The government’s eShram portal, created to provide social security to millions of casual workers in the country, is showing results after a slow start. In an initial drive, the Union labour ministry has managed to coax 10 major e-commerce players including Uber, Zomato and Blinkit to come aboard the portal, making it possible for 70,000 workers to register. The parliamentary standing committee on labour has noted that if companies using a large, floating population of ‘gig workers’ join the initiative, it would be possible to register as many as 35 lakh workers by the end of March 2026. Gig workers under the scheme are entitled to an identity card, insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, free rations and an annual travel allowance.
The eShram portal was created in August 2021 as a national database for unorganised workers. It received a boost with the Union budget this February focusing on covering gig workers with social security benefits. According to HR consultancy Teamlease, there are 10 lakh gig workers in Indian e-commerce, of which as many as 70 lakh service the last mile on two-wheelers. Euphemistically known as ‘delivery partners’, these young people have no one owning up as their employer, leaving them with no safety net in the event of an accident or at the time of unemployment.
It is commendable that, at a recent conclave, the Union labour and employment secretary told stakeholders that the government was on a ‘mission mode’ to ensure social benefits to these workers. However, it may need more than just a gentle prod to get thousands of e-commerce employers to provide basic benefits. These companies work on slashing labour costs and other overheads, and would require a specific and well-defined legal code for them to fall in line. Beyond gig work, 85 percent of the country’s workforce, or about 400 million Indians, are in the itinerant or unorganised sector. They are the backbone of our economy. In 2020, the Union government repealed 29 labour laws including the Industrial Disputes Act and the Payment of Wages Act. But the four labour codes covering wages, working conditions, safety and social security that were to replace them have not yet been implemented. This, too, deserves prime importance.