Publication:
The Performance of Social Pensions in India : The Case of Rajasthan

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (759.49 KB)
211 downloads
English Text (165.45 KB)
92 downloads
Date
2008-07
ISSN
Published
2008-07
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Government of India has recently announced a dramatic expansion of social pension schemes both in terms of coverage and benefit levels. Yet relatively little is known about how these programs are administered or how well they achieve their objectives. This paper assesses the performance of a social pension scheme in the Indian state of Rajasthan. In particular, the authors review the experience with respect to program awareness, coverage, targeting, and leakage as well as delivery mechanisms. The overall assessment is positive and holds broader lessons for social assistance in India. Thus, transaction costs once pensions are sanctioned are low, disbursements are largely as per schedule, leakage in the form of shortfalls in benefits is generally low, and satisfaction levels with the social pension scheme are high. At the same time there are clear areas for improvement on both the policy and administration side. There is evidence of under coverage and high transaction costs associated with the application process. Though targeting is generally progressive, especially for old age and widow pensions though less so for disability pensions, targeting is far from perfect and the eligibility criteria are not strictly enforced. There is a strong case for relaxing, rationalizing, and clarifying some of the existing criteria. On the administration front, several basic issues relating to implementation need to be addressed, particularly with respect to transaction costs in the sanction of pensions, wide inter-district variations in performance within the state, and inadequate record-keeping and monitoring.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Dutta, Puja Vasudeva. 2008. The Performance of Social Pensions in India : The Case of Rajasthan. Social protection discussion paper;no. 0834. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20197 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    The Illusion of Inclusion : Women's Access to Rights in Northern Kenya
    (World Bank, Nairobi, 2008-12) Ayuko, Bonita; Chopra, Tanja
    This paper shows how official laws concerning justice for women, can be difficult to apply when they are not socially acknowledged, contextualized, or received, and therefore have minimal impact on women's lives. It demonstrates that the inclusion of women through international conventions, domestic legal reform, and gender quotas in participatory processes, is illusory. While these are all important instruments in women's empowerment, the paper calls upon access to justice practitioners and policy makers to place equal emphasis on fostering the practical implementation of laws and to emphasize opportunities for increased equality in informal systems.
  • Publication
    Kenya National Safety Net Program for Results : Technical Assessment
    (Washington, DC, 2013) World Bank
    Kenya has experienced a decade of relatively strong economic growth. Between 2000 and 2009, economic growth in Kenya averaged 3.7 percent. However, growth declined sharply in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the violence following the December 2007 presidential elections, of the global food, fuel, and financial crisis, and of the drought that occurred after the fourth consecutive year. This persistent poverty and vulnerability highlights the fact that social protection has an important role to play in the effort to reduce poverty and vulnerability and promote human capital development in Kenya. The Government of Kenya has only recently (June 2011) developed a national social protection policy. This policy builds on the Constitution of Kenya (2010) which includes in its bill of rights the right for every person to social security and binds the state to provide appropriate social security to persons who are unable to support themselves and their dependents. However, there has also been a growing trend towards cash transfers to the extent that the majority of government financing to safety nets has been spent on cash transfers in recent years. As a result, the coverage of cash transfer programmes has grown significantly but remains low in comparison with the population in need. This paper is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction; chapter two gives strategic relevance; chapter three deals with technical soundness; chapter four focuses on institutional arrangements; chapter five presents budget process and expenditure framework; chapter six presents results framework; chapter seven focuses on economic justification; chapter eight gives inputs to the programme action plan; chapter nine gives technical risk rating; and chapter ten gives inputs to the programme implementation support plan.
  • Publication
    Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in a Poor Country
    (2011-07-01) van de Walle, Dominique
    Little is known about the situation facing widows and their dependent children in West Africa especially after the widow remarries. Women in Malian society are vulnerable to the loss of husbands especially in rural areas. Households headed by widows have significantly lower living standards on average than male or other female headed households in both rural and urban areas; this holds both unconditionally and conditional on observable household and individual characteristics including age. Furthermore, the adverse welfare effects of widowhood appear to persist even after widows are absorbed into male headed households. An examination of individual measures of well-being further reveals that, relative to other women, worse outcomes for ever-widowed women persist through remarriage. These detrimental effects are passed on to children, indicating an intergenerational transmission of poverty stemming from widowhood.
  • Publication
    Afghanistan Public Sector Pension Scheme : From Crisis Management to Comprehensive Reform Strategy
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06-24) Sluchynsky, Oleksiy
    After years of dealing with pension policy in crisis management mode, the Government of Afghanistan has begun the process of formulating a national pension policy based on a long-term vision. Until very recently the Government had been focused on short-term policy actions to alleviate growing pressure on the budget. While these measures were necessary, pension policy must take a long term view. Recently, the Government has developed a comprehensive reform package and initiated the process of legal drafting. A reformed system must have clear objectives, be fiscally sustainable, and address needs of various population groups. The final choices will need to be made as to mandate and design and administrative arrangements of the reformed system. The challenge is to ensure that the measures taken in the next few years do not make it more difficult to pursue certain preferred policies later. This paper shows that, according to the financial projections, there is now a window of opportunity for implementing a reform of the system.
  • Publication
    Gender-sensitive Approaches for the Extractive Industry in Peru : Improving the Impact on Women in Poverty and their Families
    (World Bank, 2011) Ward, Bernie; Strongman, John
    This book presents the results of the study 'New Approaches for Improving the Development Outcomes of the Extractive Industry in Peru: Improving Impacts on Women in Poverty and Their Families.' In recent years, large amounts of 'development assistance' in the form of infrastructure and social programs have been made available to communities across Peru as a result of the presence of extractive industry (EI) companies. These funds have come through corporate-managed social programs; royalties; the tax on EI profits, which is redistributed through the various canons; trust funds; and the voluntary contribution, which was recently introduced. With increasing extractive industry presence, and a decreasing supply of international cooperation aid to Peru, 2 as of 2006, funds from the mining canon alone outstripped international cooperation aid to Peru. While recent commodities fluctuations have reduced company profits, and therefore taxes, canon, and voluntary contributions by companies, these payments are still very significant and are greater than international cooperation aid. Although it is hard in the current international economic climate to make clear projections, funding resources originating from mining in Peru will continue to be key to the development of the poorer communities surrounding the mining operations. One important way in which EI companies and local governments responsible for administering the oil, gas, and mining canons could significantly improve their development outcomes would be to make sure that their development assistance approaches have a stronger influence on women-particularly women from poorer families, who are the least likely to be able to take advantage of the employment opportunities and other benefits offered by the company's presence.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Services Unbound
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09) World Bank
    Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2014
    (Washington, DC, 2013-10-06) World Bank
    The past 25 years have witnessed unprecedented changes around the world—many of them for the better. Across the continents, many countries have embarked on a path of international integration, economic reform, technological modernization, and democratic participation. As a result, economies that had been stagnant for decades are growing, people whose families had suffered deprivation for generations are escaping poverty, and hundreds of millions are enjoying the benefits of improved living standards and scientific and cultural sharing across nations. As the world changes, a host of opportunities arise constantly. With them, however, appear old and new risks, from the possibility of job loss and disease to the potential for social unrest and environmental damage. If ignored, these risks can turn into crises that reverse hard-won gains and endanger the social and economic reforms that produced these gains. The World Development Report 2014 (WDR 2014), Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development, contends that the solution is not to reject change in order to avoid risk but to prepare for the opportunities and risks that change entails. Managing risks responsibly and effectively has the potential to bring about security and a means of progress for people in developing countries and beyond. Although individuals’ own efforts, initiative, and responsibility are essential for managing risk, their success will be limited without a supportive social environment—especially when risks are large or systemic in nature. The WDR 2014 argues that people can successfully confront risks that are beyond their means by sharing their risk management with others. This can be done through naturally occurring social and economic systems that enable people to overcome the obstacles that individuals and groups face, including lack of resources and information, cognitive and behavioral failures, missing markets and public goods, and social externalities and exclusion. These systems—from the household and the community to the state and the international community—have the potential to support people’s risk management in different yet complementary ways. The Report focuses on some of the most pressing questions policy makers are asking. What role should the state take in helping people manage risks? When should this role consist of direct interventions, and when should it consist of providing an enabling environment? How can governments improve their own risk management, and what happens when they fail or lack capacity, as in many fragile and conflict-affected states? Through what mechanisms can risk management be mainstreamed into the development agenda? And how can collective action failures to manage systemic risks be addressed, especially those with irreversible consequences? The WDR 2014 provides policy makers with insights and recommendations to address these difficult questions. It should serve to guide the dialogue, operations, and contributions from key development actors—from civil society and national governments to the donor community and international development organizations.