Lok Sabha Question No. 2493 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-15
Subject: Social Security Coverage
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Shri Sudama Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2493

TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2025

## SOCIAL SECURITY COVERAGE

2493. SHRI SUDAMA PRASAD:

Will  the  Minister  of  LABOUR  AND  EMPLOYMENT  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that social security coverage of the country  increased  to  64.3  per  cent  in  2025  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (b) the details of the key gaps that remain in extending social security to informal, gig and migrant workers; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  measures  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the
- Government to address the said gaps?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

(a) to (c): India has achieved a historic milestone in the realm of social protection coverage, recording one of the most significant expansions globally.  According  to  the  latest  data  from  the  International  Labour Organization's (ILO) ILOSTAT database, India's social security coverage has increased from 19% in 2015 to 64.3% in 2025.  India's expansion in social protection coverage has been enabled by a strong foundation of digital and financial inclusion.

For the first time, the definition of 'gig workers' and 'plat form workers' and provisions related to the same have been made in the Code on Social Security, 2020 which has come into force w.e.f. 21.11.2025.

The  Code  provides  for  framing  of  suitable  social  security measures for gig workers and platform workers on matters relating to life  and  disability  cover,  accident  insurance,  health  and  maternity benefits,  old  age  protection,  etc.  The  Code  provides  for  setting  up  a Social Security Fund to finance the welfare schemes. The Code also has provisions  to  constitute  a  National  Social  Security  Board  for  the purposes of the welfare of gig workers and platform workers.

Further, the Ministry of Labour and Employment had launched e-Shram portal on 26.08.2021 for creation of a Comprehensive Centralised  National  Database  of  Unorganised  Workers  including  gig workers, platform workers, etc. The e-Shram portal is meant to register and  support  the  unorganised  workers  by  providing  them  a  Universal Account  Number  (UAN)  on  a  self-declaration  basis.  The  Ministry  of Labour  and  Employment  has  also  launched  the  e-Shram-  "One-StopSolution'  that  entails  integration  of  different  social  security/welfare schemes  at  single  portal  i.e.,  e-Shram.  This  is  envisaged  to  enable unorganised workers registered on e-Shram to access social security schemes and see benefits availed by them so far, through e-Shram.

So far, fourteen (14) schemes of different Central Ministries/ Departments have already been integrated/ mapped with the e-Shram to enhance  social  security  coverage  to  unorganised  workers,  such  as Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment  Guarantee  scheme  (MGNREGS),  Pradhan  Mantri  Awas Yojana -Gramin  (PMAY-G),  Ayushman  Bharat -Pradhan  Mantri  Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana -Urban (PMAYU), Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), etc.

Apart  from  the  above,  e-Shram  has  linkages  with  Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM), National Career Service (NCS), Skill  India  Digital  Hub  (SIDH),  Unified  Mobile  Application  for  New-age Governance (UMANG), Digital Locker (DigiLocker), myScheme and Open Government Data Platform (OGD).

In  order to safeguard the interests of the migrant workers, the Central Government had enacted the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and the Working  Conditions  (OSH)  Code,  which  has  come  into  force  w.e.f. 21.11.2025.

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