Government notifies National Social Security Board for gig and platform workers

The Ministry of Labour & Employment has notified the official constitution of the National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and the National Social Security Board for Gig & Platform Workers, set up under the statutory framework of the Code on Social Security. The Boards extend India's formal social-security architecture, for the first time, to digital gig and platform workers alongside the traditional unorganised workforce. Each Board will be presided over by the Union Minister for Labour & Employment and will include representatives of the Central and State Governments, aggregator companies, employers, civil society organisations, workers' unions and gig and platform associations.

The Boards must meet at least three times a year, following procedural rules the Central Government prescribes. Their functions are to recommend welfare schemes for different sections of unorganised, gig and platform workers to the Central Government; to advise the Government on matters arising from administration of the Code referred to them; to monitor social welfare schemes for these workers that the Central Government administers; to review record-keeping functions performed at the State level; to review expenditure from the relevant fund and account; and to undertake any other function the Central Government assigns. The notification is described as a step toward bridging the social-security gap for India's large informal and platform-based workforce.