Welfare Delivery: Observations from a Meerut Village and A Delhi Slum

Date01 October 2016
Published date01 October 2016
AuthorDevesh Vijay
DOI10.1177/0019556120160407
Subject MatterArticle
WELFARE DELIVERY: OBSERVATIONS
FROM
A
MEER
UT VILLAGE AND A
DELHI
SLUM
DEVESH
VIJAY
A number
of
radical reforms championed by scholars
in
the
Indian political system including devolution
of
more powers to
panchayats, enlargement
of
rights to education, food, forests,
land, public information
and
small pensions and insurance
for
the poor got implemented formally, in the past two decades,
along with the partial liberalisation
of
the economy.
The
impact
of
these momentous shifts
on
the lives
of
ordinary citizens
is,
however, unclear and calls
for
intensive, long-term studies
of
villages and slums today.
As
a contribution, this article makes use
of
surveys, focus-
group discussions, interviews and life sketches, constructed
in
two working class communities -an urban slum and a
village -within the National Capital Region, in 1988-89
and again
in
2014-15,
to
track changes
in
the working
of
the
'welfare machine' on the ground. The article shows that over
and
above structural problems
of
ingrained inequalities and
institutionalised corruption, a policy mess reflected
in
multiple
and contradicting schemes as well as failures
of
local bodies
and
delivery mechanisms gravely
hamper
functioning
of
welfare measures on the ground. It concludes with some policy
implications
in
light
of
the gathered evidence which needs to be
further corroborated and tallied with more long- term studies
of
the complex welfare apparatus at the local level.
THE CRYSTALLISATION
of
the welfare state that promises economic as
well as physical security to all citizens has been a significant development
of
modem times. The world has a variety
of
welfare systems today ranging
from Nordic models where up to 40 per cent
of
GDP is spent on social
security to East Asian regimes like South Korea that promote insurance
cover for citizens but not equitably. In the under-developed world also,
citizens' welfare has been accepted as a goal
of
public policy. But financial
WELFARE
DELIVERY:
IN
A
MEER
UT
VILLAGE
AND
A
DELHI
SLUM
/
821
DEVESH
VIJAY
constraints, corruption and institutional limitations hamper delivery
considerably. Variations in the working
of
welfare across nations (despite a
shared concern for ensuring a minimum standard ofliving for all and a safety
net for the vulnerable) can thus be traced to diverse levels
of
development
and also ruling ideologies across nations.
In the maze
of
welfare systems visible today, the Indian story seems
peculiarly puzzling. While we have a unique record as a Third World
democracy and also a long history
of
social reforms, extreme poverty,
undernourishment, underemployment, insanitary conditions and high levels
of
morbidity and infant mortality point to multiple dark patches in our
tapestry. No doubt, g .. ins have been made in literacy and life expectancy
(which rose from
16
per cent and 33 years respectively, in 1947, to 70 per
cent and
65
years now); also, provinces like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have
touched human development indices associated with advanced countries in
some spheres.
1
Yet,
in comparison to even smaller neighbours like Thailand
and Malaysia, India's overall human development record seems staggered
and even worsening in provinces like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand where
crime, rural stagnation and high levels
of
population growth as well as
distress migration remain marked.
2
It
has also been worrisome that measures which were seen as game
changers by activists and scholars alike since Independence finally got
implemented,
in
recent years, but without much improvement on the ground.
Just as the country's freedom from the colonial yoke and the adoption
of
universal franchise along with the abolition
of
zamindari
and affirmative
action for Dali ts failed to remove poverty quickly, similarly, the rise
of
the
Left and 'samajwadi' regimes in our biggest provinces, the end
of
single-
party dominance and autonomy for statutory bodies like the judiciary, the
empowerment
of
panchayats and mushrooming
of
better-funded NGOs
along with formalisation
of
citizens' rights to food, education, information,
etc. failed to realise the visions of'real freedom' and 'true development' spelt
out by thinkers like Amartya Sen and Rajni Kothari earlier.
3
Indeed, their
progressive launches seem to have eroded the hope for a radical turnaround
based
on
'alternative politics' in the country besides almost wiping out the
coalition that introduced most
of
these entitlements over the last decade.
4
What are the roots
of
this inertia in our welfare record? And, what
alternatives still remain for trials, needs to be carefully understood in this
light. Fortunately, a growing body
of
reports and treatises exist in India
today examining the problem from diverse angles.
5
Different perspectives
on the "painful transition" and "logic
of
underdevelopment" in the country
can also be gleaned in literature available on India's welfare machine.
We
shall closely examine their assertions and assumptions in the concluding

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