In a meeting with eight aggregators and industry associations, Mandaviya urged aggregators to register all their gig and platform workers on the e-Shram Portal within the next three months, stressing that the workers’ registration is crucial for extending further benefits to them under various government initiatives.
Representatives from Urban Company, Swiggy & Instamart, Zomato & Blinkit, Porter, Even Cargo, Amazon, Uber and Ola attended the meeting along with industry chambers like the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Deloitte, Employers’ Federation of India and IndiaTech among others.
According to the statement issued by the ministry of labour and employment after the meeting, aggregators were urged to assist in this registration drive and to ensure that all eligible workers are registered on the portal.
“This step is aimed at ensuring that gig and platform workers gain access to social security schemes,” it said.
Further, Mandaviya asked aggregators to list their job vacancies on the ministry’s National Career Service (NCS) portal for broadening employment opportunities for millions across the country, saying the portal provides a variety of employment related services for jobseekers and employers.The meeting focused on developing a comprehensive framework to address the unique needs of this growing workforce, aiming to ensure that these workers have access to essential social security protections, the ministry added.The ministry has recently issued an advisory with standard operating procedures (SOP) outlining aggregator responsibilities, including registering workers, and updating their data.
The Code on Social Security, passed by the Parliament in 2020, provides for the first time social security coverage to gig and platform workers.
According to the NITI Aayog report on India’s booming gig and platform economy, the gig workforce is expected to expand to 23.5 million workers by 2029-30 as against 7.7 million in 2020-21.
