NEW DELHI: The enormous achievement by India in covering over 94 crore people under social protection benefits garnered much appreciation during the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meeting in Geneva on Wednesday. The organisation officially acknowledged the country’s achievement and published it on its dashboard.Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is leading an Indian delegation to Geneva from June 10-12 to participate in the 113th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) of the ILO.“A total of 64.3% of India’s population, which represents over 94 crore people, are now covered under at least one social protection benefit. In 2015, this figure was just 19%. In terms of beneficiary count, India now ranks second in the world, providing social protection to around 94 crore citizens,” an official release said.The Director-General of the ILO praised India’s focused welfare policies for the poor and labour class under PM Modi’s leadership, the release said.“It is important to note that the present figure reflects only Phase I of the data pooling exercise. This phase focused on beneficiary data of Central and women-centric schemes in selected 8 States. With Phase II and further consolidation underway, it is expected that India’s total social protection coverage will soon surpass the 100-crore mark upon verification of additional schemes by the ILO,” the release added.
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