In December 2025, 20-year-old Gamit Vipul chanced upon something interesting while doing what people his age do across the world: scrolling through reels on Instagram. It was a short video made by someone who lived barely seven miles from his village, detailing a government pension scheme available for people with disabilities. Vipul, a farmer’s son who was born with a motor disability, realized he was eligible, but had no clue how to apply.  “So I contacted the maker of the reel, Ripinbhai, and he helped me apply for it,” he says. “Within two months, I started receiving Rs 1000 [about $10] and am using the money to buy books to prepare for a qualifying examination for a job in the Indian Railways.”  Gamit Vipul was able to access welfare thanks to a reel by Gamit Ripin. Courtesy of Gamit Vipul Flour mill operator Gamit Mayank, 40, shares a similar story. “Our village is near a deep jungle, and so remote that sometimes I feel like I’m living on an island!” he says. “The reel made me realize I was eligible for pension, but without Ripinbhai’s help I’d never have been able to apply for it.”   While Vipul and Mayank managed to access welfare they were entitled to, many others are not so lucky. India’s welfare ecosystem is designed to support the most vulnerable through housing schemes, pensions, education subsidies and livelihood programs. But entitlements often fail to translate into access. A 2023 audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India found that barely 32 percent of funds released for construction workers’ welfare in Gujarat were actually utilized. In fact, across the country, there is a persistent pattern of under-utilization of central welfare funds, ranging from centrally sponsored welfare schemes, where states spent less than 40 percent of allocations, to social justice funds, where up to a quarter of budgets remain unused.  “Lack of information, lack of awareness, is definitely a huge reason for this [under-utilization of welfare schemes],” says Saswata Biswas, dean of the Institute of Rural Management in Anand (IRMA), Gujarat. “While many villagers are actually quite clued in about the types of schemes available, few know if they’re eligible to access them, and even fewer know exactly how to access them.”  This is exactly what 33-year-old Gamit Ripin encountered when he was elected the sarpanch (village head) of Chikalda, in Gujarat’s Tapi district in western India in 2022. A member of the Gamit tribe, Indigenous to Gujarat, he discovered that many in his village had no idea that they were eligible for government welfare schemes. “And those who did,” he says, “were too confused by the bureaucratic language of the schemes to know how to apply for them!”  Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] Traditionally, people in his village and indeed, across most of rural India, relied on intermediaries to decode government schemes: local officials, word-of-mouth networks, government outreach sessions and e-mitras (commercial operators who assist people with digital issues for a small fee). But these methods were not effective in Tapi, almost 200 miles away from the state capital of Ahmedabad.   Ripin began holding outreach sessions in Chikalda, but these benefited only those who made time to attend. “I realized how big a problem this lack of information was,” he says. So instead, he decided to meet people where they were: on social media.  Reels with a real impact In July 2025, Ripin filmed a one-minute explainer about a pension scheme available for senior citizens and posted it as an Instagram reel. “Videos are accessible even to those who aren’t educated,” he says, “and I hoped that Instagram, which is very popular here, would give them a better reach. Everyone was constantly watching reels anyway.”  Today, Ripin has created over 50 reels. Courtesy of Gamit Ripin He was on to something: Biswas, who has had a deep interest in public communication strategies, has found that in the last decade, rural audiences have often been most swayed by influencers (people who are trusted in their communities). For example, while researching India’s massive cleanup project, the Swaccha Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission), he found that people’s attitudes towards the traditional but unsanitary practice of open defecation changed when they interacted with village-level motivators. And in the last decade, more and more of these influencers have been found online. Although as of October 2025, India had the largest Instagram audience of any country, with 480.55 million users, Ripin was aware that there was a key demographic that rarely used social media: the elderly. “I published the first reel anyway, counting on the fact that even if the elders didn’t have phones or use Instagram, someone in their household would see the reel and tell them about it,” he says.  The response and impact were immediate. His videos drew more than 1.15 million views — with nearly 90 percent of viewers, like Vipul and Mayank, discovering them through the platform’s algorithm rather than by following his account. “I estimate that over 1,000 people have been able to access government schemes after viewing my reels,” he says. “I know because many have either come and told me personally, or sent me messages on social media.”  Today, Ripin has created over 50 reels. “I read 15- to 20-page government documents about each scheme and condense their complex eligibility rules and application procedures into one-minute videos in simple Gujarati,” he says. The comments on his posts sound like conversations. People ask questions: Am I eligible for this scheme? Does it apply in my district? What documents do I need? He responds to queries, clarifies doubts, and, as he did with Vipul and Mayank, even guides people through the process offline.  Gamit Mayank was able to access his disability pension and get a motorized wheelchair through a government scheme. Courtesy of Gamit Mayank In many ways the digital interactions are reminiscent of the traditional village chaupal (community meeting). Ripin does not underestimate the importance of these offline interactions, but he realizes he can reach many more people via social media. “My reels have a much larger audience,” he says. A new generation of local leadership Ripin’s approach of combining digital outreach and on-ground support is part of a broader shift in how India’s politicians are choosing to connect with citizens. In 2014, India’s general elections were contested so actively on social media platforms that they have been dubbed the nation’s first “social media elections.” For the first time, politicians used social media to send personalized political messages directly to voters, bypassing traditional media. And since being elected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has been extensively studied as a model of continuous political communication. However, his campaigns have been more unidirectional, focused on generating visibility and awareness, and less about conversations with citizens. Others, like the Odisha state government’s Ama Shasana (Our Governance) initiative, use popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp to gather citizen feedback on public services and welfare schemes. And earlier this year, in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, an elected village leader livestreamed a government meeting so that villagers could see for themselves how their problems were being addressed.   Meanwhile, among the 530 households in Chikhalda, the “reel” sarpanch’s novel approach has helped 17 people living below the poverty line to access government housing subsidies, 60 widows receive pensions and countless students receive government scholarships since July 2025. For this, Ripin recently received a letter of appreciation from the state’s chief minister.  “Now some government departments have started calling me directly to update me about new schemes and ask me to help publicize them,” he says. But it is hard work — and work that he does on his own time. “I take about two hours to make a reel, and sometimes make up to five in one week,” he says. “Then, I have to respond to comments, clarify people’s doubts … it takes up all my time. I usually spend a couple of hours every evening doing this.”  Wait, you're not a member yet? Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can. Join Cancel anytime Two hundred miles away in Ahmedabad’s Mudra Institute of Communications, Manisha Pathak-Shelat and other researchers have been observing Ripin’s reels with interest. “By talking right into the camera, he does a good job of establishing credibility,” she points out. “And he’s not just a talking head, but actually shows how to access [the schemes] in real time.” At the same time, she says, much more will need to be done to ensure the long-term sustainability of his project, especially as this is the last year of Ripin’s term as sarpanch. Although he says he will continue putting out these explainers even if he is not re-elected, the future viability of his work will depend on other factors. “I think we have to examine if his following is because he’s been able to create a personal brand or it’s only because of his position,” Pathak-Shelat says. “Also, we have to acknowledge that all this is a lot of time, energy and effort, so maybe in the long run, he could benefit with some institutional backing, or a paid team who can support him.”  Back in Borikuwa, seven miles from Chikalda, Mayank scrolls on his phone as he grinds some wheat in his mill. In addition to accessing his disability pension, he was able to get a motorized wheelchair through a government scheme. “I used to sometimes feel guilty about spending too much time watching reels,” he says. “Not anymore.” The post Why an Indian Village Leader’s Welfare Reels Are Going Viral appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.