Labour min begins exercise to measure social protection coverage in India
This story was originally published at 18:52 IST on 25 March 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Ministry of Labour and Employment has started a social protection data pooling exercise to accurately measure social protection coverage in India. The exercise will be carried out in collaboration with the International Labour Organization and will include 10 states in the first phase, the labour ministry said in a release on Tuesday.
The labour ministry has selected Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Gujarat for data consolidation under the social protection coverage exercise.
India's social protection coverage doubled to 48.8% in 2024 from 24.4% in 2021 as per International Labour Organization's World Social Protection Report 2024-26. Social protection coverage, the ministry said, had increased by acknowledging existing central social protection schemes which hadn't been considered earlier.
According to the ministry, the present social protection coverage assessment by International Labour Organization of 48.8% is still an underestimate. It does not account for in-kind benefits provided such as food security and housing benefits, and social protection schemes administered by the states. "The actual social protection coverage of India is expected to be much higher after this data is taken into account," the ministry said.
The ministry stated that by using encrypted Aadhaar as a unique identifier across 34 major central schemes, over 2 billion records were processed to identify distinct beneficiaries.
"This data pooling exercise will not only strengthen India's global reputation as a social protection pioneer but also facilitate the central government, states, and UTs (Union Territories) to optimise welfare spending and move closer towards sustainable financing of social protection," the ministry said in the release. "It will help the states in identifying unique beneficiaries under state-specific social protection schemes."
The pooling exercise will also reinforce India's position in negotiating trade and social security agreements with other nations and showcase India's commitment to promoting decent work within global value chains, the ministry added. End
Reported by Shubham Rana
Edited by Subhojit Sarkar
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