My team consisted of many students from Delhi University,
DSE, IGIDR and IIT-D. One of my teammates was also from China! Over the course
of 22 days we surveyed over 200 households and 100 pensioners, staying two days
in each village. We covered four villages from two districts each. In total, we
covered eight villages and spent over two days in each of them. We lived a
simple life, ate with the village folk and slept in the government schools.
We spent a lot of time inquiring each household about five
schemes in total- NREGA (Right to work), PDS (Right to food), Mid-day meal
scheme and Anganwadi programme (Right to Education) and the Pension scheme.
These schemes form the major bulk of India’s Social Security that seeks to give
to people the basic material entitlements and a primary sense of dignity.
Social Security seeks to increase the capabilities of the underprivileged. I
also learned about data entry and how to edit data. We spent a lot of time
scrutinizing and correcting data too.
Why is this Important? From my time here, I have understood
that economic growth is a shallow concept without development. Economic Growth
is only a means to better welfare. We
often forget this and consider growth as an end
in itself. Education, Healthcare and Employment are more “real” concepts that
affect people’s lives more directly. Himachal Pradesh is experiencing social
transformation that is ensuring higher standards of living.
Social Security is extremely important to India, which is
the world’s largest democracy. The people of Himachal Pradesh have been awake
and have demanded their fundamental rights. This is the reason why the people
of Himachal are richer, more educated and happier than the rest of India. This
makes us realize that amid the beautiful scenery and cold weather, their lies a
much more admirable force within the people of Himachal that makes democracy
truly work.
Pranjal
Rawat,
Presidency
UniversityP.S : Here is the link to the presentation that I made on social security- LINK
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