Dvara Research BlogDvara Research Blog
Dvara Research Blog
Doorway to Financial Access
  • Home
  • Our Work
  • Themes
  • Subscribe
    • Email Subscription
    • Feed
  • Contact Us
Menu back  

Registration Does Not Always Guarantee Access to Welfare – Exclusions In Tamil Nadu’s Labour Welfare System

November 4, 2020Leave a commentResearch Viewed : 1910

By Nishanth K, Dvara Research

In this ongoing series, we will cover stories of citizens who have been excluded from social protection benefits delivered through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Public Distribution System (PDS). In collaboration with Gram Vaani*, a grassroots-level social tech company, we document the stories of beneficiaries who have faced challenges in welfare access in M.P., Bihar, U.P., and Tamil Nadu.

In our previous case studies, we have highlighted points of exclusion in the enrolment and the cash-out stages of G2P payment mechanisms. In this case study, we illustrate instances of exclusion during the backend processing of such payments. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown, many state governments have introduced cash transfers for various vulnerable groups, including informal workers, pensioners, farmers, etc.[1] This blogpost discusses the case of an unorganised sector worker who, along with many other workers, did not receive the cash entitlement into her bank account under Tamil Nadu’s relief package for registered workers of various welfare boards in the state.[2] The exact reason for the failure of crediting the labourers’ bank accounts is yet to be understood, and that itself demonstrates a certain degree of opaqueness in how G2P cash transfers are processed at the backend.

Parvathi Kumar[3], a resident of a small village in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, is a home-based handicrafts worker who makes baskets and sells them locally. She has been a registered member of the Tamil Nadu HandicraftWelfare Board (TNHWB)[4] since 2010 (her renewed membership is valid till 2021). Like most workers, Parvathi and her family were unable to work or earn a living during the lockdown and were depending on the local government for support to tide over the distress.  In June 2020, she was notified by the local postman that, as a registered member of the TNHWB, she was eligible to receive payments of up to Rs. 2000 in two instalments of Rs. 1000 each. This was part of Tamil Nadu government’s COVID-19 relief package. She was informed that the cash transfer would be made to a new postal bank account that had been opened for her. However, more than three months and multiple visits to the post-office and labour union offices later, she has been unable to find out why she has not received the cash benefits offered by the state.

Parvathi is not the only labourer who has been unable to receive these cash transfers. Labourers across multiple districts of Tamil Nadu have been unable to receive the cash transfers that they are eligible for. The reason for the credit failure of these payments is yet to be completely understood. During the lockdown, the state had announced a cash transfer for unorganised sector workers registered with the different labour welfare boards to ease the stress of the pandemic-induced lockdown. While Tamil Nadu has a strong labour welfare system and has used this system to provide welfare benefits to workers in the state, there have been some issues that have surfaced since the pandemic outbreak. According to a response to a Right to Information (RTI) petition filed in July 2020 in the district of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, only about 77,000 out of approximately 2.4 lakh unorganised sector workers[5] (including building and construction sector workers) were able to avail these cash transfers. The RTI response also reveals that information about bank-account linkage with welfare board registration ID[6] does not exist at the district-level. It must be noted that some of these cases are currently being resolved with labour union workers and civil society actors are helping labourers in resubmitting their documents during the weekly grievance days at taluk office or the district collector’s office[7].

Although the Madras High Court has issued directions to the state government to enumerate and enlist all unorganised workers under the respective welfare boards,[8]  delivery mechanisms of welfare benefits to workers already registered remain precarious. There is another interesting dimension to the mechanism of government cash transfer to workers in Tamil Nadu. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the state collaborated with the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to open new savings accounts[9] for unorganised sector workers.[10] Given the prevalence of the postal network, making payments to workers through these accounts would have been made easier under this partnership. On her first visit to the post office, Parvathi was provided with an India Post Payments Bank ATM card and informed that she would receive an SMS when the amount was credited.

Not having received any benefit, Parvathi and 12 other residents of her village continue to try resolving this issue. They have even resubmitted their documents through a complaints box at the district collectorate office in August but to no avail.

The ad-hoc nature of how these cash transfers were deployed also adds to the lack of understanding of their backend processes. Parvathi’s case demonstrates that registration of an unorganised worker under a welfare board does not always translate into receipt of welfare benefits for the worker. Further, the lack of a streamlined system of filing complaints and grievance redressal exacerbates the challenges beneficiaries face even when trying to get included back into the system. Effective operating procedures for last-mile facilitators (state or non-state) and grievance systems are also required to protect against exclusions. Given the number of actors involved in the delivery of cash transfers, how can grievance redressal be streamlined to make it more beneficiary-centric? Dvara Research and Gram Vaani are keen to study this further and build frameworks that will guide the design of better grievance redressal pathways.[11]

A working framework to study exclusion in social protection has been employed to analyse this case, mapping points of exclusion across the four key stages of scheme design and delivery as detailed here.

*The author would like to thank Aaditeshwar Seth, Lamuel Enoch, Ponnuchamy, Eswaramoorthy, Bruno Richardson and the Field Operations team at Gram Vaani for facilitating these case studies.


[1] Interventions of States in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak – Dvara Research. (2020). Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.dvara.com/research/resources/notes/interventions-of-states-in-response-to-covid-19-outbreak/

[2] J, S. (2020). Covid-19 lockdown: Tamil Nadu govt sanctions Rs 130crore relief fund for members of welfare boards | Chennai News – Times of India. Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/covid-19-lockdown-tamil-nadu-govt-sanctions-rs-130crore-relief-fund-for-members-of-welfare-boards/articleshow/75085249.cms

[3] The real name has been anonymised to protect the citizen’s identity.

[4] Tamil Nadu Handicraft Welfare Board established under the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Work) Act, 1982, is responsible for maintaining and administering the Tamil Nadu Handicraft Workers Social Security and Welfare Fund. See here for more details.

[5] Out of the 2.4 lakh workers in the district, only 1.47 lakh workers had renewed their memberships in 2016.

[6] In Tamil Nadu, labourers can register themselves with the respective welfare board to avail social security measures made available by the state to unorganised sector workers (See here)

[7] Based on conversations volunteers and staff of Gram Vaani In Tamil Nadu

[8] Enumerate and enlist all unorganised workers in 34 welfare boards, HC directs government. (2020). Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/enumerate-and-enlist-all-unorganised-workers-in-34-welfare-boards-hc-directs-govt/article32460511.ece

[9] This has been done even though they may already have a bank account linked to their labour card.

[10] Narayani, P. (2020). IPPB helps unorganised sector workers avail COVID-19 relief. Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/ippb-helps-unorganised-workers-avail-covid-19-relief/article31651969.ece

[11] Falling through the Cracks: Case Studies in Exclusion from Social Protection – Dvara Research. (2020). Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.dvara.com/research/social-protection-initiative/falling-through-the-cracks-case-studies-in-exclusion-from-social-protection/

Share Via :Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Email this to someone
email
Access to welfareCase StudyCase study seriesLabourSocial exclusionSocial Protection InitiativeWelfare schemesWelfare system
Leave Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

17 − seven =

clear formSubmit

Related posts
Designing Health Systems Based on Managed Competition
June 5, 2023
Identification & Alleviation of Over-indebtedness: Introducing the Debt Distress Protocols Project
April 14, 2023
An Agent Success Framework- Part III :Arriving at an ‘Agent Success’ Framework 
April 13, 2023
The Use of Malware in UPI related Fraud 
April 12, 2023
An Agent Success Framework – Part II : Are Agent Networks able to offer access to reliable CICO? 
April 11, 2023
Do UPI In-App Grievance Redress Mechanisms work for constrained users?
March 31, 2023
Search
Recent Comments
  • Prasanna Srinivasan on Care through competition: The case of the Netherlands: “This made interesting and informative reading. Thank you. Inevitably, the mind ran a comparison with the Indian context even while…”
  • Misha Sharma on Direct Benefit Transfers in Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh: Introducing the Dvara-Haqdarshak Study on Exclusion in Government to Person Payments: “Great post, Aarushi. It will also be interesting to document the challenges faced in accessing these transfers and experiences with…”
  • Misha Sharma on What is Social Protection?: “Thanks for writing this, Anupama. A much needed piece and looking forward to the second post in this series. It…”
Subscribe and Follow Us

Popular Post

Popular Post
  • Designing a User-centric Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM): A Sector-agnostic Checklist
    September 27, 2023
  • Does moratorium affect loan repayment behaviour?
    August 31, 2023
  • The financial lives of platform workers: A diaries study in Bengaluru, India
    August 28, 2023

Categories

Categories
  • Channels(88)
  • Consumer Protection(33)
  • Customer Protection(8)
  • Events(30)
  • Featured(42)
  • Field Reports(6)
  • From the field(9)
  • Future of Finance(4)
  • General(22)
  • Guest(30)
  • Household Research(78)
  • Long Term Debt Markets(9)
  • News(45)
  • Origination(30)
  • Products(42)
  • Regulation(112)
  • Research(274)
  • Risk Aggregation(26)
  • Risk transmission(63)
  • Small Cities(21)
  • Social Protection(1)
  • Technology(25)
  • Uncategorized(110)
  • Unemployment Support(5)

Archives

Archives
  • September 2023 (1)
  • August 2023 (5)
  • July 2023 (2)
  • June 2023 (1)
  • May 2023 (4)
  • April 2023 (4)
  • March 2023 (4)
  • February 2023 (2)
  • December 2022 (3)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (1)
  • August 2022 (1)
  • July 2022 (5)
  • June 2022 (5)
  • May 2022 (2)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (2)
  • February 2022 (3)
  • January 2022 (3)
  • December 2021 (4)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (4)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (6)
  • July 2021 (6)
  • June 2021 (10)
  • May 2021 (7)
  • April 2021 (9)
  • March 2021 (9)
  • February 2021 (7)
  • January 2021 (3)
  • December 2020 (7)
  • November 2020 (6)
  • October 2020 (10)
  • September 2020 (9)
  • August 2020 (12)
  • July 2020 (3)
  • June 2020 (5)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (4)
  • March 2020 (8)
  • February 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (9)
  • December 2019 (4)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (7)
  • September 2019 (3)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (4)
  • June 2019 (4)
  • May 2019 (4)
  • April 2019 (7)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • February 2019 (3)
  • January 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (5)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (5)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (5)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (5)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (3)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (3)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • April 2017 (3)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (6)
  • December 2016 (5)
  • November 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (5)
  • August 2016 (4)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (8)
  • May 2016 (4)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (3)
  • January 2016 (3)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (3)
  • August 2015 (5)
  • July 2015 (3)
  • June 2015 (3)
  • May 2015 (3)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (3)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (5)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • September 2014 (4)
  • August 2014 (4)
  • July 2014 (4)
  • June 2014 (8)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (4)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (6)
  • January 2014 (8)
  • December 2013 (7)
  • November 2013 (8)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (7)
  • August 2013 (5)
  • July 2013 (6)
  • June 2013 (7)
  • May 2013 (6)
  • April 2013 (8)
  • March 2013 (9)
  • February 2013 (6)
  • January 2013 (9)
  • December 2012 (8)
  • November 2012 (7)
  • October 2012 (5)
  • September 2012 (5)
  • August 2012 (5)
  • July 2012 (7)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (6)
  • April 2012 (4)
  • March 2012 (7)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (8)
  • December 2011 (8)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (8)
  • September 2011 (7)
  • August 2011 (3)
  • July 2011 (6)
  • June 2011 (11)
  • May 2011 (8)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (13)
  • February 2011 (10)
  • January 2011 (8)
  • December 2010 (10)
  • November 2010 (10)
  • October 2010 (10)
  • September 2010 (7)
  • August 2010 (13)
  • July 2010 (10)
  • June 2010 (6)
  • May 2010 (13)
  • April 2010 (7)
  • March 2010 (10)
  • February 2010 (5)
  • January 2010 (4)
  • December 2009 (3)
  • November 2009 (1)
  • October 2009 (6)
  • August 2009 (1)
  • July 2009 (2)
  • June 2009 (1)
  • May 2009 (1)
  • April 2009 (1)
  • March 2009 (1)

Share Via :Tweet about this on Twitter

Twitter

Share on Facebook

Facebook

Share on LinkedIn

Linkedin

Email this to someone

email

Site Map

www.dvara.com