Rights or Freebies? Alternative Imaginations of the Welfare State in the Indian Context

Abstract

This article examines the impact that competing policy narratives can play in creating different models of citizenship, while anchoring its analysis in the question of welfare and social policy in India. The central argument is that the framing of the welfare narrative as state largesse or fiscal imprudence or an enforceable right is a primary site of political contestation with profound implications for how a policy is designed and the kinds of linkages it creates between citizens and the state. The analysis follows a hermeneutic arc, moving from explanation to understanding. First, it employs the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to systematically explain the structure of two opposing narratives. Second, it seeks to understand their broader significance by analyzing the competing models of citizenship they promote. The findings reveal how these narratives strategically deploy characters, plots, and causal stories to legitimize distinct policy solutions and cultivate different forms of citizenship. This research offers a dual contribution: it extends the application of the NPF within a novel hermeneutic framework to the welfare state in a non-Western, democratic context, and it provides a structured, interdisciplinary analysis of the ideological underpinnings of social policy discourse in India, offering insights into policy construction and administration.