Ministry of Labour and Employment organized an International Webinar on “New Forms of Employment with reference to Gig and Platform Working in the BRICS and Global South” in collaboration with the V. V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida, International Labour Organization (ILO), BRICS Network of Labour Research Institutes and the International Training Centre (ITC) of the ILO on yesterday.           

The objective of the International Webinar was to discuss two specific areas relating to new forms of employment; Opportunities and Challenges of the Gig and Platform Working, and Policy Environment to promote New Forms of Employment. The Webinar was envisaged to understand cross-country perspective on these two important issues.

The Webinar was inaugurated by Shri Sunil Barthwal, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, and Govt. of India. In his inaugural address, Shri Barthwal mentioned that the new forms of working like the Gig and Platform working has been able to create new employment opportunities but at the same time has thrown up new challenges in regard to the service conditions, totalisation of social security benefits, appropriate forum for disputes resolution, etc. He opined that there is a need to address these emerging issues by countries so that a win-win situation is there for all stakeholders.

In her Special Address Ms Dagmar Walter, Director, ILO DWT for South Asia mentioned that there is blurring of borders between the employees and the self-employed and the borders between the countries in regard to the Gig and Platform working which needs to be addressed to.

While chairing the Panel discussion on ‘Policy Environment to Promote New Forms of Employment’, Dr Shashank Goel, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment expressed that the market forces have been shaping these New forms of Employment including the Gig and Platform Working and countries may have to focus on addressing key concerns related to the social security. Dr Uma Rani, Senior Economist, ILO chaired the Panel discussion on ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Gig and Platform Working’ and discussed the contours of these new forms of working and the challenges and opportunities.

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BY/IG