I am very grateful to Dr. Keerty Nakray ([email protected]) who kindly wrote this entry on the case of India. Dr. Nakray is an Associate Professor at Jindal Global Law School in NCR Delhi, India. -------------------------------- By Keerty Nakray, Ph.D. India is one of the largest democracies in the world. Being one of the most populous countries in the world, unlike its counterpart China, it holds elections every five years. As in the case of the United States, India is a federation. Despite its various achievements in terms of economic growth, India has failed to bring its population out of extreme poverty, in part given widespread tendency amongst its public officials for rent-seeking and corruption. This failure in tackling poverty is rooted in the unbalanced industrialization, and widespread discrimination based on caste, ethnicity, gender and religion which further impedes the development and consolidation of a welfare state based on social solidarity. In 2018, India's Human Development Index was an abysmal 130 an improvement of one place from 2017 (UNDP, 2018). A helpful insight from research on welfare states is that critical junctures have marked turning points for the development of income protection along the provision of better health and social services. The onslaught of natural disasters and crises, such as the World Wars, have necessitated state-led public works programmes. However, we know little about how pandemics shape social policy responses. “No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy,” Amartya Sen wrote in “Development as Freedom” (Anchor, 2000). Democratically elected governments have to win elections and face public criticism and have strong incentive to undertake measures to avert famines and other catastrophes. After years of political freedom and high economic growth rates, a significant number of Indians still sleep hungry and with record number of its children are malnourished. This is when the country is replete with surplus of food grains. India has been a welfare laggard amongst the new emerging economies in terms of inadequate social spending and outcomes in health and education. The Covid 2020 pandemic has given a jolt to India’s descript welfare system. On March 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a slew of economic stimulus measures to the tune of INR 1.7 lakh crore to provide relief and the social safety net to the marginalized. The “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana” (or Prime Minister's Poor welfare scheme) will include: 1) higher wages under the conditional cash transfer programme known as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA), 2) Rs 1,000 ex-gratia payment to nearly 30 million poor senior citizens, widows and disabled, and 3) insurance coverage of as much as Rs 50 lakh each for about 2 million healthcare workers battling the disease. These measures look largely inadequate on the surface, and it is doubtful if they will provide any healing touch to the battered people. In addition, Indian states have responded to this crisis, and their responses have varied depending states’ capacities. A welfare pioneer state, Kerala, announced a financial package of Rs20,000 crore to reverse the adverse economic and social impacts of the deadly coronavirus, even if Kerala was still recovering from devasting floods from last year. The families who are not eligible for welfare pensions will be handed out of Rs1,000 along with the provision of free food grains from the public distribution system. Non-governmental organizations are also providing assistance. For instance, Kudumbashree, Kerala’s millions-strong women's only network will make available loans worth ₹2000 crore. In neighbouring Karnataka, this state made provisions for 10 kilograms of rice and 2 kilograms of wheat for each member of Below Poverty Line family for free in the first week of April. In comparison, the Uttar Pradesh government announced on Saturday that around 35 lakh labourers in the state would get Rs 1,000 each as financial aid along with while free foodgrains for one month amid the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has assured the payment of INR 1,000 per person for maintenance to 35 lakh labourers. As argued, at the time of writing this piece, Indian states have reacted to the crisis. Their capabilities to deliver and reach out to people will be tested. The Indian states have varying capacities to deal with the unprecedented humanitarian crisis of this magnitude. At the helm of this crisis, it is important to highlight the plight of the most vulnerable in the Indian society. The migrants, ethnic minorities, elderly, disabled, women and children. At this critical juncture, it is important to remember that the decisions taken to protect the lives and income of the citizens will have long-term ramifications. In addition, India’s democratic institutions will have to be recalibrated to uphold social citizenships rights in the context of this extreme humanitarian crisis. This time, the elites have not been spared, they will experience on the first hand the ignominy of stigma and discrimination that come with a contagious illness. At economic and social levels, we are looking at a new social contract which might see the reversal of privatization of health and education and renationalization of these national resources in light of crisis. We as citizens are also now staring at the possibility of a new welfare state. ------------------------------ Biographical note on our guest blogger: Dr. Keerty Nakray has a wide-range of dynamic research interests which arise from her interdisciplinary training in social sciences. She is currently Associate Professor at Jindal Global Law School in NCR Delhi, India. Her recent co-edited book with Margaret Alston and Kerri Whittenbury is titled “Social Science Research Ethics for a Globalizing World: Inter-disciplinary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives” (205, Routledge) which examines the ethical dilemmas in studying sensitive topics such as gender based violence, child abuse, studying combatants and climate change. Dr Nakray’s previous work includes another edited book “Gender Based Violence and Public Health: International Perspectives on Budgets and Policies” published by (Routledge, London) which encapsulated some of the most latest debates on the theoretical and empirical advances in the understanding of gender based violence as a public health issue in developing economies. She has published in leading journals on gender budgets, child sensitive budgets and comparative social policy. She maintains a keen interest in research ethics and establishing linkages between academic research and policy. Dr. Nakray holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Policy from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
6 Comments
|
Author
Mariely Lopez-Santana is a Political Scientist and an Associate Prof. at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. In the last two decades she has spent much time studying, teaching, and writing about employment policy. She is working on a book project on state intervention and municipal distress. Categories
All
|