State govt to extend social security benefits to gig workers

Kolkata: The state government has decided to extend the benefits of social security (Samajik Suraksha) to the gig workers across the state. The state will be extending life insurance in case of sudden death and other benefits of the existing Samajik Suraksha Yojana scheme and for this purpose the state will constitute a welfare board which will finalise the modalities of such a scheme.

According to sources in Nabanna, a meeting in this regard was recently held in presence of senior officials of state Finance, Labour and Transport department and representatives from the gig workers that include Swiggy, Zomato, Big Basket, Grofers, to name a few.

“We have decided to include the gig workers under the aegis of our social security scheme. We have plans to provide coupons or e-cards to the organisations under which they are employed and they will distribute the same to the employees of their respective organisations,” said Snehasis Chakraborty, state Transport minister.

The gig workers have to brave the inclement weather to deliver food or other necessities at the doorstep of the common people and the state is eager to provide some sort of benefits to

these workers.

“The welfare board will consist of government officials as well as representatives from the various organisations that engage gig workers. It will plan how health and other social benefits can be provided to them,” said a senior Nabanna official. The state does not have any database of such gig workers so to begin with the same will be prepared.

The state Labour department extended death benefits, provided fund benefits and disability benefits under Bina Mulya Samajik Suraksha Yojana. The death benefit and the disability benefit varies in the range of Rs 50,000 to 2 lakh.

The unorganised sector workers, comprising approximately 93 per cent of the working population of the state, have traditionally been one of the most vulnerable sections of the society. To alleviate their plight, the state government has, from time to time, launched a number of social security schemes for different categories of workers. However, there has been non-uniformity in the benefits of such schemes, resulting in occupation-based disparities across workmen.

In order to mitigate such anomalies, a project was undertaken with the objective of integrating the different schemes and to offer uniform benefits to all unorganised workmen, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2017 launched Samajik Suraksha Yojana, the first of its kind in the country to cover every eligible unorganised worker as per the approved list of unorganised industries (46) and self-employed occupations (15) notified by state the Labour department.

From April 1, 2020 in a move to assist the enrolled beneficiaries further, the state government decided to waive off the beneficiary contribution of Rs 25/month towards subscription payment for provident funds and decided to contribute the amount itself on behalf of the beneficiaries. The scheme was renamed as Bina Mulya Samajik Suraksha Yojana (BM-SSY) where any enrolled beneficiary can avail all the available benefits without spending a single rupee.