“Every day is a long day! So I have to leave at the break of dawn if I want the day to be any productive,” says 48-year-old Mohammed Mazhar. While his wife and three children, two sons and a girl, are still asleep, Mazhar, a driver with multiple app-based ride-hailing platforms for nearly a decade, leaves home searching for customers.
He says he does not remember the last time he had breakfast because it has become a routine for him. He has learned that customers choosing long rides could be found near railway stations and bus stands between 6 and 8 am. These long rides are crucial as they cover long distances. After this, he often gets office-bound customers until 11 am. If he gets a ride to the airport, half a day is over by the time he returns which is why he does not prefer airport rides anymore.
A BCom graduate, Mazhar spends at least 12 hours a day behind the wheel. “Around 15 to 16 rides a day is good. I try to come home for lunch but driving a cab is not financially viable anymore. I am unable to spend enough time at home, too. If I save Rs 2,000 a day after the app’s commission, I can take home only about Rs 800 after expenses on food, fuel, maintenance, etc. This is despite having my own car,” laments Mazhar.
After working as a driver in Saudi Arabia for two years, Mazhar returned to Hyderabad in 2016, hearing about the arrival of app-based platforms. “I used to drive for an IT company’s contractor before I went to Saudi. However, when I heard from my friends that app-based platforms were doing well in Hyderabad, especially due to an influx of the IT population, I decided to return. Those were good days when daily earnings and incentives were good,” he adds.
His main concern now, however, is the lack of a transparent grievance mechanism, which, he says, is often tilted in favour of the customer and leads to the driver losing access to their accounts. The driver, he adds, is most often blamed when a customer raises a complaint and gets no fair hearing.
“Forget about social security, insurance, or other benefits; even if a customer misbehaves, the driver has no means to raise the matter with the company. While dealing with a drunk customer, or a customer who does not understand any common languages, or someone who is not happy with the air-conditioning or the fare, the blame always falls on the driver,” adds Mazhar, calling for government oversight into issues concerning gig and platform workers.
A driver is registered on three or four apps, while a customer is also signed into several. “If all these apps are on one platform created and monitored by the government, many of the issues concerning drivers as well as customers would be better addressed,” he says.
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On November 27, a few days before the Telangana elections, Rahul Gandhi met with a group of gig and platform workers in Hyderabad.
Government’s promise to develop app for gig workers
The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) has been demanding the same. During their initial meeting with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy after the Congress formed the government last December, he promised to develop a mobile app similar to private ride-hailing platforms. This app would offer rides to cab drivers with minimal or no commission.
At the same meeting, Reddy promised accidental insurance of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh health cover for gig and platform workers. “In no time, a government order regarding accidental insurance was released. But the problem here is that there is no data on workers. The government is supporting our welfare, and it is a matter of time,” says Shaik Salauddin, president of TGPWU. At the union office in Amberpet, dozens of workers gather daily to seek solutions to their grievances and Salauddin is busy guiding them through the document work.
The union’s major demands are the constitution of a welfare board for gig and platform workers, a uniform rate card that ensures minimum fare for rides, and social security for workers, including scholarships and loans for workers’ children. So far, the government has prepared a draft policy on gig and platform workers and conducted stakeholder meetings.
Salauddin had walked along with Rahul Gandhi during the Congress leader’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state. According to him, he could appraise Gandhi of the problems faced by the workers over a 29-minute conversation during the walk.
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Under Ashok gehlotthe previous Congress government in Rajasthan passed a first-of-its-kind legislation – Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act. The Karnataka Congress government is also ready with a similar legislation to be passed in the Assembly.
“The works on an app that will be the government’s version of a ride-hailing platform is underway in Karnataka. Something like the ‘Kerala Savari’ app owned by the Kerala government but a more robust one. We want an umbrella app where all aggregator platforms and drivers are available onboard a single portal owned by the government, and customers get to choose which company offers the best rates. This way, the transport department can monitor the activities of companies and workers. This will also provide required data on workers at one place and ensure transparency in operations, algorithm and payment mechanism,” explains Salauddin.
Gig workers trust Congress government
The union’s confidence comes from the fact that the Congress government has been warm and welcoming towards workers and their problems. In the meeting in December, CM Reddy said the government was working on a special app through T-Hub, the Telangana government’s startup ecosystem, similar to private ride-hailing platforms.
He even issued a warning to aggregator companies against the exploitation of workers. “These companies should prioritise the welfare of workers and if anyone fails to take care of them, the government will not hesitate to take strict action against them. How you have conducted yourself so far is one; from now on, the government is watching,” he said amidst loud applause from workers.
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On November 27, a few days before the Telangana elections, Rahul Gandhi met with a group of gig and platform workers in Hyderabad. He assured them that the Congress government would address all their grievances.
However, even after half a year, there has yet to be any progress regarding such an app, and workers wonder how much time it requires to develop one. “Such an app does not require the government to spend huge amounts of money. If the government leads from the front, all others will fall in line,” says one of the workers at the union office, wishing not to be named.
T-Hub sources, when contacted, said the government had sought their suggestions regarding the proposal. “At least four private players are now in the market moving into slightly different models, varying capabilities and features. We have evaluated and passed on a set of recommendations to the government,” they said.
Mana Yatri was one such private app that was launched with government support earlier this year. Many such private apps are onboarded with the Union government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network.
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Launched by Juspay Technologies, Mana Yatri is a zero-commassion ride-hailing app that works on a subscription model and is similar to ‘Namma Yatri’ in Bengaluru. The driver here pays a daily commission instead of a certain commission rate on each ride.
A senior official in the IT department denied any such work in progress to develop a ride-hailing app that will be owned and operated by the state government. “Any app has to be done through a private agency. It is approved and authorised by the Telangana government,” he said.
On the other hand, IT Minister D Sridhar Babu said the labour department was working on a policy for gig and platform workers, though he did not know its intricacies. “Maybe they will table this policy in the next Assembly session. It is about the welfare of those who are not recognised as organised contract workers. Rajasthan has a model policy that the Congress government formulated. And when we formed the government, we spoke to all these people: Ola, Uber, Swiggy. The labour department is taking care of it,” the minister told indianexpress.com.
As the government is working on legislation, the labour department is also developing a policy that establishes a workers’ welfare board. The policy proposes to collect contributions from aggregator companies to provide social security benefits such as education scholarships and maternity benefits to workers and their families. Moreover, it suggests implementing a contributory old-age pension scheme.
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The government also wants to ensure minimum wages and grievance redressal mechanisms. Consultations regarding these are progressing with different stakeholder companies. Additional Commissioner of Labour E Gangadhar said the department would soon launch an app that would allow workers to self-register along with their details. This would cover workers employed in ride-hailing, food delivery, other app-based e-commerce platforms, and the gig economy.
The policy will be based on a study undertaken by the Telangana government’s Centre for Good Governance. The study examined a worker’s number of duty hours, service conditions, income particulars, debts or loans, and socio-economic backgrounds.
According to Gangadhar, no app will replace private ride-hailing or e-commerce platforms, and the soon-to-be-released government app will register workers into the board for department purposes for covering insurance and other benefits as there is no data on how many people in the state are employed with various gig and platform-based apps.
“We are almost ready with the app, talking with vendors, and correcting technical glitches. The gig policy is also almost ready. We will have another consultation meeting with stakeholders and release it to the public in another week or so,” the officer added.
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Study highlights woes of cab drivers
As per a recent study titled ‘Prisoners on Wheels?’ done by Paigam (People’s Association in Grassroots Action and Movement) and the University of Pennsylvania 2024, which interviewed over 10,000 respondents from eight cities, including Hyderabad, over 99 per cent of drivers faced some form of physical health issues while 98.5 per cent experienced anxiety, stress and depression due to work.
The report also said 80 per cent of cab drivers and 73 per cent of delivery agents found the current fares or rates unsatisfactory, and nearly 75 per cent of all workers found it difficult to manage expenses. About 35 per cent of drivers reported that companies deduct up to 40 per cent commission per ride and 65 per cent of drivers said they faced arbitrary and unexplained deductions from the apps. It also noted that nearly 80 per cent worked for over 10 hours a day, and about 41 to 48 per cent did not have a single day off in a week.
Further, 47 per cent of cab drivers and 41.5 per cent of delivery persons faced some form of violence at work. The study also found that 83 per cent of cab drivers and 87 per cent of delivery persons said they were negatively affected by companies’ ID blocking. The state government is seriously considering key recommendations from the study.
