Of social welfare schemes, elections & administration

The Directive Principles of State Policy as guidelines of the Indian constitution is considered to be fundamental in the governance of the country and envisages for a welfare state. Social justice and economic welfare being the corner stones and the onus lies with respective provincial governments (state governments) to look after the welfare of people.

In electoral politics, populist budgets are common. The question however is how far does one go? More often than not, political parties of different hues dish out welfare schemes such as free rations, cash transfers to farmers to name a few. In several instances they turn out to be mere handouts without translating into reality and on occasions, burn a hole in the economy and push up inflation and result in deficit budgets.

Several states are heading to elections in the next two years. This enables us to focus on one of the critical situations of the state with respect to adopting new projects, their expenditure and its method of implementation.

Social welfare schemes aim to provide financial aid to the individuals in need. These include programs which assist poor, uneducated, unemployed, children, women, differentially abled and other sections.

Government spends approximately of 45,955 Cr in Social welfare schemes every year in the total budget of 2,56,256 Cr. Although education is just allocated only 33,077 Cr which is one of the crucial sectors in our country.

Welfare schemes per se are laudable as the aim is to uplift the standards of people but they may have an adverse impact if the expenditure exceeds the allotted budget, it becomes inevitable and much needed during natural disasters and pandemics,  crucial sectors such as education and agriculture might get neglected and according to the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the 12 pro poor schemes which were implemented failed to reach their targets.

The way forward would hinge on a three-step process:  Formulation, implementation and evaluation. Local governance and involvement of grass root level administrators is to be made strong to achieve the goals and stabilize the effectiveness of the policies. The practice of political bias is to be curbed and beneficiaries are to be identified and mapped with accuracy. Tight Scrutiny and inspections are to be taken to curb unwanted transactions and leakages. Above all, stringent laws are to be formed to the one proven guilty in mishandling of the assets of the schemes.

(MV Swastika works as a Principal Consultant at TrendWorx Private Limited. She works closely with administrators and government. )