4. Examining the Nexus Between Social Well-Being and Social Security: Focus on Marginalized Communities in Northeastern Part of India

Measuring social security, even when limited to people’s experience, is particularly challenging issue in India, and specifically, it is more challenging to rural marginalized communities that rely heavily on agriculture and fishing for a living. Social security is a broad concept which includes political and ethnic conflicts, incidence of violence, satisfaction in livelihood, victimization, terrorism, occupational injuries and many more and that’s why social security is a key component of people’s social well-being. The present chapter attempts to explore the nexus between social well-being and social security and also explore social well-being conditions in terms of social security of rural marginalized communities in Dakshin Dinajpur district which is located in the north-eastern part of India, specifically within the state of West Bengal. Comprehensive community-level in-person interviews and a case study methodology were used in this qualitative and exploratory study to look into the target and construct a Social Security Index (SSI) with six dimensions for better analysis. The study is mostly based on primary data that was gathered at the household level by multistage purposive sampling techniques, with a total sample size of 112. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods, Karl Pearson correlation coefficient, were employed for data analysis. The study depicts that the level and extent of social security is determined by large number of interconnected variables, and it has a great impact on socio-economic well-being of population. The study concludes by emphasizing the necessity of social security among the marginalized populations as well as citizens of India, as this will transform the social well-being and quality of life of populations.