Tag: Social security

In this note, we present a citizen-centric framework to study the factors that limit the effectiveness of state-sponsored health insurance schemes.

Almost 65% of India’s population lives in its rural areas.1 India’s financial sector has seen unprecedented expansion, driven by policy initiatives, digital infrastructure and regulatory reforms. Initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Aadhaar-linked banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and digital lending have significantly improved access to financial services, particularly for underserved segments.

This paper aims to document the unique characteristics of the financial lives of low-income households in India. It focuses on the intra-year fluctuations in income that are faced by these households owing to the precarity of their occupations.

India needs a robust and comprehensive financial customer protection regime, which it currently lacks. Imagine the following scenario. Raja and Rani are a low-income householder couple with two children in elementary school. They also take care of Raja’s ailing mother. The household’s monthly income is ₹20,000.

The study explores the financial lives of platform workers and finding answers to the following questions: do platform workers face volatility in their income and expenses, and how much do their earnings and expenditures vary on a day-to-day basis; how long do they work to earn as much as they would like to; whether and where they save and borrow; what strategies do they adopt to manage their money to meet their day-to-day expenses, raise lump-sums, deal with and recover from shocks; what social protection benefits do they have access to; what their financial goals are; and what barriers exist, if at all, in their pursuit of those goals.

During the Budget speech, the Finance inister talked about the 20-year long process of implementing the labour codes in India.

In this post, we provide some comments on social security for informal workers as it now stands under the 2020 Code.

The Social Protection Initiative organised a closed-door virtual roundtable discussion on social security for self-employed workers

This is part of a series of guest posts on social security for self-employed workers in the informal economy

Reflections on issues related to the delivery of benefits announced for migrant workers under Atma Nirbhar Bharat welfare scheme