Govt to create social registry to track socio-economic progress

The Central government is planning to conduct a survey to gauge how the socioeconomic status of poor households has improved since they became beneficiaries of various welfare scheme targeting them, government sources said.

Based on the survey, a social registry will be created that will have data on all beneficiary households, they added.

Households availing benefits under various government schemes have been identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) that was conducted in 2011.

While the Union rural development (RD) ministry will create the social registry for rural areas, as of now there is no clarity on who will pilot the exercise in urban areas, they added.

The RD ministry will start the survey shortly on a pilot basis in 300 villages.

“The social registry will help monitor how successful the government has been in addressing the deprivation of households. The exercise will help us address issues such as gaps in schemes, and the reason why it is not reaching the intended beneficiaries,” said a senior rural development ministry official.

Based on feedback from the pilot study, the RD ministry will expand it to villages across India. “The exercise will help us plan our interventions better,” the official added.

NEW DELHI:

The social registry will have a database of all households in rural areas, who are beneficiaries of different government welfare schemes.

It will also keep track of their socio-economic situation before and after delivery of all the benefits each household gets.

“The database will be updated from time to time,” said an official.

Government sources said the reason there is no clarity on who will create the social registry in urban areas is because unlike in rural areas, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry is yet to start using the SECC data to identify beneficiaries of pro-poor schemes.

Based on specific classifications, households identified as “deprived” or “vulnerable” can avail of a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, job/ skill training under National Livelihood Mission, healthcare facilities under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, and an LPG connection under the Ujjwala scheme, among other things.