WELFARE STATE

Origin of the Welfare State

The modern state is often described as a welfare state. The concept
of welfare state is a recent one.
It was originally introduced by Archbishop William temple in
“Citizen and Churchmen” (1941). The origin of the welfare state
can be traced to be the “Beveridge report” of 1942. It promised
adequate protection against want, unemployment, illness and old
age to every Briton.
The concept of welfare state became a reality when the British
Labour Government after the Second World War implemented
many social, economic and welfare measures such as the ‘National
Health Service’ or the ‘Vast Social Insurance Scheme’ etc.
Part IV of the Indian Constitution dealing with the Directive
Principles of State Policy aims at establishing a welfare state in India.
The state is directed by the constitution to promote the welfare of the
people by securing social, economic and political justice.
The Constitution of India also talks of the abolition of special
privileges, discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion, sex,
forced labour and untouchability.
Definitions of Welfare State
What is a Welfare State? There is no single acceptable answer to
this question. There is no agreed definition of the term welfare
state. Different writers have defined it in different ways.
➢Abraham defines a Welfare state as “A community where state
power is deliberately used to modify the normal play of economic
forces as to obtain a more equal distribution of income for every
citizen, a basic minimum irrespective of the market values of his
work and his property”.
➢T.W. Kent defines a Welfare State as “A state that provides for its
citizens a wide range of social services”.
➢In other words, the Welfare State is a political system assuming
state responsibility for the protection and promotion of the social
security and welfare of its citizens by universal medical care,
insurance against sickness and unemployment, retirement
pensions, family allowances, public housing, etc.,
➢G.D.H. Cole says “The Welfare State is a society in which an assured
minimum standard of living and opportunity becomes the possession
of every citizen”.
➢Arthur Schlesinger says “The Welfare State is a system wherein
government agrees to underwrite certain levels of employment,
income, education, medical aid, social security and housing for all its
citizens”.
Features of Welfare State
A Welfare State has certain basic features:
i. A Welfare State is neither a police state nor a socialist state. The
state is not contented merely with the collection of taxes and
maintenance of law and order. It must also promote the interests
of society. It is not a negative state. It is a positive state. It aims at
the general welfare of the people.
ii. It functions within the framework of democratic political
institutions in order to bring about the material welfare of the
people. It allows democratic methods. It aims at ensuring
maximum liberty and equality to all the people in the state. It is
thus a democratic state.
iii. It is a synthesis of liberalism and socialism. Like liberalism, the
concept of welfare state does not want to deprive the
individuals of their liberty and like socialism, it is in favour of
increasing the functions of the state.
iv. It allows private property and regulates it in the general
interest. It should not allow any particular class to exploit the
other classes.
v. It believes in the principal of mixed economy. It owns and
operates key industries and enterprises and strictly regulates
private enterprise. In this way it tries to mitigate the adverse
economic effects of the capitalist system.
Functions of Welfare State
The functions of the modern welfare state are two-fold, namely(i)
Essential functions and (ii) Welfare functions. We shall briefly
describe these two types of functions as under:
Essential functions: A Welfare State, like any other state, must
exercise certain fundamental functions in order to ensure its existence as
a sovereign political organisation. These include (i) the maintenance of
internal peace, order, safety of person and property, and (ii) defense, i.e.,
external security. These two types of functions are essential to the
existence of the state.
 Welfare functions: Welfare is a very comprehensive term. It refers to
economic, social, cultural and all other kinds of well-being. A Welfare State
undertakes a vast number of functions, which aim at promoting the general
welfare of the people as a whole. These relate to economic well-being,
social security, public health, education and so on.
The Welfare State maintains for common use roads, railways, bridges,
posts and telegraph services, sanitation, health, education, libraries,
playgrounds, hospitals, transport services and so on. It provides fire-
fighting services, flood relief, rehabilitation of refugees and essential
commodities at controlled prices
Welfare State also extends the regulatory sphere of the state. It
regulates business practices, trade, industry, labour, building activity,
sanitation, quality control of goods for the consumer market,
pollution control, different possessions, public morals, entertainment
and so on.
It provides minimum economic security for citizens under the
capitalist system itself. It takes care of the poor, indigent and
incapable. It assures help to needy at every step.
The Welfare State tries to reduce economic inequalities by a system
of progressive taxation for the provision of common services. It
imposes ceiling on the size of private property. It assures a minimum
standard of living to everyone.
Preservation of natural resources and places and monuments of
historical importance is another function of Welfare State. Therefore,
a welfare state takes steps to see that the natural resources are not
wasted and rare commodities and ancient relics are well preserved.
 Criticism of Welfare State
• Certain criticisms are levelled against the concept of Welfare State. The concept of welfare
state has met with opposition on the ground that it involves illegitimate government
expenditure, and therefore illegitimate taxation.
• Welfare State is said to encourage indigence and discourage self-help and initiative. In
other words, the beneficiaries of welfare state become less industrious and self-reliant.
• Welfare State expands the scope of state activity to a very large sphere and restricts element
of personal choice. It may thus pose a threat to individual liberty.
THE END