“SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SECURITY FOR UNORGANISED WORKERS: A LEGAL STUDY OF THE UNORGANISED WORKERS’ SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, 2008 AND THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020”
AUTHOR – RUDRANSH MONDAL* & DR. KHALEEQ AHMAD**
* LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN, UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA
** PROFESSOR, LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN, UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA
BEST CITATION – RUDRANSH MONDAL & DR. KHALEEQ AHMAD A, “SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SECURITY FOR UNORGANISED WORKERS: A LEGAL STUDY OF THE UNORGANISED WORKERS’ SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, 2008 AND THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020”, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 214-223, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
The unorganised sector makes up almost 90 percent of the Indian workforce but its access to social security is still fragmented, insufficient, and mostly non-enforceable. Social justice for such a huge number of workers requires a strong legal framework that goes beyond welfare schemes and towards rights-based entitlements. This paper closely looks at the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 (UWSSA), and the Code on Social Security, 2020 (SS Code) to see whether these legal provisions align with the constitutional mandate under Articles 14, 21, 38, 39, 41 and 43.
The 2008 Act was a landmark in recognising unorganised workers but had weak institutional design, ineffective registration mechanisms, and lacked a mandatory employer liability provision, hence it had limited real-world impact. The Social Security Code, 2020 tries to fill these holes by consolidating labour laws, increasing coverage, launching digital registration, and formally recognising gig and platform workers for the first time. Nevertheless, there remain issues such as ambiguous definitions, voluntary nature of most benefits, lack of financing, and enforcement mechanisms.
By doctrinal analysis, case law review, and policy comparison, this article contends that the 2020 Code is a step forward, but still not enough to fully realize the constitutional vision of social justice. The paper suggests reforms that aim at strengthening rights-based entitlements, ensuring portability of benefits, specifying employer responsibilities, and facilitating access of migrant and gig workers to create a socially secure India that is fair and inclusive.