Context
The State of Social Protection in India 2025, released in September 2025, provides a comprehensive assessment of India’s social protection architecture. It evaluates how far India has progressed from piecemeal welfare delivery towards a rights-based, inclusive, and adequate social protection system, especially for vulnerable populations.
What is Social Protection?
Social protection refers to public measures designed to:
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- Protect individuals againstpoverty, vulnerability, and exclusion,
- Provideincome security across the life cycle,
- Ensureaccess to basic services such as food, health, and social care.
In India, this includes:
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- Social assistance (cash/food transfers),
- Social insurance (pensions, health insurance),
- Labour market interventions (employment guarantees).
Key Findings of the Report
1. Expanded Coverage, But Uneven Inclusion
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- Digital Public Infrastructure (Aadhaar, DBT),
- Flagship schemes like PDS, PM-JAY, PM-KISAN, and social pensions.
However, it notes that coverage does not equal inclusion:
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- Large sections ofmigrants, urban poor, informal workers, disabled persons, and minorities remain excluded.
- Exclusion errors persist due to documentation barriers and rigid eligibility norms.
2. Inadequacy of Benefits: Even where coverage exists, benefit levels are often insufficient.
Examples highlighted:
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- Social pensions remaintoo low to meet minimum living standards.
- MGNREGA wages lag behind state minimum wages in real terms.
- Cash transfers often fail to account forinflation and regional cost differences.
Ethical concern: Providing symbolic assistance without ensuring adequacy risks becoming procedural justice without substantive justice.
3. Fragmented and Scheme-Centric Architecture
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- Over 300 central and state schemes operate in silos.
- Lack of portability and integration across life stages (childhood, working age, old age).
- Absence of auniversal social protection floor.
Governance implication: Fragmentation increases administrative burden and excludes those who fall between categories.
4. Informality as the Central Challenge: Over 90% of India’s workforce remains informal.
Key issues:
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- Limited access to contributory social insurance.
- Platform and gig workers remain under-protected.
- Seasonal and migrant workers face portability issues despite “One Nation One Ration Card”.
Structural insight: Social protection remains employment-linked in a labour market that is largely employment-insecure.
5. Identity-Based and Structural Exclusion
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- Women face unpaid care burdens and lower access to contributory schemes.
- SCs, STs, minorities, persons with disabilities face compounded vulnerability.
- Urban poor are often invisible in welfare databases.
Ethical framing: Inequality of outcomes reflects inequality of starting points, demanding differentiated support.
6. Positive Developments Highlighted
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- Expansion of food security coverage,
- Improved financial inclusion,
- Digital delivery reducing leakages,
- Recent steps towardsLGBTQI+ inclusion in household recognition.
However, it cautions against technological optimism without social sensitivity.
The report raises a core governance dilemma:
Is social protection treated as a constitutional responsibility or a discretionary welfare favour?
Conclusion
The State of Social Protection in India 2025 report makes it clear that India has built scale without depth. While coverage has expanded, adequacy, inclusion, and dignity remain unfinished tasks. True social protection is not about how many schemes exist, but about who is left out and why.
“A welfare state fails ethically not when it spends less, but when it protects unevenly.”
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