Demanding a 5% of GDP allocation towards non –discriminatory, non-targeted universal social security, Social Security Now (SSN) is organising a protest demonstration on February 26, 2010 at Jantar Mantar parallel to the Budgetary Session in Parliament.

Despite the projections on increase in GDP to 7.2 per cent for 2009-10 from 6.7 per cent in 2008-09, providing social security for the vast majority of the people living and working in India is nowhere a priority for the government. In the last financial year (2009-2010) the budget allocation for commonwealth games (Rs 3472 crore) was almost 10 times more than the allocation under the RSBY scheme (Rs 350 crore), the only social security scheme for unorganised workers after it witnessed an increase in its outlay by 40 per cent. This year too newspaper reports indicate government’s plans to make budgetary provisions to increase FDI inflow, industry and service sector output, but not for social security.

Among others, SSN demands comprehensive amendments to the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008 - define social security; social security benefits to be included in the body of the Act; extend social security to all people living and working in India, irrespective of status or nature of employment, quantum of wages, gender, race and caste; provision for dispute settlement; and creation of a social security fund. They also demand that social security should address issues such as social inclusion of dalits, displacement of adivasis, housing rights of dalits and adivasis, unpaid work of women, land rights of women and vulnerabilities of migrants.