Labour Min To Soon Seek Cabinet Nod For Gig Workers’ Pension Scheme

New Delhi: The labour ministry will soon seek the Union Cabinet's approval for a pension scheme for one crore gig workers engaged with online platforms, where social security contribution will be made from their income for every transaction, said an official source.

This assumes significance in view of the Budget announcement earlier this month by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about rolling out of a social security scheme for one crore gig workers engaged with online platforms.

Sithraman had said in her Budget speech that the government will provide them identity cards and facilitate their registration on the e-Shram portal. She had further said that these workers will be provided healthcare under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana. This measure is likely to assist nearly 1 crore gig workers, she had said. The move will help these platform workers get benefits of social welfare schemes run by various government agencies.

The sources said the labour ministry is working on a mechanism to deduct social security contributions as a percentage by the online platforms like Ola, Uber on the income of these workers on every transaction just like the goods and services (GST) is collected.