How welfare politics in US has inspired ideas in Congress, BJP manifestos

The long slide in workers' bargaining power in the West, and a decline in their share of national income, is well documented. Something similar has occurred in India too

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Andrew Yang might not even be aware of it, but the controversial economic ideas espoused by the two young US politicians are being tested in a national election thousands of miles away.

In India’s polls, which start on Thursday and go on for more than five weeks, 900 million voters will decide on whether to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second term.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party is trying to undercut Modi’s appeal by promising Rs 72,000 ($1,038) a year to each of the country’s 50 million poorest families. The plan has a distinct resemblance to the