Critical Analysis of Public Policy on Social Welfare and Its Impact on Rural Women under the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme in India

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has become a major component of India’s social-welfare delivery architecture, seeking to move benefits and subsidies through bank accounts and to improve targeting, transparency and administrative efficiency. This paper critically examines the public-policy framework of DBT from a socio-legal perspective, focusing on rural women. It asks whether a technically direct payment necessarily produces meaningful access to welfare. The study adopts a primarily doctrinal and analytical methodology, supplemented by a review of official policy materials and existing scholarship. It examines constitutional principles concerning equality, dignity, livelihood and privacy, and considers judicial decisions including Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation and K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India. The analysis finds that DBT can reduce certain intermediary risks and strengthen traceability, but its effectiveness for rural women depends on conditions beyond the payment mechanism itself. Banking access, digital and financial literacy, accurate data, authentication safeguards, information and grievance redress materially affect whether a formal entitlement becomes an actually received and usable benefit. The paper argues that DBT should therefore be evaluated through a dual lens of administrative efficiency and substantive accessibility. A rights-sensitive model should combine reliable payment infrastructure with last-mile banking access, gender-sensitive monitoring, accessible grievance mechanisms and appropriate privacy safeguards.