Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 30: The Centre’s new board will recommend and monitor schemes. Actual benefits depend on what follows.
The Centre has formed a national board to guide gig and platform worker welfare. The Ministry of Labour and Employment announced it on October 30, 2026. Called the National Social Security Board, it covers unorganised, gig and platform workers. It draws its powers from the Code on Social Security, 2020. The Ministry said it brings gig and platform workers into India’s formal welfare framework.
Delivery riders, cab drivers and app-based workers often fall outside standard job protections. Many lack the employer-linked pension, health and accident cover that salaried staff enjoy. The new board gives their welfare a formal seat in policymaking.
The Union Labour Minister will chair the board. Members will come from the Centre, states, aggregator companies and employers. Workers’ unions, gig and platform associations and civil society groups also get seats. This mix lets platforms, workers and governments debate welfare design at one table. Still, representation does not guarantee equal influence over outcomes. The board must meet at least three times a year under Centre-prescribed rules.
Its mandate has six parts. It will recommend suitable schemes for different groups of unorganised, gig and platform workers. It will advise the Centre on issues referred to it under the Code. It will monitor central welfare schemes for these workers. It will review state-level record-keeping and spending from the relevant fund and account. It will also take on other tasks the Centre assigns. These are advisory and oversight roles, not powers to enforce or pay benefits.
The board was first set up under the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008. The 2020 Code later absorbed it and widened coverage to gig and platform workers. The Code defines gig workers as those earning outside a traditional employer-employee relationship. Platform workers are those who find such work through online platforms.
A NITI Aayog report put India’s gig workforce at about 77 lakh in 2020-21. That was roughly 2.6% of the country’s non-agricultural workforce. Industry estimates see it reaching 2.35 crore by 2029-30. E-commerce, quick commerce and digital logistics are expected to drive that growth. The 77 lakh figure is a baseline, not today’s headcount.
Setting up a board does not create a pension, insurance or health benefit. Each scheme still needs clear eligibility rules, steady funding and a delivery system. The Code provides for aggregator contributions toward such schemes. How much flows in, and how it is spent, will shape coverage. Identifying workers is another hurdle, since many juggle several apps and cities. Accurate state records, which the board will review, will be crucial for tracking them. Workers must also know these schemes exist before they can use them.
A statutory body, however, is only a starting point. Its recommendations must turn into notified, funded schemes. Its worth will be judged by whether its work yields dependable, accessible protection for workers.
