Eye on Rajasthan polls, CM Gehlot reaches out to gig workers with welfare measures

With nearly six months left for the Assembly elections, the Rajasthan Government is working overtime to deliver the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023, which has stringent provisions against errant aggregators, including barring them from operating in the State. 

With nearly six months left for the Assembly elections, the Rajasthan Government is working overtime to deliver the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023, which has stringent provisions against errant aggregators, including barring them from operating in the State. 

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced his government’s intentions to bring the Bill in his Budget speech in February. 

The draft Bill, a copy of which was accessed by  The Hindu, envisages a Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers Welfare Board that will function like a mothership for over three lakh persons employed with various online service providers in the State. It will design welfare policies and hear grievances of the workers hired on a piece rate basis. 

“All platform-based gig workers registered with any platform shall be automatically registered with the board irrespective of the duration of their engagement with the platform. The board shall generate a unique ID for every platform-based gig worker registered with one or more aggregators in the State,” the Bill states. This unique ID will be valid for three years. 

Mr. Gehlot had announced ₹200 crore seed fund for the board to begin its work. But importantly, the Bill gives powers to the board to decide the quantum of cess that every aggregator will have to pay towards this social welfare corpus. This cess shall be a percentage of every transaction that takes place on the platform. 

A platform that flouts the provisions of the Bill, that includes integrating the data of the gig workers employed with the board and sharing data of every transaction that takes place on their platform, can be fined up to ₹10 lakh for the first contravention and up to ₹1 crore for subsequent ones. The Bill also empowers the board to recommend suspension of operations of the errant aggregator temporarily or permanently in the State. 

The draft Bill that is with the Law department currently, will be put in public domain soon inviting feedback.