Uzbekistan-social state

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at a meeting with members of the Constitutional Commission on June 20, 2022, came up with the idea of strengthening the principle of "Uzbekistan is a social state" in our Constitution. In the appeal of the head of state to the Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan, this idea was further strengthened and priorities for the establishment of a social state were determined. The head of State touched on this issue and said that "we are aiming to build a new Uzbekistan on the principle of a "social state". We must strengthen this in the Constitution," he stressed.

The concept of" social state "is closely related to the concept of" human dignity", and at the very base of this idea, first of all, the noble goal of glorifying human dignity and serving the population is embodied. The social state creates for each person a decent living environment based on the principles of social equality and Justice. It is a state model that pursues effective policies to reduce social differences, to help those in need.
Also, the social state presupposes that the minimum amount of consumer goods necessary for housing, living is determined for the needy. The salary that a person and his family make to live a decent life requires employment, creating safe working conditions, reducing poverty.
Such a noble goal is embodied in the framework of reforms carried out in the country in subsequent years in terms of raising the standard of living of the population, ensuring employment, guaranteed quality education, qualified medical care, creating equal opportunities for all, comprehensive support of families, children, women, the elderly, persons with disabilities.
The draft Constitutional Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan"on amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan" also contains a number of norms aimed at protecting the interests of the population in need of social protection. In particular, Article 37 of our current Constitution adds that "everyone has the right to decent work, to choose a free profession, to work in favorable working conditions that meet the requirements of safety and hygiene, to receive a fair remuneration for their labor without any discrimination and not less than the minimum amount of remuneration for the established labor, as well as to

What is the essence of the social state?

Looking back at history, the concept of" social state " was first used in 1850 by Laurence von Stein. He believed that the task of the state was to establish social equality and personal freedom, to raise the lower and lower-income classes to the level of the rich and the powerful. 
Even when we study the history of our national statehood, we witness that the concept of "social state" meets many in similar names. For example, in the work "the city of Fazil people" by Abu Nasr Forobi, who lived and worked in the IX-X centuries, the opinions expressed about the Fazil City are precisely the essence of the principle of the "social state". Similar thoughts can be found in the works of our great ancestors, such as Nizami Ganjavi, Saadi Sheroziy, Alisher Navoi, Ahmad Donish.
Commenting on this concept, the president explained that "the social state means, first of all, equal opportunities for the realization of human potential, creating the necessary conditions for people to live a decent life, reducing poverty." It seems to us that the "noble city", which our great-grandfathers dreamed of and brought in their works, is also this "social state".

Social state characteristics, functions and international experience

During the period when the globalization process and the market economy are rapidly developing, scientists argue that there are specific signs of a social state, and, unlike Laurence von Stein, include the following in these aspects:
- a high level of economic development of the country, which allows the redistribution of income and wealth of the population without affecting large owners;
- socially oriented market economy;
- multidisciplinary and mixed economy;
- formation of civil society;
- development of various social programs by the state;
- approval of the goals of the state to ensure decent living conditions for each person, equal starting conditions on the path to social security and self-realization as a person;
- social responsibility to citizens;
— a developed system of insurance social payments and a high level of taxes that make up the budget, a high amount of payments to the social sphere;
- developed system of services and social services for all groups of the population;
- availability of budget social payments;
- the presence of state systems of social protection, Social Security and employment;
- the presence of a system of social support of all needy members of society without exception;
- the state assumes responsibility for the level of well-being of citizens.
According to the experience of modern times, the idea of a social state in European countries is enshrined in various regulatory legal acts. In particular, it is established at the level of the Constitution that in Germany it is a social state. There are also Scandinavian and Continental models of the social state, in which states will be responsible for the social well-being of their citizens, the provision of social services to education, health, children and young people, the elderly.
In a narrow sense, the social state in its activities carries out the payment of benefits to the population, the provision of services to society and solves issues related to the provision of housing. In a broad sense, it carries out not only a significant number of programs aimed at direct support of the population, but also measures aimed at managing and organizing the economy, including employment and related issues, as well as complex macroeconomic management.
There are specific functions of the social state, most of the scientists indicate, as the main ones, the following:
- support for layers of the population in need of social protection;
- fight against corruption, poverty and unemployment;
- assistance to young entrepreneurs;
- ensuring a constant increase in employment and income of the population;
- providing social insurance to all members of society;
- ensuring the comfort of education, health and spiritual and cultural development;
- material support and social protection of needy individuals;
- to reduce social and economic inequality in society, to create decent living conditions through the redistribution of benefits;
- provision of social services.
In general, the employment of every able-bodied person in the social state is ensured. In order for him to live a decent life, a sufficient amount of wages is established, safe working conditions are created for the worker, the rights to receive unemployment protection, quality education, qualified medical care are realistically implemented. Children, women, the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrants and their family members are supported in every possible way.
 

Changes in the social sphere in our country

Focusing on the large-scale reforms carried out in our country in recent years, we can see that most of them are directed towards the social sphere. In particular, it is established to support the social protection of the population and the needy and to provide them with assistance through a system of state guarantees. Particular attention is paid at the level of public policy to such issues as creating suitable conditions for people to live comfortably and satisfied with life, ensuring employment and increasing income, reducing unemployment and poverty, and preventing stratification in terms of living conditions and quality.
Protection against unemployment, providing guaranteed quality education, providing qualified medical care, comprehensive support for children, women, the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrants and their family members are the constant focus of our state. The fact that the main part of the state budget is directed precisely to such issues is also a practical confirmation of our opinion. Separately, it should be noted that the system of work "Iron notebook", "women's notebook", "youth notebook" and "mahallabay", introduced on a Republican scale to support families, women and young people in need of social assistance, also shows the essence and vital appearance of the social state.
At this point, the reforms carried out in the social sphere in our country and their positive results are also noteworthy. Chunonchi is recognized by international organizations that the level of coverage of children with preschool education increases from 27 to 70 percent, and about 2 million children are covered with a kindergarten. Higher education institutions increased by 2.5 times, that is, their number reached 198, which, in turn, laid the foundation for an increase in the level of coverage for higher education from 9 to 38 percent. It will also be fair to note that the granting of academic and financial independence to more than 40 universities contributed to a significant increase in the conditions and quality of education in them.
Also, the provision of housing for the needy strata of the population is one of the important tasks of the social state. It is worth noting that over the past six years, about 500 thousand new housing has been built and put into operation in our country. For the first time, a system for allocating subsidies to women and young people, needy families was established to meet the need for housing. Online platforms have been launched for this system to work legally, fairly and transparently.
Particular attention is paid to the issues of supporting young people, their employment and meaningful leisure activities. Using advanced modern methods in ensuring youth employment, 5.2 thousand of our young men were trained in the IT professions within the framework of Future Skills Uzbekistan and one million programmers projects, 6.4 thousand in entrepreneurship skills and foreign languages within the framework of youth 1+1 and entrepreneur woman projects. 
In order to form a modern profession, entrepreneurial skills in young people and women, "blessing for work", "Monomarkaz", which serves the non-busy population, district and city vocational training centers, vocational training centers are operating in the neighborhoods.
The need to further strengthen and ensure the continuation of the above-mentioned large-scale reforms necessitates the reflection in the Constitution of the principle of the "social state". For this reason, most of the proposals and reflections in the nationwide discussion were directed precisely to the social sphere. Amendments and additions to the draft constitutional law are also aimed, mainly, at strengthening the principle of the "social state". At this point, we would not be mistaken if we say that strengthening the social state of our country in our main law will correspond to the essence of the new Uzbekistan in both form and meaning.

Social state issues in the development strategy of the new Uzbekistan

The development strategy of the New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 is a logical continuation of the ongoing comprehensive reforms. For example, in his fourth priority," conducting a fair social policy, developing human capital, " special attention is paid to the issues that form the basis of the social state. In particular, goal 43 is aimed directly at creating suitable conditions for each person and regularly improving the standard of living. 
It should be recognized that in achieving the goals of the development strategy, the president noted that the main attention should be paid to the development of Education, which is the largest investment for New Uzbekistan in the first place. In particular, it is not for nothing that this year 70 new schools will be built, 460 schools will be expanded, 100 schools will be started with the participation of private investments, and in the next five years it will be determined to increase their number to a thousand.
Now in our country, great attention is paid not only to school construction and quality education, but also to "healthy lifestyle and provision of healthy and high-quality food", which creates the basis of quality education. This experience was established in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm since 2022, and free meals were established for 285 thousand elementary school students. Since this year, this practice has been introduced in the schools of the rest of the regions and the city of Tashkent, for which sufficient funds have been provided from the state budget.
It is known that the issue of vocational training of school graduates is considered one of the priority solutions to ensuring the employment of young people. The goal is to make young people both educated and professional and, as a result, to employ them. A clear systemic mechanism has also been developed in this direction, that is, from the current year a new program has been implemented, according to which European professional education standards are planned to be introduced in 1 Technical School in each region. 
In order to support young people studying in higher educational institutions that are part of continuing education, this year the resources for preferential educational loans are increased by 2 times, 1.7 trillion soums are allocated, and science and innovation-1.8 trillion soums.

Approach to the state program based on the principle of "social state

Analyzing the draft state program on the implementation of the new Uzbek development strategy for 2022-2026 in 2023, the program, which combines 309 points, consists of seven directions, and it is distributed as follows:
Route 1. Establishment of a nationalistic state by raising human dignity and further development of a free civil society — paragraph 22.
Route 2. Transformation of the principles of justice and the rule of law in our country into the most basic and necessary condition for development — paragraph 18.
Route 3. Ensuring the rapid development of the national economy and high growth rates — 113 points.
Route 4. Conducting a fair social policy, the development of human capital — paragraph 82.
Route 5. Ensuring spiritual progress and bringing the industry to a new level — paragraph 21.
Route 6. Approach to universal problems based on national interests — 30 points.
Route 7. Strengthening the security and defense potential of our country, conducting an open, pragmatic and active foreign policy — 23 points.
The analysis shows that it is the largest social direction after the economic one, covering points 154-235 of the state program. These points provide for the consistent implementation and implementation of 33 goals of the development strategy. 
In particular, this year it is planned to train 160,000 unemployed and looking for work persons in demanding professions and confirm the professional qualification level of 14,000 people and provide them with qualification passports, to train 75,000 unemployed women and girls in difficult social situations to professions with high demand in the labor market at the expense of the state. This serves as an important factor in the targeted training of the unemployed and ensuring their employment.
It is also established to bring the level of coverage of 6-year-old children with quality preschool education to 92%, which provides for the introduction of 269 short-term, 94 full-time, 1384 compulsory free preparatory groups and alternative forms of preschool education and allocation of 60 billion sums from the state budget for this.
It should be noted that special attention is paid to the provision of qualified medical care. The mechanisms of state health insurance, which have been expected for many years, are introduced into medical institutions in Tashkent, and as a result of its analysis, it is planned to be implemented in stages in the remaining regions. 
The issues of equipping the scientific and practical medical center of Cardiology, the scientific and practical medical center of Urology, the scientific center of the Republic of emergency medical care and its branches with new and modern medical equipment are included, and it is planned to allocate a total of 31.5 million dollars from the credit funds of the Kuwait Arab Economic Development
In general, the large-scale reforms carried out in our country are aimed at improving the standard of living of the population on the principle of "for human dignity", creating all the conditions and amenities necessary for their comfortable living. Every item provided for in this year's state program and the mechanisms for its targeted implementation are also clear evidence of our opinion. 
This will be an important factor in the realization of the noble idea that good deeds are "first — man, then — society and state", in pleasing our people, in building a free and prosperous society.

Shahnaza Jaldasova,
The Supreme Assembly
Legislative problems and 
Parliamentary Studies 
head of Department of the Institute, 
in legal Sciences
doctor of philosophy