Must be publicly funded
T. S. Sankaran 6, Ministry of Labour, Government of India, “Can the Best Be the Enemy of Good, If the Good Is Not Good Enough?,” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 32, Economic and Political Weekly, 2006, pp. 3491–3495
One last word about coverage. One cannot disagree with the attempt made by NCEUS to extend social security to such of those workers in the organised sector who do not have any social security cover. These would include contract labour, casual labour, and what not whose numbers are on the increase consequent on globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. However, the need will arise for defining the term "social security" and this is not an easy matter. Do we interpret the term to mean only the benefits included in the National Social Security Scheme or will it be interpreted more widely or more narrowly. This may call for clarification.
At a recent two-day consultation in New Delhi on July 10 and 11, organised by the NCL, the Bill was discussed. At the end of the consultation, unanimous conclu- sions were reached. I am broadly in agree- ment with these. Let us not dismiss them as the best being the enemy of good. Let us not also raise the futile question as to who will pay for all this. The answer is that we as a nation will pay for these and more in the coming years; otherwise the term "social" in social security has no merit or significance. As NCCUSW said in its petition to Parliament, after the rally in New Delhi in May 2005, "we are not a burden on society, for we happen to be society itself given our large numbers and the larger numbers of our dependents".