Karnataka's 'Gruha Lakshmis' mostly in control of money but payment delay causing financial stress, says study

Gruha Lakshmi is the largest of the five 'guarantee' schemes covering 1.24 crore women. According to the study, women spent the money largely on food, household expenses, medicines and children's fees.

Bengaluru: Ninety-nine per cent of women benefitting from Gruha Lakshmi have full control of the money they get under the scheme, but many of them faced delays in payouts, leading to high financial stress, a study has shown.

The study -- From Guarantees to Rights: Assessing Karnataka's Experiment with Basic Income and Basic Services led by Prabha Kotiswaran from King's College London -- covered 2,045 women, which included 1,234 Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries.

Gruha Lakshmi is the largest of the five 'guarantee' schemes covering 1.24 crore women.

"99% of the beneficiaries reported having full control over their money. The Rs. 2,000 monthly payment...represented 13% of the household income for those in the treatment group (1,234 respondents)," the study said.

However, 78% of beneficiaries faced delays in receiving money. "Among those who faced delays, 62% of the respondents reported missing payments for one to two months, while 34% experienced delays of three months or longer," the study said. "Delays led to high levels of financial stress and loan borrowings and worry that the scheme may stop. Husbands now lent women money and expected repayment when the Gruha Lakshmi amount arrived," it said.

According to the study, women spent the money largely on food, household expenses, medicines and children's fees.

Women at the Maharaja's College grounds in Mysuru during launch of state government's 'Grihalakshmi' scheme.

"But beneficiaries consistently spoke of the sharp pain of inflation, which dulled the positive impact of the cash transfer," the study said. "Inflation was widely thought to result from the guarantees," it said, even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that the 'guarantee' schemes did not fuel inflation.

"In and of itself, the Gruha Lakshmi did not cause women to either take up more paid work or leave paid work or substitute undesirable employment with better employment," the study found, adding that women preferred regular work with a steady income and were not willing to risk becoming entrepreneurs.

"While Gruha Lakshmi could have emboldened them to take a loan to start a business, its erratic disbursement and the larger backdrop of inflation prevented women from using it in this way," the study said.

The study found that women had 10% more say over how their husbands' earnings are utilised "possibly signifying the power in having and controlling their own money from Gruha Lakshmi". Still, the vast majority (92%) said that decision-making around their healthcare hadn't changed.

11 crore women

Another study titled Valuing Care, Recognising Rights, Reimagining Welfare: How to Make Unconditional Cash Transfers Gender Transformative said 11.3 crore women in 11 states receive unconditional cash transfer (UCT).

"Preliminary studies offer no evidence that UCTs either disincentivise women’s participation in the paid labour market or reinforce the gendered division of labour. But, as of now, neither have UCTs led to the social recognition, reduction or redistribution of unpaid domestic and care work (UDCW)," the study found.