By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 01, 2025: ON December 30, 2024, the Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Sumita Dawra chaired a hybrid-mode meeting to deliberate on social security schemes for gig and platform workers. As a part of ongoing deliberations to put in place social security coverage for this workforce, the Ministry organised a special meeting with a committee of experts to further assess the various options available.

The meeting was attended by key officials including Ramesh Krishnamurthi (CPFC, EPFO), Ajoy Sharma (JS, MoLE), Rupesh Thakur (JS, MoLE), Ashok Kumar Singh (DG, ESIC), and other senior officials from the Ministry, ESIC, and EPFO. The members & special invitees of the committee constituted to develop a social security framework for gig and platform workers also participated virtually - comprising of representatives from Industry, Platform Aggregators (Zomato, Swiggy), Workers' Association (IFAT), Knowledge Partners (Niti Aayog, ILO, NCAER, OMI) and State Government. 

During the meeting, the existing Central Government social security schemes available for unorganised workers were analysed along with welfare benefits extended to the organised sector. The effort of the Ministry is to bring social security coverage in the areas of Life and Disability, Accident insurance, Health & Maternity, Old Age Protection, Crèche, etc. as per the mandate of the Code on Social Security, 2020.

Along with the benefits of various schemes available for unorganised and organised sector; operational mechanisms, funding requirements, monitoring & evaluation and grievance redressal aspects were also deliberated in the meeting followed by open discussions. The committee members provided their insights on nature of the platform economy, seasonal fluctuations in engagements, varying working hours & payouts and suggested some modifications to align the schemes in  line with the sectoral nuances.

Secretary Labour & Employment, Sumita Dawra during her keynote address, stated that the Ministry is in the advanced stage of multiple stake-holder consultation and the Committee should analyse carefully the options under  flagship schemes of the Central Government such as PM-JAY, PMJJBY, PMSBY, and PMMVY as well those available to the organised sector, in order to recommend a robust framework of social security for the gig and platform workers.

She also directed that global best practices may also be thoroughly analysed before finalising the framework in order to set a benchmark in framing the welfare schemes.  It was reiterated that, the Committee should submit its report in a time bound manner clearly recommending the framework addressing the social security concerns of this uncovered workforce. The Committee should also diligently consider the factors like eligibility criteria, sporadic nature of engagement in the industry along with contribution mechanism.

The Secretary emphasised that the Ministry of Labour & Employment is committed to ensuring social security benefits to all workers, including those in the gig and platform sector. This meeting marks a crucial step towards achieving that goal, and the Ministry will continue to work diligently to finalize a framework that supports the welfare of these workers.