GIG WORKERS IN INDIA AND POLICY GAPS
TOPIC: (GS2) SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HEALTH: THE HINDU
The Union Budget 202526 announced healthcare coverage for gig workers registered on the eShram portal. While the government estimated over 1 crore gig workers, only 8.58 lakh registrations were recorded as of January 2026, leaving nearly five out of six gig workers outside the government’s reach.
Gig Economy in India
- Defined under the Code on Social Security, 2020.
- Workers engaged in food delivery, transportation, domestic work, retail, healthcare, and education.
- NITI Aayog’s 2022 report estimated: 77 lakh gig workers (202021), 1.27 crore (202425), 1.43 crore (202526)
- Gig workforce accounts for 2% of India’s total workforce of 61.6 crore (PLFS 2025).
Registration Trends
- eShram portal (2021): Aadhaarseeded National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW).
- Registrations surged after health coverage announcement in Budget 202526.
- Yet, only ~15% of estimated gig workers are registered.
- State disparities: Tamil Nadu (31,654), Telangana (29,951), Kerala (11,219) not among top 10 despite high urbanisation.
Challenges
- Measurement gap: PLFS does not capture gig workers separately.
- Policy gap: Benefits under Social Security Code (accident insurance, maternity benefits, welfare fund) remain unimplemented.
- Awareness gap: Workers unaware of registration benefits.
- Sectoral concentration: Registrations skewed towards food industry, transport, and household work.
Significance
- Gig workers form the backbone of the newage services economy.
- Ensuring social security, healthcare, and accident insurance is vital for inclusive growth.
- Registration is key to policy targeting, welfare delivery, and labour rights enforcement.
Constitutional & Policy Context
- Article 41 (Directive Principles): State to provide public assistance in cases of unemployment, sickness, and disablement.
- Article 43: Ensures living wages and decent working conditions.
- Code on Social Security, 2020: Officially defined gig workers and promised benefits like accident insurance, maternity benefits, and a dedicated social security fund.
- eShram Portal (2021): Aadhaarseeded National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), designed to unify welfare delivery.
Conclusion
The eShram portal is a step toward integration, but gaps in registration, measurement, and benefit delivery persist. For gig workers to become a strategic national asset, India must strengthen data systems, awareness campaigns, and implementation of social security provisions.
THE TWO BALANCE SHEETS BEHIND EVERY EWASTE DECISION
TOPIC: (GS3) ECONOMY: THE HINDU
India generates nearly 1.6 million tonnes of ewaste annually (CPCB, 2023), with discarded IT equipment forming a major share. Recently, experts highlighted that every ewaste decision creates two balance sheets one financial and immediate, the other strategic and longterm.
Global & Indian Context of EWaste
- Global ewaste: Worldwide generation of electronic waste is rapidly increasing, posing serious environmental and resource challenges.
- India’s position: India ranks among the largest ewaste producers globally, reflecting rapid digitisation and rising consumption.
- Policy framework: Extended Producer Responsibility under EWaste Rules mandates producers ensure safe collection, recycling, and disposal.
- Lesson from solar power: Initially costly solar investments now deliver cheap electricity, showing urban mining’s longterm transformative potential.
Urban Mining Potential
- Ewaste contains copper, aluminium, gold, silver, palladium, and rare earths.
- Example: 1 tonne of mobile phones yields 300 g of gold, far higher than traditional mining.
- Urban mining reduces import dependence and strengthens domestic supply chains.
Two Balance Sheets
- Financial Balance Sheet: purchase price, resale value, immediate savings.
- Strategic Balance Sheet: resource security, environmental sustainability, industrial capability, public health, and national competitiveness.
Challenges in Recycling
- Requires secure data destruction, environmentally compliant processing, and traceable supply chains.
- High costs deter adoption; procurement often rewards the lowest visible cost.
- Informal recycling dominates in India, leading to pollution and health hazards.
Conclusion
Pollution becomes healthcare expenditure, resource depletion becomes import dependence, and weak domestic capability becomes strategic vulnerability. Urban mining infrastructure, though expensive initially, can transform India’s critical mineral security and industrial resilience.
WATER HYACINTH IN VEMBANAD AND ECOLOGY
TOPIC: (GS3) ENVIRONMENT: THE HINDU
Recently, the State Wetland Authority of Kerala, in collaboration with local stakeholders, launched a robotic pilot project at Kumarakom to harvest the invasive water hyacinth from Vembanad Lake.
What are Invasive Species?
- Nonnative species introduced into ecosystems that spread rapidly, harming biodiversity, economy, or human life.
- Examples in India:
- Water Hyacinth – clogs lakes and rivers.
- Lantana camara – invades forests, reducing grazing land.
- Prosopis juliflora (Vilayati Babool) – spreads in arid regions.
- African Catfish – threatens native fish diversity.
About the Project
- Led by Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM).
- Implemented by Foundation for Environmental Research and Innovation (FERI).
- Uses an unmanned surface vehicle with robotic arms to collect hyacinth.
- Aim: Convert harvested weed into handicrafts, compost, and marketable products.
Impact of Infestation
- Tourism & Transport: Boats stuck; 6–7 daily services cancelled between Muhamma and Kumarakom.
- Livelihoods: Fisherfolk and farmers face reduced access to markets.
- Environment: Weed clogs waterways, reduces oxygen, and threatens aquatic biodiversity.
Conclusion
The robotic intervention in Vembanad reflects how technology and ecology must converge to combat invasive species, ensuring sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
ASTRORAD
TOPIC: (GS3) SEQURITY: THE HINDU
An Israeli company StemRad has developed AstroRad, a radiationshielding vest for astronauts, marking a significant step in ensuring safety during deepspace missions.
About AstroRad
- A wearable vest designed to protect astronauts from harmful space radiation beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
- Supported by the Israel Space Agency and tested in collaboration with NASA.
- Prevents Radiation Exposure Induced Death (REID) and eliminates risks of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) during solar particle events.
Features
- Uses smart shielding design to selectively protect vital organs most sensitive to radiation.
- Organs shielded include lungs, bone marrow, colon, stomach, breasts, and ovaries.
- Shielding material: hydrogenrich polymer, effective in minimizing secondary radiation.
- Scalelike architecture ensures flexibility and comfort for astronauts.
- Variable thickness complements the body’s natural shielding, reducing overall mass.
Significance
- Enhances astronaut safety in missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
- Demonstrates how biological sensitivity factors can guide engineering design.
- Represents a fusion of medical science and aerospace technology, crucial for longduration missions.
- Supports global efforts in space exploration and human survival in extreme environments.
Conclusion
AstroRad exemplifies how innovative protective technologies are vital for the future of human spaceflight, ensuring astronauts can venture beyond Earth with greater safety and resilience.
ARTICLE 124(3) AND THE UNUSED ROUTE TO THE SUPREME COURT
TOPIC: (GS2) POLITY: THE HINDU
More than seven decades after the Constitution came into force, Article 124(3) — which permits the appointment of a “distinguished jurist” directly as a Supreme Court judge remains unused. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan recently termed this an “unused mandate” and urged serious consideration of its revival to diversify the Bench.
Constitutional Provision
- Article 124(3) outlines three routes to the Supreme Court:
- High Court Judge for at least five years.
- Advocate of a High Court for at least ten years.
- Distinguished Jurist, in the opinion of the President.
- Traditionally, judges are elevated from High Courts or appointed from the Bar. The jurist route has never been exercised.
Constituent Assembly Debates
- H.V. Kamath: Advocated broadening the talent pool beyond judges and lawyers, citing the International Court of Justice.
- M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar: Emphasised the need for constitutional expertise, noting practising lawyers may lack exposure to complex public law.
- B.R. Ambedkar: Accepted the principle but questioned the terminology of “distinguished.”
- The framers intended to allow eminent scholars and academics entry into the apex court.
Who is a Distinguished Jurist?
- Constitution does not define the term.
- Broadly includes legal academics, researchers, and scholars with exceptional expertise.
- Institutional difficulty: Bar Council rules restrict fulltime law teachers from practising, limiting litigation exposure.
Why Unused?
- Perceived lack of suitable candidates in academia.
- Collegium dominance: Though Article 124(3) mentions the President, appointments today require collegium recommendation.
- Lack of exploration: Neither government nor judiciary has seriously considered this route.
- Example: Legal scholar Upendra Baxi was reportedly considered but never appointed.
Why Revive the Provision?
- Diversifies the Supreme Court Bench.
- Strengthens expertise in constitutional and public law.
- Introduces perspectives from legal scholarship and academia.
- Enhances capacity to address complex sociolegal and institutional issues.
Conclusion
Article 124(3) remains unused; revival could diversify Supreme Court, strengthen constitutional adjudication, and align with global jurist appointment practices.
BISHKEK DECLARATION AND INDIA’S MESSAGE ON TERRORISM
TOPIC: (GS3) SEQURITY: THE HINDU
The 26th SCO Summit (Aug 31–Sep 1, 2026) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, marked 25 years of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Leaders of ten member states, including PM Narendra Modi, signed the Bishkek Declaration, reaffirming cooperation on security, governance, and connectivity.
About the SCO
- Eurasian political, economic, and security grouping.
- Members: Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic.
- India joined as a full member in 2017.
- Core focus: combating the “three evils” – terrorism, separatism, extremism, alongside trade and connectivity.
Key Highlights of Bishkek Declaration
- Terrorism: Strong condemnation of terrorism in all forms; rejection of double standards. Called for UNled global cooperation, including curbing crossborder movement of terrorists.
- Cyber Security: Emphasis on countering online radicalisation and strengthening coordination in international information security.
- West Asia: Expressed concern over ongoing conflict; supported political and diplomatic resolution. Reaffirmed sovereignty of Iran and welcomed deescalation efforts.
- Global Governance: Advocated reform of global institutions; rejected blocbased confrontational approaches, favouring peaceful resolution of disputes.
India’s Message at the Summit
- Conflict Has No Borders: PM Modi highlighted spillover effects of West Asia conflict on energy security, maritime trade, and supply chains.
- On Terrorism: Called terrorism a grave challenge for humanity. Urged dismantling of the ecosystem of terror financing, recruitment, radicalisation, and safe havens. Stressed that terrorism cannot be used as an instrument of state policy.
- On Connectivity: Supported initiatives for trade and growth but emphasised sovereignty and territorial integrity as core principles.
- India’s Vision, SCO Pillars: Security, Connectivity, Opportunity. India has launched initiatives like the Startup Forum, Young Authors’ Conclave, Young Scientists’ Forum, and the upcoming Civilizational Dialogue Forum.
Conclusion
The Bishkek Declaration underscores SCO’s collective stance against terrorism, cyber threats, and unilateralism in global governance. As SCO enters its next 25 years, India seeks to shape it as a platform for security, inclusive connectivity, and shared opportunities.
