Publication

This paper discusses India’s efforts to make available a wide range of social protection measures to different categories of its poor. It reviews the complexities of targeting and delivery and examines the increasing number of government schemes for transferring resources to the poor, arguing that overly elaborate targeting hinders local transparency and is part of the problem. It suggests that cash transfers, such as pensions and allowances, paid through post offices are less susceptible to corruption than many "in kind" transfers.