ABSTRACT
The discourse of the risk society describes the stresses and strains characteristics of contemporary social life. Risks are result of the process of modernisation which gets heightened in the neo-liberal age where market is a deciding factor. This chapter differentiates between risk and social vulnerability. Vulnerability is the outcome of neo-liberal order and refers to the incapacity and failure of the state and society to withstand the consequences of an aggressive market. Whereas risks can be managed, vulnerability persists as threats and problems to the state and society at large. The chapter reviews and analyses the National Pension Scheme 2004 for the organised sector and the Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act 2008 for the unorganised sector to understand India’s social security system. The vulnerability due to market forces makes the society insecure, uncertain and catastrophic. The catastrophe could be rise in insurgencies, riots, conflict and anxiety. Thus, socially vulnerable society is the result of inevitable structural form of the neo-liberal order. The neo-liberal market develops crisis-related safety nets but these are not permanent, redistributive and sustainable.
