Success of the Public Welfare Schemes in Modern Times: Real or Rhetoric?

Abstract

Nearly all governments post-independence have been involved in the betterment of the general masses trying to qualitatively bring about a difference in their lives. Last five years have been no different. However, a number of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojna, Atal Pension Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Yojna, Ujjwala Scheme, Skill India, Stand Up India, and Digital India and the revolutionary Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna or the Ayushmaan Bharat or simply “Modicare” have brought about social transformation in the lives of Indians. Public Policy needs to be broader than pure rational search and managerial execution of an optimum strategy for a clearly defined problem. It must include the dynamic exercise of being constantly in harmony with the ultimate client-the populace. Successful implementation of any policy requires the ability to motivate, a large number of people: to direct, supervise, organize and course correct them dynamically to ensure timely completion of desired projects is important. You always find defenders of individual enterprise, those who have great faith that the choices people will make, will result in benefit for all. Private initiative can generate wealth , but well-functioning state institutions will be, at times, indispensable in assuring that these gains can be translated into genuine assets and opportunities for all. Public institutions are also required for civic purposes, to define a space of mutual acknowledgement and reciprocity rather than domination and competition.