The Ukraine war has provided India’s rulers with a ready alibi for all the adverse developments in the economy. But the principal responsibility for the suffering of the people thus cannot be shoved onto world events; it lies principally with India’s rulers themselves, who have led the country into the present abyss.
While the Modi government’s step to ban the export of wheat was widely criticised, the criticism has been largely from a neoliberal standpoint, not from the standpoint of people’s interests. What needs highlighting, however, is that the debacle was the result of Government policy.
This article discusses various aspects of the nature of employment in the gig economy, especially for those who can be referred to as ‘blue collar’ gig workers: flexibility, earnings and the work day; new mechanisms of control; labour rights and social protection. It shows how gig work adds yet another layer to the informalisation of work and retrogression of labour standards in conditions of highly organised monopoly capital.