Welfare Regime Typologies in the Indian Subcontinent: How Social Policy Differs across States
Ongoing research on the Indian welfare regime has classified it as an informal insecurity regime due to poor social outcomes (Kühner & Nakray, 2018). In her work, Tillin (2022) used (de)commodification and defamiliarisation to demonstrate that Indian subnational welfare regimes vary significantly. Theoretically, this paper will contribute to welfare regime theory by providing a new sub-national typology. It will situate the Indian case within traditional welfare regime theory, welfare regime theory in the developing world, and the literature on federalism. Empirically, using an original dataset compiled by Nakray (2024) from the Reserve Bank of India’s archives of State Finances: A Study of Budgets from 1947 onwards, the paper will present typologies of Indian states based on political parties and socioeconomic variables, including social welfare expenditure. The descriptive approach will categorise Indian states using cluster analysis and data visualisation. Drawing on comparative welfare regime theory, the paper will explain the existence of different regimes within India and the role of various structural determinants, such as ideational factors and political parties.
References
Kühner, S. and Nakray, K. (2018). India's emerging social policy paradigm: productive, protective or what?. In K. a. Mok (Ed.), Managing Welfare Expectations and Social Change (pp. (pp. 40-56). London : Routledge.
Tillin, L. (2022). Does India have subnational welfare regimes? The role of state governments in shaping social policy. . Territory, Politics, Governance,, 10(1), 86-102.