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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 343
TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026
WELFARE OF INFORMAL AND GIG WORKERS IN KERALA
343. SHRI BENNY BEHANAN:
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to
state:
(a)whether the Government has taken any note of the growing shift
from formal employment to informal and platform-based work in
Kerala, particularly among educated youth and returned migrants
and if so, the details thereof;
(b)whether any assessment has been conducted on the coverage of
workers under social security schemes, including ESI, EPFO, and
the e-Shram portal in the country, State/UT-wise with specific
reference to Kerala and if so, the details thereof;
(c)whether the Government proposes to introduce State-specific
interventions to address job insecurity in Kerala including portable
social security benefits, unemployment support and skill
recertification for workers transitioning between sectors and if so,
the details thereof; and
(d)whether any steps are being considered to ensure labour
protections, minimum income safeguards and grievance redressal
mechanisms for platform and gig workers in Kerala?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)
(a) to (d): Employment generation coupled with improving
employability is a priority of the Government. Accordingly,
Government is implementing various employment generation
schemes/ programmes. The details of the major employment
generation schemes/programmes implemented by the Government
are at https://dge.gov.in/dge/schemes_programmes.
Contd..2/-:: 2 ::
The Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of
India, is running the National Career Service (NCS) Portal which is
a one-stop solution for providing career related services including
jobs from private and government sectors, information on online &
offline job fairs, job search & matching, career counselling,
vocational guidance, information on skill development courses,
skill/training programmes etc. through a digital platform
[www.ncs.gov.in].
To enhance the employability, digital and career skills
of jobseekers and empower & equip youth with an array of
essential employable skills, NCS Portal inter-alia offers online
employability enhancement programmes, digital skill
enhancement programmes and self-paced career skill
programmes. NCS portal is integrated with Skill India Digital Hub
(SIDH) that is specially designed and developed to skill, reskill and
upskill individuals through an online training platform for jobs and
entrepreneurial opportunities. The integration of NCS Portal with
SIDH has paved the way for the skilled jobseekers on SIDH to avail
the benefits of NCS Portal and the jobseekers of NCS to avail the
skilling services offered by SIDH.
Total number of contributing members in Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is 7.78 Crore.
There are 14.91 Crore beneficiaries including 3.84 Crore
insured persons under Employees’ State Insurance scheme. The
field offices identify the uncovered units from the data of the
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), EPFO and other
organisations to cover the unrecoverable units under the ambit of
the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
Recently, ESIC launched Scheme for Promotion of
Registration of Employers and Employees (SPREE) to create
awareness about the coverage in ESIC and to provide one-time
opportunity to all uncovered employers to register their units
under ESIC with the facility of not submitting any previous records,
and to register new employees for already covered units.
Contd..3/-:: 3 ::
During SPREE, the details of the coverage under State
of Kerala up to 24.12.2026 are:
Employer :4310
Employees :200902
The Ministry of Labour and Employment had launched
eShram portal on 26.08.2021 for creation of a Comprehensive
National Database of Unorganised Workers including platform
workers, migrant workers etc. The eShram portal registers the
unorganised workers including gig and platform workers and
provides them a Universal Account Number (UAN) on a self-
declaration basis. As on 28.01.2026, over 31.48 crore unorganised
workers have already been registered on eShram portal. The
details of State-wise number of unorganised workers registered on
eShram portal enrolled under different social security schemes is
annexed.
The Code on Social Security, 2020 has come into force
on 21.11.2025 with the objective to consolidate and simplify the
existing social security laws into a single framework and to extend
social security coverage to all workers, including organized,
unorganized, gig, platform, and self-employed workers, by ensuring
universal access to social security benefits, promoting portability
of benefits across employments and States, enabling the Central
and State Governments to frame appropriate schemes, leveraging
technology for efficient delivery, and clearly defining the roles of
governments, employers, and aggregators in order to provide
comprehensive social protection to the workforce in line with
evolving labour market conditions.
For the first time, the definition of ‘gig workers’ and
‘platform workers’ and provisions related to the same have been
provided in the Code on Social Security, 2020. The Code provides
for framing of suitable social security measures for gig workers
and platform workers on matters relating to life and disability
cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, old age
protection, etc. The Code also provides for setting up of a Social
Security Fund for financing of social security and welfare schemes
for gig and platform workers.
Contd..4/-:: 4 ::
The Code has provisions for setting up a toll-free call centre, or
helpline or facilitation centres for unorganised, gig, and platform
workers by the appropriate Government. These facilities are to
disseminate information on available social security schemes,
facilitate filing, processing and forwarding of application forms for
registration, assist to obtain registration and facilitate the
enrolment of the registered unorganized workers, gig workers and
platform workers in the social security schemes.
* *****Annexure referred in reply to part (a) to (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 343 for 02.02.2026 regarding “Welfare of Informal and Gig
Workers in Kerala”
State/UT-wise details of unorganised workers registered on eShram portal enrolled under different social security schemes as on 27.01.2026.
Sl.N State/Uts ONORC PM- MGNRE PMAY-G IGNDP IGNWP PMAY-U PMM PMJJBY PMSBY PMJAY PMKISAN PMMV
o. SVANIDH GA S S SY Y
I
1 Andaman And Nicobar Islands 9,350 180 2,191 364 1 5 16 13 4,859 11,716 25,931 1,316 27
2 Andhra Pradesh 54,92,172 1,37,372 34,74,803 61,816 5,110 1,30,314 4,80,588 1,203 11,31,808 31,09,075 75,15,741 10,48,989 48,289
3 Arunachal Pradesh 1,20,277 2,532 98,175 7,988 340 1,361 2,197 17 16,142 61,114 48,212 46,127 84
4 Assam 70,99,856 24,977 24,33,229 2,81,048 8,832 29,867 27,881 2,718 3,77,494 16,39,988 41,16,775 10,32,072 1,47,687
5 Bihar 2,69,98,941 86,753 51,04,073 19,31,267 20,866 83,556 45,887 550 21,33,461 89,48,182 2,43,52,485 38,32,574 4,90,564
6 Chandigarh 1,25,167 3,413 2,105 825 27 322 76 - 15,276 49,508 1,07,439 7,866 3,262
7 Chhattisgarh 65,15,437 44,489 37,99,348 5,08,421 12,710 74,971 77,713 178 7,74,111 28,86,076 78,44,126 12,09,886 1,40,607
8 Delhi 22,75,624 92,832 28,548 16,441 1,148 535 3,389 7 2,04,762 8,08,131 4,26,661 1,18,054 57,683
9 Goa 46,876 323 2,187 134 48 601 8 27 8,596 23,756 12,997 2,010 1,165
10 Gujarat 90,08,502 2,29,038 13,36,630 2,51,636 7,580 1,00,363 26,918 93 8,56,368 28,88,094 96,48,461 17,38,643 1,17,336
11 Haryana 44,45,813 77,946 5,36,513 16,836 7,157 23,574 8,858 298 6,04,428 14,64,451 43,24,808 4,26,741 38,043
12 Himachal Pradesh 10,33,668 2,753 7,53,998 9,977 55 1,585 4,094 75 1,47,357 4,33,530 6,41,613 3,54,892 596
13 Jammu And Kashmir 28,21,189 11,145 9,51,267 1,35,891 950 2,463 17,054 411 26,086 1,24,045 34,03,135 4,71,072 55,738
14 Jharkhand 83,19,490 44,770 23,18,048 5,68,277 9,042 49,384 41,458 1,857 11,01,548 37,59,459 52,46,825 12,62,970 1,00,750
15 Karnataka 77,44,456 1,52,971 30,04,200 55,840 10,512 1,09,222 22,730 189 7,39,993 22,68,269 39,97,566 9,73,294 1,97,640
16 Kerala 36,69,058 49,495 12,34,720 10,098 3,907 87,290 43,650 458 2,15,312 11,44,021 22,80,959 10,84,884 58,052
17 Ladakh 26,139 129 13,663 484 7 24 97 24 1,002 3,808 31,615 7,968 556
18 Lakshadweep 1,487 3 70 10 8 2 1 1 178 560 1,850 308 28
19 Madhya Pradesh 1,57,01,449 4,72,091 41,83,220 2,93,914 2,913 9,386 1,86,362 605 14,96,762 64,85,385 1,27,37,279 29,08,465 4,86,03720 Maharashtra 1,39,94,832 3,18,991 26,75,243 2,21,922 2,443 30,700 35,372 751 15,03,714 50,16,948 1,08,76,049 22,58,235 2,65,640
21 Manipur 4,23,103 4,841 1,98,247 29,014 71 2,069 8,143 216 18,285 80,276 1,94,744 29,530 14,519
22 Meghalaya 2,14,024 19 2,11,017 45,268 236 1,766 738 417 15,855 69,810 1,96,027 76,100 3,957
23 Mizoram 52,320 590 27,062 5,058 29 102 2,490 5 2,029 8,830 49,334 21,158 357
24 Nagaland 2,30,393 1,586 77,629 13,391 20 139 7,541 625 13,780 72,300 1,98,434 89,553 3,687
25 Odisha 1,22,37,510 35,156 28,03,470 11,41,221 33,996 1,59,153 75,568 415 15,79,286 55,38,106 27,002 19,67,756 1,849
26 Puducherry 1,58,666 1,579 30,311 90 181 515 5,259 6,988 11,361 33,281 1,19,355 2,973 1,261
27 Punjab 45,27,787 76,339 7,01,010 16,951 1,022 2,659 14,294 46 4,82,181 15,55,562 30,49,197 2,37,665 1,08,449
28 Rajasthan 1,05,55,516 89,877 48,12,706 4,46,165 5,723 48,082 49,915 3 13,17,827 47,42,729 65,46,447 22,65,724 4,64,371
29 Sikkim 38,025 273 15,707 200 1 3 4 31 5,360 15,207 11,209 5,206 270
30 Tamil Nadu 61,15,357 86,603 35,23,842 2,07,545 7,351 57,260 45,012 1,649 6,14,956 19,36,258 45,83,677 5,48,163 41,923
31 Telangana 31,51,597 1,39,837 16,78,141 689 5,423 22,990 807 56 4,35,452 12,56,343 22,47,439 7,11,342 819
The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And
32 Daman And Diu 54,422 705 1,578 1,075 10 55 148 3 7,013 16,999 51,812 4,366 123
33 Tripura 6,57,330 2,819 4,92,681 1,55,578 299 1,430 20,504 1,124 89,989 2,25,797 8,22,072 1,11,433 66
34 Uttar Pradesh 6,78,56,430 9,54,658 92,73,867 17,68,140 4,577 44,404 10,90,163 1,622 44,08,168 1,87,37,113 3,24,06,684 1,20,58,012 2,44,262
35 Uttarakhand 21,26,113 15,186 6,12,046 37,443 370 3,489 14,541 185 1,98,863 8,76,380 27,65,447 3,56,622 58,392
36 West Bengal 1,88,78,776 86,999 54,31,174 15,82,497 14,578 93,515 1,28,707 1,014 19,92,422 88,33,727 96,788 22,69,167 22,261
*****