Universal Social Welfare

Introduction

• The country witnessed multiple crises during Covid-19: mass inter- and intra-migration, food insecurity, and crumbling health infrastructure.
• Covid-19 has pushed an estimated 75 million people in India into poverty.
• The second wave has brought even the middle and upper-class citizens to their knees.
• Economic capital, in the absence of social capital, has proven to be insufficient in accessing healthcare facilities.
• Illness is universal, but healthcare is not.

Absorbing shocks

• The country has over 500 direct benefit transfer schemes for which various Central, State, and Line departments are responsible.
• However, these schemes have not reached those in need.
• The pandemic has revealed that leveraging our existing schemes and providing universal social security is of utmost importance.
• This will help absorb the impact of external shocks on our vulnerable populations.

India’s successful social security scheme:

• We have seen an example of a universal healthcare programme that India ran successfully — the Pulse Polio Universal Immunisation Programme.
  • In 2014, India was declared polio-free.
• With the advancements in knowledge and technology, universal coverage of social welfare is possible in a shorter time frame.

Need for the universal social welfare programme

• Existing schemes cover a wide variety of social protections but are fictionalised across various departments and sub-schemes.
  • This causes problems beginning with data collection to last-mile delivery.
• Having a universal system would improve the ease of application by consolidating the data of all eligible beneficiaries under one database.
  • It can also reduce exclusion errors.
• The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) is one scheme that can be strengthened into universal social security.
  • It already consolidates the public distribution system (PDS), the provision of gas cylinders, and wages for the MGNREGS.
• Having a universal scheme would take away this access/exclusion barrier.
  • For example, PDS can be linked to a universal identification card such as the Aadhaar or voter card, in the absence of a ration card.
  • This would allow anyone who is in need of food grains to access these schemes.
  • It would be especially useful for migrant populations.
  • Making other schemes/welfare provisions like education, maternity benefits, disability benefits etc. also universal would ensure a better standard of living for the people.

Steps to be taken for Universal social welfare:

• To ensure some of these issues are addressed, we need to map the State and Central schemes in a consolidated manner.
  • This is to avoid duplication, inclusion and exclusion errors in welfare delivery.
• Alongside this, a study to understand the costs of welfare access for vulnerable groups can be conducted.
  • This will help give a targeted way forward.
• The implementation of any of these ideas is only possible through a focus on data digitisation, data-driven decision-making and collaboration across government departments.