Will Budget 2025 extend benefits like social security to gig workers?

The number of gig workers in India are expected to grow to 23.5 million by the end of 2029-30 from around 7.7 million in 2020-21

Loosely referred to people who do temporary or freelance work, especially as an independent contractor engaged on an informal or on-demand setup, gig workers have emerged as a significant chunk of India's workforce in the last decade or so.

 

A Niti Aayog study in the year 2022 had estimated around 7.7 million gig and platform workers in the country in 2020-21, which it projected to grow to 23.5 million by the end of 2029-30.

 

However, these workers largely remain outside the ambit of social security benefits and protection afforded by the existing labour laws as they are not covered under the traditional ‘employer- employee’ relationship defined by the laws currently in existence.

 

While the new Code on Social Security 2020 defines ‘gig and platform’ workers and outlines various welfare measures like life and disability insurance, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, and old-age protection, its non-implementation implies that millions of gig workers remain without any protection.

 

Labour Lawyer B C Prabhakar says that since the new labour codes are not yet implemented, it is pertinent that the government comes up with a holistic framework for the welfare of this bulging workforce in the upcoming budget.

 

“It is expected that in the upcoming budget, the government may come up with a scheme with budgetary support. This will be akin to other schemes that the government has already launched for the welfare of various categories of workers like PM SvaNIDHI for street vendors, PM KISAN for agricultural workers etc.,” Prabhakar added.

 

Earlier last month, Labour Secretary Sumita Dawra chaired a meeting to deliberate on social security schemes for gig and platform workers as part of the ongoing deliberations to put in place a social security coverage framework for them.

 

The meeting was attended by labour ministry officials, platform aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy, workers’ associations, and participants from Niti Aayog, ILO (International Labour Organization) and NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research).

 

The meeting deliberated upon the various forms of benefits available to the unorganised and organised sectors, operational mechanisms, funding requirements, monitoring and evaluation, and grievance redressal aspects.

 

Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary of Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers (IFAT), who made representation to the labour ministry last year, stated that aggregator companies have built billion-dollar businesses on the labour of gig and platform workers. Yet, these workers continue to face exploitation, unfair pay, and unsafe working conditions.

 

“The upcoming budget provides an excellent opportunity to bring in regulations for millions of gig workers. The government should also mandate data disclosure by all aggregator companies, especially on issues like average hours worked and kilometres travelled by workers, number of deliveries completed, annual earnings per worker, records of workplace accidents, fatalities, and compensation provided. This will enable transparency in policy making,” he added.

 

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stands to present her eighth consecutive union budget on February 1, she will be faced with the task of providing relief to this ever-growing workforce.