By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Most of the experts feel that pushing Gig and Platform Economy, in place of formal sector, would further deteriorate working conditions and throw the workforce into exploitative conditions, and therefore, NITI Aayog had to furnish a difficult task to portray worker perspective seemingly so rosy that could soften stiff resistance of workforce against PM Modi’s brand of labour reforms, which Central Trade Unions label as anti-workforce.
NITI Aayog in their recent report titled “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendation on the Future of Work” rightly says that the rise of the gig economy in India is changing the face for its workforce. And a gig worker is a person who engages in income-earning activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship, as well as in the informal sector, according to Union Ministry of Labour and employment. And when such workers use platforms – ie, websites or apps like Ola, Uber, Dunzo, Zomato, Swiggy or Urban Company – to connect with customers, they are called platform workers, as defined the OECD.
The current estimation for gig economy jobs in India is at 8 to 18 million only that is likely to increase to over 90 million jobs in the non-farm sector in the next eight to 10 years. During this period gig economy in India can see 250 billion dollar transactions at 1.25 per cent of the Country’s GDP. ASSOCHAM says that gig sector is set to expand to 455 billion dollars at a CAGR of 17 per cent by 2024. It seems impressive, if we entirely ignore the fact that such workers even lose the status of a ‘labour’ in absence of “traditional employer-employee” relationship and thereby all protection of labour laws whatever little is in existence today, and even lesser when the four labour codes will be implemented.
The report has identified four industries which would likely to produce more gigable jobs, which are Construction, Manufacturing, Retail, and Transportation and Logistics. These sectors would employ 70 million gig workers within 8 to 10 years. Not only that, the gig economy is fast-expanding in other industries such as textile, banking and financial services, electricity, gas and water, real estate, IT and ITES, education, and person services etc. Currently more than 75 per cent of the companies have less than 10 per cent of gig workers, but this proportion is bound to rise with MNCs turning to flexible hiring options. Shifting the focus to platform economy, a subset of the gig economy, about 24 million jobs could be converted to technology-based gig labour with about three million jobs in shared services and another eight million jobs servicing household demand.
This entire gig work force is labelled by NITI Aayog as new-age workforce, which presently, barring a few, have little or almost no social security coverage with very bad working conditions. The balance is tilted towards employers at the cost of workforce, a situation that Modi government wants to push. “The increasing prominence of gig and platform workers must be acknowledged, if India is to leverage the full potential of this new-age workforce”, the report emphasized.
NITI Aayog is clearly batting for the Union Government led by PM Modi under BJP, the members of which have one time said even selling ‘pakoda’ is a job and at another time even ‘begging’ is a job. Their audacity continues even after the unprecedented bad experience during COVID-19 crisis, when even such ‘employed’ persons could not sell or beg anything due to lockdowns and restrictions losing their ‘jobs’. What India and its workforce actually needed is regular, salaried, and formal jobs with full social security coverage. We have already a very large majority of workers in unorganised and informal sector without quality and secure jobs having no regular works, regular salary, and social security.
The government think tank even goes beyond what can justifiably be said, since there is no evidence-based analysis around gig and platform work. Even as it accepts gig work has ‘many undefined aspects’. Platform worker is a better subset within the gig worker, however, even platform worker need ‘protection’ while encouraging employment opportunity, the report has clearly revealed.
As for technology diffusion and evolving future of work, it points out the huge difference between platform-mediated jobs and those in the wider unorganised economy that entails the definition of the job itself. The report says options for gig workers a democratization of jobs, by ignoring the modern day economic slavery in which employers says employee is free to quit job if one is not satisfied with salary or working condition knowing it well that the employee cannot exercise his democratic option empty stomach, without job and without food. Such worker is bound to accept the exploitative condition. How can one say it democratization of jobs? Especially when the entire law heavily favours the employer in the name of “ease of doing business”?
Hiring options for employer, especially corporate and MNCs, are very liberal and they can easily hire and fire without obligation for welfare and social security of the workforce. This too cannot be said that “previously engaged” gig workers would have better income opportunities in similar non-platform jobs, and cannot be termed as “occupational mobility”. Such observation is just opposite the workers’ real painful experience of ‘in and out of job’. It is like “occupational hazard” not “occupational mobility” especially when “sword” of losing job always be hanging over the head.
It is therefore misleading to say that there will be reliability of work, especially on the platforms. Workers would face numerous challenges for now and many of them were enumerated even by the study. Access to internet services and digital technology can be restrictive factor for workers willing to take up jobs in the gig and platform sector, it says.
Lack of job security, irregularity of wages, and uncertain employment status for workers are significant challenges noted by studies in the gig and platform sectors. Even this report says that uncertainty associated with regularity in the available work and income may lead to increase stress and pressure for workers.
The report also accepts that employees would be termed as “independent contractors” and as such, platform workers cannot access many of the workplace protections and entitlements. Moreover, studies have also reported that workers engaged in remunerative activities with digital platforms may face stress due to pressures resulting from algorithmic management practices and performance evaluation on the basis of rating.
Thus, growth of business in labour platforms needs to be balanced with decent working conditions and well-being of workers, the NITI Aayog study accepts, but unfortunately its recommendations are made as if championing the cause of Gig and Platform Economy on behalf of Modi government, at a very inopportune time of joblessness and rising prices that is increasing hunger and malnutrition in the country. Increasing gigable jobs in place of quality, regular, salaried, and secure jobs with full security coverage is a bad idea. (IPA Service)
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