This chapter develops a bottom-up view of the state’s welfare apparatus as it is seen and sought by differently-placed groups of citizens in rural Rajasthan, arguing that the state has become more visible as well as more meaningful at the local level – although unevenly so. This change is the product of two trends that took hold in the 1990s, and which accelerated through the 2000s: an expansion of the social welfare functions of the state, visible in increased expenditures and programming; and the deeper institutionalization of the local governance environment, driven by decentralization. The consolidated effects of these trends – visible in an increased but variable local presence of the state – set the stage for citizen claim-making.