Centre sets up a National Social Security Board for gig and platform workers, with the Labour Minister in the chair

Delivery riders, cab drivers and others who find their work through apps now have a national body whose job is to look after their social security. The Union Labour Ministry announced on Friday, 30 October, that it has formally set up the National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and Gig and Platform Workers.

The board draws its powers from the Code on Social Security, 2020. That code folded nine older central labour laws into one and took effect from 21 November 2025.

Who sits on the board

The Union Labour Minister heads the board. Officials of the Centre and the states sit on it along with representatives of the app companies that hire gig workers, other employers, voluntary organisations, trade unions and associations formed by gig and platform workers themselves.

What it will do

Its central job is to suggest to the Centre welfare schemes suited to different groups among these workers. It can be asked for advice on how the code is being run, it will keep watch on the Centre’s existing schemes for these workers, it will look at how states maintain their records, and it will check how the money in the workers’ welfare fund is used. The Centre can hand it more work later.

The board has to meet three or more times every year, under procedure rules the Centre will frame.

Benefits are still to come

Setting up the board does not, on its own, start any new benefit. Cover against accidents, medical insurance and support in old age for gig workers will depend on the schemes the board proposes and the Centre then frames.

The government expects the number of gig and platform workers in the country to grow from about 1 crore in 2024-25 to 2.35 crore by 2029-30. Unorganised workers can already register on the e-Shram portal, which gives them an Aadhaar-linked identity number that stays with them when they move between platforms.