Innovations in Governance for the Welfare State by Devising a Comprehensive Pension Model in the Indian Context
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561221097956 |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Innovations in
Governance for the
Welfare State by
Devising a
Comprehensive
Pension Model in
the Indian Context
Arindam Chakrabarty1 and Anil Kumar Singh1
Abstract
A welfare state is committed to the holistic wellbeing of its citizens. These com-
mitments can only be achieved when the state can establish good governance
coupled with innovations throughout its administrative ecosystem. The provision
of a defined pension has been earmarked as one of the key social security meas-
ures. The National Pension System has replaced the erstwhile General Provident
Fund (GPF)-led pension in India, shifting from the socialist ideology to a market-
driven model. The article suggests a self-reliant and sustainable Contributory
Defined Pension System (CDPS) that would address all these concerns and can
be extended to the government, PSUs and private sector.
Keywords
Innovation, Governance, Welfare State, Pension, CDPS, India
Introduction
Overview of the Idea of the Welfare State
Welfare state means a state committed to providing economic security and social
wellbeing to its citizens by securing them from market risks related to old age,
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
68(3) 436–456, 2022
© 2022 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561221097956
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1 Department of Management, Rajiv Gandhi University (Central University), Doimukh, Arunachal
Pradesh, India.
Corresponding author:
Arindam Chakrabarty, Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Rajiv Gandhi University
(Central University), Rono Hills: Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh 791112, India.
E-mail: arindam.management@gmail.com
Chakrabarty and Singh 437
accidents, unemployment and sickness (Weir, 2001). This term originated in the
United Kingdom after the Second World War. This concept has two broad inter-
pretations in the Indian context:
• Thestateassumesthe responsibilityofdeliveringcomprehensive anduni-
versally applicable welfare schemes or benefits in the form of ‘rights,’ to the
extent feasible, and
• Welfaremayalsomean thecreation ofa‘social safetynet’comprising of
the minimum standards of welfare.
Three different welfare state regimes were identified by Esping-Anderson and
Preworski (2001), which may be observed as follows:
• Liberal welfare state: These states respond to the labour market require-
ments. The beneficiaries of state benefits such as insurance and pension are
allowed only after determining their eligibility. They then receive relatively
modest cash and voucher benefits.
• Conservative/corporatist welfare state: Unlike a liberal welfare state, a
conservative/corporatist welfare state depends on the state service provi-
sions and not on the market provisions. Such states feature normative ideas
of a nuclear family, where the male is the breadwinner, and a woman tends
to the family.
• Social democratic welfare state: Here, the state is the guarantor of social
rights. The philosophy is to promote equality of benefits at all levels and
thereby reduce the effects of social class and income.
The concept of welfare economics has been studied thoroughly in the global and
Indian contexts. Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen is widely known for his
landmark contributions in social welfare, development economics, the effective-
ness of investments in developing countries and the economic analysis of famines’.
Sen proposed to replace utilitarianism as the normative basis for the political
economy with capabilitarianism (Brahmananda, 1999).
Innovations for Good Governance
Innovations in public services are essential for a competitive, efficient, cost-effec-
tive and accountable public administration. In India, public service innovations
are mainly management innovations, followed by technical innovations. Different
public management systems are practised across the globe, such as New Public
Management (NPM), Public Value Management (PVM), New Public Service
(NPS), and New Governance (Iacovino et al., 2017; Mauri & Muccio, 2012). The
NPS model is criticised in India for treating citizens as customers, yet it remains
relevant for performance, efficiency, and effectiveness orientation (Kisner &
Vigoda-Gadot, 2017). All these systems have a shared focus on identifying citi-
zens’ needs and fulfilling them. As a result, public administration today is respon-
sive and citizen-centric (Gupta et al., 2019). Innovation is the key to good
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