FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00006383 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT IDA-66550, IBRD-91110, IDA-66560, IDA-68130 and IDA-68120 ON A LOAN (IDA-66550) IN THE AMOUNT OF US$ 200 MILLION CONCESSIONAL CREDIT (IBRD-91110) IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 226.80 MILLION (US$ 309.53 MILLION EQUIVALENT) NON-CONCESSIONAL CREDIT (IDA-66560) IN THE AMOUNT OF US$ 240.43 MILLION CONCESSIONAL CREDIT (IDA-68130) IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 77.0 MILLION (US$108.6 MILLION EQUIVALENT) NON-CONCESSIONAL CREDIT (IDA-68120) IN THE AMOUNT OF US$291.4 MILLION TO INDIA FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND ACCELERATING INDIA'S COVID-19 SOCIAL PROTECTION RESPONSE (PMGKY) (P173943 AND P174027) April 22, 2024 Social Protection & Jobs Global Practice South Asia Region The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective April 12, 2024) Currency Unit = Indian Rupee (INR) INR 83.46 = US$1 US$ 1.32 = SDR 1 FISCAL YEAR July 1 - June 30 Regional Vice President: Martin Raiser Country Director: Auguste Tano Kouamé Regional Director: Nicole Klingen Practice Manager: Cem Mete Task Team Leader(s): Shrayana Bhattacharya, Ambrish Shahi ICR Main Contributor: Randa G El-Rashidi, Avirup Sarkar The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AAY Antyodaya Anna Yojana MoFCS Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies ADB Asian Development Bank MoHA Ministry of Home Affairs AFD Agence française de Développement MoHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare AfDB African Development Bank MoHUA Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs APY Atal Pension Yojana MoRD Ministry of Rural Development ASHA Accredited Social Health Activist MoJS Ministry of Jal Shakti ATM Automated Teller Machine MoLE Ministry of Labor and Employment BMGF Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation MoP Ministry of Power BOCWWF Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Fund CCRISP Creating a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social NDRF National Disaster Response Funds Protection System CMIE Center for Monitoring Indian Economy NMIS National Migrants Information System CMU Country Management Unit NSAP National Social Assistance Program CPF Country Partnership Framework NSSB National Social Security Board CPR Center for Policy Research ONOR One Nation One Ration DBT Direct Benefit Transfer ONORC One Nation One Ration Card DEA Department of Economic Affairs PA Prior Action DFS Department of Financial Services PDO Program Development Objective DMEO Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Office PDS Public Distribution System DPF Development Policy Financing PF Provident Fund e-KYC electronic-Know Your Customer PFMS Public Financial Management System EPF Employees' Provident Fund PIB Press Information Bureau EPFO Employees' Provident Fund Organization PMGKAY Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna EPoD Evidence for Policy Design PMGKP (SHIS) Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package FPS Fair Price Shops PMGKY Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna FRBM Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management PMJDY Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana FY Fiscal Year PMJJBY Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana GKRA Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan PM-KSN Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi GoI Government of India PM-KSY Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana GW Gigawatt PMSBY Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana ICR Implementation and Completion and Results report PM-SVANidhi Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Nidhi IDFC Infrastructure Development Finance Company RI Results Indicator IFC International Finance Corporation SDRF State Disaster Response Funds IMF International Monetary Fund SHIS (PMGKP) Special Health Insurance Program ISR Implementation Status Report SME Small and Medium Enterprise JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency TA Technical Assistance JPAL Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab TTL Task Team Leader (World Bank) KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau UJJWALA / PMUY Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana LPG Liquified Petroleum Gas UMANG Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance M&E Monitoring and Evaluation WB World Bank MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment WBG World Bank Group Guarantee Scheme MoCAFPD Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public WCF Water Conservation Fee Distribution MoF Ministry of Finance The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET ........................................................................................................................... I I. PROGRAM CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES .................................................... 1 II. ASSESSMENT OF KEY PROGRAM DESIGN AND OUTCOMES .............................................. 4 III. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS ................................................................................ 18 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................... 20 V. RISK TO SUSTAINABILITY OF DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES .............................................. 21 VI. LESSONS AND NEXT PHASE ........................................................................................... 22 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................... 24 ANNEX 2. WORLD BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION PROCESSES 35 ANNEX 3. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIERS, AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS’/STAKEHOLDERS’ COMMENTS ............................................................................ 37 ANNEX 4. SECTORS AND THEMES ......................................................................................... 38 ANNEX 5. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS .................................................................................. 41 ANNEX 6. SEQUENCING OF REFORMS, SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION AND OTHER WB OPERATIONS ..................................................................................................... 48 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Program Series Project ID Short Name Full Name India COVID19 Response Social Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response P173943 Protection Program (PMGKY) Social Protection for COVID response Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection P174027 2 Response (PMGKY) Series Details (USD) Project ID Approved Amount Disbursed Amount P173943 749,960,000.00 748,478,831.06 P174027 400,000,000.00 402,601,860.00 Total 1,149,960,000.00 1,151,080,691.06 KEY_D PF_OPTI ONS_ TBL P173943 P174027 Policy-Based Guarantees No No IDA- IDA- 66550,IBRD- Ln/Cr/TF 68130,IDA- 91110,IDA- 68120 66560 Concept Review 08-Apr-2020 31-Jul-2020 Decision Review 24-Apr-2020 05-Nov-2020 Approval 14-May-2020 15-Dec-2020 Effectiveness 17-May-2020 18-Jan-2021 Original Closing 01-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2022 Actual Closing 01-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2022 Page i The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Crisis or Post-Conflict Yes Yes Regular Deferred Drawdown Option No No Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option No No Sub-National Lending No No Special Development Policy Lending No No Organizations Series Project Borrower Implementing Agency P173943 Republic of India Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance P174027 Republic of India Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Affairs Program Development Objective (PDO) Program Development Objective (PDO) (From last operation in the series) The proposed operation is the second of a series of two to strengthen the capability of state and national governments in India to providecoordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the shocks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic PROGRAM FINANCING DATA (USD) World Bank Administered Financing Approved Amount Actual Disbursed P173943 309,530,000 308,048,831 IDA-66550 200,000,000 200,000,000 IBRD-91110 240,430,000 240,430,000 IDA-66560 P174027 108,600,000 111,201,860 IDA-68130 291,400,000 291,400,000 IDA-68120 Page ii The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Total 1,149,960,000 1,151,080,691 RATINGS SUMMARY Program Performance Overall Outcome Relevance of Prior Actions Achievement of Objectives (Efficacy) Highly Satisfactory Satisfactory Highly Satisfactory Bank Performance Highly Satisfactory ACCOUNTABILITY AND DECISION MAKING At ICR: Regional Vice President Country Director Director Martin Raiser Auguste Tano Kouame Nicole Klingen Practice Manager Task Team Leader(s) Cem Mete Shrayana Bhattacharya, Ambrish Shahi At Approval: P173943 Regional Vice President Country Director Director Hartwig Schafer Junaid Kamal Ahmad Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz Practice Manager Task Team Leader(s) Stefano Paternostro Shrayana Bhattacharya, Qaiser Mahmood Khan, Ambrish Shahi P174027 Regional Vice President Country Director Director Hartwig Schafer Junaid Kamal Ahmad Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz Page iii The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Practice Manager Task Team Leader(s) Stefano Paternostro Shrayana Bhattacharya, Qaiser Mahmood Khan, Ambrish Shahi Page iv The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) I. PROGRAM CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES 1. This Implementation and Completion and Results (ICR) report assesses the achievement of the First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (P173943 and P174027) Development Policy Financing (DPF). The DPF series aimed to support the Government of India (GoI) in scaling up its social protection response to COVID-19 while laying the foundation of an adaptive safety net system. The first operation (DPF1) financed US$750 million and was approved by the World Bank Board in May 2020. The second operation (DPF2) financed US$400 million and was approved by the World Bank Board in December 2020. The total program amounted to US$1.15 billion. Both loans were fully disbursed and closed on December 2021 and December 2022, respectively.1 A. Context at Appraisal 2. In the decade preceding the global pandemic, the Government of India (GoI) engineered, within a predominantly informal workforce, rapid economic growth, and steep reductions in absolute poverty. Rural, residency-based social assistance dominated a large and complex set of near-universal decentralized social protection schemes. Digitized socio- economic census data, state-level databases, and the Aadhaar digital ID network supplemented the targeting of poor and vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system and Public Distribution System (PDS) delivered (and continue to deliver) cash and in-kind assistance, respectively. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying economic shocks immediately stemmed, and progressively reversed, these development gains. 3. In response to the urgent social protection needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government announced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) schemes, which provided a package of cash and in-kind social assistance to protect poor and vulnerable households. PMGKY was not a new scheme, rather an integrated package of scaling up cash and in-kind assistance through existing programs that have large outreach and strong delivery mechanisms. In the first phase of provision, the PMGKY package cost USD$23 billion and used India’s well-developed Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system and the delivery systems of large national programs. PMGKAY (see Table 6 in Annex 5 for details), on the other hand, was a food security scheme which leveraged the Public Distribution System (PDS) for delivery of food assistance to the poorest citizens during the pandemic. The identification of beneficiaries relied on India’s near-universal programs, supplemented by digitized Socio-Economic Census data, state level databases and the Aadhaar digital ID network. 4. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for critical structural reforms of the Indian social protection system which was fragmented and largely operated in scheme-based silos. Historically, India has been providing social protection through a large and complex set of centrally sponsored schemes. These schemes were financed by the center and implemented by state governments. However, there were no overarching institutional framework for coordinating these multiple scheme-based mechanisms. Faced with the COVID-19 crisis, GoI needed to provide urgent social protection support to its citizens that entailed reforms to move the scheme-based silos towards an integrated system and the first step towards that was to leverage PMGKY and PMGKAY to build an implementation framework whereby multiple schemes work together through leadership anchored by GoI. 5. Although COVID-19 put the economy under significant fiscal stress, India’s macroeconomic policy framework remained adequate for Development Policy Financing. The Indian economy was already slowing down when the COVID-19 outbreak unfolded. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth had moderated from 8.3 percent in FY16/17 to 4.0 percent in FY19/20. The growth deceleration was due mostly to: (i) impaired balance sheets in the Banking and corporate sectors affecting credit and investment; and (ii) a marked decline in private consumption growth. The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions to economic activity which led to significant economic contraction and revenue shortfalls for the central and state governments (24 percent real GDP contraction and 40 percent central government revenue decline during the first 1The difference between the loan amount and disbursed amount for DPF 2 pertains to exchange rate fluctuations between SDR and USD values. WFACS (Corporate Expense Unit of the Finance and Accounting Vice Presidency) confirmed the same via email dated April 8th, 2024. Page 1 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) quarter of FY 20/21). The GoI responded proactively to mitigate the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak with expansionary fiscal policies – whereby an ‘Economic Package’ (including financial sector measures, liquidity injection by RBI, social protection interventions and structural reforms), equivalent to 10 percent of the GDP was rolled out. Such increased spending combined with revenue shortfalls led to higher fiscal deficits (9.5 percent of GDP in FY20-21 from 4.6 percent of GDP in FY19-20). However, India’s macroeconomic policy framework remained adequate for Development Policy Financing due high reserve levels, limited external financing needs and a strong institutional and operational framework for debt management. Rationale for Bank Assistance 6. There was a strong rationale for World Bank involvement in the context of this DPF series. Despite the emergency processing, the DPF series was able to draw upon the World Bank’s extensive knowledge work and experience on social protection and community-driven development to help the Government of India link the emergency COVID-19 response with a broader social protection and resilience agenda. Over the years, the Bank worked closely with national and state authorities to understand the strengths and lacuna of existing social protection programs in India through partnerships and Non-Lending Technical Assistances with multiple state governments, national DBT Mission, academics, community-based organizations, and Indian think-tanks. While the financial contribution of the World Bank to the Government Program was small, the DPF series leveraged the deep country knowledge and trust with GoI built through sustained engagement and analytical work (See 7. Table 5 in Annex 5 and Table 9 in Annex 6) to design shock responsive interventions within a very short period and invest in strategic shifts in India’s social protection architecture in the medium term. Moreover, the convening power of the Bank helped the GoI leverage further financing from other development partners through the DPF series – i.e., Asian Development Bank (ADB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), provided financing against WB’s policy matrix. 8. Considering India’s strong macroeconomic foundation at appraisal, the DPF instrument was selected as a quick disbursing instrument that could directly supplement government budget during an emergency and support deep institutional reforms. While emergency support during the pandemic was critical, the pandemic also highlighted the need for broader institutional reforms to transform the Indian social protection landscape from fragmented schemes to an integrated and adaptive system. Moreover, the interventions were cascaded through a series of two DPFs instead of a single larger operation to allow both the Bank and GoI the flexibility to respond to the evolving ground realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, this flexibility helped GoI expand the emergency response interventions through DPF 2 to cope with the devastating but unforeseen second wave of COVID-19 which unfolded after the relaxation of nationwide lockdowns. 9. The DPF series is consistent with the India Country Partnership Framework’s (CPF) (2018-2022, extended until 2024) focus on building systems of social protection – and supporting India to shift away from fragmented and individual schemes – which can help the poor and vulnerable weather shocks and enhance their resilience. It also supports a cross- cutting theme of the CPF on reducing gender-based inclusion gaps. Moreover, the proposed reforms are integral to the World Bank Group’s approach towards phasing COVID-19 response and recovery measures – whereby, the DPF series was the 2nd phase which was preceded by interventions supporting health systems (1st phase) and followed up through a 3rd phase of interventions focusing on the recovery of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and key corporate sectors.2 The DPF series also aligns with the Bank’s corporate priorities on Gender and Climate Change by integrating reforms, which address gender-gaps in social protection program coverage and strengthen climate resilience of vulnerable population, into the design. 2As part of World Bank’s overall COVID-19 support to GoI, the MSME sector received US$750 million DPF (2020/2021). In addition, the $500 million Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance PforR (P172226) was approved in June 2021. Page 2 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Original Program Development Objective(s) (as approved) 10. The Program Development Objective (PDO) is to strengthen the capability of state and national governments in India to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Original Policy Areas/Pillars Supported by the Program (as approved) Pillar 1: Leveraging Pre-Existing Social Protection Measures for COVID-19 Relief 11. Pillar 1 accelerated the provision of adequate social protection for poor and vulnerable populations. This included systemic reforms to: (i) support the scale up of cash/in-kind assistance through PMGKY and PMGKAY which targeted women- headed households; (ii) initiate regulatory reforms to enhance the service delivery of state government; and (iii) provide low- wage workers income protection and liquidity support. Pillar 2: Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply Chains during Covid-19 Pandemic 12. Pillar 2 provided cover for the risk of those in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients. This included social insurance (life, accident, and old-age insurance) reforms to: (i) provide technical expertise to synthesize government- managed health insurance programs and delivery mechanisms into a special health insurance scheme, scaling vertically to cover low-paid, informal frontline health workers. Pillar 3: Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable Populations 13. Pillar 3 expanded critical reform measures for migrants, gig workers, and the urban poor to access PMGKY benefits. This included structural reforms to: (i) revise regulations to ensure migrants, informal workers, and the urban poor had timely access to social protection interventions; (ii) increase new beneficiaries’ uptake of PMGKY through information campaigns; (iii) make food assistance portable; and (iv) reform social insurance to cover women-headed households and the newly vulnerable. B. Significant Changes during Implementation 14. The second DPF added a new policy area/pillar on climate resilience based on the World Bank and the GoI’s vision for holistic sustainability. Revised Program Development Objectives 15. Not applicable Revised Policy Areas/Pillars Supported by the Program 16. Pillar 4, which was introduced during DPF2, widened the PDO lens to better reflect the climate risk of the poor and vulnerable. Prior actions supported climate change mitigation and adaptation: (i) revising guidelines to conserve groundwater systems and adjacent ecosystems; and (ii) reforming regulations to increase uptake of renewable energy. Accordingly, the Results Framework reflected revisions to existing and additions of new Results Indicators (see Table 8, Annex 6). Other Changes 17. Not applicable Page 3 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) II. ASSESSMENT OF KEY PROGRAM DESIGN AND OUTCOMES 18. The design of the PDO was consistent with the CPF and fully relevant to the development priorities of the GoI as noted in earlier sections. Table 1 below lists all the prior actions and triggers for DPFs 1 and 2. Table 1: Policy Matrix Indicative Triggers (from DPF1) and Prior Actions for DPF1 Results Indicators (original (DPF1) and revised) Prior Actions for DPF2 PILLAR 1 – LEVERAGING PRE-EXISTING SOCIAL PROTECTION MEASURES FOR COVID-19 RELIEF PA 1: The Borrower through Ministry of Indicative Trigger 1A: The Borrower through Ministry RI 1 – Achieved: Adequacy of benefits provided Finance, Government of India has of Home Affairs, Government of India expands the through the COVID-19 Social Protection Support approved the PMGKY, an integrated ability of state governments to provide social Program measured by PMGKY transfers as a COVID-19 social protection relief cash- protection during disasters through executive orders percent share of total household consumption transfer package which: (a) increases that enable use of National Disaster Response expenditures for the poorest quintile in India. benefit levels for MGNREGS; (b) allocates Funds/State Disaster Response Funds for social Baseline (2020): 0% LPG and gas cylinders for below-poverty protection requirements, with outlined Target (2022): 40% line households for three months regulations/manuals/procedures for state Current status (2023): 47% [Oct 2020]3 through UJJWALA; (c) provides governments to access financing to provide context- RI 2 – Achieved: Coverage of benefits provided additional allowance for elderly, widows specific, adequate and agile safety nets for disaster through the COVID-19 Social Protection Support and disabled through the NSAP; (d) relief (such as COVID-19 and future health/natural Program measured by share of bottom 40% triggers cash transfers to women bank disasters) which could include community-driven (consumption percentiles) households receiving account holders under the PMJDY; (e) approaches. at least one PMGKY social assistance (food/cash) advances payments through PM-KSN; benefit. and (f) outlines benefit levels, PA 1: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Home Baseline (2020): 0% implementation guidelines, fund-flow Affairs, has expanded the ability of state governments Target (2022): 60% mechanism, and governance rules for to provide social protection during disasters through Current status (2023): 87.4% [June 2021]4 | 91% coordination and monitoring across the use of up to 50 per cent of State Disaster [Dec 2022]5 multiple state governments and line Response Funds leveraging pre-existing decentralized RI 3 – Achieved: Gender-sensitive program ministries for rollout of the PMGKY protocols for state governments to access financing to coverage measured by share of bottom 40% package. provide context-specific, adequate, and agile safety (consumption percentiles) households with nets. female-head receiving at least one PMGKY social assistance (food/cash) benefit. [NEW] Baseline (2020): 0% Target (2022): 70% Current status (2023): 87.4% [Apr 2021] | 91.2% [Dec 2022]6 PA 2: The Borrower through Ministry of Indicative Trigger 2A: The Borrower through Ministry RI 4 – Achieved: Access to essential food Food and Civil Supplies, Government of of Food and Civil Supplies, Government of India supplies provided through the COVID-19 Social India has approved the provision of free expands the PMGKAY package and issues government Protection Program measured by percentage food rations for a three-month period orders notifying release of three-month additional share of poor households receiving the delivered under PMGKAY’s public grains to all AAY (chronic poor) households in hot-spot additional food ration entitlement for a three- distribution system, outlining benefit districts. month period as outlined by PMGKAY. levels and implementation guidelines for Baseline (2020): 0% delivery. Target (2021): 60% Current status (2023): 81% [June 2021]4| 91% [Dec 2022]7 PA 3: The Borrower through Ministry of RI 5 – Achieved: Access to wage protection Labor and Employment, Government of measures provided through the COVID-19 Social India has amended the Employees’ Protection Program measured by percentage Provident Fund Regulations to include share of low-wage (as defined and identified by pandemic as a reason to allow workers Government program) workers withdrawing 3 Implementation Status Report – October 2020 4 “Intent to Implementation: Tracking India’s Social Protection Response to COVID-19” – June 2021 5 Data provided by the World Bank task team based on Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 27 (October – December 2022) 6 Data provided by the WB task team based on Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 22 (Jan – Apr 2021) and 27 (Oct – Dec 2022) 7 Data provided by the WB task team based on Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 27 (October – December 2022) Page 4 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Indicative Triggers (from DPF1) and Prior Actions for DPF1 Results Indicators (original (DPF1) and revised) Prior Actions for DPF2 to withdraw from their Provident Fund funds from Employee Provident Fund Accounts account a non-refundable advance of citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for 75% of the balance in the account or withdrawal. three months of the wages, whichever is Baseline (2020): 0% lower. Target (2021): 25% Current status (2023): 14.2% [Oct 2020 ISR]3 | 73.78% [June 2021]8 PA 4: Under its PMGKY, the Borrower RI 6 - Achieved: Timeliness of wage-loss through Ministry of labor and compensation measures guaranteed by COVID- Employment, Government of India 19 Social Protection Program for low-wage contributes 24% of monthly wages for workers measured by percentage of low-wage low-wage workers (Less than 15,000 INR workers in SME’s receiving additional / month) in Small and Medium contribution announced within eight-weeks of Enterprises (Less than 100 employees) the announcement. for a three-month period into their Baseline (2020): 0% Provident Fund account. Target (2021): 60% Current status (2023): 62.5% [Oct 2020 ISR]3| 95.46% [May 2020]9 PILLAR 2 – PROTECTING WORKERS IN ESSENTIAL SERVICE SUPPLY CHAINS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC PA 5: The Borrower through Ministry of PA 2: The Borrower through Ministry of Health and RI 7 – Achieved: Access to health insurance Health and Family Welfare, Government Family Welfare, Government of India has extended a measures provided through the COVID-19 Social of India has established a special health special health insurance scheme for health workers Protection Program measured by percentage insurance scheme for health workers providing essential care/medical services to COVID-19 share of essential service workers covered by providing essential care/medical services patients for additional 90 days. the Special Health Insurance Scheme. [TARGET to COVID-19 patients. REVISED] Baseline (2020): 0% (Included groups: Health professionals Target (2022): 15% [Target for 2021 was 30%] tackling COVID-19 cases, Safai Current status (2023): 100%10 karmcharis, ward-boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health workers would be covered) PILLAR 3 – IMPROVING ACCESS AND DELIVERY FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS PA 6: The Borrower through Ministry of Indicative Trigger 7B: The Borrower through Ministry RI 8 – Achieved: Access to support provided Labor and Employment, Government of of Finance, Department of Financial Services, through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program India has issued advisories to all States’ Government of India approves the rollout of a for informal workers measured by percentage government on how to use the Building Jansuraksha Mission (with online and offline share of construction workers registered with and Other Construction (Workers interface) to pursue and ensure universal coverage Building and Other Construction Workers Fund Welfare Fund) to provide relief materials on mission-mode for a basic package of three social receiving cash transfers. and cash to registered construction insurance schemes (PMJJBY, PMSBY, and APY), Baseline (2020): 0% workers. leveraging the PDS, PMJDY, e-KYC and Aadhar Target (2021): 50% infrastructure, with focus on achieving full coverage of Current status (2023): 63.0% [Oct 2020 ISR]3 | vulnerable and female-headed households in urban 66.75% [Dec 2023 – MoLE administrative data areas, with clearly defined shared with task team] rollout/information/incentive strategies. RI 9 – Achieved: Migrant-neutrality of support provided through the COVID-19 Social PA 3: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Labor Protection Program measured by percentage of and Employment, has approved and adopted a new India’s vulnerable population in urban areas Social Security Code which includes the rollout of a covered by portable life and accident insurance National Social Security Board (with online and offline through Department of Financial Services (DFS). interface) to ensure universal coverage for a basic Baseline (2020): 15% 8 COVID-19 claims data provided by Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) on December 6, 2023 9 COVID-19 claims data provided by Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) on December 6, 2023 10 According to an MoHFW press release on 19 April 2022 that 2.21 million health care providers, including community health workers and private health workers, were eligible for PMGKP coverage. Page 5 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Indicative Triggers (from DPF1) and Prior Actions for DPF1 Results Indicators (original (DPF1) and revised) Prior Actions for DPF2 package of social protection benefits, leveraging the Target (2021): 45% PDS, PMJDY, e-KYC, and Aadhar infrastructure; with Current status (2023): Portable Health focus on achieving full coverage of informal workers Insurance: 51.1% and Portable Life Insurance in urban and rural areas, and a clear approach for 34.4% [2022]11 decentralized implementation. RI 10 – Achieved: Access to support provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program for informal workers measured by percentage share of informal workers receiving at least one social protection benefit. [NEW / REVISED] Baseline (2020): 10% Target (2022): 33% Current status (2023): 87% [ Dec 2023 MoLE E- shram database] Result Indicator 11 – Achieved***: Gender- sensitive program coverage measured by proportion of female informal workers in total beneficiary pool of social protection in India. Baseline (2020): N/A Target (2022): 40% Current status (2023): 54.5% in MGNREGS (2021-22) | 52.9% in eShram (2023) | 63.95% in NSAP (2023)12 [*** Program specific figures have been used because of difficulties in calculating the number of female informal workers and total beneficiary pool due to overlaps between programs (i.e., one individual can be beneficiaries of multiple programs)] PA 7: The Borrower through Ministry of Indicative Trigger 7A: The Borrower through Ministry RI 12 – Achieved: Migrant-neutrality of support Home Affairs, Government of India has of Food and Civil Supplies, Government of India provided through the COVID-19 Social enabled the States’ government to use approves and adopts a framework for pan-national Protection Program measured by percentage of finances from the State Disaster portable access to portable access to the Public India’s population able to access to portable Response Funds to provide migrant Distribution System, which clearly outlines fund- food benefits through the Public Distribution workers relief materials and in-kind sharing and coordination mechanisms for states to System (PDS). support, with flexibility for States in the support food rations for all migrants across state Baseline (2020): 0% modality of delivery. boundaries. Target (2021): 33% Current status (2023): 27% [Oct 2020]3 | 53.3% PA 4: The Borrower through Ministry of Consumer [Aug 2021]13 | 56.5% [Jun 2022]14 Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of RI 13 – Achieved: Migrant-neutrality of India’s India has approved and adopted mission-mode rollout social protection system measured as the of ’One-Nation-One Ration’ platform for portable percentage of states implementing One Nation access to the Public Distribution System to support One Ration for portable access to the Public food rations for all migrants across state boundaries. Distribution System. [NEW] Baseline (2020): N/A PA 5: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Housing Target (2022): 40% 11 Data provided by the WB task team based on Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 26 (May – August2022) where “vulnerable” was defined as urban informal workers in the bottom 40 percent of the consumption quintile. POV team verified trend line of increase in insurance uptake in National Family Health Survey and across CMIE waves. Health and life insurance uptake data were used as a proxy in the absence of data on life and accident insurance since accident insurance is usually a rider benefit of health / life insurance schemes. 12 Participation of Rural Women in MGNREGS | eShram Dashboard | Information provided by Ministry of Rural Development on Dec 6, 2023. 13 Government of India PIB (28 August 2021). “ONORC mission gathers further momentum as Delhi and West Bengal also operationalize the scheme.” | World Bank Data - Country Profile of India 14 Government of India Press Information Bureau (21 June 2022). “Assam becomes the 36th State/UT to implement One Nation One Ration Card.” | World Bank Data - Country Profile of India Page 6 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Indicative Triggers (from DPF1) and Prior Actions for DPF1 Results Indicators (original (DPF1) and revised) Prior Actions for DPF2 and Urban Affairs, has issued the Operational Current status (2023): 94.4% [June 2021]4 | Guidelines dated July 2020, for an Affordable Rental 100% [June 2022]15 Housing scheme for migrant Labor and the urban poor RI 14 – Achieved: Percentage of India’s bottom which clearly defines rules and implementation 40 percent quintile in urban areas covered by at norms. least one social protection benefit. [NEW] Baseline (2020): 15% PA 6: The Borrower through Ministry of Home Affairs, Target (2022): 33% Government of India has created a National Migrants Current status (2023): 69.1% [June 2021]4 | Information System which establishes a database of 85.8% [Dec 2022]16 and 80.37% [Dec 2023 MoLE inter-state mobility to target and plan migrant-specific E-shram database analysis] COVID-19 social assistance support at the state and national level. PA 7: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment, has: (i) expanded the definition of ‘inter-state’ migrants to include those who do not migrate without a contractor; and (ii) mandated the creation of a decentralized portal for migrant registration, to enable portability and universal coverage for cash and social insurance benefits, through the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020. PA 8: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Rural Development, has established a converged mission- mode cash for employment-support program for returning migrants in rural areas called the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan. PA 8: The Borrower through Ministry of Indicative Trigger 8A: The Borrower through RI 15 – Achieved: Timeliness of cash-transfers Finance, Government of India has issued Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, provided through the COVID-19 Social guidance largely adopted by public Government of India issues government orders Protection Program measured by percentage of sector banks to waive ATM charges for notifying information campaign and methods of poor / bottom 40 quintile households who have all cash withdrawals to facilitate access alerting PMGKY beneficiaries of the status of their received at least one PMGKY benefit within to cash and PMGKY payments. benefit delivery. eight-week period of program announcement. [REVISED] PA 9: The Borrower through Direct Benefits Transfer Baseline (2020): 0% Mission, Cabinet Secretariat, has ordered the Target (2022): 50% [2021 target was 60%] integration of DBT-related transaction in PFMS with Current status (2023): 84% [Oct 2020]3 UMANG mobile application, to allow beneficiaries of social programs to query and access information regarding electronic transfers. PILLAR 4 – INDIA CLIMATE ACTION PILLAR N/A PA 10: The Borrower through the Ministry of Jal RI 16 – Achieved: Improved regulatory capacity Shakti, has issued Revised Guidelines for Groundwater to conserve groundwater, thereby improving Extraction in India which (i) introduce the concept of water security of the country in the face of Water Conservation Fee (WCF) (ii) encourage use of climate change. [NEW] recycled and treated sewage water by industries (iii) Baseline (2020): No pre-existing groundwater create provision for actions against polluting policy with water user fees industries (iv) mandate requirement of digital flow Target (2022): Codification of groundwater meters, piezometers and digital water level recorders policy with water user fees concept through (with or without telemetry depending upon quantum government rules to state. of extraction) (v) mandate water audit by industries Current status (2023): New groundwater policy abstracting ground water 500 m3/day or more in safe (applicable in all states and UTs) with user fees and semi-critical and 200 m3/day or more in critical 15 PIB Press release of June 2022 – “Assam becomes the 36th State/UT to implement One Nation One Ration Card” 16 Data provided by the World Bank task team based on Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 26 (May – August 2022) Page 7 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Indicative Triggers (from DPF1) and Prior Actions for DPF1 Results Indicators (original (DPF1) and revised) Prior Actions for DPF2 and over-exploited assessment units and (vi) mandate formulated and notification issued [Sep 2020]17 roof top rain water harvesting except for specified industries. N/A PA 11: The Borrower through the Ministry of Power, RI 17 – Achieved: Increase in the cumulative has extended the waiver of inter-state transmission renewable power installed capacity in order to charges and losses on the transmission of electricity meet India’s NDC targets, retain India’s global generated by solar and wind sources to encourage use position on wind and solar power and increase of renewable energy in India. employment through renewable energy projects. [NEW] Baseline (2020): 85.90 GW (Dec 2019) Target (2022): 172 GW Current status (2023): 167.75 GW [Dec 2022] | 172 GW [Mar 2022] | 178.36 GW [Aug 2023]18 Tranche # Amount (USD) Expected Release Date Actual Release Date Release Tranche 1 (P173943) 748,480,000.00 18-May-2020 17-May-2020 Regular Tranche 2 (P174027) 402,600,000.00 19-Jan-2021 18-Jan-2021 Regular A. Relevance of Prior Actions Rating: Satisfactory 19. The prior actions and the PDO addressed the urgent need to strengthen the capability of the state and national governments in India to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The PDO was appropriate under the economic context at the time of appraisal and was neither too general nor overly detailed, and adequately expressed the overall objective of the prior actions. Almost all prior actions were relevant, appropriately sequenced (Table 7 of Annex 6) and addressed the challenges faced by India at the time of the program appraisal. They were prepared in consultation with GOI and various stakeholders to ensure harmonization, and selected to support the government programs that addressed the economic, social, and health impacts of COVID-19, ensure economic resilience, and align with the PDO. Pillar 1 – Leveraging Pre-existing Social Protection Measures for COVID-19 Relief Rating: Highly Satisfactory Leveraging existing social protection measures and platforms to scale up COVID-19 relief and strengthening state governments capacity to deliver shock-responsive social protection during COVID-19 and future disasters. DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 1: Roll out the PMGKY as an integrated COVID-19 social protection relief PA 1: Enable states to use the SDRF for disaster responsive package. (Highly Satisfactory) social protection. (Highly Satisfactory) Indicative Trigger 1A: Enable states to use SDRF/NDRF for disaster responsive social protection. PA 2: Provide free food rations for three months under PMGKAY’s PDS. Indicative Trigger 2A: Expand PMGKAY food rations for an additional three months in hotspot districts. (Highly Satisfactory) 20. PA1/DPF1 focused on coordinating existing national platforms and programs with broad outreach and strong delivery mechanisms for scaled COVID-19 social protection relief and for an integrated social protection system. Scaling 17 Government of India Ministry of Jal Shakti Notification (24 September 2020). “Guidelines to regulate and control groundwater extraction in India.” 18 Central Electricity Authority: Installed Capacity Report [Accessed in September 2023] Page 8 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) up existing programs ensured near-universal coverage, robust and efficient service delivery support till November 2020; relief measures were expanded in specific states or clusters depending on how the COVID-19 crisis has evolved. 21. PA1/DPF2 and Indicative Trigger 1A/DPF1 aimed to strengthen state capacity to deliver context-specific, adequate, and agile safety nets. At appraisal, states could not withdraw from the SDRF or NDRF for health disasters; and the NDRF programs constituting PMGKY and PMGKAY excluded 14 percent of households below the poverty line and a segment of the population who were overqualified for social protection but under-resourced for private insurance. Indicative Trigger 1A/DPF1 provided technical assistance to classify the pandemic as a “disaster” (thus provide access to the funds as COVID-19 was recognized as a national disaster) and the necessary regulatory reforms. PA1/DPF2 conveyed the same but sourced only SDRF funds. 22. PA2/DPF1 capitalized on the near-universal PDS coverage to deliver timely COVID-19 relief. India’s food subsidy distribution system is one of the largest in the world. At appraisal, the PDS subsidized grains for 800 million Indians through half a million Fair Price Shops (FPS). While Trigger 2A intended to limit three additional months of food assistance to hotspots, the GoI responded to events on the ground (a rapid infection rate), providing the additional three months’ supply to all PMGKY and PMGKAY beneficiaries across the whole country. Leveraging existing systems to roll out quasi-basic income support for formal workers during the pandemic, with emphasis on low-wage (less than 15,000 INR / month) SME workers DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 3: Allow workers to make one-time, non-refundable withdrawals from PF. (Highly Satisfactory) N/A PA 4: Provide wage support to low-wage SME workers through PF accounts. Highly Satisfactory) 23. PA3/DPF1 leveraged Provident Fund (PF) accounts to increase cash availability for formal workers during the pandemic. At appraisal, India did not have a provision for additional withdrawal for the pandemic or COVID-19 relief. To disincentivize workers from depleting their savings, PA3 provided TA regulatory reforms that enabled workers to cite “pandemic” for a one-time, non-refundable withdrawal equivalent to 75 percent of their PF balance or three-month wage. 24. PA4/DPF1 leveraged existing PF accounts to roll-out income support for low-wage workers. In India, employers are expected to match employees’ PF contributions. However, the pandemic lockdowns severely compromised the ability of employers and employees in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to contribute to their PF accounts. For low-wage SME workers to benefit from the PA3 reforms, additional liquidity support and relief measures were required. Hence, through PA4, GoI contributed 24 percent of the monthly wages of low-wage SME workers for a three-month period into their PF accounts. Pillar 2 – Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply Chains during COVID-19 Pandemic Rating: Highly Satisfactory DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 5: Special Health Insurance Scheme for health workers (PMGKP) PA 2: Expand the PMGKP scheme for additional 90 days (Highly (Highly Satisfactory) Satisfactory) 25. PA5/DPF1 and PA2/DPF2 leveraged existing public health insurance programs and delivery mechanisms, thus enhancing GoI’s capacity to respond to COVID-19 and future health disasters. PA5/DPF1 launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) for frontline health workers, primarily targeting low-paid, temporary workers (recruited directly or through contractors) who could not afford health insurance. While the first operation intended to discontinue the scheme after three months, PA2/DPF2 responded to events on the ground and continued the PMGKP for three more months. Page 9 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Pillar 3 – Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable Populations Rating: Highly Satisfactory Improving social protection access and delivery for informal workers and vulnerable urban households DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 6: Use Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund PA 3: Roll out National Social Security Board (NSSB) for Informal Workers (BOCWWF) for COVID-19 relief. (Satisfactory) through new Labour Codes (Highly Satisfactory) Indicative Trigger 7B: Roll-out Jansuraksha Mission for vulnerable and female headed households in urban areas. 26. PA6 supported the development of income support measures targeted at informal construction workers. In India, construction workers are the largest segment of daily wage workers in the informal urban economy. The lockdowns cut off their source of livelihoods and stranded many where safety net coverage was historically low (municipalities), risking exclusion and destitution. PA6 supported the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) to develop and issue guidelines for states and union territories to disburse direct cash transfers from the BOCWWF, which had US$742 million unspent balance, to about 35 million construction workers who had registered at Welfare Boards. 27. PA3/DPF2 and Indicative Trigger 7B/DPF1 helped reduce fragmentation and rebalancing India’s social protection system toward the informal economy, urban areas, and social insurance support. India had an elaborate set of program databases and platforms for immediate cash transfers in rural areas but lacked parallel platforms in urban areas; and, while the pandemic necessitated short-term relief measures for vulnerable informal workers in urban areas (PA6), a co- contributory approach was needed to enhance longer-term resilience (social insurance). DPF2 scaled up the original trigger (7B/DPF1) as PA3, with an enhanced scope and a different implementing agency. PA3 supported a new Social Security Code (2020) which mandated the establishment of a National Social Security Board (NSSB) through MoLE to ensure universal social protection coverage for informal workers, leveraging existing schemes and platforms to better capture the urban poor and female-headed households. Prior to the establishment of the new Social Security Code (2020), there were 29 separate laws which governed labor welfare issues in India. The new code consolidated the labor welfare regulations under these laws into one single law while the NSSB consolidated nearly 35 fragmented labor welfare boards with a view to improving coordination of the Indian social protection framework. Improving social protection access and delivery for migrants and informal workers DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 7: Enable states to use SDRF to provide COVID-19 PA 4: Roll out One Nation One Ration platform for PDS portability. (Highly Satisfactory) relief to migrant workers. (Highly Satisfactory) PA 5: Issue operational guidelines for Affordable Rental Housing Scheme. (Satisfactory) Indicative Trigger 7A: Adopt a framework for pan- PA 6: Create a National Migrants Information System (NMIS). (Highly Satisfactory) national portability of PDS PA 7: Expand the definition of “interstate migrants” and creating a decentralized portal for migrant registration. (Highly Satisfactory) PA 8: Roll out Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA) for returning migrants (Satisfactory) 28. PA7/DPF1 and Indicative Trigger 7A/DPF1 improved access of migrant workers to COVID-19 relief and creating portable benefits in a more coordinated social protection system. According to the 2011 census, migrant workers comprised 34 percent of the total Indian population and accounted for nearly 9 million workers migrating annually between 2011 and 2016. These workers dominate low-paying, hazardous, and informal jobs (especially construction work) in urban areas where safety net coverage is low. PA7 supported state government flexibility to use the SDRF for immediate cash and in-kind support to the migrants irrespective of their state of residence. This intervention was critical to providing social assistance to migrant workers who were stranded out of their home states due to lockdowns. The first prior actions under the second and the standalone DPF suggest that the GoI aims to anchor and sustain this intervention in the medium term. Page 10 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 29. PA4/DPF2 were part of a series of reforms (PA4, PA5, PA6, and PA7) to strengthen state and national government capacity for portable benefits. PA4 is essentially a reflection of trigger 7A/DPF1.19 30. PA5/DPF2 was key in enhancing housing support for migrant workers and the urban poor. In India, housing accounts for the second largest expenditure of urban households (after food) and homebased work accounts for the largest share of employment for informal women workers. Supplementing food rations/subsidies with affordable rental housing increases, thus, the adequacy of safety nets for migrants, the urban poor, and women. PA5 supported the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to re-orient its focus toward safety nets by creating a mission-mode structure that ensures housing rental support. 31. PA6/DPF2 supported national and state governments to scale up COVID-19 social assistance for migrant workers. Prior to this reform, India lacked a mechanism to track inter-state mobility which limited access to social assistance. PA6 supported the Ministry of Home Affairs to create a (temporary) migrant database for targeting immediate cash and employment support for COVID-19 relief. The idea of using the NMIS for tracking migrant populations was later merged with MoLE’s efforts towards building eShram which is a national portal/database for informal workers. 32. PA7/DPF2 was part of a series of reforms (PA4, PA5, PA6, and PA7) to strengthen state and national government capacity for migrant benefits in the medium term. PA7 supported the MoLE to redefine “interstate migrant” in labor laws to cover informal migrants with adequate social protection coverage. PA7 also facilitated the creation of a decentralized migrant registration portal through the new Occupation Safety Code (2020) to make portable benefits permanent. 33. PA8/DPF2 supported returning-migrants and their households in rural areas. During the pandemic, reverse migration placed a strain on rural households that relied on migrant remittances. PA8 supported the Ministry of Rural Development to create a short-term employment support program targeted at returning migrants. Reducing transaction costs and enhancing awareness for social protection beneficiaries DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 8: Waive ATM charges for PMGKY payments. (Satisfactory) PA 9: Integrate DBT-related transaction in PFMS with UMANG (Highly Indicative Trigger 8A: Carry out information campaigns for alerting Satisfactory) PMGKY beneficiaries. 34. PA8 and Indicative Trigger 8A spurred innovate public-private partnerships. PA8 supported the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India to waive ATM charges for PMGKY payments through public banks and this reduced transaction costs for beneficiaries. Trigger 8A focused on addressing information gaps through campaigns and alerts to ensure timely access to PMGKY payments during the pandemic. Moreover, these information campaigns also enabled GoI to stagger payments, given social distancing required crowd-management at points of financial access. These reforms contributed to the PDO by strengthening last-mile delivery in terms of outreach and coordination during the pandemic. 35. PA9 enabled additional IT interventions for beneficiaries to have agency over their benefits in the medium term . PA9 modified the original trigger and shifted the focus toward integrating all DBT cash transfers within the UMANG ecosystem. This helped enhance coordination and enabled citizens to easily access information related to receipt of benefits transfers from ministries, departments, and agencies. However, further investments to enhance digital literacy and ICT- access is needed, especially for women to empower and increase their voice and agency. 19 During the period 01-April-20 to 27-May-21, about 19.64 crore portability transactions were carried out across States/UTs benefiting large number of NFSA beneficiaries, mostly migrants, at the FPSs near to their location of work/temporary stay. Implementation of ONORC has made steady improvement during COVID pandemic period. Number of States under One Nation One Ration card increased from 12 States in April 2020 to 32 States in Dec.2020. Currently all states are covered. Page 11 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Pillar 4 – India Climate Action Pillar Rating: Moderately Satisfactory DPF 1 DPF 2 N/A PA 10: Revise groundwater extraction guidelines (Moderately Satisfactory) PA 11: Incentivize the use of renewable energy sources by waiving inter-state transmission charges and losses (Moderately Satisfactory) 36. While both PA10 and PA11 of DPF 2 were appropriate to the country context and the GoI and the Bank priorities at the time of appraisal they did not have a direct causal linkage to the Program Development Objective, however, they leveraged the PDO to support important climate actions that help enhance community resilience in the medium-long term. With impending climate risks and the global increase in climate related disasters, it is critical to systematically integrate and mainstream climate adaptation responses. Moreover, the pandemic showed that investing in resilience is crucial, as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households, and the private sector. Hence, Pillar 4, through its prior actions, focused on climate change prevention and building community resilience against related shocks. Since groundwater is more resilient to climate change than surface water, PA10 focused on groundwater conservation to help enhance community resilience. The Ministry of Jal Shakti issued revised guidelines for groundwater extraction which aimed to regulate the use of India’s fast-depleting groundwater resources that account for 40 percent of the country’s total water supply. PA11 focused on incentivizing the use of renewable energy sources by waiving inter-state transmission charges and losses as alternatives to fossil fuel-based energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This PA was aligned with India's “Panchamrit” action plan, which envisages a transition toward net-zero emissions. B. Achievement of Objectives (Efficacy) Rating: Highly Satisfactory Achievement of Program Development Objective 37. The assessment of the result indicators show that all targets were achieved or exceeded except one. These operations included 17 results indicators, among them 16 were achieved or exceeded and one did not have data available for measurement. Therefore, achievement of objectives (Efficacy) is rated Highly Satisfactory. Pillar 1: Leveraging Pre-existing Social Protection Measures for COVID-19 Relief Rating: Highly Satisfactory [6 out of 6 RI targets achieved and exceeded] DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 1: Roll out the PMGKY as an integrated COVID-19 social protection relief package. PA 1: Enable states to use the SDRF (and Indicative Trigger 1A: Enable states to use SDRF/NDRF for disaster responsive social protection. NDRF) for disaster responsive social PA 2: Provide free food rations for three months under PMGKAY’s PDS protection Indicative Trigger 2A: Expand PMGKAY food rations for an additional three months in hotspot districts 38. PA 1 and 2 of DPF1 and PA 1 of DPF2, helped enhance poor and vulnerable groups’ access to adequate benefits provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Support Program, and states and local governments should have access to direct grants from central government for disaster response and management (as measured by improved coverage and adequacy of support provided through PMGKY and PMGKAY). While the first two prior actions of DPF1 rolled out the PMGKY and PMGKAY packages, the first prior action of DPF2 enabled states with necessary funds and flexibility (through SDRF) to deliver COVID-19 relief. PMGKY and PMGKAY were emergency response interventions that did not continue beyond 2022; however, these programs served as examples for replication in case of future shocks, especially, if paired with the ONORC platform. Result Indicators 1–3 measured the impact of PMGKY transfers in terms of adequacy, overall coverage, and gender-sensitive coverage, respectively, among poor households while RI4 measured the impact of PMGKAY food rations in terms of coverage of poor households. Page 12 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 39. Results Indicators 1–4 surpassed their targets at program close. PMGKY transfers amounted to 47 percent of total household consumption expenditures for the poorest quintile in India and thus, exceeded RI1’s target of 40 percent, while 87.4 percent of India’s poor households received at least one PMGKY benefit (cash, in-kind, or both) by June 2021. By the end of 2022, coverage of poor households reached 91 percent. The PMGKY also achieved impressive results for gender- sensitive targeting and coverage, as 91.2 percent of female-headed households reported receiving at least one social assistance intervention against the 70 percent target for RI3. Moreover, considerable overachievement of RI4 shows that PMGKAY also performed strongly in terms of coverage of the poor, as 81 percent of the poor households received food rations within June 2021, which rose to 91 percent by the end of 2022, against a target of 60 percent. DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 3: Allow workers to make one-time, non-refundable withdrawals from PF. N/A PA 4: Provide wage support to low-wage SME workers through PF accounts. 40. Under the third and fourth prior actions of the first operation, low-wage workers should have wage protection measure through their PF accounts. PA3 was a sustainable intervention that supported an amendment to the Employees’ Provident Fund Act. While PA4, was a one of emergency response measure that provided a shock responsive model. RI5 measured low-wage workers’ access to/utilization of the wage protection measures, and RI6 measured the timeliness of wage-loss compensations. 41. Results Indicators 5 and 6 were surpassed at program close. According to October 2020 ISR, 14.2 percent low-wage workers made COVID-19 withdrawals from their PF accounts, which rose to 73.78 percent by June 2022, against a target of 25 percent; and 95.46 percent of low-wage SME workers, compared to a 60 percent target, received additional contributions in May 2020. While the RI6 achievement status reported in October 2020 ISR (62.5 percent) differs from the data provided by EPFO, it still confirms that RI6 was surpassed and allows for the triangulations of data. The lower-than-expected PF account utilization in the first three months can be attributed to redundancy. However, utilization increased as the pandemic deepened, especially during the Implementation of DPF2. All results indicators (RI 1 – 6) under this pillar were relevant, measurable and the targets were set at reasonable levels. Pillar 2 – Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply Chains During COVID-19 Pandemic Rating: Highly Satisfactory [1 out of 1 RI achieved and surpassed] DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 5: Special Health Insurance Scheme for health workers (PMGKP) PA 2: Expand the PMGKP scheme for additional 90 days 42. The fifth prior action of the first operation and the second prior action of the second operation aimed to protect frontline health workers – and thus their families – during the pandemic, especially workers who could not afford insurance. These prior actions were one-off measures rolled out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these serve as models for replication in the case of future shocks. RI7 measured the impact of these reforms in terms of percentage share of essential service workers covered under PMGKP. 43. Results Indicator 7 was surpassed at program close as all 2.21 million frontline health workers were eligible to use the PMGKP scheme and thus, were covered. However, the uptake of PMGKP was limited during DPF1 due to health workers being covered through parallel public and private sector health insurance schemes. This trend was reflected through a downward revision of RI7 (target reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent) during the second DPF considering the limited uptake in 2020-21 due to availability of other health insurance schemes. This suggests that the objective of protecting health workers during COVID-19 was indeed achieved but the achievement may not have been directly attributable to the PAs. The result indicator (RI7) under this pillar was relevant, measurable, and appropriate. Page 13 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Pillar 3 – Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable Populations Rating: Highly Satisfactory [8 out of 8 RI targets achieved (5 of them exceeded the RI targets)] DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 6: Use Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund (BOCWWF) for COVID-19 relief N/A 44. The sixth prior action of the first operation utilized BOCWWF and leveraged the Welfare Boards at respective states and union territories to scale up income support to urban construction workers during the pandemic . BOCWWF is a mechanism established under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. PA6 leveraged this existing mechanism to provide state governments with enhanced access to funds and flexibility to support construction workers during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency response. Thus, PA6 introduced a replicable model whereby existing mechanisms such as the BOCWWF could be leveraged to provide shock-responsive social assistance. RI8 measured the impact of this reform in terms of its coverage among the registered construction workers. 45. Results Indicator 8 was achieved six months prior to program close. According to the October 2020 ISR, 63 percent of construction workers who registered with BOCWWF received cash transfers. The fact that the target for RI8 was 50 percent to be achieved by the end of 2021 speaks to the efficacy of these reforms protecting vulnerable urban construction workers from destitution. Moreover, recent data from MoLE (collected on Dec 6, 2023) shows that, 66.75 percent of registered construction workers in 2020-2021 and 2021-22 received cash/funds from the board. DPF 1 DPF 2 Indicative Trigger 7B: Roll-out Jansuraksha Mission for vulnerable PA 3: Roll out National Social Security Board (NSSB) for Informal Workers and female headed households in urban areas. through new Labour Codes 46. The third prior action of the second operation (and Indicative Trigger 7B of the first operation) helped rebalance India’s social protection system toward the informal economy, urban areas, and insurance sup port, with emphasis on female informal workers who often engage in poorly paid and insecure contracts. Indicative Trigger 7B (DPF1) intended to leverage three existing social insurance schemes—Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), and Atal Pension Yojana (APY)— into a consolidated mission through the Department of Financial Services (DFS). RI9 measured the impact of this reform in terms of coverage of the urban vulnerable. During DPF2, the GoI decided to drive the reform through MoLE which was the nodal agency for informal workers and modified the original trigger to introduce stronger reform (legal mandate) with a wider scope via PA3. PA3 focused on supporting the adoption of the new Social Security Code 2020 which mandated the creation of the National Social Security Board (NSSB) to consolidate 35 fragmented labor Welfare Boards and drive the agenda for ensuring basic social protection coverage for informal workers. Thus, PA3 constituted a sustainable reform. Two new RIs (10 and 11) were introduced to track PA3’s impact. RI10 measured the overall coverage as a share (percentage) of informal workers receiving at least one social protection benefit and RI11 which measured gender-sensitive coverage as a share (percentage) of informal woman workers receiving at least one social protection benefit. 47. Results Indicator 9 was achieved at program close. According to the October 2020 ISR, 20 percent of the vulnerable urban population, compared to the 45 percent target for 2021, was covered by portable life and accident insurance. CMIE survey data (Wave 27) suggests the target was achieved as 50.1 percent and 34.4 percent of the vulnerable urban population in 2022 was covered through portable health and life insurance respectively. 48. Results Indicators 10 and 11 were respectively surpassed and achieved at program close. According to MoLE’s eShram Database (accessed on Dec 6, 2023), 87 percent of the registered informal workers received benefits from at least one social protection scheme, which confirms that RI10’s target of 33 percent coverage has been exceeded. For RI11, the ICR team opted to report the share of informal women workers in major safety net programs for informal workers as a proxy to gauge the achievement of gender-sensitive coverage. Gender-sensitive programs include – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), eShram, and National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) at 54.5, 52.9, and 63.95 percent women, respectively12. Considering women’s participation surpassed 50 percent in these three major Page 14 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) programs, the ICR infers that the target for RI11 (40 percent) was achieved. DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 7: Enable states to use SDRF to provide COVID-19 relief PA 4: Roll out One Nation One Ration platform for PDS portability. to migrant workers. PA 5: Issue operational guidelines for Affordable Rental Housing Scheme. Indicative Trigger 7A: Adopt a framework for pan-national PA 6: Create a National Migrants Information System. portability of PDS PA 7: Expand the definition of “interstate migrants” and creating a decentralized portal for migrant registration. PA 8: Roll out Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA) for returning migrants 49. The seventh prior action of the first operation enabled state governments to utilize SDRF to cash, food, accommodation, and medical care to migrant workers stranded due to lockdown and sheltered in relief camps and other places while trigger 7A took a medium-term approach to mainstream PDS portability so that beneficiaries can access food through Fair Price Shops across state boundaries. RI12 measured the efficacy of these enhancement initiatives. While PA7 was an emergency response measure, it established a replicable model for future shock response interventions. 50. Results Indicator 12 was surpassed at program close. Based on the GoI Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) press release of August 2021 and World Bank India population data, 53.3 percent of India’s total population was able to access portable food benefits through the PDS compared to the target of 33 percent. In terms of absolute numbers, 750 million out of 800 million PDS beneficiaries were able to access PDS portability by August 2021 and the coverage reached all 800 million PDS beneficiaries (56.5 percent of population) by June 2022. RI12 also substantiates the efficacy of PA4/DPF2 reforms which reflect those of Trigger 7A. While RI12 indicates enhanced access to portable PDS benefits, a recent Dalberg20 report highlights the need for further initiatives to enhance utilization of PDS portability to optimize inclusion. 51. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh prior actions in the second operation scaled up the original trigger (Indicative Trigger 7A) by initiating a series of reforms focused on enhancing migrant neutrality of the Indian social protection system. PA4 reflected the original trigger to implement portable PDS access through the One Nation One Ration (ONORC) platform. PA6 and PA7 established a National Migrants Information System (NMIS) and amended the Occupational, Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020 to expand the definition of interstate migrants and mandate the creation of a decentralized migrant registration portal. PA5 focused on supplementing food rations with housing support for the urban poor and migrants. While NMIS (PA6 of DPF 2) was a one-off measure during the pandemic, this contributed to the creation of MoLE’s eShram which is a national portal/database for informal workers. PA 4, 5 and 7 of DPF 2 were sustainable in the medium-long term as they involved legal / regulatory amendments (PA7) and the development of systems / programs (PA 4 and 5). RI13 and RI14 measured the impact of these reforms in terms of portable PDS coverage and access through ONORC, and social protection coverage of the urban poor. 52. The eighth prior action focused on providing cash-for-employment support to returning migrants in rural areas during the pandemic. The was an emergency response which supported the Ministry of Rural Development to roll out the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA) which was launched in June 2020 for a period of 125 days with a resource envelope of INR 50,000 crore21 (US$ 6 billion). The program was rolled out across six states and generated a total of INR 50.78 crore person-days of employment, suggesting a successful and effective intervention. While the policy matrix does not have a dedicated result indicator, the achievements of RI 13 and 14 are linked to this reform since both ONORC and GKRA initiatives are aimed at protecting migrants and their families. 53. Results Indicators 13 and 14 were surpassed at program close. According to a formal press release from the PIB of GoI in August 2021, all states and union territories implemented ONORC for portable PDS access, inferring all 800 million 20 Dalberg is a strategic advisory firm that works to raise living standards in developing countries and address global challenges. 21 A crore is a unit of measurement used in India. It represents 10 million, specifically a unit of value equal to ten million rupees or 100 lakhs. Page 15 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) PDS beneficiaries (56.5 percent of India’s total population) had portable PDS access which was facilitated by a robust communication and awareness campaign. Considering the target of 40 percent, RI13 overshot its target by 2.5 times. However, a recent analysis by academics and a Dalberg survey on ONORC implementation in five states (published in April 2022) indicates areas of improvements in terms of awareness among beneficiaries and PDS dealers, uptake, technology, and coordination among others. Discussions with GoI indicated that several of these issues have been addressed in a satisfactory manner and proactive actions were implemented to mitigate these issues, and additional business process improvements are being considered to further address gaps in access for migrants. According to the “Intent to Implementation” paper (June 2021), RI14 already exceeded its target in 2021 through social protection coverage of 69.1 percent urban poor. The achievement rose to 80.37 percent according to data provided by MoLE on December 6, 2023. Data from CMIE (Wave 27) confirms the achievement of this result indicator (85.8 percent). While the overachievement of targets does substantiate the efficacy of this reform, it highlights the accelerated and coordinated efforts that led to exceeding the target. DPF 1 DPF 2 PA 8: Waive ATM charges for PMGKY payments. PA 9: Integrate DBT-related transaction in PFMS with UMANG Indicative Trigger 8A: Carry out information campaigns for alerting PMGKY beneficiaries. 54. The eighth prior action of the first operation waived ATM charges for PMGKY cash payments and Indicative Trigger 8A supported information campaigns to notify and alert beneficiaries about the status of benefits delivery. These two emergency response reforms during the pandemic helped reduce transaction costs and information gaps for beneficiaries to access cash, thus accelerating access to PMGKY transfers. RI15 measured the timeliness of PMGKY cash transfers. 55. The ninth prior action of the second operation built upon the original trigger (8A) and focused on integrating DBT- related transactions under UMANG (905 central services and 877 state level services) to empower beneficiaries to access PMGKY benefits information. This PA constituted a sustainable medium to long term intervention that supported the launch of a system designed to improve coordination of the Indian social protection framework. To date, UMANG has facilitated 3.9 billion transactions (including information requests about DBT payments) for 56.9 million registrants22. Despite the fast uptake, further interventions to enhance beneficiary digital literacy and access to smartphones, especially in rural areas, are needed to reap the full benefit of this reform. RI15 measured the progress and impact of this reform. 56. Results Indicator 15 was surpassed at program close. According to the October 2020 ISR, 84 percent of the poorest quintile of households, compared to the 50 percent target for 2022, received at least one PMGKY benefit within an eight- week period after the announcement. Since this was a time-bound measure, the ISR reported figure is adequate for reporting. The downward revision of the target from 60 to 50 percent could be attributed to beneficiaries accessing benefits from complementary schemes. All result indicators (RI 8 – 15) under this pillar were relevant and appropriate. While almost all RIs were measurable, the ICR team had to rely on alternative measures for RI9 and 11. The team applied an alternative indicator to report “portable life and health insurance” coverage estimates instead of “life and accident insurance coverage” for RI9, an, reported “program-specific figures” on informal women workers coverage for RI11 because one individual could benefit from multiple programs skewing the total beneficiary pool. Pillar 4 – India Climate Action Pillar Rating: Not applicable because it is not part of the PDO [2 out of 2 RI targets achieved] DPF 1 DPF 2 N/A PA 10: Revise groundwater extraction guidelines PA 11: Incentivize the use of renewable energy sources by waiving inter-state transmission charges and losses 22 Source: UMANG website Page 16 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 57. The tenth and eleventh prior action of the second operation focused on groundwater conservation to help enhance community resilience and incentivizing the use of renewable energy sources by waiving inter-state transmission charges and losses, respectively. These PAs were important from the perspective of building resilience against climate risks. While PA11 was a government order that is reversible, PA10 constituted a sustainable intervention underpinned by the promulgation of a guideline published through an official gazette notification. RI16 measured improvements in the regulatory capacity to conserve groundwater and RI17 measured the increase in cumulative renewable power installed capacity. 58. Results Indicator 16 was achieved ahead of program close. The Ministry of Jal Shakti issued the “Guidelines to regulate and control ground water extraction in India (September 2020)” two years ahead of the target and made amendments to the guidelines in March 2023. These reforms helped conserve groundwater by encompassing industrial, infrastructure, and mining project withdrawals and setting groundwater abstraction/restoration charges, with rates rising based on extraction volume and assessment unit category. However, an RI related to reduction in the groundwater depletion rate or increase in the amount of abstraction/restoration fees could have helped measure the impact with more accuracy. 59. Results Indicator 17 was achieved at program close. According to “All India Installed Capacity Reports (December 2022, March 2023, and June 2023),” the total installed capacity of renewable energy in India in December 2022 was 167.75 gigawatts. While this was 2.5 percent lower than the 172-gigawatt target, it still represented a 95.2 percent growth against a baseline of 85.90 gigawatts. Moreover, the installed capacity reached the target by March 2023, thus did not significantly affect the efficacy of the reforms. All result indicators (RI 16 – 17) under this pillar were relevant, measurable, and appropriate, however adding an RI related to reduction in the groundwater depletion rate or increase in the amount of abstraction/restoration could have helped measure the impact with more accuracy. Table 2: Summary of Results Targets Achievements Reform area Exceeded Partially Not Not Total or achieved achieved measurable achieved Pillar 1 – Leveraging Pre-Existing Social Protection Measures 6 0 0 0 6 for Covid-19 Relief Pillar 2 – Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply 1 0 0 0 1 Chains During Covid-19 Pandemic Pillar 3 – Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable 8 0 0 0 8 Populations Pillar 4 (not a part of the PDO) – India Climate Action Pillar 2 0 0 0 2 TOTAL 17 0 0 0 17 C. Overall Outcome Rating and Justification Rating: Highly Satisfactory 60. The overall outcome of the DPF series is Highly Satisfactory. The relevance of prior actions has been rated as Satisfactory because 17 out of 19 PAs had strong causal linkages with the PDO and all 19 PAs were aligned with the country priorities and the World Bank India CPF 2018–22 at appraisal. The Highly Satisfactory rating for efficacy reflected the strong implementation performance of the DPF series whereby all prior actions were successfully completed within weeks of launch and the program achieved or exceeded all its 17 RI targets. Page 17 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 61. While the Bank’s financial and technical support catalyzed the reported achievements, the results are complemented and could be attributable to GoI investments, and support, and TA of development partners such as the ADB, AFD, KfW, and JICA, among others. The GoI invested over 80 percent of the funds (US$23 billion) in the PMGKY and PMGKAY. The PAs also leveraged pre-existing GoI platforms, systems, technological innovation, resources, and the private sector complemented some outcomes (Pillar 2). Nonetheless, the outcomes can be attributed to the DPF series, as it helped the GoI, and development partners focus their resources toward addressing the most critical development challenges during an unprecedented global health crisis under the auspices of the Bank’s leadership and convening power which were underpinned by ten years of robust analytical findings. The DPF series helped GoI leverage existing programs and platforms to roll out emergency social assistance (i.e., PMGKY, PMGKAY, special health insurance, GKRA etc.) and catalyzed interventions aimed at improving coordination and shock responsiveness (i.e., NSSB, SDRF, ONORC etc.). III. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS A. Poverty, Gender, and Social Impacts 62. Overall, this operation helped alleviate and prevent further social and economic distress from COVID-19 and future shocks among the most vulnerable groups. The interventions enhanced coordination between central and state government agencies for immediate positive poverty and social impacts and helped prevent further social and economic distress. 63. Increases in direct benefits helped alleviate pandemic-induced price hikes on food and essential items for social protection beneficiaries. The provision of free LPG cylinders for three months to Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries had positive social impacts: an increase in household savings to meet potential increase in household expenditures on food, healthcare, and other essential expenses; and continued usage of clean cooking fuel helps reduce acute respiratory illnesses, a major factor increasing the chances of comorbidity for COVID-19 if PMUY households went back to using firewood. Similarly, additional allowances to widows, the elderly, and disabled persons through NSAP; direct transfers to women account holders under PMJDY; and advanced payments to farmers through Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PM-KSY), supported through targeted communication on COVID-19 prevention, helped target beneficiaries spend on measures to prevent possible COVID-19 infection in their communities while providing much needed liquidity. The provision of free food rations for three months to the 800 million PMGKY beneficiaries, many of whom suffered security needs, mitigated the potential for food deprivation across the country. 64. For the approximately 48 million formal workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the provision of a non-refundable advance of 75 percent from their EPF accounts or three months of salary (whichever was lower) helped meet a portion of their committed monthly expenses and provide much needed financial and psychological security. Similarly, low-wage workers in SMEs benefited from the injection of 24 percent of their monthly wages by the government in their respective PF accounts through PMGKY. Moreover, GoI’s special insurance scheme for health workers providing essential care and treatment to COVID-19 patients (doctors, nurses, paramedical personnel, technicians, ward boys, safai karamcharis, and ASHA workers) was not just a recognition of the high risks of frontline workers but was also provided financial security to the families of these workers. 65. The provision of cash and in-kind assistance through the BCWWF was pivotal, as it: addressed the immediate financial and food needs of the impacted building and informal workers, who form a large part of the informal workforce; and mitigated behaviors and actions that could have exacerbated the COVID-19 context. The SDRF measures provided critical support to arguably the worst-affected segment of the population, building and construction workers. Additional measures, such as waiver of ATM fees, helped catalyze (marginal) savings for PMGKY beneficiaries and coupled with messaging to help prevent panic cash withdrawals, supported social distancing to enable recovery. 66. The DPF series had significant positive gender impacts. News reports and studies from across the world, including Page 18 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) many from India, indicated a disturbing trend of increasing abuse, harassment, and violence (including sexual exploitation and violence) faced by women and children from COVID-19 induced (forced) self-isolation. Women were the direct beneficiaries of many DPF actions. Anecdotal information shows women gained voice and agency to take critical decisions that also impacted their families and their position in communities. 67. Approximately, half of the beneficiaries of the social protection interventions were female which could infer positive gender outcomes. Administrative data highlighted that 54.5 percent of MGNREGS beneficiaries were Indian women. Women gained access to and represented 87 percent (females receiving at least one social protection scheme) of the total beneficiaries of the EShram program that aims to connect informal workers to social security, livelihood support and programs. Women and the vulnerable also gained access to social pensions, 21.5 million women representing 52.9 percent of overall beneficiaries gained coverage under the reformed, near-universal National Social Assistance Program. The SVANidhi Yojna Central Sector Scheme introduced by the GoI reached nearly 3 million beneficiaries, of whom 43 percent were women. Further, the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme improved shelter and urban housing benefits for women in the informal sector and re-oriented the targeting of safety nets. Gender benefits cascaded across other PAs and RI ranging from the roll-out of food/cash assistance, portability, protection of migrant and workers, portable life, and health insurance. Specific gender data on these programs will be forthcoming and reflected in follow-up evaluations. B. Environmental, Forests, and Natural Resource Aspects 68. The DPF series had a positive impact on the environment, forests, and natural resources, promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation. The enhanced access to clean fuel (LPG) can help reduce the use of firewood for cooking, thus the associated indoor pollution and deforestation. Cooking-fuel usage data from the 76th and 78th round of National Sample Survey further shows a 0.6 (from 61.4 percent to 62 percent) percentage point increase in clean fuel usage between 2018 and 2021. Under PA1/DPF2, SDRF can now be deployed in future climate-related disasters. As 80 percent of India is exposed to climate change risk, DPF2 included a dedicated Climate Action pillar. Under Pillar 4, PA10 supported regulatory reforms to conserve groundwater while PA11 promoted renewable energy sources and contributed to increasing India’s renewable energy installed capacity by 100 percent between 2020 (85.9 gigawatts) and 2022 (172 gigawatts). Thus, the DPF series informed policymakers on the importance of social protection systems for climate change adaptation and disaster response. C. Institutional Change/Strengthening 69. The DPF series contributed to strengthening institutional capacity for a more inclusive and adequate social protection system. The operations fostered a coordinated program underpinned by an integrated institutional framework to implement a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach for social protection and resilience, whereby pre- existing programs and platforms were leveraged by engaging all tiers of government including community groups. The operations brought expediency to social protection service delivery, cascading PAs for deep and sustainable reforms (informal workers, urban poor). They brought improved targeting to social assistance and insurance service delivery, widening access to those overlooked as well as those over-resourced for public programs but insufficiently resourced for private programs (women heads of households, frontline health workers). Furthermore, the operations brought pragmatism to problem solving, such as using technological platforms, deep knowledge based to reform regulations and guidelines for timely benefits delivery and effective solutions to immediate and medium-term problems (domestic violence and housing). Lastly, the convening power of the Bank cannot be underestimated; as the coordination of development partners facilitated a groundbreaking (implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and supervision) framework to align benefits with the evolving needs of the Indian economy (i.e., vulnerable urban population, migrants, portable benefits through a mobile App etc.). Page 19 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) D. Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts 70. Not applicable IV. BANK PERFORMANCE Rating: Highly Satisfactory A. Design and preparation 71. The program was built on strong analytical underpinnings from the Bank, GoI, research institutions, think tanks and other development partners. The DPF leveraged the Bank’s global and deep country knowledge on social protection, gained through technical assistance and analytics over the past decade. Over the years, the Bank worked closely with national and state authorities to understand the strengths and lacuna of existing social protection programs in India. (See Table 5, Annex 6). Improvements in last-mile delivery of cash transfers were catalyzed by providing technical support to the Direct Benefit Transfer Mission responsible for digital payments into beneficiary bank accounts. The Bank’s technical support to the Ministry of Rural Development to leverage the Socio-Economic Census (SEC) data for targeting helped improve transparency of beneficiary identification for programs in India using digitized asset and socio-demographic data. 72. The trust and credibility built through the strength of analytical work and experience from previous operations helped foster a common vision, built trust, and fast-tracked the preparation of the DPF. The Schemes to Systems Report (2019) resonated with high-level policymakers and development partners, as it highlighted structural challenges in the Indian social protection system (rural–urban imbalance, scheme-based fragmentation, portability issues, and need for enhanced shock/disaster-responsive financing). Its launch (via a workshop) attracted key policymakers, including representatives from Niti Aayog, Aadhar, MoLE, Department Finance, Department of Information Technology, all state governments, and development partners, helping to build trust and credibility. With the outbreak of COVID-19 only months after the workshop, the accrued trust and credibility lent to the DPF series’ extremely fast preparation and roll out. 73. Despite the emergency processing, the Bank was able to mobilize parallel financing and technical support from other development partners. The team engaged in consultations with development partners and secured parallel financing from ADB (US$1 billion), AFD (US$200-400 million) and KfW (US$460 million), among others. A donor working group was set up and met every six months to coordinate and take stock of the TA program that supported the implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and supervision of the DPF series. 74. The Bank team prudently assessed the overall risk of the operation as Substantial. The main risks identified at appraisal were macroeconomic and institutional capacity for implementation and sustainability. Macroeconomic risks mostly stemmed from the considerable fiscal stress, especially at the state level. The institutional capacity risks were primarily linked with the capacity of state governments. The Bank collaborated with donors to support implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and supervision; and identified and mitigated for rural–urban imbalance, scheme-based fragmentation, portability issues, and need for enhanced shock/disaster-responsive financing, among other. Data privacy and protection risks were mitigated through the Right to Information Act and other existing IT acts in India. 75. The Bank team was proactive in incorporating the lessons from the implementation of DPF1 into the design of the second operation. The Bank team modified/scaled up triggers, introduced new prior actions, and revised downward. For example, Indicative Trigger 7A was scaled up in the second series as five prior actions that focused on PDS portability; the reforms utilized the ONORC, created an NMIS, enhanced the definition of “interstate migrant,” set up a decentralized migrant registration portal, and provided housing support for urban informal workers as well as rural employment support for returning migrants. This upscaling led to two additional RIs (13 and 14). Further details, see Table 7 in Annex 6. Page 20 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 76. The series’ monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework was robust but could have benefitted from a contingency plan. As mentioned above, the donor working group covered M&E. The actual M&E framework was constructed on: (i) panel survey data in partnership with the World Bank Poverty Global Practice for RIs 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7; and (ii) GoI ministries, departments, and agencies’ administrative data. Going forward, the M&E framework could benefit from identifying alternative/contingent data sources vetted by the Government. B. Implementation and supervision 77. The Government of India demonstrated strong commitment and confirmed the relevance of implementation arrangements. The DPF measures supported the GOI’s integrated COVID response and generated broad consensus across the political spectrum. While there were capacity gaps within the implementing agencies, especially at the state level, the Bank team in collaboration with development partners set up a programmatic TA for implementation support. Moreover, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) efficiently led implementation and ensured coordination among the involved ministries, departments, and agencies involved. The combined effect of GoI’s strong commitment, DEA’s leadership, and the Bank and development partners’ TA helped the program complete all prior actions within a few days of approval and achieve or exceed most targets. 78. The Bank maintained frequent contact with the GOI to monitor the program, despite the pandemic and lockdowns. As mentioned above, the Bank team gauged progress and adjusted the PDO and overall implementation accordingly and proactively reflected evolving realities on the ground and the DPF1 lessons learned into the design of DPF2, such as adding, dropping, and revising pillars, PAs, and RIs. The Bank team also collaborated with development partners to conduct panel surveys and studies to track implementation progress and impact. The donor working group took stock of implementation progress and shared information regarding studies and analytics facilitated through BMGF and other donor- financed TA. Further, DPF2 benefitted from KfW-led monthly bilateral meetings focused on program supervision and monitoring. However, tracking some RIs through MDA administrative proved more difficult than envisioned, requiring the Bank team to rely on alternative sources like the CMIE surveys and knowledge and development partners’ studies and analytics. Nonetheless, this sharing of monitoring responsibilities contributed to enriching the data to monitor progress. V. RISK TO SUSTAINABILITY OF DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES 79. Given the strong government commitment, the program outcomes are likely to be sustained. The DPF series reforms were based on strong analytical work and GoI priorities and were aligned to the Bank’s mission, India CPF, and phased COVID response strategy. While the reforms under the first three pillars were directly aligned with GoI’s COVID response and recovery strategy, the climate reforms under Pillar 4 aligned with the GoI’s priorities on building resilience to future shocks. In fact, the existence of “Creating a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System (CCRISP - P P176447),” which followed the first two operations with broader institutional reforms, and four state-level PforR operations, that followed the CCRISP, further substantiates the above observation. 80. The risks to the sustainability of the development outcome are considered negligible. GoI leadership has consistently shown strong commitment to prioritizing social protection to improve efficiency of delivery, coverage, and access. This has been reflected through ongoing efforts to continuously expand India’s safety nets architecture to become more dynamic and inclusive by catering to a diversity of needs across states and vulnerable groups. 81. Most prior actions, except for the ones focused on emergency response, constituted tangible and sustainable interventions for the medium and long term. While a large number of prior actions were focused on emergency response, the remaining prior actions involved sustainable interventions underpinned by legal/regulatory amendments or the establishment of systems/platforms. PA3 of DPF 1, and PA 3, 7 and 10 supported amendments to laws/acts/regulations or Page 21 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) guidelines which are not easily reversible. PA 4, 5 and 9 of DPF 2, on the other hand, anchored systems or programs like the ONORC, UMANG and Affordable Rental Housing Scheme which are expected to remain operational in the foreseeable future due to their alignment with GoI’s vision for a coordinated and shock responsive social protection framework. Moreover, some of these emergency response prior actions have served as the foundation for stronger reforms – for example: the NMIS (PA6 of DPF 2) contributed to the creation of MoLE’s e-Shram platform while the SDRF allocation and flexibility introduced through PA 1 of DPF 2 was strengthened through the FFC recommendations (later tuned into PA1 for the standalone DPF). VI. LESSONS AND NEXT PHASE A. Lessons Learned 82. Analytical underpinnings are catalytic to achieving a shared vision that led to the quick design and rollout of the DPF series. The DPF series was built upon a decade’s worth of extensive analytical work done by the Bank in collaboration with various knowledge partners. The strength of WB’s analytical work ensured that the proposed reforms were well aligned with country context and priorities, and helped foster a shared vision among GoI, WB and other development partners towards building an integrated shock-responsive social protection system in India. This, in turn, enabled the Bank team to fast-track the preparation and rollout of the DPF series leveraging technical and financial support from development partners like ADB, AFD, KfW and JICA among others. 83. Leveraging appropriate technology is necessary to enhance access and scale up a coordinated shock-responsive social protection system. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the structural deficiencies of India’s social protection landscape which include scheme-based fragmentation, limited urban coverage, exclusion of migrants and informal workers among others. Through the DPF series, GoI responded to these deficiencies through reforms such as integrating five major national programs under PMGKY, mobilizing SDRF for migrant support, income support for informal workers through EPF and BOCWWF, and pan-national PDS portability among others. These initiatives leveraged the use pre-existing technology enabled platforms like Aadhar, DBT, PDS, ONORC, e-KYC, UMANG for enhancing beneficiaries’ access and speed up service delivery. However, additional technology enabled reforms such as – social registries for dynamic targeting of the poor and vulnerable. In fact, both the central and some state governments have already launched social registries such as EShram (informal workers’ registry at the central level), Social Welfare Portal (Goa), West Bengal Social Registry, SAMAGRA (Madhya Pradesh), Common Social Registry Portal (Bihar – planned), and Unified Registry (Kerala – planned) among others. 84. Enhancing the institutional capacity of state governments is necessary to strengthen last mile delivery. While the central government responded to the pandemic by scaling up social protection assistance through PMGKY, a significant portion of the vulnerable population – especially migrants and urban informal workers – were at risk of exclusion. While the states were the most well placed to deliver social assistance to these excluded groups, they needed financial and technical support. Hence, GoI enhanced SDRF allocations and usage flexibility which helped reduce the fiscal constraints and WB and other development partners provided technical assistance during implementation. However, further initiatives to enhance state governments’ institutional capacity are critical to anchoring effective state level responses. 85. A less fragmented and more coordinated social protection architecture can significantly enhance national and state governments’ capacity to respond to shocks. Historically, India has been delivering social assistance through a complex set of schemes without portability of benefits across state boundaries. However, COVID-19 highlighted the need for a more coordinated system and the success of related interventions under the DPF series demonstrated the effectiveness of an integrated approach while responding to shocks. For instance, the efficacy of the PMGKY package showcased that an integrated approach is critical for accelerating and scaling up social assistance during an emergency. Moreover, the success of ONORC showcased that nationwide benefits portability is crucial for enhancing coverage and delivery of safety nets, especially for migrants stranded outside their home states during a disaster. Page 22 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 86. Coordinated government platform for monitoring, data collection and knowledge sharing across national and sub- national governments on social protection is essential. Indian authorities have invested significantly in improving MIS and administrative data on beneficiaries and program usage. However, these do not create robust and representative estimates of coverage and targeting. There is the need for a government-owned representative sample survey on social protection coverage. The series also highlights the need to showcase and broadcast the lessons and innovations from national agencies and state governments to a broader global audience. All WBG and government stakeholders supported the proposal to host a workshop in 2024 to share key lessons from India’s social protection reforms. B. Next Phase 87. This DPF series was followed by a third standalone DPF titled “Creating a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System (CCRISP: P176447)” which was approved in June 2021. The CCRISP DPF built on the lessons from the first two DPFs and focused on medium-term structural reforms to transform the Indian social protection system into a more resilient and coordinated social protection one. Some of its core interventions included – enhancing fiscal devolution to states, expanding the safety net for urban informal workers, enhancing portability of social protection benefits and strengthening the linkage between social protection and climate change adaptation / mitigation actions. 88. While there was a plan to roll out a second phase of CCRISP, the evolving ground realities suggested that more focused state level institutional strengthening interventions needed to be prioritized. Hence, the WB leveraged the lessons learned through the three DPFs and rolled out 4 state level operations which include – a) P175811 – Odisha State Capability and Resilient Growth, b) P174778 – The Resilient Kerala Program, c) P180634 – Integrated Service Provision and Innovation . for Reviving Economies Program [Pipeline], and d) P174564 – Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection. Page 23 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK A. RESULTS INDICATORS Pillar: 1 – Leveraging Pre-existing Social Protection Measures for COVID-19 Relief Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Adequacy of benefits provided Percentage 0.00 40.00 47.00 through the COVID-19 Social Protection Support Program 01-Mar-2020 31-Dec-2022 31-Oct-2020 measured by PMGKY transfers as a percent share of total household consumption expenditures for the poorest quintile Comments (achievements against targets): RI1 achieved according to the ISR of October 2020. Since this was a time bound reform, the RI’s progress was not measured beyond the ISR. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Coverage of benefits provided Percentage 0.00 60.00 91.00 through the COVID-19 Social Protection Support Program 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 31-Dec-2022 measured by share of bottom 40 Page 24 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) percent households receiving at least one PMGKY social assistance benefit Comments (achievements against targets): RI2 achieved well ahead of time. According to the Intent to Implementation Report (June 2021), 87.4 percent of the bottom 40 percent households received at least one PMGKY benefit. By December 2022, the coverage rose to 91 percent - according to CMIE survey data wave 22 and 27. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Gender-sensitive program Percentage 0.00 70.00 91.20 coverage measured by share of bottom 40 percent (consumption 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 31-Dec-2022 percentiles) households with female-head receiving at least one PMGKY social assistance (food/cash) benefit. Comments (achievements against targets): RI3 achieved and exceeded its target well ahead of time according to the “Intent to Implementation” paper (June 2021). By June 20 21, gender sensitive program coverage stood at 81 percent which rose further to 91.2 percent in December 2021 according to CMIE survey data wave 22 and 27. This is a new indicator which was introduced during the second DPF. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Access to essential food supplies Percentage 0.00 60.00 91.00 Page 25 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) provided through the COVID-19 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2022 Social Protection Program measured by percentage share of poor households receiving the additional food ration entitlement under PMGKAY Comments (achievements against targets): RI4 achieved and exceeded its target well ahead of time. According to the "Intent to Implementation Report" 81 percent of poor households received PMGKAY food rations within June 2021. By December 2022, PMGKY coverage of the poor further increased to 91 percent due to GoI extending the program and scaling it up across the entire country. The intent behind RI4 was to measure the efficacy of PA2, which was a one-off relief measure –under PMGKAY – that only continued till the end of 2021. Hence, RI4 does not have a target beyond 2021. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Access to wage protection Percentage 0.00 25.00 73.78 measures provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 30-Jun-2021 Program measured by percentage share of low-wage workers withdrawing funds from EPFO citing COVID-19 as reason Comments (achievements against targets): RI5 achieved and exceeded well ahead of time according to the data provided by Employees' Provident Fund Organization’s (EPFO) on December 6, 2023. The intent behind RI5 was to measure the efficacy of PA3, which was a one-off relief measure that only continued till the end of 2021. Hence, RI5 does not have a target beyond 2021. Page 26 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Timeliness of wage-loss Percentage 0.00 60.00 95.46 compensation measures guaranteed by COVID-19 Social 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 31-May-2020 Protection Program (percentage of low-wage SME workers receiving additional contribution within eight-weeks of announcement) Comments (achievements against targets): RI6 achieved. While both EPFO data (collected on Dec 6, 2023) and the ISR of October 2020 both confirm the RI surpassed its target within time, each source reports different achievment figures (EPFO shows 95.46 percent | ISR of October 2020 shows 62.5 percent). The intent behind RI6 was to measure the efficacy of PA4, which was a one-off relief measure that only continued till the end of 2021. Hence, RI6 does not have a target beyond 2021. Pillar: 2 – Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply Chains During COVID-19 Pandemic Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Access to health insurance Percentage 0.00 15.00 100.00 measures provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 19-Apr-2022 Program measured by percentage share of essential service workers covered by the Special Health Insurance Scheme Page 27 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) Comments (achievements against targets): RI7 was achieved ahead of time. According to an MoHFW press release on 19 April 2022 that 2.21 million health care providers, including community health workers and private health workers, were eligible for PMGKP coverage. Pillar: 3 – Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable Populations Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Access to support provided Percentage 0.00 50.00 66.75 through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program for informal 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 06-Dec-2023 workers measured as percentage share of construction workers registered with BOCWWF receiving cash transfers Comments (achievements against targets): RI8 achieved well ahead of time. According to the October 2020 ISR, 63 percent of the consturction workers registered with Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Funds (BOCWWF) received cash transfers at that time. Moreover, recent updates from the Ministry of Labor and Employment shows a decrease in coverage (66.75 percent) in 2023. This indicator did not have a target beyond 2021 as a new indicator with enhanced scope was introduced in its place during the second DPF. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Migrant-neutrality of support Text 15 percent 45 percent 20% [Oct 2020]; Page 28 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program 51.1% Portable health insurance measured by percentage of and 34.4% Portable life insurance India’s vulnerable urban [Dec 2022] population covered by portable life and accident insurance 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2022 Comments (achievements against targets): RI9 achieved according to CMIE survey data. However, it is important to note that the ICR had to use a proxy measure – coverage of portable ‘health and life insurance’ instead of ‘life and accident insurance’ – due to the unavailability of updated information that directly corresponds to the RI. It is also important to note that this result indicator was DISCONTINUED during DPF 2 and two new results indicators (RI10 and RI11) with enhanced scope were introduced. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Access to support provided Percentage 10.00 33.00 87.00 through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program for informal 01-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2022 06-Dec-2023 workers measured by percentage share of informal workers receiving at least one social protection benefit Comments (achievements against targets): RI10 achieved and exceeded it target according data provided by Ministry of Labor and Employment on Dec 6, 2023. Page 29 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Gender-sensitive program Text Not available 40 percent 54.5% in MGNREGS (2021-22) coverage measured by proportion of female informal workers in total beneficiary pool 52.9% in eShram (2023) of social protection in India. 63.95% in NSAP (2023) 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 14-Nov-2023 Comments (achievements against targets): RI11 achieved. However, the ICR had to assess this RI based on a proxy of program specific data from 3 major safety net programs (MGNREGS, e-Shram and NSAP) for informal workers because aggregate data was not available due to beneficiary overlaps within indian social protection programs (i.e., one person can be a beneficiary in multiple programs). Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Migrant-neutrality of support Percentage 0.00 33.00 56.50 provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2021 21-Jun-2022 measured by percentage of India’s population able to access portable food benefits through the PDS Comments (achievements against targets): RI12 achieved and exceeded. By August 2021, ONORC was rolled out across 34 states and union territories covering 75 crore beneficiaries. This meant that of 53.3 percent of India’s total population (well above the RI11 target) at that time had the ability to access portable food benefits through the Public Page 30 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) Distribution System. By June 2022, the coverage reached 56.5 percent (800 million beneficiaries). It is important to note that this Indicator only had a target until 2021 because it was replaced by a new indicator (RI13). Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Migrant-neutrality of India’s Percentage 0.00 40.00 100.00 social protection system measured as the percentage of 01-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2022 21-Jun-2022 states implementing ‘One Nation One Ration’ for portable PDS access Comments (achievements against targets): RI13 achieved and exceeded well ahead of time. The ONORC initiative was rolled out through a pilot in 4 states in Aug 2019. The success of the pilot helped GoI overshoot the RI13 target by a considerable margin and achieved 100 percent integration (all 36 states and UTs) within June 2022. ONORC now covers 80 crore beneficiaries and has helped enhance migrant-neutrality of India’s social protection system by facilitating about 71 crore portable transactions since its inception. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Percentage of India’s bottom 40 Percentage 15.00 33.00 80.37 percent quintile in urban areas covered by at least one social 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 06-Dec-2023 protection benefit Comments (achievements against targets): Page 31 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) RI14 achieved and exceeded its target well ahead of time. According to the report titled “Intent to Implementation: Tracking India’s Social Protection Response to COVID-19”, which was published in June 2021, 69.1 percent of India’s bottom 40 percent quintile households in urban areas received at least one social protection benefits. The coverage rose to 80.37 percent by December 2023 according to the eShram database of MoLE. The primary factor behind the overachievement of this target was PMGKY package, which – (i) scaled up cash and food assistance through existing programs that have large outreach and strong delivery mechanisms; (ii) leveraged well-built platforms like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Public Distribution System (PDS). It is also important to note that CMIE survey wave 27 suggests even higher level of achivement (85.8 percent) but the ICR opted to report the MoLE data and use the CMIE data for triangulation. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Timeliness of cash-transfers Percentage 0.00 50.00 84.00 through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program (percentage 01-May-2020 31-Dec-2022 30-Oct-2020 of bottom 40 quintile households receiving at least one PMGKY benefit within eight weeks of announcement) Comments (achievements against targets): RI15 Achieved. The objective behind RI15 was to ensure that the poor (bottom 40 percent quintile) households receive PMGKY cash assistance in a timely manner and GoI overachieved the target by a considerable margin. The factors that this achievement include – (i) leveraging existing programs with wide outreach; (ii) using the DBT system for cash transfer; (iii) waiving ATM charges for PMGKY transactions; and (iv) improving beneficiary awareness through information campaigns and UMANG mobile app. It is important to note that RI15 was revised during the 2nd DPF; whereby, the definition of Poor households was clarified, and the target was reduced to 50 percent (it was 60 percent in 2021). Pillar: 4 – India Climate Action Pillar Page 32 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Improved regulatory capacity to Text No pre-existing Codification of New groundwater policy (applicable conserve groundwater, thereby groundwater policy with groundwater policy with in all states and UTs) with user fees improving water security of the water user fees water user fees concept formulated and notification issued country in the face of climate through government rules [Sep 2020] change. to state. 01-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2022 30-Sep-2020 Comments (achievements against targets): RI16 Achieved well ahead of time. Ministry of Jal Shakti issued a nationwide groundwater policy titled “Guidelines to regulate and control ground water extraction in India” that became effective since September 24, 2020, and an amendment to the same was issued in March 2023. T he guidelines encompass industrial, infrastructure, and mining project withdrawals and set Groundwater Abstraction/Restoration charges, with rates rising based on extraction volume and Assessment Unit category. Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Target Actual Achieved at Completion Increase in the cumulative Gigawatt 85.90 172.00 178.36 renewable power installed capacity in order to meet India’s 01-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2022 31-Aug-2023 NDC targets, retain India’s global position on wind and solar power and increase employment through RE projects Comments (achievements against targets): RI17 achieved but took a bit more time than expected. By the end of 2022, India’s renewable power installed capacity stood at 167.75 GW which was 95 percent up from the baseline of 85.9 GW (2020) but 4.25 GW short of the target. It took GoI (Ministry of Power) until March 2023 to achieve the target of Page 33 of 52 The World Bank Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P174027) 172 GW renewable power installed capacity. Moreover, GoI’s enhanced priority on climate resilience meant that it continued to promote renewable energy (through waiver of inter-state transmission charges and losses) which is reflected by the 178.36 GW of installed capacity as of Aug 31, 2023. Page 34 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ANNEX 2. WORLD BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION PROCESSES A. TASK TEAM MEMBERS P173943 Shrayana Bhattacharya (Task Team Leader), Qaiser M. Khan (Task Team Leader), Ambrish Shahi (Task Team Leader), Manoj Jain (Financial Management Specialist), Antonia T. Koleva (Team Member), Victor Manuel Ordonez Conde (Team Member), John D. Blomquist (Peer Reviewer), Helene Bertaud (Counsel), Aurelien Kruse (Team Member), Ritu Sharma (Team Member), Deepak Singh (Team Member), Jorge A. Coarasa Bustamante (Team Member), Anindo Kumar Chatterjee (Social Specialist), Sutirtha Sinha Roy (Team Member), Krishna Raj Krishnan (Team Member) P174027 Shrayana Bhattacharya (Task Team Leader), Qaiser M. Khan (Task Team Leader), Ambrish Shahi (Task Team Leader), Satyanarayan Panda (Procurement Specialist), Manoj Jain (Financial Management Specialist), Randa G. El-Rashidi (Team Member), Antonia T. Koleva (Team Member), Cem Mete (Peer Reviewer), Victor Manuel Ordonez Conde (Team Member), Sangeeta Goyal (Team Member), Ritu Sharma (Team Member), Frederico Gil Sander (Peer Reviewer), Pravesh Kumar (Team Member), Anindo Kumar Chatterjee (Social Specialist) B. STAFF TIME AND COST P173943 Staff Time and Cost Stage of Project Cycle No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs) Preparation 24.150 137,461.57 FY20 18.684 161,883.31 FY21 10.783 53,745.25 FY22 2.775 16,350.30 FY23 Total 56.39 369,440.43 Supervision/ICR 1.432 19,904.07 FY21 Page 35 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) 1.153 9,483.00 FY22 .150 1,318.44 FY23 Total 2.74 30,705.51 P174027 Staff Time and Cost Stage of Project Cycle No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs) Preparation 24.150 137,461.57 FY20 44.785 284,988.33 FY21 15.283 78,147.05 FY22 2.775 16,350.30 FY23 Total 86.99 516,947.25 Supervision/ICR 1.432 46,648.78 FY21 2.531 24,618.97 FY22 .250 2,391.35 FY23 Total 4.21 73,659.10 Page 36 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ANNEX 3. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIERS, AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS’/STAKEHOLDERS’ COMMENTS COMMENTS FROM DEA FOR (1) FIRST AND SECOND ACCELERATING PMGKY DPO (2) CCRISP DPO 1. The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance Government of India is pleased to acknowledge and study the Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) of the First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) DPO series and Created a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System DPO. We note the World Bank’s detailed assessment of the relevance of the Prior Actions and the efficacy of achievement of objectives and acknowledge the ‘Satisfactory to highly Satisfactory’ outcome rating awarded to these DPOs. 2. First and second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program (PMGKY) was signed on May 15, 2020 and December 16, 2020 respectively with objectives to strengthen the capability of state and national governments in India to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, in order to strengthen the capability of the state and national governments in India to respond to the needs of informal workers through a resilient and coordinated social protection system, a stand-alone DPO “Created a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System” was signed on July 15, 2021. 3. In the ICR of First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program (PMGKY), there is mismatch in approved loan amount and disbursed amount figure under Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY). The World Bank should check this discrepancy and provide reason for the same. 4. These DPOs being reviewed were prepared in record time and during challenging implementation circumstances due to the pandemic. As highlighted in the ICR, the DPO documents and reform matrix were also leveraged by other development partners to provide parallel financing. The preparation with regard to implementation of these DPOs and ICR engaged various ministries/departments. We appreciate the efforts of the World Bank team for their proactive and collaborative approach towards the preparation, delivery and disbursement of DPOs and the ICR by engaging with various stakeholders concerned and with DEA. We also thank concerned line ministries/departments and other key stakeholders for their valuable comments / views during various stages of these DPO including preparation for implantation and ICR. 5. The DPOs and PMGKY experience showcase India’s role as a thought-leader on adaptive social protection and delivery through use of technology and innovative programs. We endorse the suggestions made by the ICR to host a high-level knowledge sharing event to highlight the implementation experience of PMGKY for other countries and development partners subject to conditions that the concurrence of ministries / departments concerned are obtained and no financial implication on GOI. 6. We would like to thank the World Bank and the other development partners once again for coming forward to support the Government of India at a critical time when the country was impacted by the most devastating and catastrophic pandemic. Page 37 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ANNEX 4. SECTORS AND THEMES . SECTORS AND THEMES P173943 Sectors Mitigation Co- Adaptation Co- Major Sector/Sector (%) benefits (%) benefits (%) SECTOR_TBL Social Protection 100 0.00 0.00 Social Protection 100 0 0 Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Finance 25 Financial Infrastructure and Access 25 Financial inclusion 25 Social Development and Protection 100 Social Protection 100 Social Safety Nets 50 Social Insurance and Pensions 63 Social protection delivery systems 63 Human Development and Gender 100 Gender 25 Disease Control 100 Pandemic Response 100 Nutrition and Food Security 25 Food Security 25 P174027 Page 38 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Sectors Mitigation Co- Adaptation Co- Major Sector/Sector (%) benefits (%) benefits (%) SECTOR_TBL Public Administration 23 0.00 2.76 Central Government (Central Agencies) 23 0 12 SECTOR_TBL Energy and Extractives 9 9.00 0.00 Energy Transmission and Distribution 5 100 0 Renewable Energy Solar 4 100 0 SECTOR_TBL Social Protection 59 0.00 8.85 Social Protection 59 0 15 SECTOR_TBL Water, Sanitation and Waste Management 9 0.00 4.50 Other Water Supply, Sanitation and Waste 9 0 50 Management Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Economic Policy 27 Economic Growth and Planning 27 Migration, Remittances and Diaspora Engagement 27 Private Sector Development 9 ICT 9 ICT Solutions 9 Social Development and Protection 27 Social Protection 27 Social Safety Nets 9 Social Insurance and Pensions 18 Human Development and Gender 100 Disease Control 100 Pandemic Response 100 Page 39 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Health Systems and Policies 9 Health Finance 9 Urban and Rural Development 9 Urban Development 9 Services and Housing for the Poor 9 Environment and Natural Resource Management 25 Climate change 25 Mitigation 9 Adaptation 16 Water Resource Management 9 Water Institutions, Policies and Reform 9 Energy 9 Energy Efficiency 9 . Page 40 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ANNEX 5. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS Table 3: Supporting documents for ICR preparation. SL Documents / Sources of Information 1. "Cabinet approves the proposal to extend the EPF contribution" PIB press release of July 8, 2020 “Addressing groundwater depletion: Lessons from India, the world’s largest user of groundwater” – IEG, World Bank Group 2. (Aug 23, 2021) 3. “Fulfilling the promise of one-nation-one-ration card” – Dalberg (April 2022) 4. “Funds Under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan” – PIB Press Release: 24 March 2022. 5. “Guidelines to regulate and control groundwater extraction in India” – Ministry of Jal Shakti (24 September 2020) “Intent to Implementation: Tracking India’s Social Protection Response to COVID -19” – 6. June 2021 7. “Migration of Labor in the Country” – Ministry of Labor and Employment, GoI [July 20, 2023] “Panchamrit – A Striding Step Towards Achieving India’s Goal of Net Zero by 2070” – Impact and Policy Research Institute, 8. India “Pathways to Reducing Poverty and Sharing Prosperity in India – Schemes to Systems: Lessons from Social Protection in 9. India (2019)” “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers fighting COVID -19” - PIB press release on 19 10. April 2022 11. “The COVID-19, Migration and Livelihood in India (April 2020)” – Indian institute for Population Sciences 12. Central Electricity Authority: Installed Capacity Report [Accessed on Sep 30, 2023] 13. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey: Wave 22 (Jan – Apr 2021) and 27 (Oct – Dec 2022) Dahlberg Asia (15 April 2020). “The Efficacy of Government Entitlements in Helping PL Families Navigate the Financial 14. Impacts of COVID-19.” Available at: IndiaSpend.com 15. EPFO’s report titled “RESPONSE TO COVID-2.0” – November 2021 16. eShram Dashboard - Ministry of Labor and Employment [Accessed on Nov 14, 2023] Government of India Ministry of Jal Shakti Notification (24 September 2020). “Guidelines to regulate and control 17. groundwater extraction in India.” Government of India PIB (28 August 2021) - “ONORC mission gathers further momentum as Delhi and West Bengal also 18. operationalize the scheme.” Government of India Press Information Bureau (21 June 2022). “Assam becomes the 36th State/UT to implement One 19. Nation One Ration Card.” 20. Implementation Status Report – October 2020 21. National portal of India 22. NSAP Reports - Ministry of Rural Development [Accessed on Nov 14, 2023] 23. Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020 24. Participation of Rural Women in MGNREGS - Ministry of Rural Development [Accessed on Nov 14, 2023] 25. Program Document (April 30, 2020) – DPF 1 (P173943). 26. Program Document (June 2, 2022) - DPF 3 (P176447) 27. Program Document (November 12, 2020) – DPF 2 (P174027). Raveendran, G., and J. Vanek. 2020. “Informal Workers in India: A Statistical Profile - Women in Informal Employment: 28. Globalizing and Organizing.” 29. UMANG website 30. Unique Identification Authority of India: State/UT wise Aadhaar Saturation (May 2023) Page 41 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) SL Documents / Sources of Information 31. WB India CD’s letter to KFW (issued on February 11, 2021) 32. WB India CD’s letters to AFD (issued on May 18, 2020) and KFW (issued on August 25, 2020) 33. WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970 – 2019 34. World Bank COVID-19 Business Pulse Survey Dashboard 35. World Bank Data - Country Profile of India [2021] 36. World Bank Data - Poverty and Inequality Platform [Accessed on Nov 14, 2023] Completion Report – “India: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program” – Asian Development Bank 37. (ADB); November 2022. Table 4: List of persons met during ICR preparation. SL Name Designation Organization 1. Kaiser M. Khan Former TTL of the DPF Series World Bank 2. Mehul Jain Climate Change Specialist World Bank 3. Anindo Kumar Chatterjee Senior Social Development Specialist World Bank 4. Shrayana Bhattacharya Senior Social Protection Specialist / TTL World Bank of the DPF series 5. Ambrish Sahi Senior Social Protection Specialist / TTL World Bank of the DPF series 6. Junaid Kamal Ahmed Vice President of Operations, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Former Country Director, WB India) (MIGA), World Bank Group 7. Arun Sharma Senior Digital Development Specialist World Bank (Former Director of DBT Mission) 8. Mr. Hanish Chhabra Former Joint Secretary DEA, Ministry of Finance 9. Dr. Sekhar Bonu Former Director General DMEO, Niti Aayog 10. Ms. Arti Ahuja Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 11. Shri Ramesh Krishnamurthy Additional Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 12. Ms. Vibha Bhalla Joint Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 13. Ms. Deepika Kachhal Joint Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 14. Shri Rupesh Kumar Thakur Joint Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 15. Shri Amit Nirmal Joint Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 16. Shri Amit Nirmal Deputy Director General, Directorate Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) General of Employment 17. Dr. Mahendra Kumar Director, LC & ILAS Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 18. Shri Piyush Kumar Pathak Deputy Director, ILAS Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) 19. Mr. L.P. Sharma Deputy Secretary (PMGKAY and Food Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) Distribution (MoCAFPD) 20. Mr. Ravi Shankar Director, Department of Food and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Public Distribution Distribution (MoCAFPD) 21. Mr. Gaurav Jha Director Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) 22. Ms. Shalini Pandey Director Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) 23. Dr Saurabh Garg Secretary Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 24. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Deputy Secretary, DEA Ministry of Finance Page 42 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Table 5: Analytical underpinnings of the DPF series - at appraisal Pillars Analytical Underpinnings Pillar 1: Leveraging Pre-existing • Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks. Social Protection and Jobs Global Social Protection Measures for Practice, World Bank, 2020 COVID-19 relief • From Intent to Implementation: A Snapshot of India’s Social Protection Resp onse to COVID-19, Bhattacharya, and Roy 2020 • Pathways to Reducing Poverty and Sharing Prosperity in India: Lessons from the Last Two Decades, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank, 2016 • India Poverty and Equity Brief, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank, October 2019 • Beaten or Broken: Informality and COVID-19, South Asia Economic Focus, Fall 2020, World Bank • The Efficacy of Government Entitlements in Helping PL Families Navigate the Financial Impacts of COVID-19, Dalberg Asia, April 15th, 2020. • White Paper on PM Garib Kalyan Yojana: Coverage, Identification, and Implementation, IDFC Institute, 11th April 2020 • Social Protection Financing and COVID-19 Policy Note, Centre for Policy Research, 11th April 2020 • Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures A “living paper”, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, v.1 March 20, 2020 • Schemes to Systems: Social Protection in a Transforming India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice 2019 • Social Protection for a Changing India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice 2011 Migration and COVID-19, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, March 31st, 2020 • Last-Mile Delivery Options for COVID-19 Relief in India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice, March 28th, 2020 • Data Privacy and Regulations for India COVID-19 Program, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice, March 29th 2020 Pillar 2: Protecting Workers in • Last-Mile Delivery Options for COVID-19 Relief in India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Essential Service Supply Chains Practice, March 28th, 2020 during COVID-19 Pandemic Pillar 3: Improving Access and • Leveraging Community-Based Organizations in COVID-19 Emergency Operations in India, Delivery for Vulnerable Agriculture and Environment Global Practices, World Bank 14th April 2020 Populations • White Paper on PM Garib Kalyan Yojana: Coverage, Identification, and Implementation, IDFC Institute, 11th April 2020 • Social Protection Financing and COVID-19 Policy Note, Centre for Policy Research, 11th April 2020 • Economic Survey of India 2016, Ministry of Finance, Government of India • India’s Internal Labor Migration Paradox, FCI Practice, World Bank Policy Paper 8356, February 2018 • Schemes to Systems: Social Protection in a Transforming India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice 2019 • Social Protection for a Changing India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice 2011 Migration and COVID-19, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, March 31st, 2020 • Last-Mile Delivery Options for COVID-19 Relief in India, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice, March 28th, 2020 • Data Privacy and Regulations for India COVID-19 Program, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Practice, March 29th, 2020. • Report of the High-Level Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments, Reserve Bank of India, May 2019 • Informal Workers in India: A Statistical Profile. August 2020. Govindan Raveendran and Joann Vanek, WIEGO • Unintended Consequences of Lockdowns: Covid-19 and the Shadow Pandemic. NBER. September 2020. Ravindran, Saravana and Manisha Shah. • A Mixed-Method Review of Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in Low and Middle- Income Countries. The World Bank Observer, Volume 33, Issue 2. Page 218-258. September 2018. Ana Maria Buller, Amber Peterman, Meghna Ranganathan, Alexandra Bleile, Melissa Hidrobo and Lori Heise Page 43 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Pillars Analytical Underpinnings • Violence against Women as a ‘Relational’ Vulnerability. Naila Kabeer. UNDP Paper Series. 2014 • How is economic security linked to gender-based violence? New insights from the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum 2019. December 2019. Amber Peterman, Shalini Roy and Meghna Ranganathan. IFPRI • Men, Masculinity and Domestic Violence Against Women in Marriage: Case Studies and Analysis ICRW 2016. Pillar 4: India Climate Action • SAR Human Capital Acceleration Plan, World Bank 2020 Pillar • Central Ground Water Board Groundwater Yearbook India 2018-19. Government of India, 2019 • Climate change and water security: impacts, future scenarios, adaptations, and mitigations. Kibria, G., Haroon, A. Y., & Nugegoda, D. (2016). • Ministry of Jal Shakti. (2019, June 27). Vulnerable and Overexploited Areas. Government of India • University of Sussex-UCL (2020, August 26). Majority of groundwater stores resilient to climate change. • India 2020: Energy Policy Review, International Energy Agency 2020 • Global Climate Risk Index 2020 • Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia. Paul. J Ferraro and Rhita Simorangkir. June 2020 Table 6: Major social protection programs, platforms, and schemes in India Name of program / Brief overview platform / scheme Aadhar Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve months immediately preceding the date of application for enrolment, based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the Government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the ‘Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits, and services) Act, 2016’. Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric ID system. Considered a proof of residence and not a proof of citizenship, Aadhaar does not itself grant any rights to domicile in India. Antyodaya Anna Yojana Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) is the Government of India sponsored to provide highly subsidized food to millions of (AAY) the poorest families. It was launched by the government on December 25, 2000, and first implemented in the Indian state of Rajasthan. After identifying the "poorest of the poor" (the 10,000,000 poorest families in the Below Poverty Line category) through surveying, the government began providing them an opportunity to purchase up to 35 kilograms of rice and wheat at a highly subsidized cost of INR 3 per kilogram of rice and INR 2 per kilogram of wheat. Poor families were identified by their respective state rural development facilities using surveys. The scheme has been expanded twice, once in June 2003 and then in August 2004, adding an additional 5,000,000 BPL families each time and bringing the total number of families covered up to 20,000,000. after this additional 50 lakh families were added in 2003. Atal Pension Yojana Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – a pension scheme for Indian citizens – is focused on the unorganized sector workers. (APY) Under the APY, guaranteed minimum pension ranging between INR 1,000 to 5,000 per month will be given at the age of 60 years depending on the contributions by the subscribers. Following are the eligibility criteria: • The age of the subscriber should be between 18 - 40 years. • He / she should have a savings bank account / post office savings bank account. The prospective applicant may provide Aadhaar and mobile number to the bank during registration to facilitate receipt of periodic updates on APY account. However, Aadhaar is not mandatory for enrollment. Building and Other Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Funds were created at the state level under the Building and Construction Workers Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 to provide support Welfare Fund and assistance to construction workers. The Act applies to every establishment employing ten or more building (BOCWWF) workers in any building or other construction work for a period of 12 months. All construction workers between the ages of 18 to 60 years who have worked for a period greater than 90 days in a year are eligible to register as beneficiaries. Registered workers have to pay a monthly contribution towards the fund as per rates decided by state governments. There are about 35 million workers registered with respective Building & Other Construction Welfare Page 44 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Name of program / Brief overview platform / scheme Boards of different state and union territories. Deendayal Antyodaya Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a flagship poverty alleviation Yojana-National Rural program implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. It aims to reduce poverty by Livelihoods Mission enabling the poor household to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities (DAY-NRLM) resulting in sustainable and diversified livelihood options for the poor. This is one of the world's largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The Mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components viz., (a) social mobilization and promotion and strengthening of self-managed and financially sustainable community institutions of the rural poor women; (b) financial inclusion; (c) sustainable livelihoods; and (d) social inclusion, social development, and access to entitlements through convergence. The Mission seeks to reach out to around 10 Crore rural poor households in a phased manner by 2022-23 and impact their livelihoods significantly. Direct Benefit Transfer With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes (DBT) for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de- duplication, and reduction of fraud Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on January 1, 2013. DBT’s electronic framework is followed by all Ministries/ Departments and their attached Institutions/PSUs and is applicable on all Central Sector (CS)/ Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and for all schemes that involve cash transfers. Aadhaar is not mandatory in DBT schemes but is preferred and beneficiaries are encouraged to have Aadhaar. JAM (i.e., Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) are DBT enablers and as on date more than 22 crore Jan Dhan Account, more than 100 crore Aadhaar and about 100 crore Mobile connections provide a unique opportunity to implement DBT in all welfare schemes across country including States & UTs. Employees’ Provident The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees' Provident Funds Fund (EPF) Ordinance on the November 15, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees' Provident Funds Act, 1952. The Act and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the Central Board of Trustees, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is responsible for the day-to-day management of EPF and its schemes which include – (i) EPF Scheme 1952, (ii) Pension Scheme 1995, and (iii) Insurance Scheme 1976. eShram eShram portal developed by Ministry of Labor and Employment for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar. It will have details of name, occupation, address, occupation type, educational qualification, skill types etc. for optimum realization of their employability and extend the benefits of the social security schemes to them. It is the first-ever national database of unorganized workers including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers etc. Fair Price Shop (FPS) Fair Price Shop (FPS) is a part of India's public system established by the Government of India which distributes rations at a subsidized price to the poor. Locally these are known as ration shops and public distribution shops, and chiefly sell wheat, rice, and sugar at a price lower than the market price called Issue Price. Garib Kalyan Rojgar The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) was launched on 20th June 2020, for a period of 125 days to boost Abhiyan (GKRA) employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural area. The GKRA ended on 22 October 2020 and a total of 50.78 crore person-days employment were generated with a total expenditure of INR 39,293 crore during the Abhiyaan. Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), established under the Mahatma National Rural Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, is an Indian social welfare measure that aims to guarantee Employment Guarantee the 'right to work'. It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage Scheme (MGNREGS) employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Women are guaranteed one third of the jobs made available under the scheme. Currently there are 55.1 million households are benefitting from MGNREGS through 473.7 million active workers (54.5 percent female participation). National Migrants National Migrants Information System (NMIS) is a central online repository on migrant workers. This was developed Information System by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to track and facilitate seamless movement of migrants and (NMIS) provide them with necessary travel arrangements, plan for cash or in-kind assistance in receiving districts, and foster inter-state coordination for migrant welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. National Social The National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) is a welfare program being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Assistance Program Development in both rural and urban areas. NSAP was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August (NSAP) 1995. NSAP comprises of the following five schemes: • Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): Under the scheme, BPL persons aged 60 years or above are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200/- up to 79 years of age and Rs.500/- thereafter. Page 45 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Name of program / Brief overview platform / scheme • Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS): BPL widows aged 40-59 years are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200/-. • Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): BPL persons aged 18-59 years with severe and multiple disabilities are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 200/-. • National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS): Under the scheme a BPL household is entitled to lump sum amount of money on the death of primary breadwinner aged between 18 and 64 years. The amount of assistance is Rs. 10.000/-. • Annapurna: Under the scheme, 10 kg of food grains per month are provided free of cost to those senior citizens who, though eligible, have remained uncovered under NOAPS. One Nation One Ration The One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) initiative launched in 2019 is one of the major refo rms to India’s Public Card (ONORC) Distribution Scheme (PDS), which currently guarantees food security to nearly 237 million low-income households with ration cards. Prior to the launch of ONORC, ration card holders could secure their entitlement only at a Fair Price Shop (FPS) where they were registered. ONORC lets them access their food entitlement at any FPS in the country, a feature described as “portability”. It was designed specially to benefit migrant households (both inter - state and intra-state), numbering nearly 67 million so that they could access their ration on the move.10 Further, while ‘better service’ or ‘empowerment’ were not primary goals, for the first time it offered beneficiaries a choice in availing their rations, whether they were migrating or at home. Pradhan Mantri Garib Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY; transl.  Prime Minister's Food Security Scheme for the Poor) is Kalyan Anna Yojna a food security welfare scheme announced by the Government of India on March 26, 2020, during the COVID-19 (PMGKAY) pandemic in India. The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The scheme aims to feed the poorest citizens of India by providing grain through the Public Distribution System, to all the priority households (ration card holders and those identified by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme). PMGKAY provides 5 kg of rice or wheat (according to regional dietary preferences) per person and 1 kg of dal to each family holding a ration card. The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world. The Union Budget 2022-23 allocated a sum of Rs. 2 Lakh Crores for the scheme in fiscal year 2022-23. Pradhan Mantri Garib The ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP), a special health insurance scheme for Health Care Workers, Kalyan Package (PMGKP) was launched on 30 March 2020 to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs. 50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh health care providers including community health workers and private health workers who may have been in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and may be at risk of being impacted. Pradhan Mantri Garib Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY) was launched by GoI in 2020 as the flagship COVID-19 response social Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY) protection program. The PMGKY program was not a new scheme, rather an integrated package scaling up cash and in-kind assistance through pre-existing programs which have large outreach and strong delivery mechanisms: The PMGKY package cost the Government approximately USD 23 billion. It used India’s well-developed Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system to transfer benefits directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries from the treasury, thereby trying to ensure timely payments to those in need. The identification of beneficiaries relied on India’s near-universal programs, supplemented by digitized databases of pre-existing government schemes, state level databases maintained for the National Food Security Act 2013 and the Aadhaar digital ID network. Pradhan Mantri Jan- Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched in 2015, is a National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) access to financial services, namely, a basic savings & deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension for the unbanked population in an affordable manner. Under the scheme, a basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account can be opened in any bank branch or Business Correspondent (Bank Mitra) outlet, by persons not having any other account. Till date 508.9 million beneficiaries have been banked through PMJDY. Some benefits of PMJDY accounts include – no minimum balance requirement, RuPay debit card, accident insurance coverage (INR 1-2 lakh), overdraft facility (up to INR 10,000) and eligibility for DBT transfers among others. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) launched in 2015, is a one-year life insurance scheme Jyoti Bima Yojana renewable from year to year offering coverage for death. The scheme is administered through both public and (PMJJBY) private sector insurance companies in tie-up with scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, and cooperative banks. With the target to include the poor and the underprivileged section of the society, this social security scheme was envisaged to foster the spirit of inclusive growth tandem with GoI’s vision of ‘Sabke Saath Sab ka Vikas’. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KSN), launched in 2019, is an initiative by the government of India that Samman Nidhi (PM-KSN) give farmers up to INR 6,000 (US$75) per year as minimum income support. However, it is important to note that landless farmers are not covered under this initiative as farmstead ownership is an eligibility criterion. Page 46 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Name of program / Brief overview platform / scheme Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), a government-sponsored accident Health Insurance program, Bima Yojana (PMSBY) provides coverage for accidental death, total and partial disability, as well as permanent disability. A person must be between the ages of 18 and 70 to apply for this program. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 70 may participate in this program, but they must have a bank account. It is a one-year cover, renewable from year to year. The scheme is offered / administered through Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) and other General Insurance companies. The benefits range between 1 – 2 lakh INR (1 lakh INR for partial permanent disability and 2 lakh INR for death / complete incapacitation). Pradhan Mantri Street Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM-SVANidhi), launched in June 2020, is a collateral free working Vendor Atmanirbhar capital loan program for street vendors. Since its launch, over 5 million street vendors have benefitted from this Nidhi (PM-SVANidhi) scheme. The features of the scheme include – a) Collateral free working capital loan up to INR 10,000, of 1 year tenure, with enhanced loan of INR 20,000 and INR 50,000 in the second and third tranches respectively, on repayments of earlier loans. b) Interest subsidy @ 7% per annum; and c) Reward for digital transactions, by way of cash back up to INR 1,200 per year. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala In May 2016, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG), introduced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ Yojana (UJJWALA / (PMUY) as a flagship scheme with an objective to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to the rural and PMUY) deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc. Usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment. The target under the scheme was to release 8 Crore LPG Connections to the deprived households by March 2020. During COVID-19 crisis, GoI leveraged this scheme through PMGKY and distributed free LPG cylinders to 80 million households. Public Distribution The Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system that was established by the Government of System (PDS) India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor at subsidized rates through Fair Price Shops (FPS). The PDS covers 800 million beneficiaries through its half million strong FPS network. State Disaster Response The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, Fund (SDRF) and 2005, is the primary fund available with State Governments for responses to notified disasters. The Central National Disaster Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category Response Fund (NDRF) States/UTs. The annual Central contribution is released in two equal installments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission. The National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), constituted under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, supplements SDRF of a State, in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided adequate funds are not available in SDRF. Unified Mobile UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Application for New-age Information Technology and National e-Governance Division to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG provides Governance (UMANG) a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies (905 central and 877 state level services). Till date, UMANG has facilitated 3.9 billion transactions for 56.8 million registrants. Page 47 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) ANNEX 6. SEQUENCING OF REFORMS, SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION AND OTHER WB OPERATIONS Table 7: Sequencing of COVID-19 Social Protection Interventions and Reforms [Source: Program Document of DPF 2 – November 12, 2020] Emergency COVID-19 Reforms (April-July 2020) Medium Term SP Reforms (July-Nov 2020) Scaling-up a core set of pre-existing food/cash programs announced through PMGKY PMGKY will trigger a fundamental shift in the social protection system from scheme-based silos for immediate COVID-19 relief towards a more coordinated approach engaging key departments and state governments anchored by Ministries of Finance, Home Affairs and Labor By notifying COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘disaster’, the national government enables The use of SDRF will trigger an adaptive social protection system in India. This will be state governments to access funds from the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) to operationalized through a social protection window in the current disaster management system, implement and deliver COVID-19 relief enabling states to use monies in SDRF to deliver context-specific packages of social assistance for COVID-19 and future disasters. Provide access to portable food and in-kind benefits to migrant workers through state The One-Nation-One-Ration agenda and amendments to national Labor Codes (which regulate machinery and State Disaster Response Funds how social protection is designed and eligibility rules are defined by states/line agencies) have triggered a codified policy framework defining how the national government and states finance and coordinate a basic package of benefits (food and social insurance) for migrants across state boundaries. This will remedy current program architecture where only state residents receive benefits from programs. Door-step delivery of information/cash/in-kind relief by states leveraging post offices, The UMANG platform builds state level government capacities to implement digitized payments fair price shops and community-based machinery. which can leverage online information alerts, community-based organizations and front-line workers to improve last-mile delivery of cash in areas with weak financial access. Quasi-income support measures through welfare funds and EPFO to provide informal At present, India has a large share of cash transfer programs operating at scale in rural India. workers COVID-19 relief Through the new Affordable Rental Housing Platform (for urban poor) and National Social Security Board (for consolidated social insurance and cash transfers to informal workers), India will rebalance its rural focused safety net towards urban areas and expand use of social insurance by (i) Campaign to expand coverage to informal workers by leveraging linkages between Aadhaar, PDS and PMJDY (ii) Triggering a strong co-contributory urban safety nets platform to complement rural programs. Page 48 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Table 8: Significant Changes During Implementation Prior Actions, Triggers and Results Indicators Changes During Implementation Pillar 1 – Leveraging Pre-Existing Social Protection Measures for Covid-19 Relief Indicative Trigger 1A: The Borrower through Ministry of Home • While this trigger was made more specific (i.e., removed NDRF from the equation and specified the portion of Affairs, Government of India expands the ability of state SDRF that can be used for disaster response) but the essence of the reform remained the same (DPF 2 – “Prior governments to provide social protection during disasters through Action 1: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, has expanded the ability of state governments to executive orders that enable use of National Disaster Response provide social protection during disasters through the use of up to 50 per cent of State Disaster Response Funds Funds / State Disaster Response Funds for social protection leveraging pre-existing decentralized protocols for state governments to access financing to provide context- requirements, with outlined regulations / manuals / procedures for specific, adequate, and agile safety nets.”) state governments to access financing to provide context-specific, adequate and agile safety nets for disaster relief (such as COVID-19 • A new result indicator was also introduced – “RI3: Gender-sensitive program coverage measured by share of and future health/natural disasters) which could include bottom 40% (consumption percentiles) households with female-head receiving at least one PMGKY social community-driven approaches. assistance (food/cash) benefit.” Indicative Trigger 2A: The Borrower through Ministry of Food and • GoI scaled up the PMGKAY package nationwide instead of selected hot spot districts. Hence, trigger 2A, which Civil Supplies, Government of India expands the PMGKAY package focused on hot spots only, was not followed up with a prior action during the 2nd DPF. and issues government orders notifying release of three-month additional grains to all AAY (chronic poor) households in hot-spot districts. Pillar 2 – Protecting Workers in Essential Service Supply Chains during Covid-19 Pandemic Prior Action 5: The Borrower through Ministry of Health and Family • While PA5 (DPF 1) did not have any indicative trigger, it was scaled up during the 2nd DPF through – “Prior Welfare, Government of India has established a special health Action 2: The Borrower through Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has extended a insurance scheme for health workers providing essential special health insurance scheme (SHIS / PMGKP) for health workers providing essential care/medical services to care/medical services to COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 patients for additional 90 days.” • However, the language for RI7 was revised and downward revision was made to the target considering the limited uptake of SHIS / PMGKP during the first DPF. a) RI7 (original – DPF1): Utility of health insurance measures provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program measured by percentage share of essential service workers infected with COVID-19 using the Special Health Insurance Scheme. [Target 30% (2021)] b) RI7 (revised – DPF2): Access to health insurance measures provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program measured by percentage share of essential service workers covered by the Special Health Insurance Scheme. [Target 15% (2022)] Pillar 3 – Improving Access and Delivery for Vulnerable Population Indicative Trigger 7A: The Borrower through Ministry of Food and • This trigger (7A) underwent major upscaling during the 2nd DPF through 5 new prior actions which, in addition Civil Supplies, Government of India approves and adopts a to rolling out ONORC (portable PDS), focused on structural reforms to enhance migrant neutrality of India’s framework for pan-national portable PDS access, which clearly social protection system. These include – outlines fund-sharing and coordination mechanisms for states to a) Prior Action 4: The Borrower through Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, support food rations for all migrants across state boundaries. Government of India has approved and adopted mission-mode rollout of ’One-Nation-One Ration’ platform Page 49 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Prior Actions, Triggers and Results Indicators Changes During Implementation for pan-national portable PDS access to support food rations for all migrants across state boundaries. b) Prior Action 5: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has issued the Operational Guidelines dated July 2020, for an Affordable Rental Housing scheme for migrant Labor and the urban poor which clearly defines rules and implementation norms. c) Prior Action 6: The Borrower through Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has created a National Migrants Information System which establishes a database of inter-state mobility to target and plan migrant-specific COVID-19 social assistance support at the state and national level. d) Prior Action 7: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment, has: (i) expanded the definition of ‘inter-state’ migrants to include those who do not migrate without a contractor; and (ii) mandated the creation of a decentralized portal for migrant registration, to enable portability and universal coverage for cash and social insurance benefits, through the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020. e) Prior Action 8: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Rural Development, has established a converged mission-mode cash for employment-support program for returning migrants in rural areas called the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan. • Consequently, two new Result Indicators were introduced to assess the efficacy of the new Prior Actions. a) RI13: Migrant-neutrality of India’s social protection system measured as the percentage of states implementing ‘One Nation One Ration’ for portable PDS access. This RI replaced RI12 which became obsolete during the 2nd DPF due to the modifications to the indicative trigger. b) RI14: Percentage of India’s bottom 40 percent quintile in urban areas covered by at least one social protection benefit. Indicative Trigger 7B: The Borrower through Ministry of Finance, • Trigger 7B was scaled up during the 2nd DPF through Prior Action 3, which had a wider scope and a different Department of Financial Services, Government of India approves implementing ministry (Ministry of Labor and Employment instead of Ministry of Finance). the rollout of a Jansuraksha Mission (with online and offline [“Prior Action 3: The Borrower, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment, has approved and adopted a interface) to pursue and ensure universal coverage on mission- new Social Security Code which includes the rollout of a National Social Security Board (with online and offline mode for a basic package of three social insurance schemes interface) to ensure universal coverage for a basic package of social protection benefits, leveraging the PDS, (PMJJBY, PMSBY, and APY), leveraging the PDS, PMJDY, e-KYC, and PMJDY, e-KYC, and Aadhar infrastructure; with focus on achieving full coverage of informal workers in urban and Aadhar infrastructure, with focus on achieving full coverage of rural areas, and a clear approach for decentralized implementation.”] vulnerable and female-headed households in urban areas, with • Consequently, one original result indicator was discontinued and two new result indicators with enhanced clearly defined rollout/information/incentive strategies. scope were introduced – a) RI9: Migrant-neutrality of support provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program measured by percentage of India’s vulnerable population in urban areas covered by portable life and accident insurance through Department of Financial Services (DFS). [Discontinued] b) RI10: Access to support provided through the COVID-19 Social Protection Program for informal workers measured by percentage share of informal workers receiving at least one social protection benefit. c) RI11: Gender-sensitive program coverage measured by proportion of female informal workers in total beneficiary pool of social protection in India. Page 50 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Prior Actions, Triggers and Results Indicators Changes During Implementation Instead of focusing only on construction workers (RI8), these new indicators focused on a wider population of Informal Workers. Indicative Trigger 8A: The Borrower through Department of • Prior Action 9 of DPF 2 shifted the focus of trigger 8A from information campaigns and push alerts regarding Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India issues benefit delivery status toward enhancing beneficiaries’ access to the same information by leveraging digital government orders notifying information campaign and methods of platforms. [“Prior Action 9: The Borrower through Direct Benefits Transfer Mission, Cabinet Secretariat, has alerting PMGKY beneficiaries of the status of their benefit delivery. ordered the integration of DBT-related transaction in PFMS with UMANG mobile application, to allow beneficiaries of social programs to query and access information regarding electronic transfers.”] • There was a slight revision to the language of the corresponding result indicator (RI15) and the target was revised downward [from 60% (2021) to 50% (2022)]. Pillar 4 – India Climate Action Pillar [New pillar introduced to align with the Bank’s India Country Management Unit and the GoI’s enhanced focus on climate resilience] • Two new prior actions and corresponding result indicators were introduced. • The prior actions focused on reforms to conserve groundwater and promote of renewable energy. a) Prior Action 10: The Borrower through the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has issued Revised Guidelines for Groundwater Extraction in India which (i) introduce the concept of Water Conservation Fee (WCF) (ii) encourage use of recycled and treated sewage water by industries (iii) create provision for actions against polluting industries (iv) mandate requirement of digital flow meters, piezometers and digital water level recorders (with or without telemetry depending upon quantum of extraction) (v) mandate water audit by industries abstracting ground water 500 m3/day or more in safe and semi-critical and 200 m3/day or more in critical and over-exploited assessment units and (vi) mandate roof top rain water harvesting except for specified industries. b) Prior Action 11: The Borrower through the Ministry of Power, has extended the waiver of inter-state transmission charges and losses on the transmission of electricity generated by solar and wind sources to encourage use of renewable energy in India. • The result indicators which assessed the efficacy of these prior actions include – a) RI16: Improved regulatory capacity to conserve groundwater, thereby improving water security of the country in the face of climate change. b) RI17: Increase in the cumulative renewable power installed capacity in order to meet India’s NDC targets, retain India’s global position on wind and solar power and increase employment through renewable energy projects Page 51 of 52 The World Bank First and Second Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response (PMGKY) (P173943 and P174027) Table 9: Relevant operations preceding, parallel to and following the DPF series. SL Name of the Operation Approval Date Status 1. Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe) Project (P157198) June 15, 2017 Active 2. Chhattisgarh Public Financial Management and Accountability Program (P166578) February 21, 2019 Active 3. Odisha State Capability and Resilient Growth (P175811) March 28, 2023 Active 4. Punjab: Building Fiscal and Institutional Resilience (P175261) September 19, 2022 Active 5. The Resilient Kerala Program (P174778) June 24, 2021 Active 6. Sikkim: Integrated Service Provision and Innovation for Rural Economies Program (P180634) December 21, 2023 Active 7. West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection (P174564) June 14, 2022 Active 8. RIGHTS: Inclusion, Accessibility and Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in Tamil Nadu (P176404) June 14, 2022 Active 9. India SEWA 2025 Digital Financial Inclusion of Informal Sector (P167886) March 22, 2019 Closed 10. Tejaswini: Socioeconomic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls & Young Women (P150576) June 21, 2016 Closed 11. India: Bihar Integrated Social Protection Strengthening Project (P118826) June 20, 2013 Closed 12. Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Project: TA Disability (P129119) March 1, 2012 Closed Page 52 of 52