What is Project Nagrik?
Project Nagrik examines how citizens in India actually experience welfare delivery in practice. The project focuses on the gap between formal policy design and the lived process through which households access schemes, documentation, and assistance. Rather than studying welfare systems only through policy documents or digital platforms, the project investigates the everyday pathways citizens navigate when attempting to access benefits.
“You need a contact to get your ration card.”
“I didn’t know my family was eligible.”
“The app doesn’t work without Aadhaar.” — Voices from the field, Project Nagrik surveys & interviews
The study draws on 100+ surveys and 12 ethnographic interviews conducted across rural and urban Maharashtra. Field evidence documents three recurring patterns:
- Intermediation: Access frequently flows through local brokers or intermediaries.
- Awareness gaps: Many households remain unaware of schemes for which they qualify.
- Digital exclusion: Systems designed around identity or app-based workflows often create barriers rather than reducing them.
Why Project Nagrik matters
Documentation gaps
Eligibility rules vary widely; citizens rarely know what’s required.
Digital exclusion
App-first systems shut out basic-phone and low-literacy users.
Informal costs
Unlogged steps enable delays, bribes, and discretion-based approvals.
Fragile trust
Many believe computers may be fairer than humans, but trust remains brittle.
Insights from Project Nagrik directly inform SARAL — a prototype focused on transparency, accountability, and bias-aware access to welfare.
Evidence Tracer
Trace any finding back to its evidence
ReproducibleEach “card” below ties a claim to survey signals (n=102) and field notes. Numbers marked ≈ are pilot estimates to be firmed up in v1.1 coding.
New parts are added as fieldwork evolves.
Four-Part Series: Realities of Welfare Access
A structured series from interviews and surveys across Maharashtra. Each part tackles one layer of the problem; access, outcomes, discretion, digital exclusion and how these insights shape a fairer system.
The Invisible Barrier
Paperwork traps, mediation norms, and missing information keep eligible families out. Insights from 100+ surveys and interviews across Maharashtra.
The Fragile Link
A gas connection, a housing grant, a family’s lifeline, why success remains the exception, not the rule.
The Unwritten Rule
Unlogged steps, delays, and informal payments: mapping how discretion shapes outcomes and how to surface it.
The Missing Signal
Why app-first portals lock out basic-phone users and low-literacy households, and what inclusive intake looks like.
From Insight to Action — Meet SARAL
Project Nagrik uncovered how welfare access breaks down on the ground. SARAL transforms those lessons into design — a transparent, rule-based, bias-aware welfare delivery system built for trust.