Administration, Welfare and Development Services I: Social Welfare Administration, its Meaning, History, Principles, Nature and Types of Organisation; its Distinction from Public and Social Security Administration; the Registration of Welfare Agencies as Societies, Trusts, Section 8 Companies and under the FCRA; and the Structure of Welfare Administration

Organised welfare in India has roots in religious charity, caste and village institutions, and royal responsibility for relief. Under British rule the state took on famine relief, codified in the Famine Codes after the Famine Commission of 1880, and a few protective laws, while missionaries, reform societies and philanthropists built schools, orphanages and hospitals. After independence the Constitution's directive principles made welfare a state responsibility. The Central Social Welfare Board was set up in 1953 to fund and develop voluntary organisations, with State Social Welfare Advisory Boards; welfare subjects were later grouped in dedicated departments and ministries. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment took that name in 1998, the Ministry of Women and Child Development became a separate ministry in 2006, and separate ministries deal with tribal affairs and minority affairs; a Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities was created within the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2012. Since the 1990s the voluntary sector, CSR and public-private partnerships have grown alongside the state.

Public administration is the administration of all government activities, from revenue and defence to health and welfare; it is concerned with implementing public policy and law through the machinery of government, with values of legality, efficiency, economy and accountability. Social welfare administration is narrower in scope, covering welfare services for particular groups, but wider in auspices, since it includes voluntary and private agencies as well as government; it carries social work values of dignity, individualisation and participation, and uses social work methods. Social security administration manages schemes that protect people against contingencies such as old age, sickness, maternity, unemployment, employment injury, invalidity and death of the breadwinner. The ILO's Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), lists nine branches: medical care, sickness, unemployment, old age, employment injury, family, maternity, invalidity and survivors' benefits. Social security combines social insurance, contributory and financed by workers and employers (as through the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees' State Insurance Corporation), and social assistance, non-contributory and tax-financed, for those in need (as through the National Social Assistance Programme of 1995).

A voluntary organisation in India usually takes one of three legal forms. A society is registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, a colonial statute adopted with amendments by many states and replaced by their own Acts in some. At least seven persons subscribe to a memorandum of association, stating the name, objects and members of the governing body, and file it with rules and regulations before the Registrar of Societies; a society is democratic in form, with a general body that elects its governing body. A trust is created by a settlor who transfers property to trustees for a purpose. The Indian Trusts Act 1882 governs private trusts; public charitable trusts are governed by state laws where they exist, such as the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act 1950 (formerly the Bombay Public Trusts Act), and otherwise by the trust deed, registered under the Registration Act 1908, and general law. A trust is controlled by its trustees rather than by members. A section 8 company is registered under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 (the successor to section 25 of the Companies Act 1956) with a licence from the Central Government, for objects such as commerce, art, science, sports, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity or protection of the environment; it must apply its profits and income to its objects and may not pay dividends to its members.

Organisations that receive foreign contributions must register, or obtain prior permission, under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which replaced the Act of 1976. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act 2020 tightened it considerably: foreign contribution must be received in a designated FCRA account at the State Bank of India's New Delhi Main Branch; the share of foreign contribution that may be spent on administrative expenses was reduced from 50 per cent to 20 per cent; the transfer of foreign contribution to any other person or organisation was prohibited, ending sub-granting to smaller partners; and identification requirements, including Aadhaar, were imposed on office-bearers. Registration is valid for five years and must be renewed. Separately, tax exemption for charitable organisations and deduction for their donors depend on registration under income-tax law, and organisations seeking government grants register on the NGO Darpan portal.

Service providers include government departments and their institutions, voluntary organisations, private agencies, community organisations and families themselves. At the Centre, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (with its Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities), the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Minority Affairs frame policy and fund schemes, supported by autonomous bodies such as the Central Social Welfare Board, the National Trust, the Rehabilitation Council of India, the Central Adoption Resource Authority, and the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development. States have departments and directorates of social welfare and women and child development, and districts have social welfare officers, district child protection units, ICDS project offices and, for children, Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards. A voluntary organisation typically has a general body, a governing board or executive committee, a chief executive or secretary, programme managers and field staff.

Institutional welfare services, children's homes, observation and special homes, shelter homes for women, old-age homes, homes for persons with disabilities and care homes for destitute persons, require particular management. The Juvenile Justice Act 2015 treats institutionalisation as a measure of last resort, and the Juvenile Justice Model Rules 2016 set standards for child care institutions: registration, individual care plans, the physical infrastructure, nutrition, health and education, staffing, children's committees, inspection and rehabilitation and after-care. Good management of any institution rests on admission criteria and assessment, individualised care plans reviewed regularly, adequate and trained staff, a routine that respects privacy and dignity, participation of residents, links with the community and families, grievance and inspection mechanisms, and planning for exit from the start. The recurring scandals of abuse in shelter homes show that inspection, social audit and residents' voice are not formalities.