Maybe insidious but it will still increase prices.

 The Indian government released a draft which aims to force employers to provide social security protection to contract workers, such as in construction, ride-hailing services and for delivery boys. "If all goes as planned, even the most loosely-recruited workers shall be eligible for provisions of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Employees' State Insurance Corporation and National Security Board. It may look burdensome to employers, but in a country of highly uneven earnings and patchy welfare promises, this is the least our economy owes them," wrote a sanctimonious editorial in the Mint. This is just another tax which will be passed on to consumers as increased prices. Just like the Right to Education Act, which forces private schools to set aside 25% of seats for poor students a paltry rates, has led to soaring rise in school fees. "California is a left leaning state and voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden, Yet, Proposition 22 made it to the ballot" wrote Siddharth Pai. Because of this, workers for gig companies "will not have the same right as other employees to paid sick days, overtime pay, unemployment insurance or a workplace covered by occupational safety and health laws". In another referendum, "After five states -- Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota -- passed ballot measures for marijuana use last week, the drug will soon be legal in some form for 70% of the US population," wrote Tara Lachapelle. Companies selling cannabis for medical or recreational use are traded on stock exchanges in the US. Cannabis plants are indigenous to India and grow in the wild in the Himalayas. Yet, cannabis is classed as a narcotic substance along with opium, morphine and cocaine. Clonazepam, diazepam and midazolam which are extremely useful in anxiety related disorders, in epilepsy and in short procedures, such as endoscopy, are also in the same list. Strangely, when it came to the son of a politician who was found unconscious and whose secretary died of heroin and cocaine overdose, it was stated in court that 5 grams of heroin and 2 grams of cocaine made it a lesser offence. Although, opium plant is natural to India, heroin production is complicated chemical process and the coca plant, from which cocaine is obtained, "is not known to grow in a state of nature anywhere in India", said a report of UNODC in 1958. So, even the smallest quantity of cocaine has to be contraband and a serious criminal offence. "India's employer regulatory cholesterol universe is vast: 1,536 Acts that create 69,233 compliances and 6,618 filings every year," wrote Sabharwal and Agrawal. Using the poor to increase taxes stealthily is an old trick. This government is no different.