• Ms. Sudha Pillai, Former Member-Secretary, Planning Commission and Former Member of the High Level UN Advisory Panel on Social Protection Floor. We are delighted that you could make it !
• Mr. Pandey, Joint Secretary, MOLE
• Mr. Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance
• Mr. Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HRD
• Mr. Ashok Sahu, Human Rights Commission of India
• Senior officials from other ministries
• Prof. Ravi Srivastava from Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Ms. Lise Grande, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in India
• Colleagues from UN Agencies in India,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Namaskar ! On behalf of the Joint UN Task Team on Employment and Social Protection I wish to extend a very warm welcome to all of you this morning, where we will be sharing the findings of the Joint United Nations Study on Social Protection Floor for India. We have been so privileged that Prof. Ravi Srivastava, whom I believe is well known to most of you, agreed to undertake this important research for us last year and he has done a tremendous job. We are looking forward to listening to your presentation professor in a short while this morning and I am certain that it will generate some very interesting discussions in the panel session that will follow. Let me now thank our Chief Guest Ms. Sudha Pillai, who has played a very important role internationally in support of the SPF, on many occasions over the years, but notably in the Bachelet Commission on the SPF as well as at Regional meetings of the ILO to mention a few. We are deeply honoured that you accepted our invitation for today’s event.

The Ministry of Labour has also played a significant role in engaging at the international level, both in the ILC but also in the G20 labour ministers’ discussions where the SPF has been discussed. Mister Pandey, joint secretary from MOLE who will be chairing the panel discussion has been very actively involved in a number of these processes.

As Chair of the United Nations Task Team on Employment and Social Protection, I wish to acknowledge the excellent cooperation from all members of the UN Task Team on Employment and Social Protection with whom I have worked for the last more than two years. Active members of the team are UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNWOMEN, UNESCAP and the ILO.

Let me also place on record our acknowledgement to the Government of Japan for their financial support to the study and the event today.

While my colleague Lise Grande, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in India will speak on behalf of all the UN agencies from the perspective of the UN Social Protection Floor Initiative, I shall say a few words on the link between Decent Work and Social Protection Floor and our collaboration with our constituents on these issues in India.

In 1999, the ILO’s tripartite constituents from 180 member countries adopted the Decent Work Agenda – an agenda now widely acknowledged globally. But what does decent work really mean? Decent Work involves the creation of opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men. It is the coexistence of all these dimensions that make up a decent job.

By adopting the Decent Work approach, governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations’ have committed to, and are responsible for promoting social protection which is one of the elements of the Decent Work Agenda.

Moving from 1999 until very recently, namely to June 2012, the governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations of 185 member countries of the ILO adopted a new international instrument which is the Recommendation Concerning National Floors of Social Protection or Recommendation No. 202. This Recommendation provides guidance to member countries to establish and maintain, as applicable, social protection floors as a fundamental element of their national social security systems; and implement social protection floors within strategies for the extension of social security that progressively ensure higher levels of social security to as many people as possible, guided by ILO social security standards. The Recommendation further urges the member states to establish as quickly as possible and maintain their social protection floors, in accordance with national circumstances, comprising of 4 basic social security guarantees.

• access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health care, including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality;
• basic income security for children, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, providing access to nutrition, education, care and any other necessary goods and services;
• basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for persons in active age who are unable to earn sufficient income, in particular in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and disability; and
• basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for older persons.

Very importantly, this Recommendation also mentions that these basic social security guarantees should be provided to all residents and children, as defined in national laws and regulations. Universal coverage, not only if one is below a poverty line.

The link between social protection and decent work is very clear, because if you cannot work and earnan adequate income to provide for yourself and your family, for whatever reason be it old age, illness, disability, maternity and paternity, there needs to be basic social protection measures in place to ensure that fundamental needs are met preventing people from falling into the cycle of poverty. ILO’s Governing Body in November 2012 highlighted this link as an important issue for the Post-2015 Development Agenda and decided that the International Labour Office should develop and implement a strategy for the adoption of full and productive employment and decent work as an explicit goal of the global development agenda beyond 2015, including a reference to the need for social protection floors.

The national consultations in India on the Post-2015 Development Agenda also brought out a consensus in promoting decent work and social protection as an important element to address inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. The importance and challenge of the large informal economy in India with 93 % of its labour force here is still deprived from formal social security mechanisms. It is estimated that some 90 % of the entire population do not have proper access to social protection services. The most disadvantaged groups remain caught in continuing cycle of poverty and vulnerability.

We are very encouraged that the Government of India in recent years has endorsed the social protection floor concept at various international fora and are taking measures to extend and expand the coverage of social security to different categories of workers to progressively establish a nationally determined Social Protection Floor. It is also heartening to share that both the Employers’ and Workers’ Organizations have expressed strong support to participate with the Government in any future initiatives towards establishment of a nationally determined social protection floor.

The Joint United Nations Task Team on Employment and Social Protection hopes after this discussion that further consultations with the government will take place, both at the national level, but in particular in one or two pilot states. It is important for me to stress that I feel all agencies have something to offer in the promotion of the SPF as it is a comprehensive and strategic framework covering health, education, the life cycle specific needs, specific gender issues in additional to more specific social security issues, and the employment situation of individuals and families. Because we bring all our diverse technical skills to bear on a particular issue, we feel we are well equipped to engage and support and hope to bring high quality technical value to the national or state-level processes that will unfold in the future.

Thank you and once again welcome.