While the Government has launched various welfare programmes for the poor, there is something it can do for the middle-income population too
A poor marginal farmer, Kishan, living in a remote Indian village was barely able to subsist. He cultivated cereals and seasonal vegetables on a small piece of land that he owned, and at times worked as a wage-labourer for the so-called ‘affluent’ farmers in the neighbouring village. His wife would often lend a helping hand in tending the field. His two school-going daughters, too, would regularly partake in the household chorus when not studying. To an urban dweller, Kishan may appear to be living a life of content, but that wasn’t the case for him and his family. For them, life had become a daily grind. The same was true of many other families in his village. A slender margin separated calmness from turbulence in their lives, for Mother Nature could easily wreck havoc in their apparently calm lives.
But life started to change for Kishan — as it did for other households of his village — after the Modi Government came to power. Not only does his village now have electricity, but almost every household has a bank account and an LPG facility for cooking. Propagation of scientific agricultural practices has helped these farmers to not only switch over to higher value crops, but also to produce marketable surplus. They are now less dependent on rain. Their crops enjoy protection from other hazards too under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Encouraged by a local NGO, Kishan’s wife has started a small enterprise to supplement her family income. She joined hands with a few other women folks to start their own handicraft manufacturing unit, availing loan under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
Nobody had expected their life to take such a sudden turn for the better. Talk to any villager and s/he will acknowledge that there has been a perceptible change in public services too. Quality of rations in the fair price shop improved; school teachers are more dedicated now; students enjoy playing newly-introduced sports — badminton and volley ball; a doctor now regularly sits in the nearest primary health centre. Every resident of the village now has a unique identification (Aadhaar) card needed to avail benefits under various Government programmes.
Kishan’s family is hopeful that one day they will be living in a pucca house, as promised by the Village Pradhan under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana. Also, Kishan is thrilled to have received a letter signed by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, assuring him and his family of free hospital treatment of upto five lakh rupees every year in any Government or private hospital under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. This, he finds quite reassuring.
All of this is, of course, an imaginary story that may turn into reality if India continues to witness politics of development. The Modi dispensation has introduced a number of programmes for the benefit of the poor and the vulnerable. These initiatives are making visible difference on the ground. It may be too early to find a poor household that has benefited from all schemes and programmes meant for the poor, but finding a poor household that has remained untouched by any of these may be difficult as well. Indeed, the poor should be the focus of the Government welfare programmes. But there is something that the Modi Government could do for the middle-income people, too, without assuming any additional fiscal burden. One such intervention could be to include the Above Poverty Line (APL) population in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana upon payment of premium. This will be a huge benefit to the informal sector workers and their families that belong to the APL category.
Currently, this section of society has two options: To pay hospital bills out of their own pocket, which can be prohibitively expensive or buy an insurance policy from one of the insurance companies. If they pay hospital bills out of their own pockets, the deadly cocktail of one’s needs and emotions gets exploited by the private hospitals. And if one buys an insurance policy, it can be several times more expensive than what could be if they were to join the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and take advantage of the negotiated discounted prices. Kishan’s expected meteoric rise from the BPL to APL category should prove to be a boon, and not bane. However, this will only be so when there is something for the APL population too.
(The writer is a development economist, formerly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank)