Social security is a must, not an add-on

It is not every day that one gets to talk to a woman whose family was tortured by a dictator, who has been in jail, who studied medicine and military strategy, has been a health minister, a defence minister and her country’s first female president before taking up a top job at the UN.

Michelle Bachelet, executive director of UN Women – the newly created UN agency championing the rights of women – is all this and more. Last week, the former president of Chile was in New Delhi and had much to say on ‘social protection’ – what we usually call ‘welfare’ in India.

Bachelet chaired the Social Protection Floor Advisory Group convened by the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The group’s report, Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization, came out last year.
Why is this of interest to India? Social security measures typically evoke sharply polarised responses in our country these days. Existing as well as proposed measures are being slammed because they are seen as ‘populist sops’ that will only bloat the fiscal deficit and derail economic recovery.

Asked to respond to this debate, Bachelet told this writer, “I am a medical doctor. I am not neutral on this topic. I firmly believe that spending on health, education, nutrition are investments. Social protection support has to be sustainable. But without such measures, there can be social collapse during times of financial crises.”

Some 1.4 billion people still live below the poverty line and over five billion – 75% of the world’s population – do not have adequate social security. This is not just an ethical or social issue. It represents a “tremendous squandered human and economic potential,” the Bachelet group’s report said.

The group advocates the need for a “social protection floor”. This is a simple but powerful idea that has been gaining ground across the world. It would guarantee “basic income security, in the form of various social transfers (in cash or in kind), such as pensions for the elderly and persons with disabilities, child benefits, income support benefits and/or employment guarantees and services for the unemployed and working poor”. It would also guarantee “universal access to essential affordable social services in the areas of health, water and sanitation, education, food security, housing, and others defined according to national priorities”.

The report argues that social protection can and has helped to “increase resilience against economic shocks, contributing to accelerate recovery and more inclusive and sustainable development paths”.

Can India afford this? Bachelet held her ground. She reiterated that each country has to decide what its social protection priorities are, but social protection per se is not a cost. It is a necessary  tool to battle a crisis; moreover, it is empowering. “Education, health, skills training, these sorts of social protection measures ensure that people are better prepared and more equipped as and when job opportunities arise.”

The report notes that economic growth provides the easiest way to create fiscal space, which can then be claimed for social protection, but even in the absence of high growth, reallocating expenditure can generate fiscal space, provided there is political will.

“The fact that some countries spend much more than others on social protection even though their GDP per capita is similar bears witness to the role of political will in influencing national priorities. In some countries, fiscal reform centred on tax reorganisation has provided important new opportunities for financing social protection,” the report said. It notes that countries such as El Salvador, Benin, Mozambique and Vietnam have managed to provide a major social protection floor for as little as 1 to 2% of GDP.

Emerging economies continue to focus on social protection measures amid the current global slowdown. Recent data from China’s ministry of health show impressive gains from 2009 to 2011 – basic medical care insurance programmes now cover over 95% of China’s population. China has built 1,688 more hospitals and 5,552 community health centres though a lot more needs to be done. Brazil has expanded its famous Bolsa Família programme to cover families in need throughout the country.

India has a slew of welfare measures too.The problem has always been implementation. Graft gobbles up much of the money and the needy often remain where they are. It is not only justified but necessary to question how this money is being spent. For that, we need to change the talking point and focus on accountability. But that cannot be the reason for doing away with social protection measures altogether.

(This fortnightly column usually appears  on Monday. It was delayed by a day  because of unavoidable reasons)

The author is a Delhi-based writer
l inbox@dnaindia.net