Govt’s steps for gig workers half-hearted, need national social security architecture for them, says Congress

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The government has only committed to “half-hearted” steps of registering gig workers on e-SHRAM and including them under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the Congress said on Sunday (February 2, 2025) and asserted that India needs a national legal and social security architecture for such workers.

The Congress’s attack came a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a social security scheme for one crore gig workers engaged with online platforms and said the government will provide them identity cards and facilitate their registration on the e-Shram portal.

Ms. Sitharaman had said that these workers will be provided healthcare under the PM-Jan Arogya Yojana.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the government has finally awoken to the pain of India’s gig workers but has only “committed to the half-hearted steps” of registering them on e-SHRAM and including them under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been a leading voice for India’s gig workers since the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Mr. Ramesh said.

The Congress governments in Telangana and Karnataka, and the former Congress government in Rajasthan, have brought powerful legislation to bring gig workers justice, he pointed out.

Social security for gig workers was also a key guarantee given by the Indian National Congress’s Nyay Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said.

The government has a long way to go before catching up to the Congress’s State legislations for gig worker welfare, Mr. Ramesh said.

“For instance, the Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024 is a landmark rights-based legislation that brings formal rights and social security to platform-based gig workers in the state,” he said.

Citing some key features of the legislation, Ramesh said it establishes the gig worker’s social security and welfare fund as well as the Gig Workers Welfare Board to advocate for workers. It calls for mandatory registration of all gig workers with the government, Mr. Ramesh said.

According to the provisions of the bill, Ramesh said aggregators can no longer terminate a worker without giving 14 days prior notice and a valid reason and aggregators must make payments to gig workers every week.

“As much as state governments can do, India needs a national legal and social security architecture for gig workers. The Union government’s halting steps are far from enough,” Mr. Ramesh asserted.