The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha (Parliament) of India on 10 September 2007 by the Union Minister of State for Labour, Shri Oscar Fenandes.

The Bill seeks to ensure the welfare of all workers, especially the unorganzsed sector which composes 93 per cent of India’s workforce, by introducing a broad social security protection through welfare schemes for different sections of workers in the unorganized sector, the creation of advisory boards, registration of beneficiaries, who all receive a ‘smart’ identity card. 

Several of the features of the bill have been criticized by labour unions and lawyers for not heeding recommendations made by previously government-appointed bodies, namely the Second National Labour Commission and the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector.

Also, the welfare schemes do not mandate the various governments to do anything beyond their existing mandates, nor give funding requirements and time frames; and the gains to be made by workers by creating advisory boards and smart cards are also considered negligible.