India's tryst with Modi-fare 2014–19: towards a universalistic welfare regime

What is it about?

In the welfare regime research, Esping-Andersen (1990) classified advanced economies into three ideal-types of liberal, conservative-corporatist and social-democratic welfare states by government-led welfare provisions and levels of decommodification. The classical typology discussions have gone beyond the rich countries and include countries such as India which is classified as informal-insecurity regime due to a large informal economy with no social security for workers. Based on theoretical standpoints of the political economy of welfare states, comparative historical institutionalism and critical junctures, this paper examines India’s tryst with welfare/dis-fare with a specific focus on Modi Sarkar’s (2014-2019) dirigiste style reforms.

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