Universal social security
Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Universal social security means giving social security to all workers, not just those in the organised sector. That includes informal, gig and platform workers. Social security means protection through provident fund, pension, health cover, maternity benefit and life and disability cover. It matters because informal employment, meaning jobs without a written contract or social security, is about 90% of India's workforce. The NCEUS (the national commission on unorganised-sector enterprises) pushed for this. The Code on Social Security, 2020 took it forward and absorbed the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008.
Example
Under the Code, aggregators (apps that link customers with service providers, such as food-delivery companies) pay 1-2% of their annual turnover into a social security fund for gig and platform workers. Their payment is capped at 5% of what they pay those workers. Other steps in this direction are e-Shram (2021) registration and PM-JAY health cover for gig workers registered on e-Shram (Budget 2025-26).
Don't confuse with
- Portability of benefits: that means carrying benefits across jobs and states. Universal social security means bringing everyone under cover in the first place.
Related concepts
- Landless agricultural labourers
- Small and marginal farmers
- Gig worker
- Platform worker
- Portability of benefits