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Shahina, 30, a single mother of two daughters aged 11 and 7, is divorced from her ex-husband due to dowry-related demands and abuse. She has been living with her parents since the divorce. Until recently, Shahina’s father was supporting her and her daughters by working as a coolie. However, he is now paralysed, leaving the whole family reliant on her brother’s income and informal loans, whose the terms are usually exploitative and often trap families in cycles of debt.

Shahina is seeking employment but has not yet found work. Further, as she was married early and has no higher education, even if she does get employed, it is unlikely that it will pay her adequately to support herself and her family. Her ex-husband refuses to provide her and their daughters with maintenance.

Shahina’s story illustrates the multiple levels at which women, especially single women, are economically vulnerable. Recognising this reality, the Karnataka government launched the Manaswini scheme in 2013 to provide single, separated and divorced women with a monthly pension. This is similar to the Chief Minister Ekal Nari Samman Pension Yojana in Rajasthan, Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana in Maharashtra and Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, among others, though these schemes cover widows as well. (In Karnataka, there is a separate pension scheme, the Destitute Widow Pension.)

Although the amount is only a fraction of the family’s living costs, it would have provided some relief to Shahina’s financial strain. However, an ongoing study in and around the city of Bengaluru on women’s access to health and livelihood-related government programmes found that both in design and in implementation, the Manaswini scheme excludes Shahina and many like her.

According to the state government’s revenue department, the Manaswini scheme is meant to provide “financial facilities to unmarried and divorced women between the ages of 40 and 64 who are below the poverty line in the state and bring them into the mainstream of society.”

Towards this end, it provides a sum of Rs 800 to those who qualify. The funds are routed digitally via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly into the bank or post office accounts of the beneficiaries from the respective district treasuries. According to the state’s revenue department, 1,32,976 active beneficiaries are enrolled in........

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