In India, instant deliveries come with a human cost.
Mahesh knew he was running out of time. Although he had already spent eight hours darting across the notoriously busy city of Bangalore, India — already driven his two-wheeler 70 miles to deliver half a dozen broccoli, 11 pounds of flour, and more — he needed a few more orders during the dinnertime surge to earn his weekly bonus.
It was the peak traffic hour, and Bangalore’s pothole-riddled roads, as expected, were jammed bumper to bumper — so much so that two-wheelers often resort to climbing footpaths to circumvent the heavy traffic. The Google Maps screen, which he had to keep an eye on to make sure he follows the route assigned by Swiggy’s algorithms or risk getting penalized, was bleeding red. Because of the Metro rail construction on his right, the road had shrunk to fit just one car at a time.
Mahesh, who says he joined Swiggy because it offered decent wages without the physical toil of blue-collar industrial jobs, is on bed rest for a year. Though Swiggy covered his initial medical costs, he no longer has a source of income to support his family of four and has fallen into a circle of debt. If and when he returns to work, he won’t have a livelihood either, as he lost his scooter when its loan payments defaulted.
While startups have now begun to offer health insurance, they don’t cover the myriad of other expenses drivers have to struggle with in an accident, including vehicle damages, family support, and, as we saw in Nandan’s case, smartphone payments.
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