Summary
The Union Labour Ministry has constituted the National Social Security Board under the Code on Social Security, 2020, chaired by Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The Board will recommend and monitor welfare schemes for unorganised, gig and platform workers.
It works through two panels: a 40-member panel for unorganised workers and a 22-member panel for gig and platform workers. Labour is on the Concurrent List and States carry much of the delivery. Yet only five States are represented and most of the 12 recognised central trade unions are absent.
The notification creates an institution, not benefits, so its value depends on whether States and workers accept what it recommends.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR UPSC & STATE PCS
On 30 October 2026, the Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the National Social Security Board, fulfilling a mandate of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into force on 21 November 2025. The Board's composition drew criticism from trade unions such as AITUC. They said it leans towards the Union government and favours union and employer bodies linked to the RSS.
Standard News
A Concurrent Subject With a Central Board: The Design Flaw in India's Gig Welfare Body The Seventh
Schedule puts social security and social insurance (Entry 23) and welfare of labour (Entry 24) in the Concurrent List. In plain terms, both Parliament and State legislatures can make laws on them. And in practice, it is States that register workers, run welfare boards and deliver benefits.
That constitutional fact is the lens for reading the new National Social Security Board. The Code on Social Security, 2020 gives the Centre the power to design the Board. Whether its recommendations take effect depends on partners who barely appear in it.
What the
notification actually creates The text needs careful reading. There is one Board, working through two panels:
- a 40-member panel for unorganised workers under Section 6 of the Code; - a 22-member panel for gig and platform workers under Section 114. The Labour Minister chairs it. Its job is to recommend schemes, advise the Centre on running the Code, monitor welfare schemes and review spending and State-level record-keeping. It does not pay anyone anything. The notification announces no new benefit and no funding. It creates an institution, not entitlements. That is why its composition matters so much. A body that can only recommend has power only to the extent that others accept its recommendations.
The two missing partners The States. Only five States sit on the Board: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal.
Neither Rajasthan nor Karnataka - the two States that have legislated specifically for gig workers - is among them. The workers. The 40-member panel has seven union seats and seven employer seats; government departments and Parliament fill the rest.
Three of the union seats go to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and three of the employer seats to Laghu Udyog Bharati, an MSME body. Most of the 12 government-recognised central trade unions, including CITU and AITUC, have no seat.
AITUC's general secretary has said the Board is heavily tilted towards the Union government.
Why exclusion has a cost A welfare board works through tripartism: workers, employers and government agreeing on what is fair, so that each side owns the result.
Leave a side out and the agreement weakens. The concurrent nature of labour adds a federal cost. A State that feels excluded does not have to wait for the Centre. Rajasthan proved this in 2023, passing its own gig-workers law with its own welfare board, before the central Code was even in force.
Under Article 254, a State law that conflicts with a central law on a Concurrent subject can still survive if it is reserved for and receives the President's assent. Federal friction is therefore not hypothetical - it is a route the Constitution already provides.
Quick Facts
Key numbers & takeaways — revise these first
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The National Social Security Board is constituted under Section 6 of the Code on Social Security, 2020.
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Section 114 of the Code assigns the Board functions for gig and platform workers, with a separate membership for that purpose.
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The Board has a 40-member panel for unorganised workers and a 22-member panel for gig and platform workers.
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The Union Labour and Employment Minister chairs the Board; the Union Labour Secretary is Vice-Chairman.
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Members serve three-year terms and the Board must meet at least three times a year.
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The 22-member gig and platform panel has five seats for aggregator companies and five for worker representatives.
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The Code on Social Security, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025.
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As of August 2026, the e-Shram portal had about 31.89 crore registrations, including about 11.5 lakh platform and gig workers.
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Labour subjects fall under Entries 22, 23 and 24 of the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule.
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Rajasthan enacted the Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act in 2023.
Connect the dots for your UPSC preparation.
Standard news covers the event. Log in to read our comprehensive analysis and uncover the hidden constitutional, structural, and ethical dimensions of this topic:
How the one-Board, two-panel design under Sections 6 and 114 limits the Board to recommending rather than delivering
The Article 254 route through which excluded States can sustain their own gig-worker laws and what that means for platform compliance
Rajasthan's 2023 Act as a working model of a State welfare board funded by a transaction-based welfare fee
Concrete reforms to restore tripartism and federal representation before the Board recommends its first scheme
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