What does India’s first gig workers rights bill stipulate?

Subject :Economy

Concept :

Rajasthan became the first state to enact legislation on the rights of gig workers titled ‘The Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023.’

Key Highlights of the Bill

Applicability:
The Bill applies to “aggregators” (digital intermediaries connecting buyers and sellers) and “primary employers” (individual or organisations engaging platform-based workers).
Welfare Board:
The Bill proposes a Welfare Board comprising State officials, five representatives each from gig workers and aggregators, and two others from civil society.
The Board will set up a welfare fund, register platform-based gig workers, aggregators and primary employers.
The board will facilitate guarantee of social security to platform-based gig workers.
The Board will maintain a database of companies and workers and each worker will receive a unique ID which “shall be valid in perpetuity.”

Who is a ‘Gig Worker’?

Gig workers refer to workers outside of the traditional employer-employee relationship.
There are two groups of gig workers:
Platform workers: When gig workers use online algorithmic matching platforms or apps to connect with customers, they are called platform workers.
Non-platform workers: Those who work outside the above platforms are non-platform workers, including construction workers and non-technology-based temporary workers.

Status of Gig Economy in India

According to a report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ released by NITI Aayog, 77 lakh workers were engaged in the gig economy in 2020–21. They constituted 2.6% of the non-agricultural workforce or 1.5% of the total workforce in India.
The gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) workers by 2029–30.
Gig workers are expected to form 6.7% of the non-agricultural workforce or 4.1% of the total livelihood in India by 2029–30.
At present, about 47% of the gig work is in medium skilled jobs, about 22% in high skilled, and about 31% in low skilled jobs.
Trend shows the concentration of workers in medium skills is gradually declining and that of the low skilled and high skilled is increasing.