New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- India's government recognizes the relatively new category of gig and platform workers, in addition to various classes of unorganized workers, in its Code of Social Security (CSS), one of the four new Labour Codes notified in November 2025.

The CSS explicitly requires the Centre to maintain a national registry of all unorganized workers for efficient distribution of social benefits. The enabling infrastructure for this registry is e-Shram, a portal launched in August 2021 and opened up to gig and platform workers three years later.

E-shram assigns registered workers a permanent 12-digit Universal Account Number (UAN), a portable identity for them to avail of social-security and welfare schemes. The CSS expects a wo...