Should India adopt a Universal Disability Pension Floor? Analyse the fiscal feasibility and ethical imperative, drawing on international best practices.

Q. Should India adopt a Universal Disability Pension Floor? Analyse the fiscal feasibility and ethical imperative, drawing on international best practices. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Census 2011 enumerated 2.68 crore persons with disabilities (PwDs), 69% of them rural [2], yet the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme offers a central rate of only ₹300 per month, restricted to BPL persons aged 18–59 with severe disability [3]. A universal floor — a guaranteed minimum pension keyed to the extent of disability rather than domicile or poverty line — is both ethically due and fiscally manageable.

The ethical and constitutional imperative - The RPwD Act, 2016 recognises 21 disabilities and a 40% benchmark, with 4% job reservation, framing disability as a rights entitlement, not charity [1]. - Cash support, however, still turns on BPL certification and State discretion, so two persons with identical impairment receive unequal support — inconsistent with Article 14, Article 41 (DPSP) and dignity under Article 21. - CRPD Article 5 (equality) and Article 28 (adequate standard of living and social protection), which India ratified in 2007, oblige non-discriminatory social protection [4]. - Disability imposes extra costs — aids, attendant care, accessible transport — so equal cash is not yet equal treatment.

Fiscal feasibility - The eligible cohort is bounded by benchmark-disability certification, not open-ended; UDID-linked DBT allows low-leakage transfer at modest administrative cost. - Present outlays are small: the SIPDA umbrella grew only from ₹193 crore to ₹210 crore even as sub-schemes doubled from 6 to 13 [5]. - Weak accessibility delivery — roughly 30% of buildings and 65% of websites made accessible [5] — shows cash transfers are often the cheaper, more reliable instrument.

International practice - ILO Recommendation No. 202 (2012) urges nationally defined social protection floors guaranteeing basic income security for those unable to earn adequately [6] — the template for a disability floor.

A statutory floor, inflation-indexed and cost-shared between Centre and States, would convert the RPwD Act's promise of equality into measurable income security. Adopted progressively — as CRPD and SDG target 1.3 envisage — it is an affordable investment in dignity rather than a fiscal burden.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (Act 49 of 2016), India Code — 21 disabilities, 40% benchmark, 4% reservation 2. RGI releases Census 2011 data on disabled population, PIB — 2.68 crore PwDs; 69% rural 3. National Social Assistance Programme (IGNDPS), PIB — ₹300/month central rate, BPL and 18–59 eligibility 4. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UN DESA — Articles 5 and 28 obligations 5. Assessment of SIPDA — PRS Legislative Research — allocation ₹193→210 crore; 30% buildings, 65% websites accessible 6. Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), ILO — basic income security floor standard