The architecture of Kutumba, India

This brief summarizes key learnings from the dialogue on the Kutumba system (Karnataka State, India) held on March 15, 2022.

You can watch the recordings and download the materials on the event page

Overview:

Kutumba is an integrated social protection information system set up by the Government of Karnataka, India, to extend social protection to the most vulnerable and marginalized while overcoming the challenges of low awareness, high administrative burden, and limited fiscal space. Kutumba is expected to drive the government’s ambitious agenda of proactive provision of entitlement-based benefits by the state, thus removing the onus on citizens to apply through a complex administrative machinery.

A relatively young system, Kutumba was announced in FY2018/193 , with much of the full-scale implementation done FY2020/21 onward. Kutumba is set to become the key enabler of the implementation of the Once-Only Principle4 in the state. The Kutumba ecosystem is a mix of five core components, which includes: a. three integral components built by Kutumba: (i) the Social Registry, (ii) the (integrated) Beneficiary Registry, and (iii) Suvidha (online eligibility screening and application portal); b. interoperability interfaces with two state-wide platforms, (iv) the State Direct Benefit Transfer platform for payments, and (v) the Integrated Public Grievance Redressal System for receiving grievances against Kutumba. This learning brief focuses on the Social Registry.