RESEARCH PAPER: AN ANALYSIS OF WELFARE POLICIES IN INDIA: ASSESSING GROUND LEVEL IMPLEMENTATION AND CITIZEN’S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

India has developed one of the strongest welfare architectures adapted from the democratic socialist values. India has more than 750 centrally sponsored schemes. The paper aims to examine the evolution and significance of welfare policies in India and to identify the major implementation gap while assessing the socio - economic impacts on the ground level. The main goal is to propose policy recommendations to make sure that the concerns of all stakeholders are met and eventually leading to a more bottom-up approach. The paper thus adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods by analysing expert opinion and government and state records of the welfare schemes while also taking unstructured interviews and surveys of the beneficiaries for the larger ground level impact assessment and data driven monitoring. Ultimately the focus is on sustainable improvements in reducing structural inequalities and strengthen the socio- economically excluded classes with legitimacy. Keywords: Welfare Policies, Social Protection, Redistribution, Citizen Perspective, Bottom-Up Approach, Inclusion, State Capacity, Administrative Leakage, Grievance Redressal.