Karnataka govt to discuss Bill on levying cess to gig workers during winter session
Bengaluru: The state government is likely to introduce in the winter session of the Karnataka Assembly this year a Bill to levy a cess that will fund the welfare of gig workers, an issue that is being discussed for several months.
The quantum to be levied as cess for the welfare of the workers is yet to be confirmed and there is also ambiguity in the draft Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill regarding the calculation of the cess to be levied. The authorities concerned are yet to decide if the cess should be levied as per transaction or based on the state-specific turnover of an aggregator, Deccan Herald reports.
Mohammed Mohsin, Principal Secretary of the Labour Department has said that the Department had already held 20 to 25 rounds of discussions on the matters with the stakeholders. A levy of cess as per transaction was preferred by both parties since the aggregators do not usually disclose their total turnover.
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The Bill drafted proposes to set up a Karnataka Gig Worker’s Social Security and Welfare Fund, inclusive of money from the cess, government grant as well as contributions by individual platform-based gig workers.
During the Karnataka Assembly elections of 2023 too, the Congress had promised in its manifesto efforts for the welfare of gig workers. The party had also assured the workers that a Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers’ Welfare Board would be set up with Rs 3,000-crore seed money as a revolving fund.
The Niti Aayog report of 2022 has stated that the gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore by 2029-30, which makes the Bill crucial.
Citing the provisions of the Centre’s Social Security Code, 2020, Babu Mathew from the Centre for Labour Studies at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) also opined that contribution by an aggregator shall not cross 5 per cent of the amount that is paid or payable to either gig or platform workers.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
