Delhi minister Kapil Mishra directs officials to ensure social security for gig workers

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) Delhi Labour Minister Kapil Mishra on Friday directed officials to speed up the process for providing social security benefits to the gig and construction workers in the unorganised sector.

Mishra also said that Delhi’s Labour Code should be aligned with that of the Centre to ensure maximum benefits to workers.

The minister made the statement after attending a meeting to review the publication and notification of rules framed under the Centre's Code on Social Security, 2020.

Welfare boards will be constituted to launch schemes benefitting the workers employed in the unorganised sector, a statement from the labour department said.

The Code on Social Security provides for the constitution of welfare boards for the unorganised sector and for the formulation of welfare schemes for them.

Mishra directed officers of the labour department to ensure that the benefits of schemes reach unorganised workers, gig and platform workers, and construction workers swiftly and transparently, said the statement.

The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has consolidated 29 existing labour laws into four Labour Codes -- the Code on Wages, the Code on Industrial Relations, the Code on Social Security, and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions.

The objective of these codes is to protect workers’ rights, promote ease of doing business and expand social security coverage.

Under the Code on Social Security, 2020, unorganised workers and gig/platform workers have been included to extend various benefits to them, Mishra said.

Similarly, construction workers who were earlier covered under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, have now been brought under the ambit of the Code on Social Security, 2020, he added. PTI VIT VIT SHS SHS