Taking a leaf out of the playbook of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, the party, in its manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly election, has promised a Gig Workers’ Welfare Board.
This, party insiders say, is one of the first legislative interventions to come out of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the 3,500-km, cross-country foot march led by former president Rahul Gandhi that culminated on January 30..
As per a NITI Aayog report released in June last year, there were 77 lakh gig workers in 2020-21 and these figures, as per the report, were expected to go up to 2.35 crore by 2029-30.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had announced in his Budget address in February the State government’s intention to bring the Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023.
The Bill envisages a Gig Workers’ Welfare Board that will design welfare policies and also act as a grievance portal for workers who are hired on piece-rate basis.
Mr. Gehlot announced a seed fund of ₹200 crore.
In Karnataka, taking the figure several notches up, the party manifesto promises a seed fund of ₹3,000 crore, making it industry friendly too, since there will be no cost to the business.
The Rajasthan model will work on levies on every transaction. The Bill is currently in the drafting stage and is expected to be tabled in the Assembly before the model code of conduct kicks in for the Assembly election scheduled to be held later this year.
The Rajasthan Bill if cleared by the Assembly, will be the first in the country exclusively for gig workers. “The idea for the legislation emerged from the various interactions Mr. Gandhi had with the workers over the course of the yatra. He shared the feedback that he received with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,” Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of Congress’s Data Analytics department, said.
Mr. Chakravarty added that the Rajasthan Bill and the Karnataka promise were important in the current economic situation. “At a time when the country’s GDP is not resulting in formal jobs, gig employment becomes crucial. And it is important to ensure that social security protection is extended to them [workers] during volatile conditions,” he said.
