IAS/UPSC Coaching Institute  

05 Jan 2026 : High and dry

 Editorial 2: ​High and dry

Context

Social security for gig workers must move beyond intent and become genuinely accessible, reliable, and secure in practice.

 

Introduction

The nationwide gig worker strike exposed the deep structural insecurity embedded in platform-based work. Even as the government moves to operationalise new labour codes, gig workers remain excluded from protections on wages and working conditions. The draft Rules’ narrow focus on social security risks offering formal recognition without addressing the everyday vulnerabilities of app-mediated labour.

 

Context of the Strike and Policy Backdrop

  • A nationwide strike by nearly one lakh gig workers on December 31 highlighted deepening precarity
  • A platform CEO’s praise for police intervention underscored the power imbalance
  • The protest coincided with the release of draft Labour Rules, sharpening workers’ anxieties
  • Gig workers are included only for social security, not for wages or working conditions

 

Limits of the Current Labour Code Framework

  • The Code on Wages excludes gig work from a formal employment relationship
  • Platforms are required only to make a gross contribution to a social security fund
  • Core worker concerns such as algorithmic pay cuts and opaque incentives remain untouched
  • OSH&WC Rules, designed around traditional employers and the Shram Suvidha Portal, fail to reflect app-based work realities

 

Problems with Social Security Eligibility Design

  • Gig workers must register on a portal, while aggregators must upload worker data quarterly
  • Eligibility requires 90 days with one aggregator or 120 cumulative days across platforms
  • Although multi-platform work can accelerate eligibility, it does not limit platform control over work allocation
  • Fixed time windows risk penalising workers facing illness, caregiving duties, or demand slumps

 

Need for Redesign to Ensure Real Security

  • Social security must be accessible and secure in practice, not merely promised
  • Eligibility thresholds should protect workers during maternity, illness, and economic downturns
  • Rules must clearly define benefits, minimum fund guarantees, and dispute resolution mechanisms
  • Workers should receive periodic work statements and have the right to contest faulty data
  • Without these reforms, the new regime will leave the structural insecurity behind gig worker strikes unresolved

 

Conclusion

Unless redesigned, the draft Rules will institutionalise precarity rather than alleviate it. Accessible, reliable social security, clear benefit entitlements, and accountability of aggregators are essential to restore worker trust. Without safeguards for care work, illness, and demand shocks, the reforms will fail to resolve the insecurity that continues to drive gig worker unrest.