Gig workers still await Ayushman Bharat cover; over 10.65 lakh registered on e-Shram portal
Over 10.65 lakh gig and platform workers have registered on the e-Shram portal, but no timeline has been specified for extending Ayushman Bharat health coverage to them
The Union Budget had announced healthcare coverage for gig and platform workers under Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), alongside e-Shram registration and issuance of identity cards
Registration drives have continued to expand the registered worker base, but the health insurance benefit itself has not yet been operationalised
The gap illustrates a lag between enumeration (registering workers on a database) and entitlement (workers actually receiving the promised benefit)
Code on Social Security, 2020 — Statutory Recognition of Gig and Platform Workers
The Code on Social Security, 2020 is one of four labour codes (along with the Codes on Wages, Industrial Relations, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions) that consolidated 29 central labour laws. It was the first Indian statute to formally define "gig worker" and "platform worker" as categories distinct from traditional employer-employee relationships, creating a legal basis for extending social security to them.
Key Details
- Section 2(35) defines a "gig worker" as a person who performs work outside a traditional employer-employee relationship and earns from such activities
- Section 2(61) defines a "platform worker" as a person engaged in work arrangements outside traditional employment where organisations or individuals access other people via an online platform for specific services
- Section 114 empowers the Central Government to notify welfare schemes for gig and platform workers, funded partly by aggregator (platform company) contributions of 1-2% of annual turnover, subject to a cap of 5% of the amount paid by the aggregator to such workers
- Chapter IX of the Code deals specifically with social security for unorganised workers, gig workers, and platform workers
The Code's Section 114 welfare-scheme mechanism is the statutory hook being used to extend AB-PMJAY health cover to gig workers — but the scheme notification and rollout under this provision remains pending, which is why beneficiaries who have registered are still without coverage.
Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)
AB-PMJAY is the health insurance component of Ayushman Bharat, providing cashless secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation cover through empanelled public and private hospitals. It is implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Key Details
- Launched September 23, 2018; provides cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year
- Original eligibility was based on deprivation and occupational criteria from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, targeting roughly the bottom 40% of the population by income
- Extension to gig and platform workers (announced in the Union Budget) marks a shift toward occupation-linked eligibility for a category of workers who may not otherwise qualify under SECC deprivation criteria
- Implemented through a mix of insurance-based and trust-based models depending on the state
Extending PM-JAY eligibility to all registered gig workers — regardless of SECC deprivation status — would be a structural widening of the scheme's targeting logic, but this expansion has not yet been notified or rolled out.
e-Shram Portal — National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW)
e-Shram is the Union government's national database intended to register India's unorganised workforce, including gig and platform workers, on a self-declaration basis and issue them a Universal Account Number (UAN) for identification and delivery of welfare benefits.
Key Details
- Launched August 26, 2021, by the Ministry of Labour and Employment
- Covers workers across roughly 400 occupations grouped into about 30 broad sectors
- Total registrations across all categories of unorganised workers have crossed 30 crore; gig and platform worker registrations remain a much smaller subset (in the lakhs) of this total
- Several central welfare schemes have been mapped/integrated with the e-Shram database to enable benefit delivery
e-Shram registration is the precondition for a gig worker to be identified as an AB-PMJAY beneficiary under the proposed extension — the article's 10.65 lakh figure reflects registration progress, but registration alone does not trigger the health benefit until the scheme is formally notified.
Article 41 — Directive Principle on Right to Work and Public Assistance
Article 41, part of the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV), directs the State to make effective provision, within its economic capacity, for securing the right to work, education, and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, and disablement.
Key Details
- DPSPs are not enforceable in court but are stated to be "fundamental in the governance of the country" (Article 37)
- Article 41 is the constitutional anchor cited for extending social security to workers outside formal employment structures
- The provision is qualified by the State's "economic capacity and development," which is often invoked to justify phased or delayed implementation
The gig worker health cover extension is framed as an effort to operationalise Article 41 for a class of workers who fall outside traditional employer-provided social security — the delay in rollout reflects the non-justiciable, aspirational character of DPSPs, which cannot be judicially enforced even when announced in a Budget.
- Gig and platform workers registered on e-Shram (per this report): over 10.65 lakh
- AB-PMJAY cover: ₹5 lakh per family per year; scheme launched September 23, 2018
- e-Shram portal launched: August 26, 2021, by the Ministry of Labour and Employment
- Gig worker defined under Code on Social Security, 2020, Section 2(35); platform worker under Section 2(61)
- Aggregator contribution to the social security fund under Section 114: 1-2% of annual turnover, capped at 5% of payments made to gig/platform workers
- Four labour codes (Wages, Industrial Relations, Social Security, Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions) consolidated 29 central labour laws