India's rights-based welfare architecture, built over two decades through legal guarantees to work, food, and education, has undergone a systemic legislative and budgetary rollback over the last decade. According to the comprehensive new volume "Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India" published by the Centre for the Study of the Indian Economy (CSIE) at Azim Premji University, this transformation has resulted in a discretionary model of "New Welfarism" characterized by centralized cash transfers, digital gatekeeping, and diminished state accountability. The handbook documents how universal legal entitlements are being replaced by digitized, conditional schemes that systematically shift the burden of proving eligibility onto India's most vulnerable citizens.
Indian states have maintained a clear focus on social welfare spending, allocating over 60% of total expenditure under development expenditure, with approximately 58-60% on social expenditure and 40% on economic services. According to reports from Business Standard, this allocation pattern has been consistent over the years, demonstrating states' commitment to social welfare priorities. The social services focus encompasses five major areas: education, social security and health, water supply and sanitation, housing, and welfare of scheduled castes and tribes.
State allocation patterns in education reveal significant regional variations based on development needs. As reported by Business Standard, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh allocated above 15% of their budgets to education, compared to the national average of 13.1%. Advanced southern states, which already have strong educational foundations, typically allocate lower percentages to education. This targeted approach demonstrates states' ability to identify segments requiring greater investment based on local development compulsions.
Cash transfer schemes specifically targeting women in lower income groups have substantially improved living conditions of poor families, as women tend to spend money more judiciously. According to Business Standard, free transport schemes for girls and women have enabled travel for work and improved school attendance, particularly benefiting rural areas where traditional families are reluctant to invest in girls' education. These schemes have led to better education outcomes and empowerment, with collateral benefits including stronger backward linkages for industries providing bicycles, sewing machines, and laptops. The handbook notes that about seventeen states currently have such transfer programmes, with many political parties promising cash transfers during election campaigns.
Multiple social assistance programmes have experienced severe budgetary cuts despite growing needs. The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) allocation has flatlined at an average of roughly ₹9,500 crore annually through 2025–26, representing a massive cut after adjusting for inflation. The programme's share of the total Union budget plummeted from 0.57 percent to just 0.19 percent over this period. Similarly, the Samagra Shiksha budgetary share dropped from 62 percent to 51 percent within the Department of School Education and Literacy's budget between 2019–20 and 2025–26. The handbook warns that this spending increasingly substitutes for, rather than supplements, direct provisioning of public clinics and hospitals.
The handbook highlights significant challenges with India's digital welfare infrastructure, including the deletion of 2.49 crore ration cards between 2020 and 2025 during digitisation drives. The Right to Food Campaign has independently documented over 25 starvation deaths since 2016 directly caused by Aadhaar authentication failures and subsequent card cancellations. Government infrastructure data from March 2023 reveals stark rural deficits with 22 percent shortage in rural sub-centres, 30 percent shortage in primary health centres, and 36 percent shortage in community health centres. The handbook concludes that this digital push has severely backfired, as slow rural internet connectivity, low digital literacy, and rigid eKYC barriers mean severe child malnutrition is being under-recorded.
