Social Security-A Tool for Social Inclusion

Poverty in India declined from 36% in 1993–1994 to 26% in 2012–2013. However, close to 300 million people still live in poverty on less than one dollar a day. Recent assessments of poverty by the Suresh Tendulkar committee place 37% below poverty line. The World Bank estimates the BPL population at 40%. Unemployment out of labour force days of rural agricultural labourers is 104 days. Extensive erosion of the natural resource base over the last 50 years has resulted in some of the worst natural disasters adversely impacting agricultural productivity and employment opportunities. Growing poverty and unemployment have led to the fragmentation of land and an increase in number of agricultural labourers. Agricultural labour increased significantly from 7.08 million in 1981 to 121 million in 2013. At the same time, the percentage of operational land holdings under small and marginal farmers has gone up from 70% in 1971 to 82% in 2013. The policy response to a situation of poverty and inequality has focused on inclusive growth. The architecture of inclusive growth is defined by prioritizing key result areas through major programmes aiming at time-bound delivery of outcomes, viz., infrastructure through Bhart Nirman, Human resource development through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) and National Rural Health Mission(NRHM), The Employees provident Fund & Miscellaneous provisions Act, 1952, Maternity benefit Act, 1961, Employees family pension scheme, 1971, The payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 Right to education Act, 2009, Food security Act, 2013, etc., and livelihoods through Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, 2005.etc,. There has also been a greater concern for social security measures.