The World Bank unveiled a US $1-billion package to introduce a social safety system for the urban poor. In an interview to Zia Haq , Shrayana Bhattacharya, senior economist, World Bank, discusses its nuts and bolts. Edited excerpts:
Given the ongoing pandemic, the government needs to provide cash and in-kind support to the vulnerable. The programme envisages social protection as a bridge that can carry the poor and vulnerable to a phase of recovery. Half of India’s population is between the poverty line and twice the poverty line. Ninety per cent of workforce is informal. Our programme not only helps accelerate Indian govt’s attempt to support the poor, it is also trying to create strategic shifts that can not only help India deal with Covid-19 but also any future shocks or disasters.
There are three critical shifts. First, the programme will help India move from 460-plus fragmented social protection schemes to a fast and more flexible integrated system. Second, it will enable geographic portability of social benefits that can be accessed from anywhere in country, ensuring food, social insurance and cash-support, including for migrants and urban poor; and finally, it will move social protection from a predominantly rural focus to pan-national one that recognises urban poor.
Nearly 70% of social protection beneficiaries are in rural India. But there’s a growing urban economy and also fair amount of mobility between rural to urban India. The needs of a more mobile and urban India haven’t been addressed. For example, for Covid crisis, the government was able to quickly use pre-existing schemes like PM-KISAN, available only in rural India. There is no urban equivalent of a MNREGA or PM-KISAN.
You need to be able to provide food in an immediate and a portable way across states. Scaling up One Nation, One Ration is essential and our programme will support that. The second is about creating a cash-delivery system so income transfers can reach urban India and assets exist — like bank accounts and Aadhaar.
