The government should create a central body for gig workers, says a report by the Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) Foundation. The report highlights how platforms are transforming the way one works and providing more income-generating opportunities.
The NITI Aayog (2022) report highlights that the "share of gig and platform workers in the total workforce of India has increased from 0.54 per cent in 2011–12 to 1.33 per cent in 2019–20."
While giving recommendations to the government, the report titled ‘Social Protection in India’s Platform Economy: Unpacking Supply Dynamics’ says that the government should create a central coordinating authority for social protection. It says,” Efficiently designing a social protection system that aligns with the needs of platform workers and the characteristics of the platform economy requires synchronized efforts.”
It further adds that uncoordinated policymaking both at the central and state levels will “not just result in duplication of efforts but also suboptimal use of limited resources.”
A similar example of the same can be the National Social Protection Committee in Jamaica and the National Social Protection Secretariat in Kenya. It further adds that the code on social security 2020 has also “tasked the central government to create a national board for the welfare of platform workers and formulate policies and regulations on social protection for platform workers.”
The code on social security aims to amend and consolidate laws related to social security. Apart from this, the report also provides more recommendations to the government, such as giving social protection benefits across all states in India.
It says. ”The government should build a social protection system that benefits the workers irrespective of their state identity. It will be useful to start with one uniform identity of a worker across India; the UAN number through the e-Shram portal provides that opportunity.”
