Holistic climate resilience strategies will be key to empowering people

livemint.com:

This is part of a special series of articles by the country's foremost voices, ahead of Union Budget 2024, aiming to draw attention to the critical reforms that can help India in its journey to become a developed nation by 2047. The term ‘welfare’ in economics has a long history, with different schools of thought defining the term in different ways. The modern usage of the term typically associates it with a system wherein the government bears a major responsibility for providing socioeconomic security to citizens. Over the years, the term has also attracted criticism, as critics have associated it with excessive or unnecessary government intervention.

This has led to questions about the extent to which the state should be involved in the welfare system. A limited definition of welfare has often associated it with provision of social safety nets, poverty alleviation programmes, social insurance and government intervention. While these are significant goals, the plethora of challenges we face today necessitates a new way of looking at what welfare constitutes—a change long overdue.

Economist Nicholas Barr underscores the centrality of the welfare state and the need to redesign it to make it fit for purpose given the ever-evolving social and economic circumstances. The question that needs to be raised is: Does the age-old concept of welfare in times that are drastically different and ever-changing really allow people to fare well? The idea of welfare needs to go beyond providing a mere buffer during tough times. The goal is not just to provide safety nets, but to create conditions that make citizens not require safety nets in the first place.