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Ageing and Social Security: India’s Public Policy Pursuit

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Handbook of Aging, Health and Public Policy

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Abstract

Ageing involves inability to work, inadequate health, and insecurity with respect to dignified life in society. This chapter sets out contemporary public policy options to address these issues and review the Indian experience till date. India has pursued a host of welfare programs to address the needs of the elderly. Given the (i) costs due to multiplicity of mis-targeted and ill-conceived welfare schemes and (ii) government’s tentative proposal on universal basic income in India, this chapter advocates a universal non-contributory old age pension meeting at least the canon of effectiveness by specifying an allowance defined with respect to subsistence/inclusive-growth-threshold norms. To overcome the limitations of the absolute poverty/inclusive growth approaches, it proposes inflation-growth-integrated senior citizen old age allowances across states and over time in India. To ensure feasibility and sustainability of this proposal, public policy options for pay as you go in the formal sector and tied health insurance in the informal sector could be explored.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The programme’s revised version can be found in GoI (2016).

  2. 2.

    These are the Madrid Plan of Action and the United Nations Principles for Senior Citizens adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002, the Proclamation on Ageing and the global targets on ageing for the Year 2001 adopted by the General Assembly in 1992, the Shanghai Plan of Action 2002 and the Macau Outcome document 2007 adopted by UNESCAP. As a signatory to all these documents, it is imperative for the Government of India to pursue the same framework in its policies for the elderly.

  3. 3.

    Indian Railways provides several other benefits like lower berth quota, wheel chair facilities, buggy services, yatri mitra sewa facilities at railway stations, and also the option to forgo concession in fare for the senior citizens.

  4. 4.

    Updated multidimensional profiles of the aged in India could be found in Goli et al. (2019).

  5. 5.

    A defined-benefit plan is the traditional pension plan. It refers to a retirement plan sponsored by the employer providing benefits to the employees wherein benefits are computed with reference to several factors like duration of employment and salary schedule.

  6. 6.

    A defined-contribution plan is based on a fund generated by employee contribution from his paycheck and a matching contribution for me the employer.

  7. 7.

    The policy has different versions in its implementation. For instance, the State Government of Kerala offers seven types of welfare pensions. They are (i) agricultural labour pension (Rs 1400 per month); (ii) Indira Gandhi national old-age pension scheme (Rs 1400 per month); (iii) Indira Gandhi national old-age pension scheme for aged greater than 75 years (Rs 1500 per month); (iv) Gandhi national disability pension scheme (Rs 1400 pm); (v), Indira Gandhi national disability scheme involving disability (Rs 1400 per month); (vi) pension for unmarried women above 50 years (Rs 1400 per month); and (vii) Indira Gandhi national widow pension scheme (Rs 1400 per month). (https://welfarepension.lsgkerala.gov.in/FAQsEng.aspx?pentypeid=2) (Accessed on 01/11/2020). For state-wise information on old age pension amount per beneficiary and number & percentage of beneficiaries, see Goli et al. (2019, p.36).

  8. 8.

    Chopra and Pudussery (2014) provide evidence of targeting errors in social assistance schemes; they too find the provision inadequate.

  9. 9.

    Conventional eeconomic policy literature generally uses mean-based estimates of average like per capita income/consumer expenditure to define the mainstream. Mean-based estimates are robust measures for a normal/equal distribution. They cannot locate the mainstream of skewed distribution since they are vulnerable to outliers. Hence, this paper proposes median as a measure of average and defines mainstream threshold as a fraction (δ) of the median per capita consumer expenditure.

  10. 10.

    Modified Mixed Reference Period involves use of multiple reference periods for data collection on different items of consumption items as follows: (a) “Last 7 days” for edible oil, egg, fish, and meat, vegetables, fruits, spices, beverages, refreshments, processed food, pan, tobacco and intoxicants; (b) “Last 365 days” for clothing and bedding, footwear, education, institutional medical care, and durable goods; and (c) “Last 30 days” for the remaining items (GoI, 2014a, p. 9).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, India

    M. H. Suryanarayana

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  1. M. H. Suryanarayana
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Section Editor information

  1. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

    K. S. James

  2. University of Maryland College Park, College Park, United States

    Arun Balachandran

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Suryanarayana, M.H. (2022). Ageing and Social Security: India’s Public Policy Pursuit. In: Handbook of Aging, Health and Public Policy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1914-4_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1914-4_6-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-1914-4

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