In March 2025, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoL&E) launched Phase-01 of India’s Social Protection Data Pooling Exercise. For this, it is actively collaborating with Geneva (Switzerland)-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) and various state governments, to obtain a comprehensive overview of social protection coverage in India.
- The exercise consolidated India’s position in negotiating trade and social security agreements with other countries and signifies India’s commitment to promoting decent work in global value chains.
About Phase 01 of Exercise:
i.The Ministry has identified 10 selected states for the first phase of the exercise: Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Tamil Nadu (TN), Odisha, Andhra Pradesh (AP), Telangana, Karnataka, and Gujarat, for data consolidation at the central level.
ii.Labour departments of state governments are playing a pivotal role in compilation of respective state-specific data and sharing the same with the central government for further consolidation, verification and de-duplication.
Key Progress in India’s social security coverage:
i.More than 200 crore records were processed to identify unique beneficiaries by using encrypted Aadhaar as a unique identifier across 34 key central schemes such as: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO), Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN), among others.
ii.The social protection data pooling exercise showed that 65% of India’s population i.e. 92 crore people, is covered by minimum one social protection benefit (cash and in-kind both), with 48.8% receiving cash benefits.
iii.According to ILO’s World Social Protection Report (WSPR) 2024-26, social protection coverage in India has doubled from 24.4% (in 2021) to 48.8% (in 2024). The report has considered central social protection schemes which hadn’t been considered previously.
- However, this estimation by ILO i.e. 48.8% is still an underestimation, as it does not consider: in-kind benefits provided to citizens of the country like food security and housing benefits; and social protection schemes implemented by state governments.
About Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoL&E):
Union Minister- Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya (Constituency- Porbandar, Gujarat)
Minister of State (MoS)- Shobha Karandlaje (Constituency- Bangalore North, Karnataka)
