Platform economy

Entitlement extension should be calibrated

The Union government’s think tank, NITI Aayog, has released a new policy brief titled “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy”, which has catalysed significant discussion. The brief, which claims to offer “perspectives and recommendations on the future of work”, provides a handy guide to this increasing segment of the labour force — but also some recommendations, which need to be more widely discussed. There is no question that at least some coherent thinking needs to be applied to gig work in India. As the brief points out, as of now almost 8 million workers are part of India’s gig economy,