By C. V. H. RAO, M.A.
There
is a distinct prospect of social-welfare activities in India making great
strides during the second Five Year Plan period. This statement is not a mere
hope but a deduction from the facts of the present and from the widespread and
growing recognition that economic progress, such as that being planned for and
envisaged in the next Plan, must rest on the solid foundations of social
welfare and social advance. The Welfare State, which is the goal of economic
planning, will be a structure built on quicksands if, along with the elevation
of standards of living of the people and of the national income, social
progress and elimination of social disabilities are not ensured. The attainment
of social security, as such, may be a somewhat distant ideal; but there is no
doubt that the steps now being taken towards providing social services for the
benefit of the people and welfare activities undertaken in the interests of
various under-privileged, handicapped or backward sections of the population,
will be greatly accelerated in the next few years, as an integral part of the
second Five Year Plan.
The
first Five Year Plan has definitely set the pace in this regard and what has
been accomplished in the social welfare field during the last few years has
made our people welfare-conscious. It has been said that the goal of welfare
administration is the turning of welfare policy into welfare services. To
ensure that such services and activities so span out that the huge gaps that
exist are effectively filled up, would, however, demand not only a much larger
provision of funds but a correspondingly large number of trained workers. Law
and administration have to be streamlined and geared to the needs of welfare programmes
and policies, so that the maximum results can be achieved from the expenditure
of funds and the efforts of welfare agencies and personnel.
Then
again, while on the one hand the State and its agencies are called upon to
assume extended and more direct responsibility than in the past for social
welfare work and activities, there is on the other the imperative need to
mobilise, on a much bigger scale than previously, the services of voluntary
organisations in the field, in order that their already wide
participation in, and contribution to, the promotion of welfare work can become
wider and more effective. A purposeful and fruitful partnership, of which there
is already unmistakable evidence, can be ensured by a two-way traffic being
established in this respect between the State and the private agencies at
different levels. The responsibility for creating conditions propitious for the
realisation of social equality as enjoined in the Constitution, instead of
being shouldered unilaterally by the State, will thus be shared by it with
voluntary and private agencies. It is the essence of the democratic basis of
our Constitution that this partnership should be real and effective and
mutually beneficial. Democratic principles and practice impose on the individual
and the community the obligation of participating in the State’s
responsibilities. If that participation is non-existent, either there will be
social decay and disintegration, or the path will be cleared for State
dictatorship, which in social affairs can be infinitely more obnoxious than
dictatorship in the political or economic spheres.
In
the context of the basic ideals of our Constitution and the Directive
Principles of State Policy incorporated in it, the State in India has assumed
responsibility for the amelioration and progress of some sections of the
population like the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Backward Classes, the
ex-criminal tribes, and so on, who had for long been neglected.
The
State has also assumed responsibility for the promotion of the
welfare–economic, cultural and social of the people in the rural areas, for
which Gandhiji and others before him had blazed the trail, through the
organisation of community development programmes and national extension
services in agriculture, animal husbandry, cottage industries, co-operation and
others, which are intended to cover the whole country by 1961. The significant
characteristic of these programmes, which is of cardinal importance, is that in
them the State’s participation is principally in the, direction of providing
financial and advisory assistance and the basic administrative services and the
supervisory personnel for executing them. Essentially, the policy is to seek
the active co-operation and participation of the local voluntary and private
agencies like panchayats and co-operative societies and grama sanghams or
village associations in the channelling of the various services and financial
assistance. State effort in this sphere is thus concerned fundamentally with
the strengthening of local efforts and not with an uprootment of the
traditional norms of the people concerned.
The
setting up of the Central Social Welfare Board in August 1953, as a sequel to
the recommendation of the Planning Commission, constitutes a notable landmark
in the direction of affording a fillip to social welfare activities in India.
It involved the first specific recognition by the State in our country of its
obligations in a field in which previously voluntary effort had been playing
the predominant part. The aims and objectives of the Board, which is an
autonomous body under the general administrative control of the Ministry of
Education, Government of India, impose on it certain specific duties and
obligations, which include assisting of voluntary welfare organisations to
maintain and expand their services, coordination of the work of these
organisations and establishing of new ones in those fields in which no such
organisations at present exist, coordinating the welfare activities and schemes
of the various Central Ministries, and formulating and helping in the
implementation of welfare services for the benefit of those defenceless and
destitute and needy groups who do not have the advantage of such services now.
It
is not necessary to enter into the details of the Central Social Welfare
Board’s work in this connection, except to say that its establishment and its
functioning till now have inspired a new hope in, and imparted a dynamic
direction to, social welfare activities in the country. It has helped in
carving for social welfare schemes an unmistakable place in the structure of
national welfare and progress. The State Social Welfare Advisory Boards, set up
in the various States by the State Governments in consultation with the Central
Board, provide a machinery which could vitalise the work of local welfare
organisations and accentuate their utility to the community.
Additional
to the Social Welfare activities sponsored, aided or implemented by or under
the guidance of the Central Social Welfare Board and its State branches, a
number of welfare programmes are sponsored and aided by Union Government
Ministries, prominent among which are the youth welfare activities for members
or ex-members of the Defence forces, under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence,
which also is in charge of the National Cadet Corps, an organisation through
which an increasingly large number of young college students are being
initiated into social service and social welfare activities of different kinds
particularly in the rural areas. A whole gamut of services for the welfare of
labour in factories, mines and industrial establishments are in charge of the
Ministry of Labour, though it is customary to regard these as “social services”
and not “social welfare” services. The latter, which would include provision or
amenities for the children of working women, social case work service for
workers and their families, promotion of adult education among the working
classes, and family planning services for them, constituting a range of
activities in which voluntary workers and organisations are presently engaged
will attain considerable momentum during the second Plan period. A scheme for
coordinating the activities of the Labour Ministry and the Central Welfare
Board in the field of family welfare of workers in the industrial
establishments run by the State, is under consideration.
Social
welfare does not restrict itself to the community’s responsibility for
performing certain actions for the benefit of certain groups of needy, destitute,
under-privileged and socially defenceless sections of the population, but
should also comprehend efforts to elevate their social status and promote
social justice. Regarded in this wise, there is an almost endless series of
activities which require to be taken up in the context of the widespread
ignorance, poverty and the incidence of social injustices and inequalities that
prevail. In this sphere, therefore, the expansion of the State’s activities has
to be on a scale commensurate with the demands of the situation, and should be
backed up to the maximum extent possible by new legislative measures and
effective implementation of existing welfare laws. Good intentions and a spirit
of service are qualities which, when combined with adequate financial support,
can carry social welfare workers a considerable way along the road of rendering
service to their fellowmen in distress or want, but they cannot carry them the
whole way. Alongside of these prerequisites, appropriate legislative measures,
buttressed by effective sanctions in the form of an adequate enforcement
machinery, are essential to achieve results.
In
the administration of social welfare measures and legislation and in other
directions too, a large and important field is reserved for the State
Governments and Local Government organisations, which are the appropriate
channels for the implementation of a number of schemes, ranging from child
welfare to community and rural welfare. The manifestation of an awareness of
its responsibility in this sphere by the Central Government should be
increasingly reflected in the development of a similar awareness among the
State Governments. Establishment of institutions, such as certified schools,
Fit Person institutions, and remand homes for the reception and rehabilitation
of juvenile delinquents and child offenders, special homes and work houses for
the beggars, rescue homes for the reception and rehabilitation of unmarried
mothers, delinquent women and those rescued from houses
of prostitution, and institutions for the benefit of the physically and
mentally handicapped, has to be taken up by the State Governments on their own
initiative or in pursuance of Central directives. The police and vigilance
machinery for the enforcement of the concerned laws has to be tightened up, so
that the latter will not be mere warnings against evil-doing but will become
effective instruments for its prevention.
All
this involves tremendous administrative and organisational problems and
problems of evoking public co-operation, and the employment of the services of
a large number of persons. Social welfare administration is a formidable and
complex process and predicates the possession, on the part of those engaged in
it, of not only knowledge of the techniques of administration but also an
intimate knowledge of human nature and psychology, an understanding sympathy
and a spirit of service. Hence arises the need for training a large number of
persons in social work methods, who can handle jobs in which initiative and
competence are continuously called for. As is well-known, training schemes are
already under way for workers to be employed in different capacities in the
community development and national extension service blocks and in the rural
welfare extension centres of the Central Social Welfare Board, for
administering welfare services for the Scheduled Tribes and Hill Tribes, for
dealing with problems of the handicapped and delinquent children and for
implementing correctional and after-care programmes. During the second Five
Year Plan period, these training schemes will have attained greater momentum,
and large numbers of men and women, competent to undertake and discharge
responsibilities in the various fields, would become available.
Besides
the special training schemes for these various categories of personnel, the
professional schools of social work provide specialized course’s
of training for those who will be required to take up higher supervisory and
administrative positions under State or voluntary welfare agencies or in State
Departments of Social Welfare. A progressive intermingling of State-sponsored
and State-administered social services and of services provided by voluntary
welfare organisations can be envisaged in the next Plan period, the good
offices of the Central Social Welfare Board and of the State Welfare Advisory
Boards being available in promoting this co-ordination. A number of all-India
organisations engaged in welfare work of different kinds already employ
specially trained persons on their staffs to formulate and plan their
activities and programmes.
The
financing and administering of social services and welfare programmes present
another series of problems which should receive accentuated attention in the
next Plan period. Voluntary welfare institutions receiving grants-in-aid from
State agencies are invariably required to find an amount equivalent to the
grant from other sources or from public contributions. This is a salutary
requirement, because, in finding these “matching” resources, the self-reliance
and self-respect of these organisations are strengthened.
It
is expected that during the second Plan period, schemes and activities to be
aided or sponsored by the Central Social Welfare Board would involve an outlay
from public funds of Rs. 15 crores. Welfare schemes, started and aided by the
other Ministries of the Union Government or the State Governments, would
involve an additional outlay, which may be anything from 50 to 60 crores. Thus
tax-supported welfare services may be estimated to cost about Rs. 70 to 80
crores, and assuming that an equivalent sum is to be found from private sources
or other sources in the form of buildings, lands, labour and equipment, the
total funds available for social welfare work during the next five years can be
estimated at about Rs. 150 crores. The experience of public co-operation in the
community development projects and the N. E. S. blocks and in
the welfare extension projects of the Central Social Welfare Board indicates
that, provided proper guidance and leadership are available, the Indian people,
specially the rural population, would respond enthusiastically to good causes,
in the benefits from which they could participate. The Community Chest method
of collecting funds for social and community welfare activities, widely
prevalent in the United States, is new to our country; but it is a method which
can be made to yield profitable results, when social welfare activities are
organised on an institutionalised basis and co-ordination of activities between
social welfare institutions and social workers in different spheres on the
basis of pooled resources is established.
In
the field of social welfare, therefore, the second Plan period will witness a
great advance in a number of directions. Firstly, we can
envisage a greater and more dynamic interest on the part of Governments,
Central and State, in promoting welfare activities for the
under-privileged, the unadjusted, the mal-adjusted and handicapped groups, in
rural and urban community development, in youth welfare, and in the promotion
of the welfare of Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes, and lastly, in
family welfare services. The demands of a Socialistic pattern of society and of
social justice make this imperative. Secondly, we may look forward to better
and more effective co-ordination of the programmes and activities of State and
voluntary welfare agencies and a greatly extended participation of the latter
in such activities, through the financial assistance and other help provided by
the State agencies. Thirdly, there will be a further extension of facilities
for the training of workers for general as well as the more specialised
categories of welfare work, and, therefore, larger opportunities for employment
of such workers under the State and voluntary welfare agencies. Fourthly, there
will have to be larger allocations of funds by the State, in the Central and
the State spheres, for a variety of welfare services covering a large number of
needy and destitute groups in the urban as well as the rural areas,
particularly the latter. Simultaneously, we may envisage a more pronounced
welfare bias being imparted to the administrative machinery in general, so that
it will become an instrument for the promotion, enforcement and execution of
welfare policies. Lastly, we can expect a greater and more purposeful
co-ordination between law and administration on the one hand, and law and the
activities of social welfare workers and organisations on the other, so that
welfare legislation will be more effectually implemented and, whenever
necessary, existing laws will be amended or altered to enable new situations to
be competently met and social evils to be competently combated.
Changes
in social outlooks and thoughts, especially when those outlooks are deep-rooted
in long tradition and have crystallized into ways of life, as is the case with
us in some respects, are not easy to bring about. But desirable changes
dictated by the status of Freedom which India has attained cannot be
obstructed, though it is, from the practical point of view, preferable to bring
them about by education and propaganda than by imposition from above. This is
what we are attempting to do in India in the social sphere, and inevitably the
process is somewhat slow–in some respects
probably painfully slow. But enlightened public opinion would, however,
help in quickening the pace of reform.
In
a rapidly advancing world, with the diversity and complexity of the problems
confronting the State and society, social welfare measures of adequate dimensions
can be formulated and executed only on the basis of reliable and properly
collected and analysed statistics and information. Social research is,
therefore, a line of activity which should receive greater and greater
attention in the next few years. The realisation of the need for research into
social problems and for collection of statistical information, say, regarding
the number of beggars, the physically or mentally handicapped, the destitute
and the infirm and the delinquent groups, are an essential preliminary for
formulating relief and welfare programmes of commensurate proportions.
Lastly,
social welfare work in India, during the latter half of the 19th and the first
decades of the present century was considered as interchangeable with social
reform, particularly in the sphere of ameliorating the conditions of women and
children. With changed conditions and situations, it has to develop a new and
practical philosophy appropriate to the present times, taking into account the
need for dovetailing planning for social welfare with planning for economic
welfare. Such a philosophy is desiderated to provide a basis of strength to the
diversity of welfare activities that are being undertaken, or are proposed to
be undertaken, in the urban and rural areas. The broad foundations on which
this philosophy can be built up have been outlined above; and in the urban
family welfare schemes sponsored by the Central Social Welfare Board, in
collaboration with the Ministry of commerce and Industry, we have the foundations
of an organisational set-up, which can profitably be extended to a number of
urban centres throughout the country. When properly co-ordinated and
synthesised, the various items of work and activity referred to in the course
of this article, should cumulatively result in producing a body of informed
thought on the subject, which will increasingly inspire those engaged in
welfare work and which will also inform the welfare policies and programmes of
the State, both in the Central and the State spheres.