Governance and delivery of social and public programmes: A case study in West Bengal

Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part III & IV of the Indian Constitution reflect that India is a welfare state. These rights ensure that the government safeguards the economic and social well-being of its citizens. Keeping in mind the responsibility of the state in ensuring these rights, the G.O.I. has been launching different welfare programmes from time to time under four major welfare categories, namely, wage employment, education, health and food security and nutrition as per the demand of the hour. However, the success of the schemes can be achieved only with proper governance. Nevertheless, indicators of governance do not pretense healthy trends. Given the highly uneven performance demonstrated by the states in terms of improvement with regard to the above-mentioned social dimensions, four case studies have been showcased in this paper from West Bengal, a state falling in the category of Medium Social Progress State during the year of 2021-22. The paper attempts to capture the quality of governance of social welfare programmes pre pandemic and during the pandemic when the importance of such social welfare schemes had been accentuated.