{"id":104102,"date":"2021-04-30T10:29:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T04:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=104102"},"modified":"2021-05-03T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T12:45:00","slug":"india-needs-to-focus-on-universal-social-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-needs-to-focus-on-universal-social-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"India needs to Focus on Universal Social Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of India\u2019s<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-needs-to-focus-on-universal-social-welfare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Universal social welfare<\/a>. The country failed to provide adequate social welfare services to the marginalized during the pandemic times. This calls for focusing on universal social welfare.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Covid-19 pandemic struck the country in 2020 and brutally impacted the lives of the Indian masses especially the marginalized community.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pandemic followed a series of crises including mass inter and intra-migration, food insecurity, and crumbling health infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This has induced some experts to demand universal social welfare from the government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Universal Social Welfare \/ Social Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the International Labour Organisation, Social security is the protection that society provides to individuals and households:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure access to health care and <\/span>to guarantee income security; particularly in cases of old age, unemployment, sickness, invalidity, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Giving such protection to every individual in the country is called Universal Social Welfare.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Need of Universal Social Welfare<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Vulnerability of masses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The pandemic has enhanced the vulnerability of masses as:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has pushed an estimated 75 million people into poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second wave has shown even money is not enough to access health care services. It has brought even the middle and upper-class citizens to their knees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Poor performance of Social <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/social-registry-for-better-targeting-of-welfare-schemes\/\">Welfare schemes<\/a><\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">:<\/span> The country has over 500 direct benefit transfer schemes but still many weren\u2019t able to get desired benefits during the pandemic.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The schemes are <\/span><b>fractionalized across various departments and sub-schemes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This causes problems on every stage of the scheme from data collection to last-mile delivery.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Better results<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: India&#8217;s Pulse Polio Universal Immunisation Programme helped it to become polio-free in 2014. This shows the country has the potential to run universal programs and achieve better results.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Avoiding Inclusion\/Exclusion errors: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Universal system will encompass every individual and household in the country thereby tackling the problem of inclusion\/exclusion.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, PDS can be linked to a universal identification card such as the Aadhaar or voter card, in the absence of a ration card.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This would allow anyone who is in need of foodgrains to access these schemes especially the migrant populations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Improved Living Standard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Access to education, maternity benefits, disability benefits, etc. social benefits would ensure a better standard of living for the people.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Forward:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government should <\/span><b>map the State and Central schemes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in a consolidated manner. This would avoid duplication, inclusion, and exclusion errors in delivering welfare services.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/pradhan-mantri-garib-kalyan-anna-yojana\/\">Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana<\/a> (PMGKY) can be strengthened into universal social security.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It already consolidates the public distribution system (PDS), the provision of gas cylinders, and wages for the MGNREGA.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It must <\/span><b>compute the costs of delivering universal social services<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Post computation, robust steps must be taken to arrange the requisite amount.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The country can learn from successful global models like <\/span><b>Ireland\u2019s Poor Law System<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system was introduced in the 19th century to provide relief to the masses. It was financed by local property taxes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system was built keeping in mind the future economic crisis and dignity of the masses.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has now evolved into a four-fold apparatus. It promises social insurance, social assistance, universal schemes, and extra benefits\/supplements.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There must be a <\/span><b>focus on data digitization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, data-driven decision-making, and collaboration across government departments. This would improve the implementation potential.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=G1T8HHCTS.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of India\u2019s Universal social welfare. The country failed to provide adequate social welfare services to the marginalized during the pandemic times. This calls for focusing on universal social welfare. Background: The Covid-19 pandemic struck the country in 2020 and brutally impacted the lives of the Indian masses especially&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-needs-to-focus-on-universal-social-welfare\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India needs to Focus on Universal Social Scheme<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1399],"class_list":["post-104102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-soc_7","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700774920,"cached_date":1703175743},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}