Notes on the concepts anddefinitions of Social Welfare inIndia

The terms social welfare is often confused with social service, social

reform, social work and social security, and all these term are often

used as synonyms. For a correct picture of the terminologies, let us go

through the following definitions.

1. Social Welfare

Social welfare term is related with the concept of welfare state.

Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as "a system of laws and institutions

through which a government attempts to protect and promote the

economic and social welfare of its citizens usually based on various

forms of social insurance against unemployment, accident, illness and

old age".

The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences also confirms this definition of

welfare state by explaining that the 'Welfare State' is the institutional

outcome of the assumption by a society of legal and therefore formal

and explicit responsibility for the basic well-being of its members.

The principle of 'normalization' is fundamental to the social welfare

system i.e. regardless of physical, psychological or social handicaps, a

person should be enabled to live, work and develop in a normal

environment.

2. How is Social Welfare Different from Social Services?

Social Services are those which are meant for the normal population

and seek to meet the basic needs like health care, education, housing

etc. Their aim is to develop the human resources of the country.

Social welfare on the other hand is targeted towards the upliftment of

vulnerable sections of the society such as handicapped, destitute

children, women, backward tribes, castes, classes, etc. Unlike social

services the welfare services are mostly family and community

oriented. The term social welfare originated in the Beveridge Report of

U.K.

3. How is Social Work different from Social Welfare?

Social welfare has a broader meaning and covers social work and other

related programmes and activities.

A social worker is a professional who must wait for his client—an

individual, a family, a group or a whole community to take the first

step to seek his help in terms of counselling or material aid. But the

social welfare worker is not constrained by the self imposed limitations

of the professional social workers.

4. Social Reform

Social evils likes superstitions, dogmatic rituals of various forms

engendered by lack of proper education and rational thinking, denial of

education to women folk, their low status and degradation, their

exclusion from property rights, their marriage at an early age, the

prohibition of widow marriage, unequal marriages-old-aged man

marrying young girls, sacrifice of children at the altar of gods and

goddesses for their appeasement and invocation of their blessings for

the fulfilment of their wishes, inequities, social injustice, caste-system,

the upper classes exploiting the lower castes especially the scheduled

castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes, the practice of

untouchability, use of alcohols etc. can be eradicated by social reform

and movements.

SANGEETA AGARWAL

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Social reform is the foundation of social welfare as because most of the

social legislation and social welfare programme in post-independent

India is chiefly concerned with those spheres of social functioning that

became the battle ground for social reforms and which provided a basis

for the modern social welfare services.

5. Social Security

According to ILO (International Labour Organization), Social Security

is the security that society furnishes through appropriate organizations

against certain risks to which its members are exposed. These risks are

essentially contingencies against which the individual of small means

cannot effectively provide by his own ability or foresight alone or even

in private combination with his fellows.

It is characteristic of these contingencies that they imperil the ability

of the working man to support himself and his dependents in health and

decency.

The Indian State has enacted various legislations to provide benefits to

the people affected by the contingencies like industrial accidents,

maternity, sickness, etc. Some of these legislations are: Workmen's

Compensation Act of 1923, Maternity Benefits Act 1961, the

Employee's State Insurance Act 1948, the Employees' Provident Fund

and Miscellaneous Provision Act 1952, Employees' Family Pension

Scheme 1971, Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 etc.

6. A Brief Discussion of Social Welfare Measures in India

The social scenario in the country has been fast changing due to rapid

urbanization and industrialization, with the emergence of information

and technology as the major force behind industrial development. The

unending flow of rural population to the already crowded cities and

towns in search of employment has resulted in serious problem like

over crowding, emergence of permanent slum dwellings, breakdown of

joint family system, unemployment, poverty etc.

Other social problems like untouchability, torture of women and

children are quite common in India. Inequality in term of economic

and social status is prevalent. In order to safeguard the interests of the

disadvantaged sections of the society, the Constitution of India

guarantees that no person will be denied 'equality' before the law

(Article 14).

It also promises 'right to education' and 'public assistance' in the old

age and disablement (Article 41). To safeguard the interest of these

groups, some legislation was also enacted. They include-the Immoral

Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (as amended and retitled in 1986); the

Probation of Offenders Act, 1958; Juvenile Justice Act, 1986; the

Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances Act, 1988, the Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities, Protection of Rights and

Full Participation) Act, 1995; Prevention of Begging Acts (State Acts)

etc. Simultaneously, the Government has undertaken many welfare-

cum-development measures right from First Five Year Plan with the

major objective of extending preventive-cum-curative-cum-

rehabilitative services to meet the special needs of these vulnerable

groups. Thus, the developmental planning has been made responsive

right from the beginning not only to attend to the existing problems but

also to address the situations emerging from time to time.

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