The present monograph is an exclusive study of social protection programmes that form the social protection floor in rural India. The background, objectives, targeted group(s), provision of benefits, fund allocation, coverage, and impact of twenty five important social protection programmes were analysed across states of India with special reference to the less development region of West Bengal which was adversely affected by extreme Maoist movement. Based on the original research and extensive data the present monograph would also make a humble attempt aimed at collecting basic information of households on different aspects of social protection schemes and poverty situation to analyse the entitlements of the households relating to social protection benefits and to examine the impact of social protection benefits on food insecurity, monetary poverty, multidimensional poverty and deprivations of the households in the less developed region.