The Social Welfare Regime in Pakistan- A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

The Social Welfare Regime in Pakistan is highly fragmented with several stand-alone programs and initiatives implemented through multiple institutional arrangements having overlapping mandates have not only given rise to serious gaps in provision of social protection but have also made impact analysis of the poor households extremely difficult. In addition, there are two parallel welfare streams for the government employees and the common men which are manifested in glaring inequalities and class-based discriminations to the detriment of a healthy egalitarian society. This paper, through qualitative research methodology and data gathered from different sources, has tried to analyze the social welfare Regime in Pakistan with a view to explore the gaps in its targeting and availability to different classes of citizens. The research has concluded that the social welfare regimes in Pakistan are unscientifically designed with lack of proper and complete data, fragmented in nature, lack coherence and consistency without a holistic approach. The programs and initiatives are implemented through different organizations working in silos without any coordination thus resulting in duplication of efforts, wastage of resources and exclusion of many vulnerable from the National social welfare net. It has been further concluded that the social welfare regime in Pakistan at the one hand lacks inbuilt graduation strategy to pull the vulnerable from the vicious circle of poverty and on the other is prone to the serious challenge of sustainability. To fulfill the dream of a social welfare state, this paper emphatically recommends integration of all social protection programs under a single institutional setup, scientific targeting, pooling of all resources and reducing the differential treatment of different classes of citizens. The Social welfare regime in Pakistan and its various forms and manifestations are of prime significance and there is a need of greater research on the topic for guidance of the decision makers. This paper would, besides fulfilling the requirements of 29th Senior Management Course, provide some recommendations based on factual situation analysis for the consideration of policy makers and other researchers.