Karnataka government releases draft Bill for welfare of platform-based gig workers

Also Read: Kerala to address gig workers’ rights

Held discussions

Speaking to PTI, Labour Minister Santosh Lad said the government has held discussions with numerous stakeholders including Flipkart, Amazon, Zomato, and Swiggy.

“One is that how do you generate revenue, whether to call it as a fee, whether you call it as a cess or a tax. So, the idea is whether we should go on a transactional model basis or we should go on a turnover basis. So, at last, most of the people have agreed that it should go on a transactional basis and not on a turnover basis,”, he said.

The minister said the Bill would be tabled in the next Assembly session.

“We have talked to everybody, we had called the trade bodies, unions, NGOs, we have taken all their inputs and based on their inputs, we have come up with this new Bill,” he said.

“My fundamental point is especially people who are working in gig platforms, they are compromising with their life and health and the reason is if anybody is working 15-16 hours a day on the road… especially two-wheelers, auto-rickshaw drivers, or for that matter, four wheelers, they are exposed to the hazardous carbon dioxide they have to inhale so much.

Also Read: Karnataka government rolls out insurance scheme for gig workers

To take care of health

That’s one fundamental point where all these people have to look into because how much ever you pay, more or less health is compromised,” Lad said.

“Keeping that into consideration, we are trying to create more cess so that we can take care of their health properly. The first concern is their health. Longevity of their life is more priority and taking care of their family and children will be our priority and that is where all this gig platform workers will benefit from this very bill,” the Minister explained.

There are nearly two lakh gig workers in Bengaluru alone who are attached to various platforms, according to officials.

According to the draft, a platform based gig worker will have the right to be registered with the State Government upon being onboarded on any platform, irrespective of the duration of the work, and be provided a Unique ID applicable across all platforms, have access to general and specific social security schemes based on contributions made by them as may be notified by the state government and can access a grievance redressal mechanism.

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