Seminar by Indo-German Social Security Programme on Social Exclusion and Possible Remedies

The Indo-German Social Security Programme of GIZ, hosted a seminar on 12th May, focused on ‘Social Exclusion and Discrimination in Availing Social Security Benefits’. Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and former head of the University Grants Commission, was the keynote speaker along with his colleague Dr. Nidhi S. Sabharwal. This event, hosted at the programme office at New Delhi, was part of the larger platform of periodic seminars hosted by the programme for knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas.

Professor Thorat and Dr. Sabharwal presented findings of research conducted by the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies on social exclusion of marginalised communities from the government’s social security schemes. The study covered schemes related to food security, nutrition, employment and health.

Helmut Hauschild, Programme Director, outlined the challenges for India in achieving its developmental goals due to exclusion faced by marginalised communities. He emphasised that it not only had a social impact, but also an economic fallout, as deprivation due to social exclusion meant lower well-being, inequities and therefore lower productivity for a large section of the population.

A key take-away of the seminar was the recognition that while social security schemes have visibly improved access of marginalised groups to resources, more needs to be done to ensure that they are able to benefit fully from these schemes through better implementation and targeted policies.