Delivery of social welfare entitlements in India : unpacking exclusion, grievance redress, and the role of civil society organisations

The COVID-19 public health crisis and subsequent containment measures followed in India have severely impacted poor and vulnerable populations with respect to food security, livelihood, and access to health services. The national lockdown led to significant distress among citizens due to employment loss, wage cuts, transportation etc., and increased dependency of people on social protection schemes. Although several relief measures have been mobilised by the government, there has been extensive documentation of exclusion of deserving people from availing these social protection measures. In this research project, Gram Vaani, Dvara Research, University of Montreal and Tika Vaani utilised their collective knowledge and field resources to undertake action research specific to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report explores three research objectives: 1. Analysis of over 20,000 voice reports of grievances submitted on one of Gram Vaani’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform to understand the different challenges citizens face in accessing social welfare entitlements. 2. Understanding the various modalities through which Gram Vaani volunteers assist callers in resolving the hindrances they report. 3. Proposing a set of Standardised Operating Procedures (SOPs) that can be used by civil society organisations to reduce exclusion at the last mile