Social Security Provision for Unorganized Sector in Debolina Dey* and Laishram Ladu Singh** International Institute for Population Sciences

Abstract As a result of medical improvement and increased life expectancy people are living longer than ever in most of the countries. no exception in this phenomenon. With the longer life ageing also takes place simultaneously and old age brings lot of insecurity mostly financial insecurity in general and particularly for those belonging to BPL category. Realizing the increasing need to provide financial security to the destitute elderly The launched various scheme under The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of the Ministry of Rural Development on 15th of August 1995. The present paper focus on the expenditure and allocation of fund for the NSAP with special focus on IGNOAPS with the help of Indistat.com. The paper finally comes out with obvious positive trend of increasing expenditure, significantly after the year 2010-11 for all over India and extreme concentration of funds among the few states.

Key words: NSAP, IGNOAPS, Social Security, Unorganized Sector.

“The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education, and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.” - Article 41 of the Indian Constitution

*Debolina Dey, Doctoral Fellow, International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumabi- 400088, India, Email: [email protected]

**Dr. Laishram Ladu Singh, Professor and Head, International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumabi- 400088, India, Email: [email protected]

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Introduction: In traditional Indian society, older people had a sense of honor and authority. The decision-making in the family were mostly assigned to them. They were valued for their experience and wisdom. On that tome mostly people of two or three or more generations would live together peacefully and happily under one roof. The family, commonly the joint family type, and social networks provided an appropriate environment in which the elderly spent their lives comfortably with all their respect. The traditional joint families as a social setup had risks distributed with households taking care of the social security needs of the elders. The presence of young and the old under the same roof enabled spreading of income risks and had for long negated the need for a centralized system of retirement planning. The emergence of modernization as well as industrialization, urbanization, occupational differentiation, education, and growth of individual philosophy has eroded the traditional values. These factors are responsible for breaking up of joint family system and respect for elders among members of younger generation. For a developing country like India, the rapid growth in the number of older population presents issues, barely perceived as yet, that must be addressed if social and economic development is to proceed effectively. Unlike in the western countries, where there is dominant negative effect of modernization and urbanization of family, the situation in the developing countries like India is in favour of continuing the family as a unit for performing various activities (Siva, 2000, 2002, 2004). Today India is home to one out of every ten senior citizens of the world. World has been experiencing demographic transition from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility for a long period of time. It started as early as eighteenth century in Europe and Western World. Demographic transition represents population structure transition which reflects in age structure transition. Decline in mortality rise the longevity of the people in one side and in another side decline in fertility reduce the young population. So the process of population ageing is defined as the decline in the proportion of young population and rise in older population. The analysis of historical patterns of mortality and fertility decline in India indicates that the process of population aging intensified only in the 1990's. The older population of India, which was 56.7 million in 1991, is 72 million in 2001 and is expected to grow to 137 million by 2021. India’s rapid ageing is due to declining fertility, and longer life expectancy. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which was 2.76 during 2005-10, is projected to reach the replacement level by 2020. Indeed, variations in the TFR among different regions and groups in the country are high, with

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some states, such as and already experiencing TFR below the replacement level (Government of India, 2001). In India with majority of its population aged less than 30, the problems and issues of its grey population has not been given serious consideration and only a few studies on them have been attempted in our country.

The main objectives of any social security (or social protection) system are consumption smoothing over an individual’s lifetime; insurance (particularly against longevity and inflation risks); income redistribution for society as a whole; and poverty relief. However, these have to be traded off against economic growth, labour market efficiency and labour market flexibility (Asher, 2009). At a global level, world is aging fast. The concern towards aging population has shaped up in building various social welfare measures for the older population pertaining to their insecurities especially the economic insecurity. However, in most of the developed western countries the social support towards elderly is associated with Medicare and network of homes, day care centers, nursing homes along with little monetary support in terms of pensions. For instance, social security programme of the United States includes old age assistance to the needy persons supplemented by medical insurance, social services, housing projects, institutional care, etc. The Canadian programme for the elderly constitute the Canadian Pension Plan in which Canadian labour force contributes in order to earn retirement pension at the age of sixty-five. In Britain, the Social Security Programmes provides financial help to the elderly, disabled, unemployed and widows. The pension in the country is based on needs for the aged with a contributory old age pension. On the other hand, developing nations increasingly face difficulties supporting their older population. In most developing countries, the elderly live at the bottom of the socio-economic strata. Older women, in particular, confront harsh conditions. Many people in the developing world hold informal jobs or work without wages in rural areas. These older persons enjoy no proper pension system have scarce retirement savings, if any. Most poor countries have no pension system, government only provide for the military and government officials.

Given this background there exist several studies which explain about the needs and reforms of the Indian social security system. Asher (2003) is one who talk about the reforming of India’s social security system. He also talked about pension plans, provident fund schemes and retirement policies of India’s social security system in 2009. Asher and Bali (2010) also investigate India’s social security system, with primary focus on pensions or retirement income arrangements. Sanyal

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and Singh (2013) proposes a universal pension scheme that will bring relief to the working population in the unorganized sector and argues that it will increase the coverage of pension without disturbing the fiscal situation. Barrientos (2007) discusses new strategies to provide old- age security in low income countries. Several studies respect to this field shows that ageing is a very newly emerging research area which has been realized through demographic transition. The most of the population in India is now below 30 and most of the people are working in informal sector of the economy. Reform and increase coverage of social security system is the matter of concern in now days.

Indian Scenario

In India, the government’s concern for the old and the aging of the population as a priority began with India’s participation in the World Assembly Conference in Vienna in 1982, where India adopted the United Nations International Plan of Action on Aging. This plan focused on the government’s role in adopting programs aimed at providing care and protection to the old, while synchronizing these with the changing socio-economic conditions of the society. Following participation at the World Conference, the Government, by way of stressing its intentions for the welfare of the old, began to recognize the old as a social category that needs specialized attention (Shankardass, 2004). Following the global attention and in view of the increasing need for intervention in area of old age welfare, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India adopted ‘National Policy on Older Persons’ in January, 1999. The policy provides broad guidelines to State Governments for taking action for welfare of older persons in a proactive manner by devising their own policies and plans of action. In India, the policy defines, ‘senior citizen’ as a person who is 60 years old or above. It strives to ensure well-being of senior citizens and improve quality of their lives through providing specific facilities, concessions, relief, services 10 etc. and helping them cope with problems associated with old age. As a result, providing for the care of older persons has become increasingly a major concern of the state and voluntary organizations resulting in various social security and support mechanisms towards the old as a helping hand of formal support. They include constitutional provisions, pension schemes, insurance schemes and various other privileges and benefits at the national and state levels. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, is responsible for undertaking a special care of their welfare, care and protection by initiating various programs and projects.

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Need for the Social Security in Unorganized Sector:

Unorganized sector contributes a large part of the economy in India. More than 90 percent of the total workforce in the country and 50 per cent of the national product are accounted for by the unorganized sector. These large amount of income comes from the socially and economically under-privileged strata of the society. Unorganized sector is increasingly interlinked with the Organized sector as well as it plays a major role in the development process of country. The surprisingly most of the workers who are engaged with unorganized sector is out of the coverage of social security. In the context of the changes in world economy there is considerable debate on the need of social security to the unorganized sector. The ILO has classified two broad groups according to the social security by which they are covered. They are either covered by Social Insurance or Social Assistance. Social Insurance covers workers under various categories, and Social Assistance covers persons with various disabilities, old age, and sickness. The needs of the social security of the unorganized sector are extensive and varied but the available funds for the programmes are very limited. Some funds are administered by the central government, and many administered in various sectors by the state government. In unorganized sector, large portion of the working people are from the rural areas, especially in agriculture sector. They are mostly deprived of any kind of social security protection. The small and marginal farmers, who are badly hit by drought, flood, crop failures, epidemic, disease and others, needed some kind of social assistance in the form of earning related programme in the field of agriculture, animal husbandry etc., and also supply of seeds, pesticides and irrigation facilities. The other basic social security need in the rural areas is health care as they are more prone to various diseases. In India the existing social security arrangements in the unorganized sector can be broadly classified into the following four groups:

a) Centrally Founded Social Assistance Programmes b) Social Insurance Schemes c) Social Assistance through welfare funds of Central and State Governments and d) Public Initiatives.

This paper only focus on the Centrally Founded Social Assistance Programmes.

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Centrally Founded Social Assistance Programmes

The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a welfare programme being administered by the Ministry of Rural Development. This programme is being implemented in rural areas as well as urban areas with effect from 1995. NSAP represents a significant step towards the fulfillment of the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the which enjoin upon the State to undertake within its means a number of welfare measures. Such measures under the policy ensured to raise the citizens standard of living through adequate means of livelihood, improved public health, provision of free and compulsory education for children through monetary assistance. The NSAP programme, focused towards providing social security to aged citizens, especially those belonging to the and also the families in the same category who have lost their primary breadwinner. The following schemes are covered under the programme:

i. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): Earlier known as National Old Age Pension Scheme, launched in 1995, under the scheme renamed in 2007,BPL persons aged 60 years or above are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200 up to 79 years of age and Rs.500 thereafter(Earlier the age limit was 65 years). At present central government provides two hundred rupees under IGNOAPS, to which state government adds an additional amount, according to their discretion. ii. Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS): BPL widows aged 40-59 years are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200. iii. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): BPL persons aged 18- 59 years with severe and multiple disabilities are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200. iv. National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS): BPL household is entitled to lump sum amount of money on the death of primary breadwinner aged between 18 and 64 years. The amount of assistance is Rs. 10,000. v. Annapurna: Under the scheme (1999), 10 kg of food grains per month are provided free of cost to those senior citizens who, though eligible, have remained uncovered under IGNOAPS. For aging population in India it also needs to be recognized that substantially large numbers of aged are poor despite rapid and consistent economic

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growth. In India, most of those who have worked in organized sector get pension and other retirement benefits after attaining the age of superannuation varying between 52 to 65 years. But for others, which constitutes majority, lack of such benefits means living with financial constraints. This may be the reason that among various support/schemes for elders, economic security remains the foremost priority and IGNOAPS is the major welfare scheme for the aged. For those belonging to unorganized sector and BPL family, the scheme brings in income security. In addition some other additional benefits for the elderly are also being provided by the Central and State Governments. But much is to be done, as at the old age their medical expenses increase at the same time dependency on children / relative for physical, mental and economic support also increases.

Need for the Study:

The study of socio economic dimensions of old age is gaining popularity in India as the size of the aged population is ‐projected to grow at an accelerated pace in the next decades. The population of elder persons has increased form nearly 2 crores in 1951 to 7.2 crores in 2001. In other words about 8% of the total population is above 60 years. The figure will cross 18 % mark by 2025. This, together with the rapid economic progress that the nation is foreseeing mainly in its urban and peri urban centers, has the mixed effect of generating economic surplus, but at the cost of eroded social‐ security systems due to processes like rural urban migration, shift from agrarian economies and vertically linked production mechanisms. If proper support systems are not in place, this chain ‐ of events may leave the vulnerable groups like the elderly population of the country in jeopardy. Hence, significant policy initiatives have been taken to create safety nets for the elderly in the country.

The disappearance of large family system in India took care of the social security needs of all members has necessitated provision of social security for senior citizens. For them social security can works like a protection unit which provides security through the medical benefit and old age pension plan. India has one of the world’s fastest growing economics but here, almost only generates informal jobs, which are not subject to labour law and do not foresee any form of social security for the ageing population. Longevity has increased rapidly, while people over 60 years of

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age are the fastest growing age cohort. Thus, there is a strong need to increase pension coverage for the population that largely consists of unorganized sector workers. The growing trend of population aging in the country, the older population faces a number of problems and adjusts to them in varying degrees. These problems range from absence of ensured and sufficient income to support themselves and their dependents to ill health, absence of social security, loss of social role and recognition and to the non-availability of opportunities for creative use of free time. As people live longer than before due to medical improvement they need more intensive and long term care, which in turn may increase financial stress in the family.

The major problems in our country are most of the people live in below poverty line. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India (1999) in its document on the National Policy for Older Persons, has relied on the figure of 33 percent of the general population below poverty line and has concluded that one-third of the population in 60 plus age group is also below that level. Though this figure may be understated from the older person’s point of view, still accepting this figure, the number of poor older persons comes to about 23 millions. Nearly 90 percent of the total workforces are employed in the unorganized sector. They retire from their gainful employment without any financial security like pension and other post retirement benefits. The organized sector workforce who includes the employees of the Central and State governments, of local government bodies, and of major enterprises in basic industries (e.g. manufacturing, mining etc.) constitute approximately 30 million workers and nearly one in every 10 members of the total Indian workforce of 314 million (Vijay Kumar, 2000). The work participation rate among the elderly was around 40 percent. More elderly men participate in the economic activities compared to women. The participation is high in rural areas compared to urban areas. The bulk of the 60 plus workers were engaged in agriculture. Nearly half of the elderly are fully dependent on others, while another 20% are partially so (NSSO, 1998). Women are more likely to dependent on others, given lower literacy and higher incidence of widowhood among them. The most vulnerable are those who do not own productive assets have little or no savings or income from investments made earlier, have no pension or retirement benefits, and are not taken care of by their children; or they live in families that have low and uncertain incomes and a large number of dependents (Bose, 1996). Vulnerable groups like the disabled, fragile older persons, and those who work outside the organized sector of employment like landless agricultural workers, small and marginal farmers, artisans in the informal sector, unskilled labourers on daily, casual or contract basis,

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migrant labourers, informal self-employed or wage workers in the urban sector, and domestic workers deserve mention here.

NSAP is a centrally funded social assistance programme. But the implementation ans amount of benefits varies from state to state. This programme basically covered those people who are belongs to the below poverty line. According to the statistics state-wise variation of percentage of poor people is very high.by reviewing the existing literature this paper wants to explore the impacts that the NSAP programme has had on the livelihoods of Indians living in poverty. In order to overcome from the financial insecurities of elderly engaged in unorganized sector, the NOAPS was introduced in India as a part of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) in the year 1995. It has been officially launched as Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS). This scheme aimed at providing a safety net for India’s aging population in terms of social, economical and moral support by helping eligible elderly citizens with direct cash benefit. By reviewing the existing literature the study found that there are as many as studies related to beneficiary of IGNOAPS scheme but the study related to fund released or allocation is very less. But the study found the importance of fund allocation or released under the scheme. So the paper try to find the trend, concentration and percentage share of different states in terms of allocation under IGNOAPS.

Overview of IGNOAPS

Realising the pressing need to provide financial security to the destitute elderly, the IGNIOPAS govt of India launched the National Old Age Pension Scheme under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of the Ministry of Rural Development, on 15th August 1995. Like other schemes of NSAP, this scheme is in line with Article 41 of the Constitution of India which directs the State to provide ‘public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limits of its economic capacity and development’.

On 19 November 2007, NOAPS was renamed as Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNIOPAS) and to widen its scope it has been extended to the elderly who fall below BPL. Initially under this scheme, all destitute elderly aged 65 years or above were provided a pension amount 75 Rs per month. Subsequently, with effect from 1st April 2006, the pension amount was increased to 200 Rs per month per person in order to make the scheme more effective and the state

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governments were requested by central government to contribute a matching amount for each beneficiary of this scheme. It has been noted that not all states are contributing an equal amount of 200 Rs per person per month to the pension.

To further improve the effectiveness of this scheme, with effect from 1st April 2011, the eligibility age for this scheme has been reduced from 65 to 60 years and the amount of pension has been raised from Rs 200 to Rs 500 per month for those who are 80 years or above.

The other two schemes under NSAP- Annapurna Schemes and Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme are linked to IGNOAPS in a way that under Annapurna Scheme ten kilograms of food grains are provided free of cost to those BPL elderly who though eligible, have not been covered under the IGNOPAS. And under IGNWPS, once the BPL widows reach the age of 60 years they are transferred to IGNOPAS. For aging population in India it also needs to be recognized that substantially large numbers of aged are poor despite rapid and consistent economic growth. In India, most of those who have worked in organized sector get pension and other retirement benefits after attaining the age of superannuation varying between 52 to 65 years. But for others, which constitute majority, lack of such benefits means living with financial constraints. This may be the reason that among various support for elders, economic security remains the foremost priority and IGNOPAS is the major welfare scheme for the aged. For those belonging to unorganized sector and BPL family, the scheme brings in income security. In addition some other additional benefits for the elderly are also being provided by the Central and State Governments. The beneficiaries of the IGNOPAS scheme have increased to nearly 1.7 crore individuals in 2010- 2011 since its inception. Historically, prior to 1995, for the first time initiatives were taken by Kerala (1960), followed by (1961) and Tamil Nadu (1962) to provide social security to the destitute elderly as old age pension, ranging from Rs 30 to Rs 100 per month. In addition, Kerala was the first state to introduce an old age pension scheme for agricultural workers. Introduced in 1982, scheme ensured pension of Rs 60 per month to those agricultural workers who completed 60 years. Later on other states Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujrat and Maharashtra also followed such scheme for the agricultural workers (Kumar, 1999)

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Objectives:

The main objectives of the study are:

• To understand the trends and concentration of the allocation of NSAP from 2009-10 to 2016-17.

• To explore whether increased allocation for NSAP is uniformly distributed across states.

• To understand the state-wise trends and patterns of the allocation of IGNOAPS from 2007- 08 to 2013-14 and concentration on poorer states.

Data Source:

The study is based on secondary data. The data on different scheme has been collected from indiastat.com. It serves with authentic and perhaps the most comprehensive compilation of secondary level socio-economic statistical information about India and its states on various socio- economic parameters. These parameters are: General Info, Demographics, Economy, Agriculture, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Environment and Forest, Industries, Infrastructure, Companies, Education, Health, Housing, Labour & Workforce, Polity, Media, Insurance, Tourism, Crime & Law, Social Welfare & Developmental Schemes etc. As its core activity, Datanet collects, collates and compiles in ready to use socio-economic statistical data about India, its various sectors, regions, states and districts to make it available online. Indiastat.com provides secondary level socio-economic statistical information about India, its states, regions and sector. Simple tabular and percentage analyses have been used in the study.

Methodology: The main goal of this study is to understand and validate the trends observed through secondary data of fund release or allocation under IGNOAPS. The main objective of this study is to understand the expenditure wise trends and variations and concentration of IGNOAPS scheme among the states as well as whole India over the year. To capture the exact scenario with the help of existing data rigorous descriptive analysis is being adopted as methodology rather than inference.

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Graphical Representations - A graphical representation is a visual display of data and statistical results. It is often more effective than presenting data in tabular form. There are many different types of graphical representation and which is used depends on the nature of the data and the type of statistical results. An appropriate graphical representation of category frequencies is a pie chart, where each slice represent a different category. Another graphical method used for category frequencies is a bar chart, where each bar represents a different category and the heights of the bars are proportional to the frequencies of the categories. To understand the trends and variations and year wise growth this method has been used. Percentage Calculations – Percentage calculation is also a very important methodology. It explains how to compare values, quantify changes Expressing values in the form of percentages will enable to readily compare information from different sources, quantify change over time and find the amount by which something has increased or decreased following a percentage change. To analyses the uniformity of the IGNOAPS scheme this method has been used.

Findings: Figure-1: Allocation of the NSAP

NSAP Trend in last 10 years 1200000 961451 949482 1000000 907882 844697 800000 708370 659647 600000 520000 516200

444200 Axis Axis Title 400000 289100

200000

0 2007-08` 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Axis Title

The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is the Government of India's (GOI's) flagship programme providing social assistance to specified social groups such as the elderly, widows and disabled persons living in below poverty (BPL) households. Budgetary allocations for NSAP have increased over 3-fold between FY 2007-08 and FY 2016-17. In 2009, GOI extended coverage of

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the NSAP to include two new schemes for widows and people with disability. Funds for NSAP are released by GOI through year. Yearly analysis shows that GOI has consistently released all allocated funds. In 2012, GOI constituted a Task Force to restructure the NSAP. The Task Force recommended enhancing the reach and level of assistance provided under NSAP with effect from FY 2013-14. NSAP is a 100 percent centrally funded scheme. Allocations to state governments are made based on GOIs estimation of beneficiaries in each state. This estimation in turn is based on the 2002 BPL survey conducted by the Planning Commission. With effect from FY 2014-15, NSAP has been converted to a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS). The move to a CSS is underlined by the fact that as an Additional Central Assistance (ACA) fund, the scheme suffered from fund flow delays. As a CSS, funds will now be released by GOI directly to the implementing authorities.

Figure-2 shows that expenditures have been relatively high and in some years, GOI reportedly spent more than its allocated budget. For the year 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, expenditure trends indicate a possible slowdown. 2015-16 also shows that expenditure is less but the graph has drawn with the help of the first phase of expenditure spent.

Figure-2: Percentage of Expenditure and Release of NSAP

Chart Title 140%

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Release Expenditure

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Figure -3 shows the expenditure as a percentage of total allocated funds of consecutive three years which varies across the states. In the year 2014-15, Kerala spent 260 percent of its available funds, followed by Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Andhra Pradesh. The most interesting fact is that in the year 2014-15 all of the states spent more than 100 percent of its available funds except Maharashtra, 89%. Only first phase data has been released for the year 2015-16. If we consider the year 2013-14 the Southern states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu spent more than 100 percent of their allocated funds. In contrast, Maharashtra and Gujrat spent 43% and 60% respectively.

Figure-3: Trends in Allocations and Expenditures at the State Level

Total 79% 87% 125% Kerala 82% 121% 260% 47% 60% 110% Andhra Pradesh 114% 101% 133% Chhattisgarh 92% 91% 114% 64% 104% 125% Jharkhand 67% 86% 138% Maharashtra 33% 43% 89% Karnataka 103% 96% 133% Tamil Nadu 66% 122% 149% 62% 96% 127% 40% 90% 114% 105% 102%111% Madhya Pradesh 130% 68% 101% Bihar 86% 90% 136% 91% 79% 125% 0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 250% 300% 2015-16 2014-15 2013-14

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Understanding the allocation trend of IGNOAPS over the year:

According to the report of Ministry of Rural Development Report (2012-13), the Government of India on 13 September, 2007 removed the word destitute and modified the eligibility criteria for grant of old age pension to persons aged 65 years or higher and belonging to a household below the poverty line according to the criteria prescribed by the Government of India. According to the report the number of beneficiaries covered under this scheme is increasing from 163 lakh in 2009- 10 to 227 lakh in 2012-13. With the increasing beneficiaries naturally fund allocation is also increases. Apprising the Committee of the nature of assistance given under NSAP (as IGNOAPS a part of NSAP programme) and the modalities of transfer of funds given to the States, during the oral evidence held on 18.09.13, the Secretary, MoRD stated as follows: “The Social Assistance Programme, is in the nature of Additional Central Assistance and it is released in the form of installments directly by the Ministry of Finance to States into the Consolidated Fund of the State and in respect of Union Territories by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Consolidated Fund of Union Territories. The respective demands of these two Ministries reflect the budgetary requirements and the actual release and management of the accounting is done by these two Ministries and essentially the role of the Ministry of Rural Development is to facilitate States for the purpose of ensuring that the entitlements and eligibilities under the programme are properly managed.

Figure 4 shows the cumulative growth of fund release/allocation of IGNOAPS in India between 2007-08 to 2013-14. The graph demonstrates the increasing allocation in response to increase in beneficiaries. The graph also represents that till 2010-11 the fund released/allocation was almost evenly distributed but after 2010-11 it shows a sharp increasing trend

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Figure 4: Growth of Fund Allocation under IGNOAPS in India

Growth of fund allocation from 2007-08 to 2013-14 1000000 900000 800000 700000 600000 500000 400000 300000 200000 100000 0 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14

To support the trend there exists concrete background that the number of beneficiaries under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) has increased to 223 lakh. With effect from 1.4.2011 under IGNOAPS the eligibility for old age pension has been reduced from 65 years to 60 years and the amount of pension has been raised from 200 to 500 per month for those who are 80 years or above. In India from 2007-08 to 2013-14 the allocation has increased by 215% which is more than thrice. As the above picture represents the increasing trend for almost all states, the growth rate is highest (768%) for Pondicherry and lowest rather negative for Assam. Distribution of the Fund:

In this section study has been divided into two parts. In the first part study has showed the position of the top 10 states for 2013-14. As we know that IGNOAPS is a part of NSAP and the scheme is dedicated for older (above 60 years) people who belongs to the BPL category but the data shows an ununiformed distribution fund among the states. The mentioned 10 states acquire 86% share of the fund release that’s why the study has been considered top 10 states. With the help of the following graphs the study clear the position and share of the states. Figure 5 depicts the allocation wise ranking of the 10 states for the year 2013-14 in below. Following graph shows that fund released under IGNOAPS scheme is highest for the state Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar, West Bengal and lowest for Jharkhand. Among the ten states allocation for top 3 states is 44% and top 5 states is 60% which proof that fund allocation is not uniformly distributed among the states.

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Figure 5: Allocation wise rank of the states in the year 2013-14

Allocation wise top 10 States in 2013-14 180000 160000 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 Uttar Bihar West Madhya Odisha Andhra Tamil Karnataka Rajasthan Jharkhand Pradesh Bengal Pradesh Pradesh Nadu

Secondly, the study shows the states with high and low average annual growth rates of top 10 states (period between 2007-08 to 2013-14) together with respect to country average as well as state average for fund release under the IGNOAPS scheme which are presented in Figure-6

Figure-6: Percentage Growth of IGNOAPS from 2007-08 to 2013-14

% Change from 2007-08 to 2013-14 500% 450% 400% 350% 300% 250% 200% 150% 100% 50% 0%

Among them the high growth rate states are Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odissa enrolled more than average of ten states from 2007-08 to 2013-14 rest lies below the average. If we consider India as an average then Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh

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shows the highest percentage growth rate among ten states and Karnataka shows the lowest trend. Share of top ten states has increased from 73% to 86% over the year but the growth is extremely concentrated in top ten states. These ten states interchanging their rank over the year. There does not exists any evidence of extraordinary growth of any other states regarding the same. Allocation of poorer states:

Under the IGNOAPS scheme persons who are eligible and belonging to below poverty line both in rural and urban areas have been covered. The study also wants to capture the allocation or fund release of four poorer states as there are more people who are belongs to the below poverty line. The four poorer states are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Orissa. In those states most of the people belongs to BPL. As per the eligibility criteria allocation or fund released should be more for those states. Figure-7 shows the share of poorer states with respect to rest of the country. Among the four states allocation for the Bihar is highest followed by Orissa. But the share for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is very less 4% and 3% respectively for the year 2013-14. Whereas, allocation wise Bihar and Orissa belongs to top ten states over the year.

Figure-7: Share of the Poorer States in term of Expenditure/Allocation in 2013-14

Share of Poorer States of India in 2013-14

Bihar Chattisgarh Jharkhand Odissa Rest of India

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Summary & Discussion:

India's social security system is woefully inadequate compare to other country. For a long time social security targeted only central and state government employees and formal sectors. In the last decade, the Government of India started a reform process towards a more comprehensive multi-tier pension system, which generally is the most effective option to meet the demands of various groups (Asher, Bali 2010:64 f; Robalino, Holzmann 2009). The coverage and benefit of is expand after the considerable initiatives by central government. The NSAP as part of a wider antipoverty programme, is a welfare measure targeting income support to the vulnerable (including older persons, widows and persons with disabilities). In general, India has a north/south gradient. Most western and southern states are more developed, which expressed in all strata. Some States in India have fairly comprehensive social security schemes notably Kerala, also West Bengal and Tamil Nadu but the scale of the benefits is modest. Allocation and fund release for those states is also high. However, the Union government has been quite lackadaisical in providing social security despite its enormous fiscal powers. The stinginess is particularly evident in old-age pension schemes. Some State governments have responded to the need to provide old-age pensions, but it’s not workable properly for lack of resources. At present, 19 states and union territories are providing Rs 400/- or more including Tamil Nadu (Rs1000/-) (Rs 1000/-), and Maharashtra (Rs 600/-). Other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh are providing between Rs 200/- and Rs400/-. Many states have their own schemes for pensions to the elderly apart from the IGNOAPS. In that case, the eligibility criteria and benefit amounts for these vary from state to state.

The paper has two major objectives firstly, the paper shows the trend and pattern of allocation under the IGNOAPS scheme over the year. Results shows an increasing trend as the beneficent increases day by day as well pension amount increase after 2011 so the allocation also increases. Secondly, it aims to find out uniform allocation or fund among all the states with the hypothesis that there does not exists any ununiformity among the states. Results show that, the allocation is highly concentrated among the ten states over the year.

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Conclusions:

The present study concluded that the government efforts are necessary for the welfare of unorganized workers. They are the most vulnerable and deprived section of the society in the need of protection, security, benefits and assistance. There exists lot of variation has been found relating the regional variation in India. Obviously such factors create great hurdles and imbalances in the proper execution of social security measures and are also responsible for the limited utilization of the social security legislation which hit the basic aim and objectives of the social security. The social security system needs to be effective and constructive and should have of more and more coverage areas.

Lastly, The Government of India has implemented a stingy pension programme for the elderly poor nearly two decades. IGNOAPS is the largest scheme within the NSAP. Currently, persons above 60 years get a pension of Rs. 200 per month, and those over 80 years get Rs. 500 per month under The Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development. A few states provide a supplemental pension, some nothing at all. From the policy point of view, there should be a cost of living adjustment embedded in the schemes so that the value of the pension is not eroded with inflation. The expenditure on IGNOAPS has increased fivefold since 2007-08. The last major expansion takes place when the pension amount was raised from Rs 75 to Rs 200. The expenditure would increase further if the suggestions currently proposed by Pension Parisad are accepted. Another challenging issue which comes out from the study that expenditure/allocation/fund release is extremely concentrated on few states over the year it should be equally distributed among all the states. So it is clear that IGNOAPS is a useful scheme for elderly below poverty line however it is facing some improper monitoring implementation which can be controlled by the government.

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Reference:

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