An Introspection of India's Social Security

A big hoax created by our ‘system’ for the people to prevent sparks of descent and revolt against the organization of the labour market. In India, taking BALCO as the fine example politicians can change overnight an organized sector into an unorganized sector. A concept enshrined in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stating that society in which a person lives should help them to develop and to make the most of all the advantages of the economic, social and cultural which are offered to them in the country.

Social security may also refer to the government action programs which intend to promote the welfare of the population guaranteeing access to sufficient resources for food and shelter. It also spreads to promote health and well-being for the population (children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed). Hence, services providing social security are often called social services. After the successful launch of Jan Dhan Yojana, Prime Minister Modi launched the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Bima Yojana’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana’ and the ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ in Kolkata in the month of May, 2015; to secure the poor population sector under their financial inclusion programme.

Targeting 80% of the people who are not covered by any social security measure, the above mentioned schemes were announced. The ‘Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana’ (PMSBY) and the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana’ (PMJJBY) provide insurance cover in the unfortunate event of death by any cause or disability due to an accident, whereas the ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ (APY) addresses the income and security needs of the aged. Banks have enrolled 50.5 million people in the first seven days of the trail-run including 4.2 million from West Bengal. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana insurance scheme is where the nominee will get the benefits in case of the death of the policy holder. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana insurance scheme is also worth Rs. 2 lakh at an annual Premium of Rs. 12 which will cover death or permanent disability due to accident. The eligibility to join the scheme is only through one savings bank account and premium will be deducted from it through ‘auto-debit’ facility annually between 1 June, 2015 and 31 May, 2016.

The present scenario of social security in India is that Finance minister Arun Jaitley gave an announcement that the government will be rolling back its tax proposals regarding the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) which were presented in the Budget. The EPF proposal had two major components. The first was the taxation of 60% of the corpus on withdrawal from the fund if it was not invested in annuities. The second component was a pure tax proposal. It is where any amount contributed to the fund by the employer in excess of Rs.1.5 lakh would have been taxable in the hands of the employee, replacing the current limit of any amount in excess of 12% of the employee’s salary. Bringing benefits of liberalization to its people and deleting the curse of poverty, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will continue on the current path of growth for a couple of decades more on April 1, 2016 at Melbourne. Hence, we are in the steps of hope to make the new generation see a better India; the platform of security and the rise of power in voice over the injustice.

Piuka Majumder

( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)