This interdisciplinary volume addresses the critical need for comprehensive resources on social policy in South Asia. It offers a consolidated reference for students, educators, researchers, and development practitioners by documenting government programs, civil society interventions, and policy frameworks aimed at reducing socio-economic inequality. It provides critical insights into social structures of access, justice, equity, and welfare within the context of a neoliberal state. Designed to enrich academic scholarship and professional practice, this work is an essential reference for those engaged in social policy, development studies, and governance in South Asia. 

Ajeet Kumar Pankaj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Education, and Research (IISER), Bhopal, India. He is the author of Dalit Migrants: Assertion, Emancipation, and Social Change (2023) and has published a range of articles in Community Development Journal, International Journal of Community and Social Development, Journal of Social Work with Groups, Journal of African and Asian Studies, and The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 

Manish K. Jha is Professor at the School of Social Work at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. His other works include Beyond Consumption: India's New Middle Class in The Neo-Liberal Times (2021), Data Centres as Infrastructure: Frontiers of Digital Governance in Contemporary India (2022), and Traversing Bihar: Politics of Social Justice and Development (2014).