The Fragmented Social Protection System in India: Five Key Rights but Two Missing

India is one the world’s fastest-growing economies, but it struggles with high levels of poverty, malnutrition, and infant and maternal mortality rates. While the country has made strides in providing for a rights-based approach towards food, work and education, with much visible impacts on their developmental outcomes, two key fundamental rights—social insurance and health—have not received adequate policy attention. This chapter discusses the role of civil society mobilization and political support in ensuring entitlements with respect to work (albeit in rural areas), education and food and argues for a similar approach for ensuring universal health coverage, welcoming the Draft National Health Policy 2015, which advocates for health as a fundamental right. The chapter suggests immediate policy interventions, including the very critical aspect of sanitation, to address key health sector issues, particularly in India’s rural areas.