youthistic

PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE: PROVIDING SOCIAL WELFARE FOR INFORMAL SECTOR 

WORKERSFOR

BY:TEAM YOUTHISTIC‐ YOUTH+ENTHUSIASTIC

‐HEARSH VARMA‐HIMANSHU JOSHI‐ S RAVI TEJA

‐ B V VAMSI KRISHNA‐ KAVYASREE K

Informal/Unorganised Sector in India

● The First Indian National Commission on Labour (1966‐69) defined ‘unorganised sector workforce’ as –

“those workers who have not been able to organize themselves in pursuit of their common interest dues to certain constraints like casual nature of employment, ignorance and illiteracy, small and scattered size of establishments”.

Employees are considered in informal employment when their employment relationship, in law or practice, is not subject to:● National labour legislation● Income taxation● Social protection or● Entitlement to certain employment benefits, e.g. paid annual leave, sick leave, 

etc.

Labour Force Characteristics

Initiatives for Informal Sector- Public

1. National Social Assistance Programmes (1995)

2. Central Welfare Funds

3. Public Distribution System

4. Varishta Pension Bima (2003)

5. Janshree Bima Yojana (2000)

6. Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS), 2004

7. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 2005...

SOLUTIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

•National Social Security Policy

•Establishment of National Social Security Authority

•Reducing Multiplicity of Social Security Agencies and Overlapping of Programme Benefits

Category‐wise distribution of the workforce

‘CATEGORY ONE’- 10%

- People who are working in the formal sector and are availing the benefits of statutory social insurance schemes

‘CATEGORY TWO’- 30%

- People who are living below poverty line and include old age, widows, orphans and persons with disability

‘CATEGORY THREE’- 60%

- People who are economically active and working in informal, self-employment and small business sector

•

For Category OneReforms in existing social security programmes regarding‐

•Reduction in threshold criteria

•Creating synergy between various social security institutions

•Capacity Building

For Category TwoReforms in social assistance programmes•Cost effective social assistance•Streamline and simplify the eligibility criteria•Civil society organisations  to be associated in creating awareness and in the process of identification and registration of beneficiaries•Linking up of social assistance programmes with other anti‐poverty programmes•Convergence and synergy of programmes and implementing agencies

For Category Three

-Workers including self-employed persons are willing and capable to subscribe to special insurance schemes if they feel that they will get value for money

-Employment security, health care, and pension are the three main concerns of workers- Studies

-Social insurance schemes- specific to the needs and paying capacity

-Convenience of access and transaction, and trustworthiness of the implementing agency are the crucial factors

Contributory National Pension Scheme for ‘Category Three’

Amount of contribution should be flexible

‐ Programmes should be implemented by a public agency

‐ Member/subscribers should be provided a permanent account number in which the contribution will be deposited

‐ There  should  be  a  built  in  provision  of  family  pension  and disablement pension through a component of insurance

Contributory National Pension Scheme for             ‘Category Three’

Government can subsidise the administrative cost of the programme

‐ Government may institute a mechanism to provide assurance of a minimum return on the accumulations

‐Convenience of access through network of public sector banks and post offices for collection of contribution and payment of benefits

‐NGOs need to be involved creating awareness, enrolling subscribers, facilitating filing of benefit applications and redressing grievances.  

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_sector

http://www.indg.in/socialsector/unorganisedlabour/informal_sector_in_india_approaches_for_social_security.pdf

http://ideas.repec.org/p/ind/cdswpp/332.html

INFORMAL SECTOR IN INDIAN ECONOMY-The Way Ahead: Dipa Mukherjee , 2009 ed.