Basic Needs and the Welfare State

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Part A box (each line 15 words or fewer)

1. Minimum basic needs for "a healthy and productive life"

(2021 Part B Q9)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25(1): "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

The "healthy and productive" chain (our reasoning): nutrition gives health; health and education give productivity; productivity and livelihood give self-reliance and dignity. This matches the health, education and income dimensions of the Human Development Index (HDI is in the syllabus, Paper I Unit II).

2. The welfare state in the Constitution

Article 39(a): adequate means of livelihood for men and women equally. Article 41: within the limits of economic capacity and development, work, education and public assistance. Article 43: work, a living wage, conditions ensuring "a decent standard of life" and leisure for all workers. Article 45: early childhood care and education up to age six (in its present form by the 86th Amendment, 2002). Article 47: raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living and improving public health as among the State's "primary duties".

Article 37: these principles are not enforceable by a court. Through Article 21, however, courts have read nutrition, shelter, livelihood and emergency medical care as rights (page 8.2), and Parliament has enacted statutes.

Tensions: (a) limited resources ("economic capacity" in Article 41); (b) giving to all versus choosing the needy (targeting); (c) support versus empowerment (our analysis).

3. The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA)

Act 20 of 2013, dated 10 September 2013; "deemed to have come into force on the 5th day of July, 2013" (section 1(3)). Aim: access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices "to live a life with dignity".

Section 3: every person in priority households gets 5 kg of foodgrains per month; Antyodaya Anna Yojana households get 35 kg per household; coverage extends up to 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population.

Schedule I: for three years from commencement, not more than Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 for wheat and Re 1 for coarse grains. (Free grain later: see PMGKAY above.)

Section 4: pregnant women and lactating mothers get a free meal through the anganwadi (during pregnancy and six months after birth) and a maternity benefit of not less than Rs 6,000 (not for those in regular government employment or receiving similar benefits).

Section 5: children aged six months to six years get an age-appropriate free meal through the anganwadi; children in classes up to VIII (ages 6 to 14) get one free mid-day meal daily in government and aided schools.

Section 13: the eldest woman of 18 years or more is the head of the household for ration cards.

Section 8: a "food security allowance" when the entitled grain or meals are not supplied. Sections 14, 15, 16: an internal grievance redressal mechanism, the District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO) and the State Food Commission. Section 33: a public servant or authority that, without reasonable cause, fails to give the relief recommended by the DGRO or wilfully ignores it, and is found guilty by the State Commission after a hearing, is liable to a penalty of up to Rs 5,000. Sections 28 and 29: social audit and Vigilance Committees (page 8.3).

4. The right to food: PUCL v Union of India, 2001

In April 2001 PUCL (Rajasthan) petitioned the Supreme Court (Writ Petition (C) 196 of 2001) after reports of starvation during a severe drought in Rajasthan. The interim order of 28 November 2001 turned the benefits of eight nutrition-related schemes (such as the mid-day meal, ICDS, Antyodaya Anna Yojana, pensions and maternity benefit) into legal entitlements and asked for cooked mid-day meals in government schools within six months; an order of 8 May 2002 brought in social audit and commissioners to monitor (summaries by the Right to Food Campaign and the International Human Rights Lexicon).

Lesson: a starvation tragedy in Rajasthan turned the right to food into a constitutional debate and led on to the NFSA 2013 (this link is our assessment).

5. The administrator's responsibility: "five jobs"

(second half of the 2021 question; our practical frame, sections from the NFSA)

1. Identify and include: surveys, camps, tracing left-out families; special attention to nomadic families, widows, persons with disabilities, the homeless; the woman as household head (section 13).

2. Deliver: grain, meals and nutrition on time, in full quantity and quality; regular inspection of fair price shops.

3. Stop leakage: transparency, Vigilance Committees and social audit (sections 28, 29); proactive disclosure of records.

4. Hear and settle grievances: the internal mechanism, DGRO and State Food Commission (sections 14 to 16); a food security allowance if entitlement is denied (section 8).

5. Protect the weakest and record outcomes: group-wise data; lawful emergency measures so that no one goes hungry because of a technical failure (our principle).

6. The minimum is a floor, not a ceiling

The State must assure the minimum; development and opportunity above it are separate goals. Writing this distinction shows depth.

7. The welfare-state angle for 2024 Part C Q13

(full model on page 6.3)

The phrase "human resource" can see a person as a mere input of production; by Kant's test (humanity as an end) the objection arises only when a person is treated merely as a means.

The welfare state joins the two: investment in health, nutrition, education and livelihood (Articles 21A, 41, 43, 47; NFSA, RTE) is for the person's own development and dignity; productivity is its result, not its aim.

Test: does the scheme make the person a full human being or only a "useful unit"?

Worked examples (documented, with year)

National Food Security Act, 2013.

(core note 3): making food a legal right, with a grievance and audit mechanism.

Source: the Act's text as passed by Parliament (PRS copy); published in the Gazette on 10 September 2013.

PUCL v Union of India (right to food), 2001.

interim orders that turned schemes into legal entitlements, starting from starvation in Rajasthan (core note 4). Interim order of 28 November 2001 (from the Right to Food Campaign's summary); in an answer give the year and the order date.

Francis Coralie Mullin (13 January 1981) and Olga Tellis (10 July 1985)

(page 8.2): nutrition, clothing, shelter and livelihood as parts of Article 21.

Right to Education Act, 2009.

(assent 26 August 2009; in force 1 April 2010; page 8.1): making education, a basic need, a legal right.

Thinkers and quotes box

How the concept was asked before: the welfare state and basic needs came in 2021 (5 marks) and 2024 (10 marks), not in 2018 or 2023. 2018 Part A Q2 (public welfare and lokasangraha) was a nearby theme.

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