A wage for housework? India's sweeping experiment in paying women
43 minutes ago Share Save Soutik Biswas India correspondent Share Save
Hindustan Times via Getty Images Women in Maharashtra aged 21-65 receive a monthly cash transfer of 1,500 rupees ($16)
In a village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a woman receives a small but steady sum each month - not wages, for she has no formal job, but an unconditional cash transfer from the government. Premila Bhalavi says the money covers medicines, vegetables and her son's school fees. The sum, 1,500 rupees ($16: £12), may be small, but its effect - predictable income, a sense of control and a taste of independence - is anything but. Her story is increasingly common. Across India, 118 million adult women in 12 states now receive unconditional cash transfers from their governments, making India the site of one of the world's largest and least-studied social-policy experiments. Long accustomed to subsidising grain, fuel and rural jobs, India has stumbled into something more radical: paying adult women simply because they keep households run
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