The 2025-26 Tamil Nadu budget has earmarked funds towards the welfare of gig workers in the State. In his speech, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced that 2,000 gig workers registered with the Gig Workers Welfare Board would receive a subsidy of Rs. 20,000 to purchase new e-scooters, and that approximately 1.5 lakh gig workers would be covered under a group insurance scheme that will provide compensation for accidental death or disability. Further, the administration proposes to set-up in key metro cities such as Chennai and Coimbatore, lounges equipped with essential facilities for the convenience of gig workers on the move.
Gig workers work on flexible timings and are often associated with multiple service platforms. According to reports, Tamil Nadu has lakhs of gig workers and most of them struggle with unstable incomes and poor working conditions. While it is welcome that the State Budget has made provisions for their welfare, it will take more than funds to address their struggles. In particular, it is hard not to question the effectiveness of the e-scooter subsidy – given that the city does not have robust EV charging infrastructure, how useful can it be for workers who often travel more than a hundred kilometres a day?
It is a sad fact that though gig workers endure gruelling hours – especially when it is the primary source of income – their nature of work falls outside traditional employment norms that typically safeguard social security. The distinction is, in fact, acknowledged by the Code of Social Security 2020 which specifies that gig workers are owed social security schemes from gig employers; however, enforcing the mandate has proved a challenge due to the lack of understanding around prevailing ground realities. Gig workers are not quite covered in terms of minimum wages, workplace safety or wrongful termination. The challenges they face on the ground are not quite acknowledged, either – for example, a gig worker typically goes uncompensated for traffic jams or diversions, which eat into the margins he/she makes. Consider, also, the prospect of taking up gig work in the summers; they risk the hazards of working in the heat but receive no safety provisions or commensurate benefits from gig employers. The lounges proposed to be built under the current Budget, therefore, stand to deliver more than comfort and convenience – they could well be lifelines. It is arguable that such crucial initiatives ought to fall within the purview of gig employers. It is unfortunate that they are unburdened by the responsibility of caring for their hires; after all, they appear to have a disproportionate gain from the work arrangements they strike with gig workers.
Tamil Nadu constituted a Gig Workers Welfare Board in December 2023, but the Board has reportedly received only 4,000 registrations. A report in The Hindu states that the OTP verification of Aadhar numbers has proved a challenge for workers, and that the civic body plans to use a biometric system to shore up registrations. While ensuring coverage, it would augur well for the administration to also focus on framing State-level regulations that can be enforced to ensure that gig workers too receive from their employers fair leave policies, health insurance, maternity leave and workplace safety. Efforts must also be undertaken with respect to data gathering and analysis. If it is to conduct an accurate analysis of the working conditions of gig workers, the administration must work on compiling varied streams of data across platforms and government bodies. As for the platforms, it must be incumbent on them to be transparent about the remuneration models, benefits and grievance addressal systems they extend to the workers in their employ.