Welfare Policies and Politics: A Study of Three Government Interventions in Andhra Pradesh, India
Abstract
This report is written as part of the Livelihood Options Study of the Overseas Development Institute. It focuses on three different welfare policy areas, namely the government’s response to the crisis in the handloom weaving sector, the Public Distribution System (PDS), and a credit scheme for women through self-help groups (DWCRA = Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas). The paper discusses the way in which these policies are operationalised in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in India, and investigates the various political aspects of these three policies. The ultimate purpose of the report is to inform ODI’s ongoing research in the three districts in which it is working in Andhra Pradesh, namely Medak, Chittoor and Krishna.
The paper has three core chapters (2–4), each discussing one of these policies. Each chapter starts with a general discussion and contextualisation of the particular policy. It then discusses the operationalisation of the policies in Andhra Pradesh, before it analyses various political dimensions of the policy. Each chapter ends with a short summary that discusses the extent to which the policies have been successful. Success, obviously, is taken in a broad sense: referring not only to official objectives, but also to interests served and wider political or economic criteria against which one has to evaluate the particular policies. These concluding sections also suggest avenues for further research. The report concludes with a chapter (5) comparing and contrasting the politics of these three types of welfare interventions.
Citation
Mooij, J. Welfare Policies and Politics: A Study of Three Government Interventions in AndhraPradesh, India. Overseas Development Institute, London, UK (2002) 60 pp. ISBN 0 85003 614 3 [Working Paper 181]
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