Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.
Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are government owned scheduled commercial banks of India that operate at regional level in different states of India. These banks are under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Sponsered Bank and concerned State Government in the ratio of 50:35:15 respectively. They were created to serve rural areas with basic banking and financial services. However, RRBs also have urban branches.
The Fourteenth legislative assembly election was held on 13 April 2011 to elect members from 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Results were released on 13 May 2011. Two major parties Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) faced the election as coalitions of multiple parties with the DMK front consisting of 8 parties and the AIADMK of 11 parties. AIADMK front won the election, winning in 203 constituencies, with the AIADMK party itself winning 150 seats thus securing a simple majority to be able to form the government without the support of its coalition partners.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Government of India that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions. The NSAP scheme only includes Below Poverty Line individuals as beneficiaries.
Amma Unavagam(Tamil: அம்மா உணவகம்) is a food subsidisation programme run by the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Tamil Nadu in India.
Āhār Yojanā is a food subsidisation program run by the Ministry of Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Co-operation, Government of Odisha to provide cheap lunch to the urban poor at a price of five rupees inspired from the Amma Unavagam of Tamilnadu. It was inaugurated on April 1, 2015 by the Chief Minister of Odisha Navin Patnaik on Utkal Divas. The program provides meals in five major cities of Odisha. The actual cost of the food is around ₹ 20 but is subsidised to ₹ 5 with financial assistance from the Odisha Mining Corporation. It is targeted at more than 60,000 people per day.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a credit-linked subsidy scheme by the Government of India to facilitate access to affordable housing for the low and moderate-income residents of the country. It envisaged a target of building 2 crore (20 million) affordable houses by 31 March 2022. It has two components: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G and also PMAY-R) for the rural poor, the former administered by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the latter by Ministry of Rural Development. This scheme converges with other schemes to ensure houses have a toilet, Saubhagya Scheme for universal electricity connection, Ujjwala Yojana LPG connection, access to drinking water and Jan Dhan banking facilities, etc.
Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) is the financial turnaround and revival package for electricity distribution companies of India (DISCOMs) initiated by the Government of India with the intent to find a permanent solution to the financial mess that the power distribution is in. It allows state governments, which own the DISCOMs, to take over 75 percent of their debt as of September 30, 2015, and pay back lenders by selling bonds. DISCOMs are expected to issue bonds for the remaining 25 percent of their debt.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 May 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. A budgetary allocation of ₹80 billion (US$1.0 billion) was made for the scheme. The scheme was replaced by the Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 in 2021.
Food security has been a major concern in India. In 2022, the Global Food Security Index ranked India at 68th out of the 113 major countries in terms of food security. In 2023, the Global Hunger Index ranked India at 111th out of 125 countries. According to United Nations, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India that make up a quarter of the world's undernourished population. In addition, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically undernourished. Though the current nutritional standards meets 100% of daily food requirements, India lags far behind in terms of a quality protein intake at 20%; this shortcoming can be alleviated by making available protein-rich food products such as soybeans, lentils, meat, eggs, dairy, etc. more readily accessible and affordable for Indian citizens. The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that India is operating at only 56.8% of its capacity based its economic power to ensure its citizens have adequate food security.
Indira Canteen is a food subsidisation programme run by the Ministry of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs, Government of Karnataka in Inspired from the Amma Unavagam of Tamilnadu. It is named after Indira Gandhi, the first and only female Prime Minister of India.
The Third Ashok Gehlot ministry is the state cabinet of the Indian state of Rajasthan in the 15th Rajasthan Legislative Assembly headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Nilam Sawhney is currently serving as chief election commissioner of Andhra Pradesh. She served as the first woman Chief Secretary of the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh, India, from November 2019 to January 2021. She is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. She previously held the position of Secretary of Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2018 to 2019 and before this served as the Secretary of Central Vigilance Commission in the Government of India from 2015 to 2018.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is a food security welfare scheme announced by the Government of India on March 26 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. But the nodal ministry is Ministry of Finance.The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world benefiting 81.35 crore in India.
Sramajibi Canteen is a community kitchen chain in India, mainly active in West Bengal, run by Communist Party of India (Marxist), a national political party in India. Sramajibi Canteen has seen a good involvement of youths from SFI, DYFI and from the society. Along with CPI(M) workers, who run it, people from the civil society, film industry, educational institutes etc. have taken part in this. The Jadavpur Sramajibi Canteen is the state's longest-running community kitchen in West Bengal till now. As of July 2021, more than 20 Sramajibi Canteens are functioning in the whole state of West Bengal.
