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Social policy in indian development
Ghosh, Jayati
Ghosh, Jayati
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ghoslong.pdf
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Abstract
"The recognition that social policy is not just the outcome of simple welfare considerations, but rather a key instrument in the process of development, which works in association with economic policy as part of a broader strategy, is an important step towards working out mechanisms for its greater spread and effectiveness. However, in order to ground social policy more firmly within development strategy and work out the links between it and more straightforward macroeconomic policy, it is necessary to be aware of the political economy contexts within which both sets of policy are developed and evolve. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyse the nature of social policy in the recent Indian development experience, ask why it has taken these specific forms and patterns, consider its achievements and limitations, and probe how it can be transformed into a more effective instrument for equitable and sustainable development. What is social policy all about? In essence, social policy or rather, the complex web of related policies, schemes and institutions that are concerned with the social conditions of economic activity reflects the broad social contract between capital and labour. In developing economies this refers to the social contract between capital and labour specifically for the management of the development project. The latter in turn has been defined for much of the past half century, as the project of increasing material welfare for most of the citizenry through economic development, using the agency of the nation state. For many developing countries, including India, this project remains partially or largely unfulfilled although this state of incompletion still has not prevented it from being very nearly abandoned in several instances. It is increasingly evident that social policy has a significance that goes beyond even the valid concerns about basic equity and minimal living standards, which form part of the social and economic rights of citizens. In fact, it can play a major role in the capitalist development project, at several levels. At the most basic level, social policies of different types are crucial to the state s capacity to manage modernisation, and along with it the huge economic and social shocks that are necessarily generated. Thus, for example, social policies of affirmative action in parts of Southeast Asia (as in Malaysia) have been essential to maintaining ethnic harmony over periods when existing income inequalities and social imbalances across groups within the aggregate population would be otherwise accentuated by economic growth patterns."(pg 1)
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2002-11
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With permission of the license/copyright holder