi
- Country
- India
Contact
- Website
- https://sewabharat.org/
- Phone
- +91-11-2584-1369
- mail@sewabharat.org
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Number of recipients
- 6,000
- Funding type
- Nonprofit, Research Pilot
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- INR
- Total Amount
- 84 INR (≈ $0.87)
- Avg. Per Month
- 4.67 INR (≈ $0.05)
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 18 months
- Distribution Type
- Cash (door-step/in-hand distribution), Direct Deposit (bank accounts opened for many recipients during the pilot)
- Benefit details
Every adult in treatment villages received INR 200/month and every child received INR 100/month for the first 12 months; amounts were raised to INR 300/adult and INR 150/child for the remaining months to account for inflation, for a total pilot length of about 17-18 months. Payments for children were given to the mother or designated guardian. A parallel tribal-village pilot ran 12 months at the higher INR 300/150 rate from the start. Many recipients initially received cash in-hand via SEWA 'door-step banking' and were later transitioned to bank accounts opened as part of the pilot.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Universal within selected villages: every resident (man, woman, and child), regardless of income, gender, ethnicity, or wealth, in eight (later nine) treatment villages in Madhya Pradesh received the grant. Twenty demographically and geographically similar villages were identified; eight were randomly assigned to treatment and twelve to control (plus one additional tribal village pair for the second pilot). No individual application or means test was used; eligibility was determined solely by village residency.
Demographics
- Race / ethnicity targets
- One pilot specifically targeted a Scheduled Tribe (Adivasi/tribal) village and a matched tribal control village, but the main 8-village pilot had no ethnicity restriction.
Financial
- Banked status
- Unbanked, Underbanked
Geography
- Countries covered
- India
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / data sharing
- Required
- Research / participation requirements
As a research pilot/RCT, recipient and control villages were subject to household surveys and monitoring (SEWA representatives present in half of all villages, both treatment and control) to evaluate impacts on nutrition, health, education, debt, savings, and economic activity. Findings were presented at a public conference in Delhi (May 30-31, 2013) and published in reports including 'A Little More, How Much Is It? Piloting Basic Income Transfers in Madhya Pradesh, India' (SEWA Bharat, Jan 2014).
Application Process
- How to apply
No individual application process; eligibility was automatic for all residents of villages selected (via matched-pair random assignment) as treatment villages within the study design.
- Selection process
SEWA and researchers (including economist Guy Standing) identified 20 villages in Madhya Pradesh with similar socio-economic profiles, service access, geography, and infrastructure using a modified randomized control trial design; 8 were randomly assigned to receive transfers (treatment) and 12 served as controls. A separate matched pair of tribal villages (one treatment, one control) was added for a second, 12-month pilot. All residents of assigned treatment villages then received payments.
