Universal Social Security Or Regulatory Illusion? A Critical Analysis Of The Code On Social Security, 2020 In Protecting Informal And Gig Workers
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 21
- 1 min read
Raghav Khurana, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR
ABSTRACT
The enactment of the Code on Social Security, 2020 marks a significant shift in India’s labour welfare framework by consolidating multiple social security legislations and extending statutory recognition to unorganised, gig, and platform workers. While projected as a move toward universalisation of social protection, the Code raises critical concerns regarding the transformation of social security from a rights-based entitlement into a scheme-driven regulatory mechanism. This paper critically examines whether the Code meaningfully advances the constitutional vision of social and economic justice embodied in the Directive Principles of State Policy, read with the expanded interpretation of Article 21 guaranteeing the right to livelihood and dignity.
Through doctrinal and normative analysis, the paper argues that although the Code symbolically broadens coverage, its reliance on executive discretion, ambiguous funding mechanisms, and registration-based access weakens enforceability. The framework for gig and platform workers, while innovative, stops short of resolving the independent contractor dichotomy or guaranteeing minimum social security entitlements. This structural ambiguity risks institutionalising precarity rather than mitigating it. The paper further situates the Code within India’s international human rights obligations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant International Labour Organization standards. It concludes that without stronger accountability mechanisms and statutory guarantees, the promise of universal social security may remain aspirational, thereby diluting the human rights foundation of labour regulation in India.
Keywords: Social Security Code, Gig Economy, Right to Dignity, Precarity. Raghav Khurana, Student, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR.
