An article titled ‘New Welfarism of India’s Right’ written by Abhishek Anand (graduate student at the Havard Kennedy School), Vikas Dimble (Deputy Director, Ashoka Center for Economic Policy), and Arvind Subramanian (Professer, Ashoka University) was published in the Indian Express on December 22, 2020. The article talks of a term ‘New Welfarism’ in the context of welfare measures adopted by Modi Government.
As per the article, the Modi government is following a new kind of redistribution of welfare schemes and measures which focuses on providing tangible essentials services such as bank accounts, cooking gas, toilets, electricity, housing, water, cash, etc., which are easily discernible. This approach of redistribution departs from traditional methods of taking economic welfare measures that aim at delivering intangible benefits like health, education, etc.
It is observed that the new welfarism approach adopts a distinctive approach to redistribution and inclusion.
This model of new welfarism of the present government can be better understood in the context of the recently released fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).
The findings of the survey show how the adoption of new welfarism approach has impacted the outcomes related to health and nutrition. For instance, providing tangible instead of intangible benefits like nutrition has resulted in dismal performance of the country in terms of the stunting of children. On the other side, new welfarism has resulted in major strides in provision of essential services like bank accounts, electricity, sanitation, cooking fuels. It also enhanced financial inclusion of women leading to their empowerment. By 2019, 72 per cent of all women had bank or saving accounts that they are able to use themselves, 90 per cent of all households had access to electricity, nearly 70 per cent got improved sanitation facility, and 60 per cent had provision of clean cooking.
Stunting is defined as when a child’s height-for-age is two standard deviations below the global norm. There had been a slow but steady decline in child stunting between 2005 and 2015, but thereafter a reversal has been seen with overall stunting rates flattening and urban rates rising. Stunting is a result of malnutrition, which, in turn, is an outcome of income and consumption. The New ‘Welfarism approach’ to stunting is different. According to it, child nutrition is an intangible benefit that is quite difficult to achieve, assess, or monitor. Its immediate effects are not apparent. It also takes time and patience to yield results. Moreover, there are many factors, besides state-directed efforts, to ensure proper nutrition. Success in such endeavours can be achieved by a broader macroeconomic environment consisting of robust growth of income, purchasing power, and consumption. Therefore, new welfarirm does not prefer the idea of taking such measures like ensuring proper nutrition which shows its results in the long term.
As per the article some of the key concepts of new welfarism are:
- New welfarism does not prioritise supply of public goods but prioritises a safety net for its citizen.
- It has subsidised public provision of essential goods which will make a critical difference in the lives of the poor.
- New welfarism follows the basic needs approach to development as it sees a rich electoral opportunity in providing tangible goods and services.
Conclusion
As per the authors, new welfarism provides benefits keeping in view immediate political gains. It prefers providing tangible goods and services in order to gain political favour. On the other hand, intangible benefits, though a permanent and good solution to problems, take a long time to gain public notice and are also difficult to define and evaluate. As such, they cannot bring political dividend quickly. The concept of new welfarism has become a global trend with governments of countries like Poland, Hungary, and Turkey also following this new redistributive system for electoral success.