BOOK REVIEW

SOCIAL POLICY
Edited by: JEAN DRÈZE
PUBLISHED BY: ORIENT BLACKSWAN PRIVATE LIMITED AND
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY 2016
ISBN 978 81 250 62844

Social policy is a term which is applied to various extents of policy, usually within a
governmental or political domain. This book covers six prime social issues(health, education,
employment guarantee, food security, Pension &cash transfer, Inequality & social exclusion)
in the form of compilation for best research paper on the subject that has been published in
Economic and political weekly, India’s leading social science journal. Book was edited by
Jean Dreze, who is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Economics, Ranchi University.

This volume has six different sections related to six major social issues and their underlying
policies. First section underpins the health issue starting with the article on ‘public health’ by
Monica Das Gupta who forcefully argues that public health has played a critical role in the
history of many developed nations like United States. India is paying a heavy price for
overlooking the central role of public health in development. Abhijit Banerjee, Angus Deaton
and Esther Duflo in their paper of ‘health delivery in rural Rajasthan’ and Jishnu Das and
Jefferey Hammer study on ‘healthcare in Delhi’, point out the market failure of health care by
putting forward the facts and figures about the availability of doctor, nurses and cost of
healthcare facilities. Last paper in this section tells us about how we use the economic
concept like revealed preference to understand the technicality of open defecation. Second
section elaborate one of the most important social issue i.e. poor education, but the victim
themselves often fail to perceive the poor quality of education as a social issue. This same
thing is put forward in first paper of this section by Abhijit Banerjee and their colleagues
based on their survey work on rural Uttar Pradesh. D.D. Karopady’s paper presents striking
and unexpected results through ‘randomized controlled trial’ in Andhra Pradesh, involving
random selection of children for scholarships enabling them to study in private school; Yet in
terms of standards test scores, their learning achievements are no better than those of children
enrolled in government schools. As Vimla Ramachandran and TaramaniNaorem’s illustrate
in their paper ’What it meant to be a Dalit or tribal child in our school’ about the condition
of Dalit and Adivasis children in their schools by focussing on multiple forms of
discrimination they experience. Third section covers food security which is another crucial
topic in context of India, because this country used to be thought of as a land of hunger and
famines. First paper is put forward by Jean Dreze on ‘Democracy and the right to food’ that
the possibility of using all democratic means (election campaigns legal action, the mass
media, action-oriented research, street action and more) to ensure that the interests of the
unprivileged receive more attention in public policy.Along with this, there is an urgent need
for better health and nutrition services for children below age of six years as well as pregnant
and lactating women. That is the aim of Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS), as
discussed by Dipa Sinha. Two more papers on Mid -Day Meals and Public Distribution
System were presented by Reetika Khera.

Aside from health, education and food security next major concern of social policy around
the globe is employment guarantee and social security.Which was being covered in fourth
and fifth section of this tome. In affluent countries, social security is typically based on
unemployment insurance, social assistance, pensions and related programme. Paper by Puja
Datta and her colleagues on ‘Does India’s Employment Guarantee Scheme Guarantee
Employment?’ argues that even in this stifled state, of course, the employment guarantee act
serves a useful purpose. For one thing it is helpful source of supplementary income for one-
fourth of all rural households. The programme also contributes to women’s empowerment, as
discussed in Reetika Khera and Nandini Nayak’s paper; they argue that women’s share of
NREGA work, has risen from 50 percent to 58 percent in early days. One study in the last
part of the section is about MGNREGA work in Maharashtraby Krushna Ranaware and
colleagues. Social security pensions provide vital economic support to some of the most
vulnerable people in rural India, at relatively low cost and without major leakages. Two
research papers were put forward in this section one by Saloni Chopra and Jessica Pudussery
and another by Shrayanabhattacharya and colleagues.It would be relatively easy to put in
place an effective national scheme of maternity entitlements. Maternity benefits paid in a
timely manner would greatly help to ensure that young women get nutritious food, adequate
rest and asses to healthcare before and after child birth; elegant study has done by P.
Balasubramanian and T.K. SundariRavindran in this section. In the context of a booming
Indian economy, in which poverty is being reduced, concerns about inequalities in the
distribution of income and wealth. This leads us to the last section of the book about
inequality and social exclusion.Thomas Weisskopff presents moral, political, economic and
social arguments for limiting economic inequality and also discuss how this can be done.
Ravinder Kaur addresses the social consequences of gender imbalance in the population.
RamchandraGuhaargues that Adivasis in independent India are the victims of a double
tragedy: one, the state has neglected or even disposed them, and second, the Maoists have
used them as foot soldiers.

Making good use of social spending requires, first and foremost, a better work culture in
schools, health, centres, gram panchayat offices and the public sector in general. This may
sound like a dream, but it can also be seen as a natural development with a pinch of
democracy.