India lags South Asian peers in protecting poor

NEW DELHI: Large numbers of poor and vulnerable are exposed to risks and unexpected difficulties like unemployment, ill health, and natural disasters, an Asian Development Bank ( ADB) study says, because of lack of adequate social protection systems in many fast-growing middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific.


The Social Protection Index: Assessing Results for Asia and the Pacific-released on Wednesday gives India a score of 0.051, below most of its South-Asia’s peers. Japan leads the index with a score of 0.416. “There are many vulnerable groups, including women and informal sector workers, who can’t access unemployment, health or other social insurance but are also not poor enough to be eligible for social assistance such as cash transfers,” said Bart Édes, director in ADB’s regional and sustainable development department, in a release.

According to Édes, government social protection programmes need to be expanded to cover this unprotected ‘missing middle,’ who are at risk of falling into poverty in the case of an economic, environmental, or health shock of some kind. The study is based on an analysis of government programmes providing social insurance, social assistance, and labour market support in 35 countries across Asia Pacific. Japan spent most on social protection, 19.2% of GDP, followed by Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

India spent 1.7% of its GDP on protecting the vulnerable. According to the report, despite steep GDP gains in recent decades, the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific, particularly those that have graduated to middle-income status, have not correspondingly strengthened their systems of social protection. “They need to scale up and broaden these systems by spending that corresponds to 20% of poverty-line expenditures or 5% of its GDP per capita,” it said, citing the example of the Republic of Korea.

The study notes that because social insurance tends to dominate government’s social spending, benefits accrue disproportionately to men and non-poor. “Poor and disadvantaged persons, particularly those working in the informal sector, benefit less because they lack access to social insurance,” it said.

Pointing out that relatively little is being done on labour market programmes like cash-for-work and skills development, the report suggested that government should focus on job guarantee schemes to construct or rebuild basic infrastructure, and technical and vocational education and training.