Promises vs. Reality: Informal Workers’ Rights In Delhi Under AAP
In its election manifestos, the Aam Aadmi Party has always promised better wage and work conditions for the city’s informal workers. But the implementation of existing policies has been inadequate
Around 80% of Delhi’s workforce works in the informal sector, 82% of them men and 76% women. However, only 35,00,000 workers, 53.4% of them being women, are registered on the labour ministry’s E-Shram portal where unorganised sector workers can register themselves to get better access to social security schemes.
As Delhi goes to polls on February 5, we evaluate the performance of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) government over a decade in ensuring that informal sector workers have security of tenure and decent work conditions.
The AAP government has repeatedly highlighted its commitment to addressing the needs of the working person’s challenges. The party’s manifesto in 2015 included a vaguely worded “flexible and fair labour policy” for unorganised workers with promises of “social security, regulated wages, rationalised working hours for domestic workers and improved working conditions for ragpickers”. Street vendors were promised “designated spaces and licences”. The party’s 2020 manifesto only mentioned street vendors as a category with the assurance of legal protection.
Our analysis shows that the implementation of social security programmes has been inadequate, leaving informal workers vulnerable.
In October 2015, the Arvind Kejriwal government ordered the first increase in wage standards for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. There has been a 96% rise in minimum wage standards after the latest revision in October 2024. However, a survey by the Working People’s Coalition in 2022 found that 98% of female workers and 95% of male workers receive wages below the stipulated minimum wage.
For instance, unskilled workers in Delhi are entitled to Rs 695 per day, and semi-skilled workers Rs 767. However, for a large portion of informal workers, including waste pickers, street vendors, and domestic workers, daily earnings often fall far short of these benchmarks. According to a study, approximately 46% workers earn a monthly wage of Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000, around 15% workers earn between Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5000 and 13% earn a monthly wage of Rs. 9,000 to 12,000. Less than 5% of workers earn Rs. 16,000 and more.
While gig workers are not covered by the minimum wage provision, they manage to earn wages that are closer to the minimum wage, primarily due to the nature of their work and the formal platforms they engage with. Construction workers, on the other hand, are directly covered under the minimum wage provision, ensuring they receive wages closer to the legally mandated rates.
We look at some key sectors with a large concentration of informal workers to evaluate the AAP government’s performance.
Street Vendors
Delhi is home to an estimated 3.5 to 4 lakh street vendors, approximately 30% of them are women. According to the e-Shram dashboard, there are over 40,000 street vendors in both the food and non-food industries. In Delhi, they mostly earn between Rs100-Rs1000 per day, with more of them earning towards the lower end of the bracket. They face significant financial challenges, with a considerable portion of their earnings lost to “protection money” and bribes.
In 2014, the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, was enacted to protect their livelihoods from systemic extortion, harassment, and exploitation and to regulate the sector. However, implementation has been inadequate so far. Critical provisions like regular vendor surveys, proper vendor registration with the municipal corporation, and the formation of Town Vending Committees (TVCs) are still incomplete.
Only 75,000 Certificates of Vending (COVs) have been issued so far—covering just 20% of the vendor population. Moreover, misclassification during surveys and the exclusion of groups such as weekly market vendors, have left large portions of the vendor community unrecognised and vulnerable to harassment and eviction. In practice, eviction continues to be the default response to street vending in high-demand urban areas, as Behanbox has earlier reported from Mumbai.
The AAP government has made several promises over the years to address the challenges faced by street vendors, as we said earlier. In 2015, they promised to empower Mohalla Sabhas to issue licenses to vendors in designated areas. In their second term in 2020, they promised to allocate funds for market and infrastructure development, provide legal protection to street vendors by issuing vending certificates within six months and establish 24×7 markets to boost tourism and create a bustling city economy.
The implementation of the Street Vendors Act, 2014 in Delhi has faced significant shortcomings, say experts. “The Delhi government set an example as one of the first states to publish and frame the rules and scheme under the SV Act. However, the survey process was poorly executed, with misclassification of vendors and exclusion of key groups such as weekly market vendors,” says Aravind Unni, an urban researcher and practitioner. The lack of monitoring, exclusion of vendors from key schemes, and failure to deliver on commitments have left the majority of street vendors in Delhi unprotected, precarious, and vulnerable to exploitation, he adds.
The AAP government introduced an online portal for vendor registration to streamline the process. However, technical issues and limited functionality undermined its effectiveness. Says Unni: “TVCs, intended to serve as participatory governance mechanisms, have been underfunded and poorly organised, leaving vendors vulnerable to harassment and extortion.”
According to the SV Scheme 2019 released by the Government of Delhi, the local government must make provisions for 2.5% of the population of the city or its sub-zones for street vending. However, as of now, only 25% of vendors have a certificate of vending. In early 2024, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) issued an interim order classifying all vendors as mobile vendors, restricting them to one location for no more than 30 minutes. This move, intended as temporary, contradicts the Street Vendors Act, which allows urban local bodies to classify vendors as stationary, mobile, or other types like weekly vendors. The order triggered eviction drives in popular markets such as Hauz Khas, Govindpuri, Manglapuri, Bhikaji Cama Place, Malviya Nagar, and Nehru Place.
Waste Pickers
In Delhi, an estimated 2 lakh informal waste pickers earn their livelihoods by collecting, sorting, and segregating recyclable waste. According to the e-Shram dashboard, there are around 5,000 waste pickers in the informal economy, a number that is highly underreported, with 50% of them being women.
These workers are indispensable to the city’s waste management system. In Delhi, waste pickers in the informal sector are responsible for recycling roughly 20-25% of the 10,000 metric tonnes of waste produced each day. Despite their crucial role, waste pickers remain invisible in formal governance systems and excluded from social security protections. They earn between Rs 250 to Rs 300 per day on an average, according to Sheikh Akbar Ali from Basti Suraksha Manch, a network of activists advocating for the rights of waste pickers,
The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, recognise the role of waste pickers and mandate their integration into formal state and municipal waste management systems. However, in Delhi, this recognition largely remains on paper. Waste pickers continue to operate on the margins, excluded from decision-making processes, formal recognition, access to stable livelihoods or social protection measures such as health insurance, pensions, and education for their children.
Living in informal settlements near landfills, waste pickers endure unsafe and unhygienic conditions, as Behanbox reported from Mumbai. In their manifesto, AAP promised to implement a fair labor policy to ensure social security and improve the working conditions of rag pickers. But while it assured the regularisation and protection of safai karamcharis, it has excluded waste pickers (kabadiwalas) from these commitments.
“Since the AAP government came to power in Delhi, no concrete steps have been taken at the grassroots level for workers in the waste sector,” says Sheikh Akbar. “We had hoped for change, that privatisation would be limited and waste-pickers would be given the right to livelihood. However, no policies have been implemented, and private companies continue to dominate, leaving waste pickers to pay for access to work and endure exploitation.”
The Kejriwal government, despite taking control of the MCD in 2022, has not addressed long-standing demands such as the establishment of a Waste Workers’ Welfare Board. Multiple attempts by waste picker organisations to engage with officials have failed. The Delhi government favours private sector contracts for waste collection, sidelining waste pickers from formal systems.
Despite the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016, waste pickers are often charged Rs. 500-Rs1000 to access waste collection zones for segregation and sale. Recently, the Supreme Court directed the Delhi Government to enforce SWM rules, particularly waste segregation at source. However, the official inclusion of waste pickers, as mandated by the SWM Rules, remains an unfulfilled requirement.
Domestic Workers
According to the International Labour Organization, there are an estimated 5,00,000 domestic workers in Delhi, while 3,40,000 domestic workers, 90% of them being women, are registered in Delhi on the e-shram portal. Despite their significant contributions to middle-class and affluent households, domestic workers who are mostly from oppressed communities, face precarious working conditions and lack most legal and social protections. Behanbox has earlier reported on the safety issues faced by domestic workers and the fact that they work in homes or private space does not allow them the support systems available to women working in formal environments.
According to a 2020 policy brief by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) , the typical domestic worker earned Rs 2,333 per week, or roughly Rs 333 per day.They are excluded from formal labor protections, minimum wages, fixed working hours, and social security benefits such as health insurance, pensions, and maternity leave.
Some states, such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, have introduced minimum wages and welfare boards for domestic workers in accordance with the provisions of the Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act 2008, but Delhi has yet to implement such measures effectively, leaving workers out from the protections of welfare boards, guaranteed minimum wages, and leave entitlements.
The AAP promised to regulate wages, services, and working hours for domestic workers in their 2015 manifesto but a minimum wage remains an unfulfilled promise.
“The file for implementing minimum wages for domestic workers has been stuck for too long, and we’ve been tirelessly pushing for what is a basic right—minimum wage for workers,” Aditi Yajnik, of SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) Delhi told Behanbox. “If Punjab can recognise domestic workers, why is Delhi lagging?” asks Aditi.
There has been no push from the Delhi government to address basic needs such as health insurance and draft rules for maternity benefits specifically for domestic workers in the past 10 years.
Gig and Platform Workers
The Code on Social Security, 2020 2020, enacted by Parliament, defines a ‘gig worker’ and ‘platform worker’ as “a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationships”. The code also provides suitable social security measures for them, including life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, and old age protection.
Despite the enactment of the code, the implementation of such measures remains a work in progress, leaving many without adequate social security. Gig workers in Delhi, engaged through various digital platforms, often face challenges such as low wages, lack of benefits, and mistreatment from both companies and customers. According to a 2024 survey by Janpahal, a forum for informal sector workers, interviews with 5,000 gig workers across 20 platforms showed that their net income is Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000, after accounting for all the costs.
A 2022 NITI Aayog report estimated 7.7 million gig workers in India, projected to reach 23 million by 2030. Delhi alone accounted for roughly 1.3 million workers. In October 2023, the Delhi government proposed integrating gig workers into the existing Construction Workers Welfare Board to extend social security benefits, a suggestion that has sparked discontent among labor organisations, including the Gig Workers Union. They argue that gig workers’ roles and challenges differ significantly from those of construction workers and advocate for a separate welfare board to address their specific issues.
Dharmendra from Janpahal said that the Delhi CM in a meeting with them promised a social security legislation for gig workers similar to the progressive law introduced in Rajasthan, but no concrete action has followed.
“The government’s response to the welfare of gig workers is not only lukewarm but fails to address the fundamental issues plaguing the sector”, says Vageesh, a PhD researcher at IIT Delhi, who works closely with gig workers. He points out that states like Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Karnataka have passed laws aimed at gig workers’ welfare, while Delhi does not have any.
Construction Workers
Delhi is home to an estimated 8-10 lakh construction workers, according to labour unions, most of them migrants seeking better livelihood opportunities. The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (BOCW Act) serves as the primary framework to regulate employment conditions and safety for construction workers.
One of the first laws for the informal sector workers that addressed the issue of social security benefits, the act ensured a minimum wage – Rs 695 per day for unskilled and Rs 767 per day for semi skilled workers. The central government also introduced a cess of 1% levied on construction projects exceeding Rs 10 lakh under the BOCW Act to fund welfare schemes such as pension, accident compensation,housing loan, education, group insurance premia, medical expenses and maternity benefits.
In 2020, former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia launched a helpline number, 1076, to facilitate the registration and renewal of construction workers with the labor welfare board.
The implementation of the BOCW Act in Delhi has faced significant challenges. The funds from the welfare board meant for the workers were being diverted to other departments like education and health, alleges Thaneshwar Gaur who is associated with Nirmaan Mazdoor Adhikar Abhiyan, a campaign for construction workers in Delhi.
Delhi’s Construction Workers Welfare Board has been instrumental in ensuring schemes such as maternity compensation but administrative inefficiencies continue to hinder the timely disbursal of benefits. Thousands of applications for education, insurance, death, and maternity benefits remain pending, as per Thaneshwar Dayal Adigaur . “The board received 18 lakh applications whereas the actual number of construction workers is far lower,” says Adigaur, indicating discrepancies in registration data.
The self-certification mechanism introduced under the new labor codes has bypassed essential checks, reducing transparency and weakening implementation, says Gaur. The board has not been able to collect adequate cess from construction projects, and the funds are underutilised due to administrative inefficiencies: according to a 2019 report, only 5.9% of the cess welfare fund was utilised in Delhi.
In response to the construction ban imposed in November 2024 due to severe air pollution, the Delhi government announced a financial relief package of Rs 8,000 for more than 90,000 registered construction workers.
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