Odisha’s digital economy is booming, and platform-based jobs keep growing, but most gig workers here still don’t have real social security. This week in the State Assembly, Labour and ESI Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia admitted that gig and platform workers’ registrations on the national e-Shram portal are still seriously low.
Only 17,450 gig and platform workers from Odisha have signed up so far. If you Dig a little deeper—just 230 delivery workers are officially covered under the Odisha Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Board. That leaves thousands—delivery folks, ride-hailing drivers, and so on—on the outside, missing out on things like medical insurance, accident cover, and even a Universal Account Number.
The data speaks for itself: according to data shared in the Lok Sabha in 2021, Odisha had about 52,123 gig workers. Those were pre-pandemic days, and experts say the sector’s probably twice that size now. But even with that old figure, less than a third of workers are registered. The gap just keeps widening as gig work spreads.
So why are these numbers stuck? Labour officials and board members point out two big issues: excessive working hours and the fact that gig workers don’t have a union or association here to back them up. Many spend more than 12 hours a day on the job, so when are they supposed to sort out registration paperwork? On top of that, with no organized group pushing for their rights or spreading the word, a lot of folks just don’t know what’s available.