"Govt mulls reworking migrant, gig worker definitions,"

The Union labour ministry is reviewing definitions of migrant and gig workers to enhance inclusivity and clarity, covering intra-state migrations and digital platforms...

Informal workforce categories, such as migrants and platform workers, are mainly covered by The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020, and the Code on Social Security, 2020...

“There is a need to redefine a migrant worker to make it more inclusive. There has to be a benchmark on how many kilometers does a worker need to relocate for work from his usual place of stay to be legally considered a migrant worker,” the person cited above said...

OSH Code 2020 updated the definition to include workers directly hired by a firm in another state. Moreover, a person who voluntarily migrates for work to another state was also covered under the new legislation provided the worker made a declaration by registering on the “E-Shram” portal with a 12-digit Aadhaar number, to be eligible for social-security benefits...

The labour ministry is considering widening the scope of this definition, which may cover intra-state migrations too, the official said. By setting down a km-based threshold – the minimum distance of migration – a reworked definition could cover workers who migrate within a state.

According to the 2011 Census, over 85% of workers migrate within a state. “Arriving at the threshold will require experts’ views and consultations,” the official said.

The government is also planning to bring more clarity to the definition of gig or platform workers, a class of workforce enabled by the growing digital technology-based platforms...

“All platform workers are likely to be gig workers. Platform workers are paid on a per-task basis, but all gig workers may not necessarily be platform workers,” said Madhusoodhan M, a scholar at the School of Business, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore...