Working to provide social security for gig and platform workers: Govt
New Delhi: The government has formed a committee to suggest a framework for providing social security and welfare benefits to gig and platform workers, the Parliament was informed on Monday.
Gig workers and platform workers have been defined for the first time in the Code on Social Security 2020, which has been enacted by the Parliament.
Social Security and Welfare-related provisions for the gig and platform workers have been mentioned in the Code, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
“The Code provides for framing suitable social security measures for gig workers and platform workers on matters relating to life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, old age protection, etc. The Code also provides for setting up a Social Security Fund to finance the welfare scheme,” she added.
An advisory has also been issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment to aggregators to register themselves and platform workers engaged with them on the e-Shram portal.
The ministry launched the eShram portal on August 26, 2021, for the creation of a comprehensive National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) verified and seeded with Aadhaar.
The eShram portal is meant to register and support unorganised workers by providing them with a Universal Account Number (UAN).
In October this year, about 60,000 registrations happened on eShram per day and a single-day registration reached 97,839 on October 9, said Karandlaje in a reply to a separate question in the Lok Sabha.
As on November 19, over 30.4 crore unorganised workers have registered on the eShram portal, on a self-declaration basis.
“Integration of social security and welfare schemes with eShram is a continuous process,” said the minister.
She further stated that since its inception in October and till November 18, a total of 46,10,233 Labour Identification Numbers (LINs) have been issued online to businesses and employers registered on Shram Suvidha Portal (SSP).
The portal has eased the complexity of compliance by providing the facilities of online registration, licence, and return filing to business entities along with a randomised risk-based inspection system, thereby reducing subjectivity, for the law-implementing agencies.
“Since its inception and till November 18, 2024, 1,20,663 licences have been issued online. Further, a total of 4,35,376 returns have been filed online,” the minister said.