To what extent has the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and other social welfare
policy measures been effective in improving the plight of the marginalized in
states like UP and Bihar: an in-depth analysis

Aryaman Garg

doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i08.013

Title: To what extent has the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and other social welfare policy measures been effective in improving the plight of the marginalized in states like UP and Bihar: an in-depth analysis
Authors: Aryaman Garg
Journal: International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research (IJSSER) ISSN: 2455-8834 Volume: 11 Issue: 8 Publication Date: August 2026 DOI: 10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i08.013
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Aryaman Garg Pathways School Noida
MLA 8 Garg, Aryaman. "To what extent has the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and other social welfare policy measures been effective in improving the plight of the marginalized in states like UP and Bihar: an in-depth analysis." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 11, no. 8, Aug. 2026, pp. 3809-3821, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i08.013. Accessed Aug. 2026. APA 6 Garg, A. (2026, August). To what extent has the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and other social welfare policy measures been effective in improving the plight of the marginalized in states like UP and Bihar: an in-depth analysis. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 11(8), 3809-3821. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i08.013 Chicago Garg, Aryaman. "To what extent has the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and other social welfare policy measures been effective in improving the plight of the marginalized in states like UP and Bihar: an in-depth analysis." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 11, no. 8 (August 2026), 3809-3821. Accessed August, 2026. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i08.013.
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ABSTRACT: India's two most populous northern states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have long sat at the bottom of nearly every human development indicator, which makes them the most consequential test case for evaluating whether the government's welfare architecture actually works on the ground. Despite accounting for roughly a quarter of India's population, both states entered the post-2010 reform period carrying poverty rates far above the national average, weak administrative infrastructure, and historically low participation in formal credit and housing markets. The gap between what these states needed and what formal systems offered them was, by any measure, severe. This paper looks at how much Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and three additional schemes, MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Swachh Bharat Mission have managed to improve the situation for four such marginalized groups in India's two most underdeveloped states: landless agricultural workers, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, single woman households and urban informal poor people. This is not an arbitrary list of marginalized populations; rather, these are the populations who will lack the necessary documents needed to access the schemes. The National Multidimensional Poverty Index, formulated by NITI Aayog, will be used as the measurement tool and Social Exclusion Theory will be applied to explain failures in delivery. The progress trajectory of both states will be measured across housing, cooking fuel, sanitation and income security for the period between 2010 and 2024. Real and noticeable improvements have been made since 2015 in both states, but there have been structural impediments to these improvements in the form of outdated targeting mechanisms via SECC 2011 data, deficiencies in state administration and lack of affordability that goes beyond access.

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