The Telangana Gig Workers’ Social Security and Welfare Scheme has drawn criticism from BRS General Secretary T Jeevan Reddy, who said the package should include a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 4,000 for workers who have taken up platform-based jobs after failing to secure government employment.
Reddy questioned the distinction between the benefits announced under the new scheme and insurance and health policies already available in Telangana. Speaking to ANI, he said gig workers were largely educated young people, including graduates, postgraduates and those with technical degrees, who had been pushed into gig work because government jobs were unavailable.
His remarks followed the launch of the Telangana Gig Workers’ Social Security and Welfare Scheme by Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi said he had held a detailed meeting with Telangana’s gig workers in 2023, when workers discussed their hardships, needs and demands.
According to Gandhi’s account of the scheme, eligible workers will receive accident insurance worth Rs 5 lakh and health insurance of Rs 10 lakh. One per cent of their earnings will also be contributed towards a pension, while the scheme provides workers with rights over their data and earnings.
The package also includes Wi-Fi-enabled rest centres at various locations. The facilities are intended to provide gig workers with designated places to rest while working across the city, although the source report does not specify the number, locations or implementation timeline for the centres.
Gandhi described the measures as legal rights for Telangana’s gig workers rather than only welfare benefits. He said the initiative was intended to provide workers with rights, dignity and security for the future, and that it fulfilled an assurance given after his 2023 interaction with workers.
Reddy, however, said the scheme did not introduce enough new support for workers. He referred to a previously announced insurance plan for families and elders holding ration cards and living below the poverty line, as well as health insurance coverage of up to Rs 10 lakh under the Rajiv Arogya scheme.
The exchange places the focus on how Telangana will define and implement social security for app-based delivery workers, drivers and other platform workers. The source report does not provide the scheme’s eligibility rules, the agencies responsible for enrolment, the funding mechanism for the insurance and pension contributions, or details of how workers’ data and earnings rights will be enforced.
The state government’s next steps, including the operational guidelines, enrolment process and rollout schedule for the insurance, pension, data rights and rest-centre provisions, were not specified in the report.
