The Right to Exist: Universal Basic Income as a Human Rights Imperative in International and Indian Law

The debate over Universal Basic Income (UBI) has migrated from the margins of welfare economics into mainstream constitutional and human rights discourse. This article examines whether an unconditional, periodic cash transfer to every individual, regardless of income, employment status or means, can be justified as a legal entitlement flowing from the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to social security, and the broader guarantee of human dignity recognised under international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Drawing on comparative constitutional jurisprudence, particularly the Indian Supreme Court's expansive reading of Article 21, the article situates UBI within an evolving rights framework that treats economic security as a precondition for the meaningful exercise of civil and political freedoms. The economic analysis surveys empirical evidence from pilot programmes in Finland, Kenya, the United States and India to assess claims regarding labour market disincentives, fiscal sustainability, and inflationary pressure. The article argues that while UBI is conceptually compatible with, and arguably required by, existing human rights commitments, its implementation raises difficult questions of resource allocation, progressive realisation, and the relationship between universality and targeting in resource-constrained economies such as India's. The article concludes that a rights-based UBI framework, calibrated through phased implementation and financed through redistributive fiscal reform, offers a coherent normative and practical pathway for reconciling welfare state design with constitutional and international human rights obligations.