Q. Performance of welfare schemes that are implemented for vulnerable sections is not so effective due to absence of their awareness and active involvement at all stages of policy process. Discuss.
The welfare schemes are the schemes, designed to provide the necessary means for the development of individuals, groups or a community. Generally, they are targeted towards the vulnerable and marginalised section of the society.
However, It is observed that the benefits intended to be delivered to the people through these schemes do not reach the beneficiaries because of weakness in administrative planning delivery mechanism and lack of awareness of the targeted groups. It is also observed that many development projects and programmes have failed in the past because of the inadequacies in design, implementation,involvement and general awareness about the policy in the public.
Ineffectiveness of the Policies
▪️Weak professional support to design, implement and monitor schemes at national, state and local levels.
▪️Too realistic or too optimistic assumptions, based on technical and non-technical parameters without the knowledge of the local situation, proper database and resource constraints, making the policies suffer at last.
▪️Poor policy formulation due to the unawareness about the vulnerable sections and area specific approach to handle distinct groups.
▪️No systematic attempt to identify people who need welfare schemes, determine their needs, address them and enable them properly.
▪️Inadequate analysis of environmental and rehabilitation implications.
▪️Delays in clearances from regulatory authorities for land acquisition and in procurement of resources due to poor planning and coordination.
▪️Inability of the project management to take prompt decisions on various levels of policy making even if they are necessary to achieve the objectives.
▪️There is no consistent approach in the design of delivery mechanisms and do not provide flexibility needed for different development levels of a policy.
▪️Lack of strict time frames, financial mechanisms and inter agency cooperation pose challenges.
▪️Most of the schemes are unrelated to each other with little horizontal convergence or vertical integration resulting in conflicts.
▪️Policies and programmes are not evaluated on their outcomes instead focus stays on monitoring finances.
▪️No method to ensure that policies reach everybody they are meant for.
The quality of policy framework and effectiveness of implementation of the policies are as important as the availability of resources for the realisation of the intended policy objectives. Availability of funds alone is not sufficient for tackling socio-economic problems like poverty and backwardness. Both implementing bodies as well as the benefitting people have to be aware of each others’ situations and work harmoniously.