Centre working on national gig-worker welfare blueprint under Labour Codes

The Union labour ministry is drafting a national framework under the recently notified Labour Codes to set uniform social security standards and prevent conflicting state rules for millions of platform-based gig workers, according to official sources.

 

“Gig work is highly flexible and mobile in nature. Workers usually work with multiple platforms and at several locations. Instead of dealing of state laws, platform aggregators are asking the Centre to come up with a national framework on providing social security to them as they also have operations across multiple locations,” said  a source.

 

The recently notified Code on Social Security, 2020, recognises platform-based gig workers for the first time in the country and provides for the framing of welfare schemes covering health, pension, education and disability cover, among other things.

 

The Code empowers both Centre and states to provide these benefits. The new Code also provides for the setting up of a national social security fund with contributions from aggregators consisting of 1-2 per cent of annual turnover, limited to 5 per cent of the amount paid/payable to gig and platform workers.

 

“States have the authority to formulate rules under the new Codes, but they will have to be in line with the national framework. For gig workers, too, it will be beneficial as it will allow easy portability of their benefits across the country. We are in the process of bringing as many gig workers onto the e-shram portal as possible. The Code also has provisions for setting up a tripartite national security board, which will administer all these provisions,” said one of the sources. 

 

According to reports, nearly 3 million gig workers have already registered on the e-shram portal. This allows them to access and enrol into various existing social security schemes, for which they are eligible.

 

Earlier, several states such as Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Bihar, among others, had enacted legislation for gig workers, empowering them to formulate welfare schemes and regulate working conditions. But implementation largely remained stalled. For example, the Rajasthan government is yet to formulate rules under its own law to give effect to the provisions.

 

“Prior to the notification of the Social Security Code by the Centre, several state governments tried bringing in legislation to administer the gig workforce. This, in effect, created fragmented jurisdictions for the industry. Hence, the effort now is to consolidate all these provisions and come up with a uniform framework,” said an official privy to the matter.

 

According to a NITI Aayog report, nearly 10 million gig workers were employed in the country in 2024-25, with the number projected to grow to 23.5 million by 2029-30.

 

Five years after the four Labour Codes were passed by Parliament, reforming and consolidating the 29 existing labour laws, the Centre notified them on November 21.

 

The four Labour Codes — the Code on Wages (2019), Industrial Relations Code (2020), Code on Social Security (2020) and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020), notified last month — are intended to modernise labour regulations, enhance workers’ welfare and align the labour ecosystem with the evolving world of work.