Social Protection During COVID-19 Crisis in India, Especially Among Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, India’s per capita income has quadrupled, and its poverty has declined at a similar rate17. Despite a significant increase in government spending on social protection, India spends under 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on social safety-net programs whereas OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and non-OECD Asian countries spend up-to 15% and 6% of their GDP on similar social protection programs respectively14. The key markers of effective social protection are an expansion of good jobs, maintaining human capital, and offering equal opportunities. Unfortunately, the health sector in India is considerably under-funded with competing priorities of infectious diseases, a growing tide of non-communicable diseases, and continued hammering of natural disasters given the vulnerability of its geographic location19. In 2015, India was among the top three disaster-hit countries, which led to economic damages worth $3.3 billion16. With a pandemic like COVID-19, these cascading risks push India’s vulnerable low and middle class into abject poverty, anxiety, and an at-risk future15. One of the starkest stories of our era belongs to the year 2020 where the novel coronavirus has disrupted normalcy, hijacked social protection from a policy standpoint, and crippled the achievements towards 2030 agenda of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Both the disease and lockdown have caused immense human and economic costs to the country. Although it is too early to measure the extent of human cost and suffering, the economic cost is trending in a negative direction. Although the future looks hazy at best, addressing this crisis within the lens of social protection is prudent and ethical13. This may be the only viable pathway to stop India from an impending catastrophic downfall.