Rajasthan passes Bill extending social security to gig workers sans debate

As the House proceedings resumed amid loud protest by BJP MLAs who raised symbolic red diaries before Speaker C P Joshi, the Speaker and the ruling party rushed through four legislations, including the Bill for gig workers.

The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill extends certain “rights” to gig workers, such as being registered with the state, having access to general and specific social security schemes, and having an opportunity to be heard for any grievances, among others.

An important component of the Rajasthan law is the setting up of a Platform Based Gig Workers Welfare Board. Apart from bureaucrats, the Welfare Board in Rajasthan will have two representatives each from among gig workers and from aggregators, to be nominated by the state government.

Other major provisions of the Rajasthan Bill are that it seeks to register all gig workers and aggregators in the state and that the state government will maintain a database of the gig workers and generate a unique ID for every one of them.

Another important component of the Rajasthan Bill is the “Platform Based Gig Workers Fund and Welfare Fee”. Under this, a social security and welfare fund will be established for gig workers. Apart from other sources, a fee will be levied on aggregators, “which shall be at such rate (per cent) of the value of each transaction related to a platform-based gig worker, as may be notified by the state government.”

The Rajasthan government has also introduced a provision for penalties. If any aggregator fails to pay the welfare fee within time, they will be penalised with an interest of 12 per cent per annum from the date on which such payment is due. If any other clauses of the Act are violated by the aggregators, the Bill empowers the state government to impose a fine up to Rs 5 lakh for the first contravention and up to Rs 50 lakh for subsequent contraventions.

The law came about after social activist Nikhil Dey suggested it to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the latter’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan in December 2022. Subsequently, Rahul Gandhi asked Gehlot to come up with social security and a support system for gig workers.

It was then announced by Gehlot in his budget speech earlier this year. In his address then, Gehlot had said that “Currently, companies like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato and Amazon, etc. have engaged young workers on contract on ‘per transaction’ basis. Such workers are called gig workers. Like elsewhere in the world, the scope of ‘Gig Economy’ is continuously growing in the state. Today, the number of gig workers in the state has increased to 3-4 lakh. These big companies do not make any arrangements for social security for these gig workers.”

In the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the Bill, the government says that “In spite of major contribution in economy and employment, gig workers form a part of unorganised workers and are still not covered under the labour laws. They do not receive the same level of protection as traditional employees get.”

Rakshita Swamy, who is associated with the Soochna Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan (SR Abhiyan), Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research (SAFAR), and has been working for gig workers’ welfare, termed it as a “historic development”.

“For the first time a government has explicitly stated its obligation and accountability towards platform-based gig workers, who up till now, were neither the responsibility of aggregators nor the labour department due to them being classified as “partners” instead of workers,” she said.

“There are many important breakthroughs in this law, including the imposition of a cess fee on individual transactions to finance the social security schemes for workers. This ensures that workers benefit from social security that they have earned from their own work, instead of having to rely on charity from the aggregators or allocations by the government. This law should hopefully set a benchmark for the government of India to follow and build upon,” Swamy said.