Register platform workers on the e-Sharm portal for social security benefits, government urges aggregators

Although several Indian states have recently drafted laws designed to allow gig and platform workers to access social security benefits, and the Union Government is considering speeding up the rollout of social security benefits for these kinds of workers before the full implementation of the new Social Security Code, crimes against blue-collar platform workers appear to be rising in India.

In September 2024, a 30-year-old delivery agent working for e-commerce company Flipkart was allegedly murdered by a customer to whom he was delivering an iPhone worth Rs 1.5 lakh.

According to Lucknow police, the customer, Gajanan, and his accomplice killed the delivery worker, Bharat Sahu, to avoid paying for the Apple device, which had been ordered via the cash-on-delivery option.

“On 23 September, when Bharat Sahu went to deliver the phone, he was killed by Gajanan and his accomplice,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Shashank Singh told PTI news agency, as reported by The Telegraph India. “After strangulating Sahu, they put his body in a sack and disposed it off in the Indira Canal.”

When Sahu did not return home for two days, his family filed a missing person’s report with the police.

After examining Sahu’s jobs and calls for the day, the police found Gajanan’s number and then traced his accomplice Akash. He was subsequently arrested and reportedly confessed to the crime, according to PTI and The Telegraph India.

Singh said that members of the State Disaster Response Force were searching the canal for Sahu’s body.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident as in February 2023, a customer killed another Flipkart delivery worker while stealing an iPhone in the Hassan district of Karnataka.

Meanwhile, in another incident in January 2023 Delhi’s Kashmere Gate area, female Uber driver Priyanka Devi had a brick thrown at her windscreen and two assailants tried to steal her phone, money and car keys. When she resisted, one of the men hit her on the neck with a beer bottle.

Experts say that gig workers face the risk of death, injury or poor health from exploitative work conditions all the time. “The lack of a robust policy ensuring gig workers’ legal protection exacerbates this exploitation,” they say.

Levy for social security fund
Meanwhile, app-based companies, or aggregators, are likely to be asked to pay 1–2 per cent of their revenue to create a social security fund to provide health insurance and other benefits to the country’s estimated 7.7 million gig economy workers.

Sources close to the Union Government say the planned social security scheme will be in alignment with the provisions of the Social Security Code passed by Parliament in 2020. According to statements made to Parliament by the Union Government in 2021, once enacted, the Social Security Code will recognise gig workers as a new occupational category, where there is no traditional employee/employer relationship, and grant them the right to some social security benefits.

“The code envisages various benefits for gig workers, including life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity, old age protection, creche and other benefits,” the Labour Ministry said in December 2021.

The Labour Ministry added the new code will see the introduction of a social security fund for gig workers and will see the compulsory registration of both gig and platform workers on an online portal to ensure these workers can obtain social security benefits.

Social Security Code not yet in force
However, although the Social Security Code was passed by Parliament in 2020, it has yet to come into force as a number of states have yet to frame and introduce the necessary legislation. The Social Security Code is one of four labour codes passed by Parliament during 2019–2020 (including the Occupational Safety and Health Code), in a bid to consolidate a complex set of 29 labour laws, boost jobs and improve “the ease of doing business”, says the Union Government.

Meanwhile, on 18 September, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya set a three-month target for all aggregators, gig workers and platform workers to be registered on onto the government’s e-Shram portal.

Established in 2021, e-Shram is designed as a national database of workers in the unorganised sector, including gig, platform and migrant workers, so these workers can obtain the social security payments and protections they are entitled to.

At a meeting attended by platform aggregators, the Labour Minister said the government wished to see all gig and platform workers on-boarded on e-Shram within three months. “He [the minister] stressed that the workers’ registration is crucial for extending further benefits under various government initiatives,” said the Labour Ministry in a statement.

Guidance on registering platform workers
The Ministry added: “To guide the process, the Ministry has issued an advisory with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlining aggregator responsibilities, including registering workers and updating their data

“Upon registration, platform workers will receive a Universal Account Number (UAN), which will allow them access to key social security benefits.”

The Government added: “Through the guidelines, the aggregators have also been requested to regularly update workers’ details, including work engagement and payments. Any workers exit must be reported promptly to maintain accurate records.

“To assist with the onboarding of workers and aggregators, a toll-free helpline (14434) has been set up to provide information, guide registration, and resolve any technical issues encountered during the process.”

Dedicated committee
Dr. Mandaviya also instructed the Labour Ministry to form a dedicated committee to obtain the views of all stakeholders on how to “ensure an inclusive framework for social security for gig and platform workers”.

He added that the government is “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 minister also encouraged aggregators to list their job vacancies on the new National Career Service (NCS) portal to increase employment opportunities for millions across the country. The NCS portal is designed to provide a variety of employment-related services for jobseekers and employers, says the government.

“Our government is fully committed to the wellbeing of gig and platform workers, who form a crucial part of our workforce,” the Minister stated following an earlier meeting on 1 September, aimed at reviewing progress towards ensuring gig and platform workers have access to social security benefits.

Dr Mandaviya added that, for the first time, the Social Security Code defines gig and platform workers in India. “This is a significant step towards acknowledging and formalising the roles of gig and platform workers within our economy,” he noted.

Workers registered on the e-Shram portal, currently numbering around 300 million, qualify
for federal social welfare schemes, such as free food at their place of work and publicly-funded social insurance.

The e-Sharm portal is at:
eshram.gov.in