How many members are to be nominated by the Central Government to the National Social Security Board as per the provisions of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 ?
- (a)Eighteen
- (b)Twenty
- (c)Twenty-six
- (d)Thirty-four
Correct — D, (d) Thirty-four. Section 5 of the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008 constitutes the National Social Security Board and lists its members: the Union Minister for Labour and Employment as Chairperson ex officio, the Director General (Labour Welfare) as Member-Secretary ex officio, and thirty-four members to be nominated by the Central Government. The thirty-four is not an arbitrary figure — the section itself breaks it down, and the breakdown is the reliable way to remember it: • seven representing unorganised sector workers • seven representing employers of the unorganised sector • seven representing eminent persons from civil society • three from Parliament — two from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha • five representing the concerned Central Government Ministries and Departments • five representing State Governments That is 7 + 7 + 7 + 3 + 5 + 5 = 34. Note what the composition says about the design: workers, employers and civil society are given equal weight at seven apiece, so the twenty-one non-governmental seats outnumber the ten official ones. Adding the two ex officio members brings the Board to thirty-six in all, but the question asks only for the nominated members, which is thirty-four.
- (a)Eighteen — Eighteen corresponds to no figure in section 5. It is roughly half the true number, which makes it attractive to a candidate who remembers that the Board is a large tripartite body but has never counted the clauses. Running the composition arithmetic — three blocks of seven before you even reach the government seats — rules it out immediately, since twenty-one is already more than eighteen.
- (b)Twenty — Twenty is a plausible round number for a statutory board and appears nowhere in section 5. Like option (a), it is defeated by the three seven-member blocks alone. Round numbers are worth distrusting in this Act, whose counts are deliberately uneven.
- (c)Twenty-six — The nearest wrong answer, and the one a candidate lands on if he remembers some of the clauses and not all of them — twenty-one from the three seven-member blocks plus five from one government block, forgetting either the parliamentary seats or the second block of five. Section 5 provides for six categories, not five.
The Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008 was India's first attempt at a statutory framework for the workers who fall outside the classic factory-and-establishment labour laws — home-based workers, self-employed workers and wage workers in the unorganised sector. Section 2(m) defines the unorganised worker to include a worker in the organised sector who is not covered by any of the enactments listed in Schedule II — the Employees' Compensation Act, the Industrial Disputes Act, the ESI Act, the EPF & MP Act, the Maternity Benefit Act and the Payment of Gratuity Act. Section 3 requires the Central Government to formulate welfare schemes covering life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits and old age protection. Section 5 creates the National Social Security Board as the advisory and monitoring body for those schemes, and section 6 provides for State Social Security Boards on a parallel design chaired by the State's Labour Minister. Section 9 provides for registration of unorganised workers and the issue of identity cards carrying a unique identification number.
EPFO's own statutes cover the organised sector, so the 2008 Act is what an officer needs in order to know where his jurisdiction stops and another scheme's begins — the definition in section 2(m) is drafted by reference to exactly that boundary. The paper tests the Act mostly through its institutional detail, and composition-of-body questions are the commonest form. The habit rewarded is remembering statutory bodies by their composition breakdown rather than by a bare total, because the breakdown survives revision and the total does not.
- Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008, section 5 — the National Social Security Board, chaired ex officio by the Union Minister for Labour and Employment.
- The Director General (Labour Welfare) is the Member-Secretary, ex officio.
- Thirty-four members are nominated by the Central Government; with the two ex officio members the Board totals thirty-six.
- Breakdown of the thirty-four: 7 unorganised sector workers, 7 employers of the unorganised sector, 7 eminent persons from civil society, 2 from the Lok Sabha and 1 from the Rajya Sabha, 5 from Central Ministries and Departments, 5 from State Governments.
- Section 6 provides for State Social Security Boards, chaired by the State's Minister for Labour and Employment.
- Section 2(m) defines 'unorganised worker' and excludes workers covered by the six enactments in Schedule II.
- Section 3 requires the Central Government to formulate schemes for life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, and old age protection.
- Section 9 provides for registration of unorganised workers and issue of a portable identity card with a unique identification number.
- Answering with the Board's total strength when the stem asks only for the nominated members, or the reverse.
- Forgetting the parliamentary seats, which is what turns 34 into 31 or 26 in a half-remembered count.
- Assuming the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are equally represented. It is two and one, not one and one.
- Confusing the National Board's composition with the State Board's under section 6 — they are parallel in design but not identical in numbers.
The 2008 Act appears in EPFO EO/AO through three doors: the composition of the Boards, the schemes in Schedule I, and the definition of unorganised worker by reference to Schedule II. Two of the three are lists, so learning them as lists rather than as prose is what the paper actually rewards.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Chairperson, ex officio, of the National Social Security Board under the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008 is :
- (a)The Director General (Labour Welfare)
- (b)The Union Minister for Labour and Employment
- (c)The Central Provident Fund Commissioner
- (d)The Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment
Answer(b) The Union Minister for Labour and Employment
- practice — not a real PYQ
Of the members nominated by the Central Government to the National Social Security Board, how many represent eminent persons from civil society ?
- (a)Three
- (b)Five
- (c)Seven
- (d)Ten
Answer(c) Seven