In the second piece in NLSIR's Special Blog Series entitled Beyond the Gig, Balaji Parthasarathy and Tony Mathew argue that comparing gig work on digital platforms with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) is misleading because the MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of work and legal rights, while gig work offers no guaranteed wages, hours, or bargaining power. Despite claims that the gig economy provides flexible employment and acts like an urban safety net, evidence shows gig workers often face uncertain income, long working hours, and lack minimum-wage protections. Recent regulations like the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025 provide limited benefits but fail to address core issues such as wages, labour rights, and the structural power imbalance between platforms and workers.