Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting her record eighth Union Budget this year, announced several measures to bring gig workers under social security safety nets.
The Finance Minister announced that e-Shram portal registration and insurance will now be extended to gig workers.
The e-Shram portal, launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2021, aims to create a national database of unorganised workers in India.
“Gig workers of online platforms provide great dynamism to the new-age services economy. Recognising their contribution, our government will arrange for their identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal,” the FM said in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman also announced that gig workers would be provided health insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which is expected to benefit over 1 crore gig workers.
Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is the world’s largest health assurance scheme, offering Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. It provides cashless healthcare access at empanelled hospitals, covering pre-existing conditions from day one.
Designed to prevent catastrophic medical expenses that push nearly 60 million Indians into poverty annually, PM-JAY covers three days of pre-hospitalisation and 15 days of post-hospitalisation costs, including diagnostics and medicines. The scheme has no restrictions on family size, age, or gender, and its benefits are portable nationwide, allowing beneficiaries to receive treatment at any registered public or private hospital.
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