India must build a holistic care system, Pg9

Key Highlights:

• India's development strategy has historically overlooked the care economy, despite its crucial role in societal well-being and economic participation, particularly for women.
• The Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025 indicates that 44.4% of women outside the labor force cite childcare and homemaking as primary reasons.
• The India’s Time Use Survey 2024 found that 41% of women aged 15-59 spend an average of 140 minutes daily on unpaid care work.
• Existing care initiatives like Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, Palna under Mission Shakti, and Mission Vatsalya are fragmented across ministries, leading to coverage gaps.
• NITI Aayog's Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047 report proposes a National Caregiving Council for better coordination and professionalization of the care sector.
• The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) recommends statutory paid paternity leave in the private sector to address the "motherhood penalty" and promote gender-neutral caregiving.

Detailed Insights:

• The care economy is fundamental for individual opportunities, well-being, and participation in society and the economy.
• Lack of accessible, affordable, and quality care services disproportionately burdens women with unpaid work, lost earnings, and limited opportunities.
• An aging population further underscores the growing need for robust care services in India.
• Fragmentation of care services across various ministries, such as Women and Child Development and Housing and Urban Affairs, results in unaddressed needs.
• Coverage gaps are significant, with the UNDP estimating 9-10 million women in low-income urban households needing childcare, and limited data on eldercare availability.
• The care workforce, including Anganwadi workers and home-based caregivers, often faces inadequate remuneration and honorary engagement, lacking clear standards and social protection.
• Care is often budgeted as welfare rather than an investment, and workplace norms perpetuate the idea of caregiving as solely women's responsibility.
• International examples like Colombia's 2025 National Care Policy and Brazil's 2024 National Care Policy demonstrate integrated care frameworks.
• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is exploring a National Care Economy Mission with inter-ministerial governance and aligned financing.
• State-level care roadmaps are crucial for identifying specific needs, gaps in childcare, eldercare, and disability support, and preparing costed plans.
• UNDP and UN Women's TransformCare initiative are supporting India in mapping care services, skilling care workers, and backing women-led childcare enterprises.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Care Economy: Encompasses all activities, paid and unpaid, related to providing care for children, the elderly, the sick, and others in need.
• Unpaid Care Work: Domestic and care tasks performed without monetary compensation, predominantly by women, impacting their economic participation.
• Viksit Bharat 2047: India's vision to become a developed nation by 2047, emphasizing holistic growth including social well-being and economic development.
• Mission Shakti: An umbrella scheme by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for women's safety, security, and empowerment, including components like Palna for crèches.
• Mission Vatsalya: A centrally sponsored scheme for child protection, ensuring care, support, rehabilitation, and social reintegration for children in difficult circumstances.
• Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0: An integrated nutrition support program to upgrade Anganwadi Centers and address malnutrition among children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.