New Delhi: Lakhs of gig and platform workers in India, who until now were deprived of any social security benefits, would soon be able to avail medical facilities provided under the ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) scheme.
The Union labour and employment ministry is firming up the health scheme for gig and platform workers, which will be linked to the ESIC scheme, as part of the Social Security Code that Parliament cleared in September. The code has for the first time brought gig and platform workers under its ambit.
Gig and platform workers are broadly defined as those who use digital media as an intermediary. Such workers access other organisations using online platforms and earn, like the delivery boys working with food aggregators like Zomato and the cab drivers working through taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola.
Only a handful of big gig and platform companies have been providing some kind of health cover for such workers. A majority of such workers were deprived of any benefits in case of any health emergency or accidents.
“The ministry is working on a health scheme for gig and platform workers as part of the Social Security Code, where they will be able to avail ESIC facilities,” Union labour secretary Apurva Chandra told ThePrint.
A senior ministry official said the labour secretary has already held meetings with representatives of all the major gig companies. All of them had agreed to the proposed health scheme.
Though no official survey has been done, market experts put the numbers of gig and platform workers in India anywhere between 50 lakh to 1 crore.
Companies to put in 1-2% of annual turnover
The health scheme will be funded by the social security fund. The Social Security Code provides for setting up a Gig and Platform Workers’ Social Security Fund for meeting the social security and welfare needs of such workers.
Gig companies will have to put aside 1-2 per cent of their annual turnover for social security funds of their workers. The contribution by an aggregator shall not exceed 5 per cent.
The fund will be administered by the Centre and contributions to it will mainly come from the aggregators. “We are in the process of finalising the draft rules. Once rules are firmed up, the timeline for operationalising the social security fund will also be fixed,” the official quoted above said.
Until the rules are notified, the Social Security Code cannot be operationalised.
Besides, women workers will also be able to avail maternity benefits under the scheme. The Social Security Code mandates that every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the period of her actual absence. This will be the period immediately preceding the day of her delivery, and any period immediately following that day.
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