Villagers were able to spend the money as they saw fit. But most of them used the cash grants for renewing their houses and building latrines, 18 new ones in all; stocking up and bulk buying food supplies; paying school fees and sending their children to school in uniform; investing in seeds and pesticides, goats and oxen, and at least one Jersey cow – which led to a significant shift from paid labour to self-cultivation; buying sewing machines for “own account” businesses making blouses, petticoats; treating unaddressed illnesses, such as TB and blindness, and remedying injuries. Often they pooled the extra cash, for example, to buy a communal television set, to repair the spire of their temple, to create a credit union or a loan fund for weddings (which are expensive throughout Indian society).

The story of the basic income experiment in Madhya Pradesh, India and what was learned.