Outreach of Welfare and Development Schemes in a Village in Telanagna, India, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-500059, India, Pp.28

Although rapid economic growth in India has led to steady progress in reducing poverty, it is still much higher in rural areas given the low growth potential in rural and agricultural sectors. Governments expend a large portion of amount on welfare schemes because there is a high number of people in poverty. Thus, social safety nets have to be created to protect the vulnerable weaker sections. However, the situation is not favourable among the poorest people in India, particularly the people from scheduled and backward categories. This paper explores the reaching out of the welfare schemes in a Kunkudupamula village of Telangana State (India) by using census approach with a sample of 233 households in year 2017. A participatory method has been employed in this study to identify the impacts of welfare and development schemes through focal group discussions (FGDs) and the household survey. Our study findings show that the above poverty group (APG) and below poverty group (BPG) households have been contrasted according to social benefits received from the government. Further, the results shows that the welfare and development schemes are actually benefitting largely by APG household’s than BPG households, due to because of limited voice in participating in the decision-making process on what work is to be undertaken. Also, these obtained results show the poverty reduction in India is not only a challenge limited to the economic sector, but also encompasses the impacts of social structures, as the inequalities embedded in the society are influenced by, such as the caste status system