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Image Credits: Pexels, Unsplash (Representational), Twitter/Awanish Sharan
Do We Treat Our Delivery Partners Right? Rising Number Of Discriminatory Incidents Against Them Is Alarming
Writer: Deepthi Rao
She is a postgraduate student pursuing Multimedia Journalism at Christ Deemed to be University. She believes in the power of storytelling and truth. "Do it with passion or not at all."
India, 28 Nov 2022 8:34 AM GMT
Editor : Jayali Wavhal |
She writes about gender issues, human interest, and environment.
Creatives : Jayali Wavhal
She writes about gender issues, human interest, and environment.
Delivery boys face several challenges every day while delivering our food to the doorstep. However, recently, there has been a rise in instances of violence and discrimination against them.
On a lazy Saturday afternoon, when we casually decide to order food instead of cooking or going out, we treat ourselves to a good meal after a busy week. However, we tend to neglect the ordeal food delivery agents across the country go through while ensuring that our order reaches us safely.
The delivery associates have become omnipresent on Indian roads as the world around them quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels. These associates, on several occasions, have put their lives in jeopardy to get groceries and other items delivered to us within a stipulated amount of time, with the huge rectangular bags strapped to their backs. And yet, they are subjected to discrimination and violence too often.
Recently, especially, there have been growing incidents of discrimination and violence against delivery partners, where customers do not treat them properly and make their life harder than it already is.
Rising Discrimination Against Delivery Partners
In a disheartening incident, a customer's unusual request regarding the delivery partner's religion took the internet by storm. Shaik Salauddin, the head of the Telangana State Taxi and Drivers Joint Action Committee, uploaded a screenshot of a customer's request to the online food delivery platform Swiggy, asking for no Muslim delivery boys, and it quickly went viral.
Dear @Swiggy please take a stand against such a bigoted request. We (Delivery workers) are here to deliver food to one and all, be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh @Swiggy @TGPWU Mazhab Nahi Sikhata Aapas Mein Bair Rakhna #SareJahanSeAchhaHindustanHamara#JaiHind #JaiTelangana pic.twitter.com/XLmz9scJpH
— Shaik Salauddin (@ShaikTgfwda) August 30, 2022
In a similar incident, Zomato, an app-based meal delivery service, received accolades online in 2019 for standing up for what it believed in when a customer cancelled his order because the delivery person belonged to a different faith, reported NDTV. "Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion," the company tweeted in retort to the customer's request for a change of rider.
Moreover, an announcement forbidding delivery personnel from using a Delhi housing society's elevator has recently gone viral online. This discrimination case came to light after Awanish Sharan, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, denounced the seemingly arbitrary policy of no admittance on Twitter. The policy was discriminatory in nature and forced the delivery partners to climb several flights of stairs just to deliver an order to a resident of the society.
No Caption. pic.twitter.com/T1I9JGXdYN
— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) November 22, 2022
According to Srinivas G, vice president of the United Food Delivery Partners' Union, "The mistreatment of consumers, hotel management, and false orders has become a norm. Restaurants notify app aggregators that food is available for pickup after an order is placed, even when they haven't begun cooking it. Customers who receive the update start calling the delivery executives repeatedly and use filthy language many times. We speed through the traffic to reach customers who complain of delay. This has led to quarrels in restaurants and with customers," Deccan Herald reported.
Fighting Against All Odds
Despite delivering an order an hour late, a Zomato delivery person was warmly welcomed. A video of Sanjeev Tyagi, a businessman, applying a tika on the delivery man and dousing him with flower petals from his aarti thali was published online. The delivery person accepts this invitation with grace and smiles broadly. Also performed by Tyagi is the Bollywood song "Aayiye Aapka Intezaar Tha" from the 1994 movie Vijaypath. He captioned it, "Getting your order despite "Dilli ka traffic." Thank you, Zomato . #zomato #dussehra #delhitraffic #traffic #haldiram #cholebhature".
In another video shared by a social media user, The delivery agent is seen on a motorcycle standing at the traffic light. He is soaked from the heavy rain, yet he keeps going nonetheless.
While discriminatory and violent incidents against delivery agents are rising across the country, it becomes impertinent for consumers to look at them beyond their job titles and see them as just another human. Those employing the delivery associates too need to place guidelines and rules to prevent the repetition of such incidents.
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