Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, a branch of the Government of India, is an apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to women and child development in India. The current minister for the Ministry of Women and Child Development is Smriti Irani having held the portfolio since 31 May 2019.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Aawas Yojana, previously Indira Awas Yojana, is a social welfare programme, created by the Indian Government, to provide housing for the rural poor in India. A similar scheme for urban poor was launched in 2015 as Housing for All by 2022. Indira Awas Yojana was launched in 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, as one of the major flagship programs of the Ministry of Rural Development to construct houses for the Below Poverty Line population in the villages.
The National Health Mission (NHM) was launched by the government of India in 2005 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue until March 2020. It is headed by Mission Director and monitored by National Level Monitors appointed by the Government of India.Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the recently launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). Main program components include Health System Strengthening (RMNCH+A) in rural and urban areas- Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health, and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases. NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to the needs of the people.
Agriculture in India is highly susceptible to risks like droughts and floods. It is necessary to protect the farmers from natural calamities and ensure their credit eligibility for the next season. For this purpose, the Government of India introduced many agricultural social insurances throughout the country, the most important one of them being Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) is a rural development programme launched by the central government in India in the financial year 2009–10 for the development of villages having a higher ratio of people belonging to the scheduled castes through convergence of central and state schemes and allocating financial funding on a per village basis.
Under Article 15(3), the Constitution of India allows for positive discrimination in favor of women. The article, under right to equality, states that: "Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children." In addition, the Directive Principles of State Policy 39(A) states that: "The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood."
The National Food Security Act 2013, also known as Right to Food Act, is an Indian Act of Parliament which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of the country's 1.4 billion people. It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a financial inclusion program of the Government of India open to Indian citizens, that aims to expand affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions. This financial inclusion campaign was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014. He had announced this scheme on his first Independence Day speech on 15 August 2014.
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community. The programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, on 11 October 2014.
Vandana Luthra is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of VLCC Health Care Ltd, a beauty and wellness conglomerate represented in Asia, the GCC and Africa. She is also the chairperson of the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC), an initiative that provides training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana schemes.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a credit-linked subsidy scheme by the Government of India to facilitate access to affordable housing for the low and moderate-income residents of the country. It envisaged a target of building 2 crore (20 million) affordable houses by 31 March 2022. It has two components: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G and also PMAY-R) for the rural poor, the former administered by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the latter by Ministry of Rural Development. This scheme converges with other schemes to ensure that houses have a toilet, Saubhagya Scheme for universal electricity connection, Ujjwala Yojana LPG connection, access to drinking water and Jan Dhan banking facilities, etc.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana is a national mission to improve farm productivity and ensure better utilization of the resources in the country. The budget of ₹53 billion (US$660 million) in a time span of one year 2015-2016 has been allocated to this scheme. The decision was taken on 1 July 2015 at the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, approved with an outlay of 50000 crore for period of 5 years.
Give Up LPG Subsidy is a campaign that was launched in March 2015 by the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is aimed at motivating LPG users who are able to afford to pay the market price for LPG to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy. As of 23 April 2016, 10 million people had voluntarily given up the subsidy. The surrendered subsidy is being redistributed by the government in order to provide cooking gas connections to poor families in rural households free of cost. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the top five states to give up the subsidy.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 May 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. A budgetary allocation of ₹80 billion (US$1.0 billion) was made for the scheme. The scheme was replaced by the Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 in 2021.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi is an initiative by the government of India that give farmers up to ₹6,000 (US$75) per year as minimum income support. The initiative was announced by Piyush Goyal during the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India on 1 February 2019. The scheme has cost ₹75,000 crore per annum and came into effect December 2018.
Atal Bhujal Yojana is a groundwater management scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 95th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on 25 December 2019. The purpose of the scheme is to improve groundwater management in seven states of India.
Maternal mortality in India is the maternal death of a woman in India during pregnancy or after pregnancy, including post-abortion or post-birth periods. Different countries and cultures have different rates and causes for maternal death. Within India, there is a marked variation in healthcare access between regions and in socioeconomic factors, accordingly, there is also variation in maternal deaths for various states, regions, and demographics of women.
Nilam Sawhney is currently serving as chief election commissioner of Andhra Pradesh. She served as the first woman Chief Secretary of the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh, India, from November 2019 to January 2021. She is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. She previously held the position of Secretary of Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2018 to 2019 and before this served as the Secretary of Central Vigilance Commission in the Government of India from 2015 to 2018.
