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About 91% of India's workforce of 520 million is informal, lacking social insurance. However, this paper finds the Social Security Code 2020 wanting, but with potential for universalizing social insurance. The paper spells out the principles that should guide social insurance for informal workers; and presents the design and architecture for extending coverage. It shows how realistically, over the next 10–15 years, social insurance could cover the entire workforce, in accordance with ILO Conventions. It also estimates the fiscal cost of social insurance, for the first five years, and spells out the political economy, fiscal and administrative challenges to universalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the structural reasons why the poor, and especially children, are impacted adversely as a result of the global economic crisis and presents policy concerns that governments must address to meet the income and livelihood needs of the poor. It analyzes the status of employment in the informal sector, which accounts for a significant share of total employment outside of agriculture, and in which the vulnerabilities of the poor are very high. It also analyzes the extent to which those outside the formal sector have access to state benefits in the sense of social insurance or transfer. It concludes with recommendations on protecting the poor, including social insurance and social assistance mechanisms for workers in the informal economy; a fiscal package to stimulate domestic demand and offset falling employment in export activities; and a focus on agriculture, especially food production, that will have multiplier effects throughout the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the structural reasons why the poor, and especially children, are impacted adversely as a result of the global economic crisis and presents policy concerns that governments must address to meet the income and livelihood needs of the poor. It analyzes the status of employment in the informal sector, which accounts for a significant share of total employment outside of agriculture, and in which the vulnerabilities of the poor are very high. It also analyzes the extent to which those outside the formal sector have access to state benefits in the sense of social insurance or transfer. It concludes with recommendations on protecting the poor, including social insurance and social assistance mechanisms for workers in the informal economy; a fiscal package to stimulate domestic demand and offset falling employment in export activities; and a focus on agriculture, especially food production, that will have multiplier effects throughout the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: There has been an increasing “informalization” and “feminization” of the labor force in developing countries over the past few decades. One aspect of these twin phenomena is the growth of subcontracted homework in manufacturing. Homework has a dual and contradictory character: It can be the source of exploitation of workers, but under some conditions, it can foster human development and the emergence of microenterprises and promote local development. This paper draws on surveys carried out in two low-income South Asian countries—India and Pakistan—where homework is widespread. It examines the social protection needs of these women workers, and also argues for public action to promote such work as a possible new labor-intensive growth strategy in developing countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]