Blog #7: Family Benefit Scheme falters in India. 3/28/14 Chelsie Stinson 3:00pm

Summary

In India, the National Family Benefit Scheme program that was implemented in 1995 has recently received attention that the plan has reached faulty lines.  Under this scheme, money could be awarded to those families who have fallen below the national poverty line and their breadwinner, or main financial spouse, has become deceased. Also under this scheme they mention there is no specific time period as to when an applicant can apply. But according to the data collected, there have been over 1,000 women who have been rejected after applying a year later from their spouse’s death.  Just last year between April and December of 2013, there were 52 or more applications that were rejected out of 294 according to the Social Welfare and Women and Child Welfare department. India follows the traditional social set up where men go out into the work force while women run the household but there has been a social shift in these roles as more women are going into the workforce.

Analysis

The family benefit scheme that was formulated by India’s government was not thoroughly thought out to compensate for women as well as men. This scheme has been and still practices gender inequality toward women as it may or may not have taken into consideration that more women are taken the double shift of being both a housewife and employee. The scheme does not explicitly state guidelines on how to apply for aid therefore many applicants are being mislead that applying at anytime will still guarantee them aid. Based on statistics of applicants who apply a year after their spouse’s death, typically women, there is a clear discrepancy that aid is being rejected versus if they had applied before a year. This continual rejection of aid to these families who fall below the poverty line are being directly affected because they are falling further below that poverty line while not having the economic support to raise their family on a daily basis.  This becomes a social issue because it goes beyond more than just a single family problem. A majority of families that fall below poverty line in India’s capital of Delhi, specifically those lead by women, are facing gender inequality.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2590968/Governments-family-benefit-scheme-falters-figures-not-single-man-helped-Capital-1995.html

Published: March 27, 2014