The Telangana government has issued a GO constituting the Telangana State Social Security Board (TSSSB) for unorganised workers. It required a PIL and a long legal battle to compel the State into creating a mechanism to create a welfare net for workers as part of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act 2008.
“It is a welcome step, albeit delayed. But, we are not happy with the constitution of the board. There is no representation of women as specified in the sub-section 4 of Section 6 of the Act. Domestic workers are not represented and female agricultural workers, who constitute 57% of the workforce, have also been ignored,” says Usha Seetha Lakshmi, an independent researcher and activist.
Among the 28 members of the newly-constituted board, there is zero representation of women. The board has representatives who are government officials, representatives of employers, unions of workers, two MLAs and members from civil society. Among the board members, the employers’ representatives include three builders, two rice millers, gas dealers, and a beedi manufacturer.
“Gig workers and platform workers have been left out. Workers with companies like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo have been ignored though they number about 1.8 lakh. What’s the point of the board if such a large section of workforce is ignored?” asks Shaikh Saluddin of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT). The workers’ union has dashed off a mail to Minister of Labour and Employment Malla Reddy demanding inclusion of a representative from gig workers’ union.
The 2008 Act makes it mandatory to register workers and create a safety mechanism that can kick in times of crisis like COVID, where millions of workers were rendered jobless.
“If the board was constituted earlier and had registered the workers in the unorganised sector, the migrant crisis triggered by the lockdown would have been better handled. The workers could have claimed benefits on the basis of their registration,” says Anant Maringanti of Hyderabad Urban Labs, who was involved in mapping the migrant crisis as it unfolded.
Interestingly, the appointment of Officers as Registering Authority for the purpose of Registration of Unorganised workers in the State has been notified on March 16, two days before the hearing of the PIL, which led to the creation of the TSSSB.
