Professional research · 2023–24

Pensions at the last mile

Sanchay · Field interviews · administrative observation

The question

A name on a pension list and a payment in an account are different facts. In 2023–24, with Sanchay, I looked at pension delivery across two villages, through field interviews and through the Block Development Officer’s office, and presented barriers to access.

The ordinary path

National social assistance pensions, and their state top-ups, typically ask a person to be eligible, listed, documented, and reachable by Direct Benefit Transfer. The last mile is a pile of ordinary possible failures: an account that is dormant, a mismatch with Aadhaar, a death not recorded, a village that is far from the office that can correct the list, a person who cannot spare the day. I used that public machinery as the map. I then walked it in two villages.

EligibleAge, widowhood, disability, or the relevant state category. Eligibility is a rule. Knowing one is eligible is a different fact.

ListedThe name has to exist on the database the payment runs on.

DocumentedAadhaar, account, sometimes a certificate that an office will accept.

CorrectedErrors travel to the BDO. The intern’s useful work is often sitting in that office long enough to see which errors move.

PaidThe transfer arrives. If it does not, the listed person is still a success on the wrong dashboard.

I presented barriers to access. Reconstructing that presentation from memory as a dataset would be dishonest. What can be stated publicly is the method: interviews plus the BDO office, two villages, a delivery problem rather than an awareness campaign.