Gig Worker Health Cover Delay Exposes Gap Between Registration and Entitlement
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.
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.
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.
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.
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