Social security in Indian Constitution

Today in India, only about 8% of workers actually get the benefits available under these Acts. The rest 92 per cent (over 30 crores) workers in the unorganized sector, and either are not eligible for coverage, or these Acts are just not implemented for them, with the result that these workers have insecure employments and low incomes. They have no coverage of social security, and have to spend out of their meagre incomes for all contingencies such as illness and children's education and in their old age they become helpless. In India, the laws governing social security enacted by the British are still in force with some minor amendments on coverage or on contribution amount, without any substantial changes to the provisions. The other feature of social security programs in India is that a large number of programs and schemes are cross sector in design, involving various ministries, boards, and departments the number and diversity of such schemes. India has performed poorly in providing social security protection to its people until recently with “very high vulnerability” to poverty and informal labour practices in the world, according to the International Labour Organisation. Against this background this paper tries to analyses the relevance of Indian constitution to the social security in the organized as well as unorganized sector.