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Time of India
15 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Just 7% of TN's gig workers signed up for welfare scheme
Chennai: Tamil Nadu's gig worker population is 1.5 lakh, but only about 10,000 have enrolled under the Tamil Nadu Platform-Based Gig Workers Welfare Board since its launch in 2023. "The chief minister unveiled the statutory board two years ago. Yet, only around 7% have signed up so far," said Divyanathan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Welfare Board. At the national level, the govt plans to offer benefits to gig workers under the Code on Social Security, 2020. While Karnataka, Telangana, and Rajasthan passed separate laws to protect gig workers, TN included gig workers in the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Act of 1982. This law covers 19 other groups of workers from unorganised sectors such as construction workers, washermen, and tailors. To be eligible for the scheme, a worker must be employed by an online platform without a formal employer-employee relationship. Once registered, gig workers can avail themselves of benefits such as 1 lakh for disability caused by accidents and 30,000 for natural death. Upon reaching the age of 60, and if the workers continue to renew membership, they are also eligible for a monthly pension of 1,200. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Invertir en Cervecería Nacional CFD podría proporcionarte un ingreso adicional Empieza a invertir hoy Registro Undo You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai Women workers receive 6,000 as maternity aid and 5,000 as marriage allowance. Daughters of registered workers studying up to Class XII can also receive 1,500. Eligible gig workers can register at Blaming the slow registration on the nature of work, K Nyanasambandam, additional labour commissioner, said, "A year ago, we tried promoting it on streets, but workers don't have time to stop and listen. They lose out on orders ," he said. While there are no plans for a large-scale promotion, posters have been put up by the labour department at worker resting pods. "We saw a spike in registrations after these pods started. More pods are coming up in Anna Nagar, T Nagar, and near Central Station," said Mohamed Shaffi, a junior assistant at Anna Nagar pod facility.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
When labour reform doesn't translate to labour rights
Written by Ujjwal Bhardwaj and Mrinalini Naik Recently, the National Platform for Domestic Workers (NPDW) reiterated its long-standing demand for a comprehensive national legislation to protect over 3 crore domestic workers across India. In the last few months, hundreds of Zepto workers in Hyderabad and Blinkit gig workers in Varanasi went on strike against arbitrary pay cuts and exploitative working conditions. Across the country, India's invisible labour force comprising domestic, gig, construction, sanitation, and agricultural labour is increasingly becoming vocal. But is the law listening? The 2019–20 labour codes were projected as a major reform, aimed at consolidating and streamlining India's labour laws. Yet, five years later, their silence on the unorganised sector is deafening. Of India's estimated 600 million workers, over 90 per cent work in the informal sector, without contracts, social security, or right to unionise. Despite the rhetoric of inclusivity, these codes bypass those who need protection the most. In 2008, the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act was enacted to enable welfare schemes for such workers. However, the Act was limited in scope as it remained silent on key issues like minimum wage, working conditions, and unequal pay, and did not place binding obligations on the government. Worse, it required unorganised workers to furnish an 'employment certificate' to avail any benefit. This law was eventually subsumed into the Code on Social Security, 2020. Although the Code on Social Security, 2020, looks like inclusion, its design is exclusionary. While it theoretically extends coverage to gig and platform workers, it does not explicitly include several major categories of workers such as agricultural labourers, domestic workers, street vendors and shop-floor workers, thereby leaving them in a legal vacuum . Moreover, registration of workers under Section 113 of the Code remains voluntary and patchy. The burden of self-registration and self-verification on the e-Shram portal, imposed on workers who are already marginalised and digitally illiterate, reflects a top-down approach that fails to read the ground realities. The Code provides for the establishment of unorganised workers' welfare boards at national and state levels; however, these aren't fully operational yet. Only a few states have created welfare boards but most remain underfunded and underutilised. Kerala alone has a comparatively functional model, with dedicated boards for informal sectors and a tripartite funding structure. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court in the case of Ajay Malik vs State of Uttarakhand directed the Centre to enact a law to protect the rights of domestic workers. These workers, primarily women from Dalit and Adivasi communities, face a precarious situation. The absence of employer-employee recognition and exclusion of private households from the definition of 'establishment' under new labour laws leaves them under-protected. They are excluded from benefits like ESI, PF, and maternity leave. Neither do the new labour codes offer redress for sexual harassment. Although the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) provides for local complaints committees for the unorganised sector, most districts have failed to constitute them, and enforcement remains almost non-existent. Agricultural workers, who form the backbone of India's rural economy are also left out. None of the four labour codes directly apply to the farm sector, despite the chronic wage exploitation, and high rates of indebtedness. Existing welfare schemes like PM-KISAN predominantly target agricultural landowners, leaving landless labourers with public distribution benefits, rather than robust wage or social security protections. Workers in retail outlets and repair shops face a similar predicament. While they fall under the ambit of the Code on Wages, 2019, enforcement is inadequate. This is due to a lack of shop registration, fear of job loss among workers if they report violations, and inadequate inspection machinery. The threshold-based applicability of the new labour codes further undermines their reach. Many provisions apply only to establishments employing 10, 20 or more workers, effectively excluding the lakhs of small shops and informal units where most unorganised employment is concentrated. India currently does not have a unified, binding legal regime to protect informal workers across sectors. Moreover, the laws treat such workers as recipients of welfare rather than holders of enforceable rights. Constitutional commitments under Articles 21, 39(e), 41 and 43 demand a rights-based approach to employment security and livelihood dignity. A central statute similar to the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Welfare) Act, 2023, mandating worker registration and creation of welfare funds, applicable to all informal workers, is now required. Additionally, the long-pending National Policy for Domestic Workers, in circulation since 2011 and still in draft form, needs to be passed. Creating a single digital social security ID (Portable Smart Identification Cards), linked to Aadhaar and e-Shram, ensuring seamless portability across jobs, states, and employment types can be beneficial for the workers. The National Welfare Board and all state boards should be operationalised at the earliest. Appropriate funding and empowering the boards with proper tripartite representation (Workers' Representative, Employers and Government) and decision-making powers is needed. There should also be a robust Grievance Redressal Mechanism for all informal workers. Local Labour Ombudsmen at the ward or district level, empowered to adjudicate disputes, ensure fair wage practices, and enforce sexual harassment protections, especially in private homes and unregistered workplaces, can provide meaningful protection. India also needs to ratify ILO Conventions 189 and 184. These conventions on domestic work and agricultural safety standards will align India's framework with global rights-based norms. India's labour laws must not be tools of economic abstraction. They must reflect the real, lived experiences of those who build our cities, grow our food, clean our homes, and power our platforms. Unless the missing majority is placed at the centre of policy, labour reform will remain reform in name alone. The writers are advocates in the Supreme Court
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Are gig workers a part of India's labour data?
The 2025 Union Budget took several measures to formally 'recognise' gig and platform workers, and extended various social protection schemes to this growing workforce. Despite this recognition, the revised Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2025 does not include substantive changes to account for the diverse forms of gig and platform work. Gaps in labour classification Gig workers were first incorporated into the legal framework through the Code on Social Security, 2020. Under Chapter I, Section 2(35), a gig worker is defined as 'a person who participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship.' Platform work, as defined in the Code, is 'a work arrangement outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems or to provide specific services or any such other activities which may be notified by the Central Government, in exchange for payment.' While this definition separates gig workers from both formal and informal categories, it doesn't clearly define who a gig worker is or the nature of gig work. According to NITI Aayog's 2022 report 'India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy,' the gig workforce is expected to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30. Despite such projections and efforts to define gig work, India's primary labour statistics source, the PLFS, continues to subsume gig work under vague categories such as 'self-employed', 'own-account workers', or 'casual labour'. This statistical invisibility has direct consequences. Clause 141 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, 'seeks to provide that the Central Government shall establish a Social Security Fund for social security and welfare of the unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers.' Similarly, the National Social Security Board, constituted under Section 6 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, is tasked with framing and overseeing welfare schemes for gig and platform workers. Such welfare boards and policymakers rely on the PLFS for 'evidence-based policy,' but the absence of a distinct category for gig and platform workers undermines its very intent. When classification itself is unclear in primary datasets, access to schemes becomes uneven and exclusionary. How the PLFS falls short In response to a Rajya Sabha query on whether the government had updated PLFS methodology to capture the rise of gig work, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation stated, 'No updation in the PLFS Schedule has been undertaken with the objective of specifically identifying persons engaged in the gig economy. However, all market activities i.e. activities performed for pay or profit which result in production of goods and services for exchange are included under the domain of economic activity considered in PLFS. The activity situation of a person who is found to be working or being engaged in economic activity during a specified reference period is associated with employment in PLFS. Hence, even the persons engaged in 'gig economy' for pay & profit are covered in PLFS.' Though gig work is technically included under economic activity, without a specific category or classification, the survey fails to offer visibility into the unique nature of digital labour, characterised by multiple job roles, dependence on algorithms, lack of formal contract and absence of safety metrics. In the survey, while the question on the type of job contract provides an option for 'no written job contract', it doesn't capture the hybrid nature of work. Unlike traditional self-employment, gig work is shaped by platform algorithms, performed across multiple apps and are mostly task-based rather than time-bound. Workers have no stable contracts, and often rely on digital reach. Many lack access to benefits or protections available to formal workers, and don't fully own their work processes, making the 'self-employed' label misleading. Employment uncertainties, income volatility and algorithm governance remain invisible within PLFS classification. A food delivery person working across platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, for instance, will be flattened into a category that does not reflect entirely on their employment conditions or social security needs. Recognition without representation Recent policy efforts like the e-Shram registration, the issuance of digital ID cards, and health coverage under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana indicate the state's recognition of the gig and platform workforce. But unless statistical systems like the PLFS evolve, the data meant to support and monitor these interventions cannot be considered inclusive. The 2025 PLFS revision introduced some important updates: a larger sample size, monthly estimates, and better rural representation. However, it still does not address the issues of how gig work is defined and understood. For inclusive policy making, India must update PLFS classification codes or introduce survey modules that distinctly capture gig work. Durga Narayan is a policy researcher affiliated with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Mumbai.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Karnataka forms working groups to fix gig worker welfare levy, tech integration
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills The state government has come up with draft rules governing the welfare of gig and platform workers and formed two working groups to determine the rates of fees to be levied on platforms, suggest technology integrations, and devise welfare fee will be 1-5% of each payout made to the gig worker, say the rules, while adding that the aggregators must calculate and declare the welfare fee every quarter. The fee will go into the proposed welfare board, which will run programmes for these working group will determine the percentage of the fee that platforms must pay based on certain parameters. The fee will be differential depending on the type of service and will fall between 1% and 5%. The government may fix a higher rate on higher revenue-earning businesses, such as cab-hailing services, sources briefed on the matter said. The Code on Social Security caps the fee at 5% of the amount paid to gig working groups consist of representatives from platforms, tech companies, think tanks, and technocrats, additional labour commissioner G Manjuanth and other stakeholders have a month's time to give their suggestions to the government on the draft rules. The government will study them and notify the final set of rules, incorporating suggestions from working groups. 'The reports of the working groups will have more clarity on the rollout of gig workers' welfare,' Manjunath Thaawarchand Gehlot cleared the Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Ordinance in the last week of May, prompting the government to work on the details of draft rules detail many aspects, including the constitution of the gig workers' welfare minister Santosh Lad plans to roll out the welfare fund by the end of is estimated to have about 2.75 lakh gig workers engaged in a range of services, including ride-hailing, ecommerce, and food delivery. Minister Lad said that about five lakh gig workers are engaged by platforms in the state, and the law will benefit all of came up with the bill last year, after Rajasthan passed a law in July 2023, becoming the first state to introduce a law for platform workers. The state, however, is yet to frame rules. When implemented, Karnataka will be the first southern state to introduce welfare programmes for gig workers. Telangana has borrowed a copy of the state's draft to explore a similar law in the Congress-ruled subject gained pace after Rahul Gandhi discussed it with chief minister Siddaramaiah in Delhi on April 3. The government had soft-pedalled on the idea after sections of ecommerce, ride-hailing, and delivery platforms resisted the move last year.
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Business Standard
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Centre nudges states to implement new labour codes, shifts reform goalpost
During 2019-20, Parliament consolidated 29 labour laws into four codes - Code on Wages; Code on Social Security; Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code; and Industrial Relations Code Shiva Rajora New Delhi Listen to This Article Narendra Kumar, 41, has been working as a delivery person for an online food aggregator during the day. Evening onwards, he's a security guard in a nearby milk factory. 'I usually work 13-14 hours in a day. If I fall sick even for a single day, I don't get anything from any of my jobs. Or if I meet with an accident, as I did last month, my employers would not give me anything, as they don't recognise me as their employee,'' Kumar pointed out. His ask: The government must step in to improve the working conditions. Kumar, who is
