Samir Nazareth
While chatting with a couple of Non-Resident-Indians (NRI) families, the topic of what they missed most about India came up. ‘Convenience’ was their common refrain. In India, everything was convenient, they could get everything from food, vegetables, groceries, to medicines delivered in minutes to their doorstep. They had a Maid to clean-up after them, and a Cook to enquire what snacks they would like with evening tea. The list of conveniences they luxuriated in in India was endless.
It was telling when one of them movingly reminisced about being served freshly cooked food at every meal, leftovers were given to the Help and Cook. Abroad, they look after themselves. They are happy when there are leftovers as they then don’t have to cook the next meal.
This is the story of well-to-do Indians with well-paying jobs in India now working abroad for higher pay and the advantage of the exchange rates.
Conversely there are blue-collared Indians choosing to work in Israel and other countries hoping for a better life for themselves and the families they leave behind. Those that remain are part of the workforce that makes India convenient.
The Convenience Industry
Before going any further, let’s appreciate some of the conveniences that a miniscule part of India enjoys – home deliveries from shops, food and delivery apps, online shopping; personalised cleaning, cooking and ironing services; electricians; plumbers and so on.
Convenience is subsidy, and the consequence of lack of proper employment. As per the 2024 International Labour Organisation (ILO) India Employment Report ‘Nearly 82 per cent of the workforce engages in the informal sector, and nearly 90 per cent is informally’; an education system that churns out unemployable graduates and grows costlier and harder to access because of privatisation of higher education; and the absence of a social net for those that most need it.
Convenience therefore is a matter of cheap labour. When well-to-do Indians living abroad lament the lack of convenience in their host nation, they are actually whining about the social protection and respect that results in better monetary remuneration given to blue collared work.
As per the National Domestic Workers Movement, number of Domestic Workers in India range between the official number of 4.2 million and the unofficial figure of 50 million. The numbers now reach 80 million. 90% of India’s workforce is informal, and Domestic Workers are part of this sector.
For whom does convenience actually work? One could argue that those working in the Convenience Industry have a source of income, despite the lack of, or incomplete, education and experience. Thus, they are better off than being unemployed. More importantly, it is the first step out of poverty and destitution. Even so, such employment comes at a price which seems immaterial in this new India.
India’s Gig Economy Propped by the Convenience Industry
Niti Aayog’s report ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on Future of Work’ defines Gig workers as ‘those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement’. A subset of this are platform workers who get work by registering themselves on online platforms.
Delivery partners for food delivery apps and other app-based services are platform workers. Per the contract for Delivery Partners, they have to pay various fees to the app - ‘Training and Support Fees, Onboarding Fee, Security Deposit and the Platform Charges’. The Partner spends on fuel, vehicle maintenance and insurance. As the individual is not an employee, there are no fixed hours, no insurance cover nor perks like leave. These ‘non-employee’ aka Partners are key to India’s Gig Economy.
A 2020 Fairwork India report of 11 mobile platforms found some workers were unable to earn even a minimum wage, and they had little to no social security. Where accident insurance was provided, Partners did not know how to avail it; collective-voice was an issue in majority of the firms surveyed, and Platforms were unwilling to negotiate with worker associations. Platform workers are now unionising.
How different is the plight of these workers in this much hallowed industry from those of House Helps, Cooks and others who do not have leave, are not covered by insurance and whose jobs can be terminated at any time?
Per Niti Aayog, the Gig Economy is going to provide ‘4.1% of the total livelihood in India by 2029-30’. Though this statement was made as a way to indicate the importance of the Gig Economy it indicates the availability of Indians with few options but to participate in this sector. More importantly, it states ‘At present about 47% of the gig work is in medium skilled jobs, about 22% in high skilled, and about 31% in low skilled jobs.’ The report adds - medium skilled jobs will taper off in the future while demand for high skilled and low skilled will increase. The problem is, not many can afford to become highly skilled; further, the impact of AI on high skilled jobs is unknown. Therefore, it is the low skilled jobs that are going to increase and remain the shoulders on which the gig economy grows.
Unemployment, insufficient education and experience connive to make a large section of India eligible for the Convenience Industry. Thus, employment contracts are extractive and exploitative but socio-economically acceptable.
Technology has only enabled the net to be cast wider thereby pulling more people into the Convenience Industry.
Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics at Columbia University and Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission writes ‘Poverty reduction requires wealth creation which is rarely possible without an increase in inequality between those who create wealth and the rest’. This premise with V. Anantha Nageswaran, India’s Chief Economic Advisor, statement that the government cannot solve all social and economic problems like unemployment, ensures the Convenience Industry is going to subsidise many next big things.
Convenience cannot be a moral pseudonym for socio-economic disparity and survival. India should work towards convenience created by equal opportunity and access, accountability, and respect for government and constitutional organs. Isn’t there is a convenience of living in society without hate and victimhood?
(Samir Nazareth is an
author and writes on
socio-economic and
environmental issues)