Azim Premji University launches Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India
The new volume examines the achievements, gaps, and future of India’s welfare architecture
“India’s Constitution embodies a commitment to dignity, opportunity, and justice for every citizen. We hope this Handbook contributes to informed public dialogue and strengthens collective efforts to build a more equitable and inclusive India, advancing the aspiration of a Viksit Bharat that leaves no one behind.”
India has built one of the world’s largest welfare systems, covering a majority of its population through programmes focused on food security, health, education, nutrition, employment, and social protection. Welfare measures such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), MGNREGA, and social security transfers played a critical role in protecting vulnerable households during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To examine the strengths, gaps, and future of India’s welfare architecture, Azim Premji University has released Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India. Developed by the Centre for the Study of the Indian Economy (CSIE), the Handbook brings together 27 authors across 18 chapters and offers a rights-based analysis of India’s welfare policies and public systems.
“The handbook provides a comprehensive view of India’s welfare landscape through an analysis of major rights-based interventions of the Union government. We hope it serves as a valuable resource for academics, journalists, practitioners, and students, while helping translate research into action.”
Key messages from the handbook
- State governments account for nearly 90 percent of India’s social sector spending, while the Union government’s share has declined from 23.6 percent in 2008-09 to 8.5 percent in 2024 – 25.
- Governments collectively spend about 7 percent of GDP and 21 percent of total public expenditure on welfare sectors and schemes covered in the volume.
- Public spending on education remains around 4 percent of GDP and health below 2 percent of GDP, both below policy targets.
- Rights-based interventions have significantly expanded welfare coverage.
- Anganwadi centres increased from 6 lakh to 14 lakh following Supreme Court orders.
- The National Food Security Act expanded subsidised foodgrain coverage from 36.3 crore to over 81 crore people.
- MGNREGA generated 200 – 300 crore person-days of employment annually, with women accounting for over 55 percent of employment generated.
- The rapid expansion of cash transfer programmes is reshaping welfare delivery, while increasing digitisation is creating new challenges around exclusion and accountability.
- Key programmes continue to face gaps in coverage, funding, and implementation, including maternity benefits, nutrition programmes, pensions, and healthcare.
By bringing together evidence from across sectors, Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India contributes to informed debates on welfare policy, governance, and social justice, and underscores the importance of strengthening universal and accountable public services.
The Handbook is available here:
Book
Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India
in Centre for the Study of the Indian Economy, Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
This handbook maps the major interventions of the Union government that together constitute India’s welfare regime. India’s welfare architecture affects the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Understanding how these programmes were created, how they have functioned, and the extent to which they achieve their stated objectives is a matter of considerable economic, social, and political importance. This volume seeks to provide a systematic assessment of these interventions and their place within India’s broader development trajectory. The handbook brings together 18 chapters across the major welfare domains and a set of cross-cutting themes. In addition to the macroeconomics of welfare, the domains covered are: maternity entitlements, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), mid-day meals, the Public Distribution System (PDS), rural employment guarantee, social security pensions, school education, health, PM-JAY, the Right to Education Act, PM-KISAN, and state-level unconditional cash transfers. Chapters on social justice, social accountability, decentralisation and digitisation address the cross-cutting dimensions that shape delivery across the entire architecture.
Editors: Bhargav B S, Dipa Sinha, Rajendran Narayanan, Revati Mathai, Vijay Ram S
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