New Delhi, A brand new novel seeks to make clear the plight of gig employees of Kolkata, the challenges they face with restricted rights and safety, and the way they’re usually pressured to just accept poor working circumstances.
Ashoke Mukhopadhay’s “No. 1, Akashganga Lane: The First Novel in regards to the Gig Employees of Kolkata” has been translated from Bengali into English by Zenith Roy and revealed by Niyogi Books.
India ranks fifth globally in gig-economy employees, a quantity rising so shortly that consultants predict the nation might quickly be third. NITI Aayog’s 2022 report estimates 23.5 million gig employees by 2029-30. Their contribution to the economic system is valued at roughly USD 20 billion, with annual development projected at 17 per cent till 2027.
But these employees stay categorised as ‘casual’. Platforms name them ‘impartial contractors’, however in apply they lack independence and contract safety.
They earn a median of ₹15,000 per 30 days, with out provident fund, pension or paid go away. Their well being deteriorates from lengthy hours and bodily pressure, they usually dwell with fixed insecurity about accidents, sickness, and previous age.
Research say lengthy hours of driving, using, lifting, or delivering result in continual abdomen illnesses, spinal issues, listening to loss and lung injury attributable to air pollution. With out accident insurance coverage or retirement financial savings, these employees dwell in fixed insecurity.
Within the ebook, Kolkata’s streets pulse with a brand new rhythm – the stressed hum of gig work – within the shadow of the Covid pandemic. On the coronary heart of this fictional world is Sriman Kundu, employed by an app-based meals supply firm.
His job is easy in idea: ferry meals from kitchens to doorsteps. But in apply, it’s a lifetime of disconnection – from the meals he carries, from the individuals who put together it, and infrequently from the colleagues who share his destiny. Even friendship feels expensive, each invitation weighed towards the worth of participation.
Sriman is aware of the reality too properly: riders like him dwell on borrowed time. Their life expectancy is measured not in years however in minutes, every trip a raffle with exhaustion, accident, or invisibility. To outlive, he multiplies his hustles – signing up for a number of platforms, partnering in a cloud kitchen, even guarding gates as an evening watchman.
Alongside Sriman is Mrittika Sen, a passenger provider who voices the unstated fears of ladies on this commerce. For her, the street is doubly harmful.
Collectively, they and their friends acknowledge the fragility of their existence. Not like manufacturing unit employees of previous, they don’t have any institutional security internet. An organization’s choice can erase them in a single day – a cold homicide, exploitation perfected in digital kind.
But resistance stirs. Sriman and a handful of riders start to dream of solidarity, of demanding fairer wages and per-kilometre charges. However the questions loom: if their calls for are denied, can they afford to strike? And in the event that they strike, can they afford to outlive?
In the meantime, in a century-old home on Akashganga Lane, one other life unfolds. Bishan Basu, an aged man with a telescope, spends his nights looking out the heavens for a brand new planet. A determine each enigmatic and connective, Bishan bridges the worlds of privilege and precarity, his gaze on the celebs contrasting with the riders’ gaze on the street.
The novel depicts battle, survival, fragile hope, and the resilient human spirit.
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