1. MANTHAN TOPIC: PROVIDING SOCIAL WELFARE TO INFORMAL SECTOR WORKERS
Indian Welfare Systems: State & Corporate
Responses
(Women in Informal Employment)
Team Details

2. The economic reforms began at 1990s made
India as Emerging Giant but in BRIC it lags
behind in
we come up with a solution “Develop and
expand basic welfare provision with respect to
social investment”
India’s provision of welfare
Formal sector
welfare system
Informal sector
welfare system
Total labor in INDIA
Formal sector
Informal sector
• Life Expectancy
• Adult Literacy
• Education

3. Social security
Contingency
Formal Sector Workers
(Public and Private sector
employees)
Informal Sector Workers
Suggested model for
informal sector workers
Medical Care
Free treatment in hospitals. Free
drugs or reimbursement for drugs
Treatment in public hospitals.
Free supply of drugs to a
limited extent through Primary
Health Centers.
Reimbursement for drugs and
treatment in Government and
cooperate hospitals.
Sickness
Benefit
Medical leave on full pay for public
sector workers. Sickness leave under
the Employee State Insurance (ESI)
Act for private sector workers
Nothing.
Life Insurance has to be
provided . Volunteer service to be
brought into awareness in such
conditions.
Maternity Benefit
Maternity leave on full pay for public
sector workers. Maternity benefits
under ESI Act or under Maternity
Benefits Act.
Minimal maternity benefits
under social assistance scheme
under National Social
Assistance Program(NSAP) and
only in certain states
Reimbursement of maternity
bills and assurance by
Government for the entire
education & hygiene
development of child.
Employment
Injury Benefit
Benefits under EST Act,
Payment of Gratuity Act and
Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Social assistance from welfare
funds for those engaged in
hazardous occupations, only in
certain States.
Complete responsibility towards
their family till they get source to
sustain life.
Invalidity Benefit
Benefits under EST Act,
Payment of Gratuity Act and
Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Pensions for physically
handicapped, but only in
certain States.
Pensions should be implemented
in all states and schemes should
be developed in order to build
self confidence in them.
Old-Age Benefit
Pension and gratuity under
Employees’ Provident Fund &
Miscellaneous Provisions Act (EPF
& MPAct) and Payment of Gratuity
Act.
Old-age pensions provided for
NSAP, only for the destitute
poor.
Pension rate should be increased
to sustain their life and volunteer
service towards them should be
developed.

4. Education Health
Education Infrastructure:
defined as the building, funding, running , and /or adopting of schools
and/or learning centers from nursery through higher education.
Health Infrastructure:
defined as the building, funding, running, and/or adopting of hospitals
and/or health centers.
Vocational Training Links:
define as the running and/or funding of vocational training schools
and/or work experience programs in the same industry as the
corporation.
Health Education/Awareness:
defined as the running and/or funding of campaigns and/or education
programs in the areas of HIV/AIDS, mother and child nutrition, polio,
malaria, leprosy, cancer, and/or tuberculosis.
Education Resources:
defined as the donation of school materials, such as books, notebooks,
writing utensils, school uniforms, computers, and technology
supported education curriculums. In addition it encompasses the
provision of teacher training, career guidance, and student
scholarships
Health Outreach:
defined as the running and/or funding of medical camps, mobile
health units, telemedicine, and/or ambulances. In addition, it
encompasses to the training of health personnel and provision of
vaccinations, medications, and/or treatment for: polio, malaria,
leprosy, cancer, HIV/AIDS and/or tuberculosis.
 These categories were selected because they represent social investments for the future and are required for sustained
economic growth.
 ‘Education’ and ‘Health’ received the most search hits when individually combined with the search terms of ‘corporate
social responsibility’ and ‘India’.
 The terms ‘running, funding, and/or adopting’ were employed because this is the language used by the selected
corporations in discussing their corporate social education and/or health initiatives.
 Corporations utilized the term ‘adopting’ in relation to adopting a government run school or health facility; however,
they did not specify if ‘adopting’ meant funding and/or running specifically.

5.  Worldwide, millions of workers have never had or are losing access to their rights to social
benefits through work – retirement funds, maternity benefits and reproductive health
services, compensation for work-related accidents and diseases.
 Employers and owners of capital are offloading responsibility for social coverage onto workers, conditions of
work are hazardous and precarious, with little regulation of the working environment, and very little social
protection, poor conditions of work are associated with poor health and lowered incomes
Further, systemic country-level or global risks – such as the global financial crisis/economic recession – have
specific, often severe, impacts on those engaged in informal work.
We sees the lack of access to social protection as a long term structural problem that will have especially harsh
consequences for the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy.
?????WHAT IS NEEDED?????
A system-wide approach to social protection that is designed to handle a wide range of contingencies or shocks
for all strata of the population and workforce, through a range of financing mechanisms.
The approach should be based on the fact that the informal workforce contributes to the overall economy, that
social protection for the informal workforce is an investment, not just a cost, and that the risks of the informal
workforce cannot be addressed solely through short-term safety nets or targeted social assistance.
Policymakers should recognize that, as one important plank of formalization, the informal workforce needs to be
integrated into social insurance, in addition to social assistance, schemes.

6. GOALS AND OBJECTIVE
Investigate and highlight the risks faced by the working poor in the informal
economy, and particularly the risks faced by women workers.
By investigating how common contingencies affect informal workers in
particular, how systemic shocks affect informal workers in particular, and how the
nature of informal work creates shocks and risks specific to informal workers.
Short and Medium Term Long Term
It aims to identify, document, and promote
innovative approaches to providing social
protection to informal workers, extending the
coverage of existing schemes or developing
new schemes
It seeks to promote a new approach to social
protection that provides protection for
systemic shocks and common contingencies
for both formal and informal workers, and
that integrates informal workers into social
insurance schemes as well as social
assistance.
IMPLEMENTATION

7. Network of programme implementation
Act as a bridge between, on the one hand, organizations of informal workers and their allies, and on the other, those in government and in
the private sector who influence economic and social policies that impact on the working conditions of informal workers
Help improve national statistics on the social protection coverage of all workers, formal and informal
Undertake analyses of economic and social policies that include informal workers and identify the features that make for successful
inclusion of informal workers
Promote social protection programmes that can go to scale, are sustainable, and include informal workers themselves in the design and
implementation of the programme
Influence a change in orthodox thinking about the informal economy, and about social protection, so that there is greater recognition that
most of the working poor are engaged in the informal economy; that one reason they remain poor is that they do not have access to
affordable social insurance or adequate social assistance; that economic growth and social protection are indivisible; and that much more
can be done to integrate informal workers into mainstream social protection schemes

8. Projects can be assigned in the scheme
Occupational
Health and Safety
The places of work of the majority of the world’s workers are not covered by the discipline and practice .
We can embarked on a research and advocacy programme which seeks to answer the question: what
would a new, more inclusive to look like that is inclusive and protective of informal workers, and
especially poorer women amongst them? The programme is working in Brazil, Ghana, Peru and
Tanzania. We use a variety of research methods, including participatory research, institutional mapping,
and policy dialogues, and will be exploring ways of influencing training, and improved modules in
labour force surveys.
Inclusive Social
Policies for
Informal Workers
In this advantage of the new space for broader social policy that opened prior to, and was
reinforced by, the global financial crisis. It investigates the links between economic and social
policies, looking at labour as a produced factor of production, and will spell out implications of
this for social policy, using a gender lens and informal worker lens. Involve significant
stakeholders, and that identify the potential role and responsibilities of owners of capital.
Increasing the
Voice of Informal
Workers in Social
Policy
Development
It seeks to build enduring forums where informal workers can participate in policy
development and negotiation, where in they can raise their voice for justice.
Involvement in
International
Networks, Alliances
and Campaigns
The Social Protection Programme participates in networks, alliances and campaigns as a way
of influencing policy

9. Challenges and Risks
Concept Risks
Government or corporate do
not see the viability of funding
this model.
Volunteer enrollment minimal
Need more professional
groups to analyze the scheme
Implementation challenges
Difficulty in integrating with
government infrastructure and
Institutions
Process with no corruption.
Association of people who
legitimately deserves the
scheme.
segment of survival activities
Mitigation factors
 Alliances and campaigns as a way of
influencing policy
Building up centers for Social Protection
Volunteer network and integration with center
government.
Advertising/ Awareness Campaign

10. Appendix
References
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary and Higher Education
(2005-06), ‘Annual Report 2005-06’, (NOIDA: Educational Consultants India Limited
National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganized Sector (2006), Social Security for Unorganized Workers
Report. Accessed on March 14, 2009,
The Two Indian Welfare Systems: State & Corporate Responses, Jameela Pedicini