HYDERABAD: IN a recent study by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad on the State’s flagship Kalyana Lakshmi and Shadi Mubarak schemes, it was revealed that when it comes to the most backward strata of a society, the schemes are likely to fail in creating an impact. Lack of literacy, poor access to government machinery, excessive dependence on middle-men, caste equations, digital backwardness, inefficient promotion of the schemes and basic biases against the SC/ST communities are some of the many reasons highlighted by the study.
The study titled, ‘Conditional Cash Transfer Schemes and Child Marriages in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’ explores how the schemes performed in the two Telugu states. In Telangana, they focused on Gadwal district, where a majority of beneficiaries belonged to the BC community (2,561 beneficiaries between 2015-18). This was followed by 929 beneficiaries of the SC community, followed by the 111 economically backward beneficiaries and merely 41 from the ST community. This, after Gadwal has nearly 18 per cent of its population from the SC/ST community.
A critical part of accessing the scheme involves extensive paperwork which includes getting a certificate of marriage, age proof of the girl, caste, bonafide, and residence certificates, groom’s age, etc which have to be given after one applies for the scheme online via Mee Seva centres. The study noted that several beneficiaries who were non-literate and digitally backward, were forced to rely on their sons-in-law or middle-men or religious leaders in order to access the scheme. Most of these intermediaries would often ask for a service charge to process the documents, which added to the burden of beneficiaries.
“A lot of discretion is in the hands of the Panchayat Secretary and Gram Sabha. If they follow discriminatory practices, the awareness generation about the scheme become faulty and information about the scheme filters only through kin and patronage network,” noted the study. It further indicates how the scheme is given only via the revenue vertical of the government (Panchayat and Gram Sabha) who hold all the verifications and do not check biases. The study also notes that process of getting a bonafide of the beneficiary girl candidate is not in tune with the customs of minorities as women do not interact with stranger males usually.
Poor access to government machinery
The study highlights that there are several factors that come in the way of all beneficiaries from accessing the scheme, and some of these factors are traditionally known to affect the SC/ST community more than others due to lack of access to government machinery. For instance, the scheme requires extensive paperwork which includes getting certificate of marriage, age proof of the girl, which have to be given after one applies for the scheme online via MeeSeva centres