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the collection of contributions and the payment of benefits. It is possible that well-organised co-operatives could help in efforts to improve medical facilities for their members. Institutions with a similar potential for social security purposes may exist in the spheres of village and community administration.1
call
21. The comprehensive needs of the rural sector in a number of countries for concerted policies over wide fields in which the role of social security necessarily would be complementary, for example, to development programmes for the health infrastructure. On this basis, it may be feasible for social security to extend its scope in certain rural areas beginning with the large-scale organised undertakings, whilst preparations
are made for coverage of groups of agricultural workers engaged in the more traditional sector. Concurrently, intensive efforts should be made to protect the agricultural workers against other risks. In view of their acute dependence on produce and farm animals, some of which are the main source of energy, they are vulnerable to a range of natural hazards. Methods of insurance have been evolved including an agricultural damage scheme in Japan and crop insurance in Sri Lanka. With suitable adaptations to local conditions, crop and livestock schemes, together with the improvement of medical facilities, could meet the most pressing needs of rural areas pending the introduction of measures of protection in respect of other contingencies.
areas,
22. The coverage of self-employed persons, whether in rural or urban presents special difficulties because of their general inability to pay the equivalent of the normal bipartite contribution, and the administrative problems of control and enforcement. It would be justifiable, however, to devise special rules for the limited coverage of groups whose social and economic conditions áre analogous to those of the covered wage earners. Some success has been achieved by various methods of estimating income, and by utilising occupational associations for such functions as registration, collection of contributions and the payment of benefits. Considering the numerica 1 importance of self-employed groups in developing countries, and their often precarious situation, further development these methods of coverage would be warranted.
of
23. It would be inequitable for social security schemes to defer action indefinitely regarding such persons as casual workers, domestic servants and home workers whose coverage is less than straightforward. Those relying wholly Cr substantially on their earnings require forms of social protection, and this entails suitable initiatives to Overcome the administrative problems regarding the maintenance of records, the assessment
of contributions and the
control of claims to benefit.
and collection
Planning of the development of social security
24. On the basis of present trends in social security in Asia, and the increasingly favourable climate for progress, developments of considerable magnitude can be envisaged, ranging over the introduction of new schemes and the improvement of those now in existence. It is most probable that there vill be a pronounced emphasis on the broadening of the scope of protection of persons.
There is a widespread desire to extend the benefits of the present programmes to larger segments of the populations, particularly those in rural areas, and in cre depressed sectors of the economy. Within the limits of the resources made available, parallel developments can be foreseen in the substantial extension of coverage of contingencies, especially in the provision of medical care under social security, the replacement of employer liability schemes by enhanced programmes involving a sharing of risks and pooling of financial resources, and the transformation of national provident funds into fully-fledged income maintenance schemes. Clearly, the planning and development of social security schemes must be on a realistic basis directly related to economic progress, and dependent to a considerable extent, as to the allocation of resources, upon the recognition accorded to the range of economic and social benefits derived from social security measures, including their effects on productivity, income distribution, capital formation, and acceptance of the small family norm (the economic and planning aspects are fully examined in other papers). It is of the highest importance that
1 See, for example, T.I. Mathew: "Social security for the rural population: A study of some social services in selected rural areas of India", and T. Higuchi: "Medical care through social insurance in the Japanese rural sector", International
in
Labour R Review (ILO, Geneva), Oct. 1973 and March 1974, respectively.
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