Technology, Cash and the 21st Century Welfare State
In the rush to adopt new technology, nations such as India are neglecting poverty, said Yamini Aiyar, senior visiting fellow at Brown University in the US.
At a United Nations University (UNU) event on December 4, she faced questions such as: what implications does the emergence of the relationship between political leaders and their citizens have for democracy and the social contract between citizens and the state?
Over the past decade, she said, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s dominance in Indian politics—despite the unexpected loss of its majority in Parliament in the 2024 Indian general election—has frequently been attributed to its welfare policies. Rapid advances in technology have allowed state actors in the Global South to develop a form of “new welfarism” that differs from the welfare states that emerged across Western Europe through redistributive social policy. Digital technologies such as the Aadhaar biometric ID system in India have enabled the state to distribute welfare as a new form of direct state patronage.
Aiyar had joined United Nations University Rector Tshilidzi Marwala for a discussion in Tokyo on the emerging 21st century welfare state in the Global South. How does this “new welfarism” contrast with the earlier rights-based approach to welfare?
“The research community is holding the mirror to the powerful elite. We must go where the evidence takes us to practice critical dialogue and use our skills to ask hard questions to the government,” she said. “Keep the poorest in mind, not the ones with access to power. Our greatest success is if our government doesn’t want to listen to us.”
“The world is going through a transition of climate, digitalization and society that is questioning government bodies to address real concerns. Keeping conversations with the public is key to successful government.”
Is there room for welfare reform in the 21st century? “Democratic bodies are not truly representing the masses; the economy is doing well but the masses are not. We need a stronger welfare state. India has the world’s largest biometrics ID system, which was created in record time. What potential will that have on freedom? India did not think early enough about data protection and regulation. That was a huge flaw. We should have said yes to the technology advancements, but no to its darker side. We can’t leapfrog technology, we must have guardrails.”
About the Speaker
Yamini Aiyar is Senior Visiting Fellow, Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia and Watson Institute, Brown University, where she is working on a comparative project studying the welfare state in the global south. Yamini was the president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a leading multidisciplinary think tank in New Delhi from 2017 to 2024. Her work sits at the intersection of research and policy practice. Throughout her career, Yamini has sought to innovate with social science research methods in ways that directly engage with concerns of policy and speak to the broader public to build consensus on vital policy matters.
Yamini spearheaded two new research initiatives at the center on state capacity and politics, along with new partnerships with sub-national governments in India. She set up the Accountability Initiative at CPR, known for its work on governance, social accountability and expenditure tracking in social policy. Her research interests span the fields of contemporary politics, state capacity, welfare policy, federalism and India’s political economy.
She sits on a number of boards and advisory committees of research centers and non-profits. Her recent policy commitments include: Advisory Committee, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Member, United Nations Committee of the Experts on Public Administration; Council Member, United Nations University; Member, Chief Minister’s Rajasthan Economic Transformation Advisory Council (2022–2023); Member, Expert Group to Recommend Medium-Long Term Post Covid Strategy for Punjab, Government of Punjab (2021–2022); General Body Member, Delhi Board of School Education, Government of Delhi; Advisory Board, Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies and Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
Aiyar has published widely in academic and current affairs journals and newspapers including The Economist, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Democracy, Indian Express and The Hindu. She has a regular column in The Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald, two leading mainstream newspapers in India. Her forthcoming book, Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi Schools, will be published in December 2024 by Oxford University Press.