The Maharashtra App Based Transport Workers Union has filed a petition before the Bombay High Court demanding regulation of aggregators, providing insurance to the workers as well as seeking transparency in algorithms of the apps. The plea is before the bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice SV Marane and was heard on January 10 and will next be heard on March 15.

The state government, Union government as well as Uber, Ola, Swiggy and Zomato have been impleaded as respondents in the petition.

The MAT Union was formed in 2020 and represents Cab Drivers, Food and Goods Delivery Persons and all the Workers who are connected with the applications based performance and service Industry. They seek social security benefits and have complained of reduction in payouts, mental harassment and unfair deactivation policy

The union has pleaded that directions be issued to the state government to regulate Aggregators Businesses as mandated by Motor Vehicle Act as well as to frame rules to regulate aggregators business of Delivery of food and goods.

Their other prayers include transparency in working hours, payments, contract, insurance and implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 as well as payment of bare minimum wage commensurate to a living wage for 8 hours a day.

In the interim, they have sought directions to the government to hold joint meeting of stakeholders to consider their suggestions with regards to framing of rules and to implement Motor Vehicle Guidelines 2020.

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The post Bom HC issues notice, App-based workers Union files plea; seeks social security for drivers, delivery persons appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
New Delhi: A Delhi based journalist Asad Ashraf did not expect to be stranded in a secluded spot on Sunday right after he had attended Eid festivities in the city. He had booked an Ola to go to his house in Jamia Nagar, south Delhi, when the driver took a wrong route and refused to go any further. “Wahan ajeeb log rehte hain,” (Strange people stay there) he said and refused to ply.
 
Ashraf had booked an Ola cab from B.K Dutt Colony to get to Jamia Nagar but was dropped off midway. When he protested, the cab driver allegedly threatened and harassed him saying that Jamia “was not a place to go.” He had tweeted that the Ola driver would have killed him for being Muslim.
 

 
Ola has also made its stance clear and off-roaded the driver.
 

 
Ashraf also recounted his entire ordeal for DBPost:
 
As I sit to write this piece, images from last (Sunday) night when an Ola driver threatened of dire consequences had I not off boarded his cab return to my mind. If the thought of being a victim of harassment scares me so much, I wonder what it would be like for women who are consistently harassed sexually in this male-dominated patriarchal society.
 
The take away from last (Sunday) night event not only jolts me but also confronts me with the grim realities of the times we are living in where bigotry, hate, and masculinity have become a norm. This is contrary to the idea of India our great leaders had envisioned.
 
I anticipate that this will ruffle feathers of some ‘hyper-nationalists’, but I wouldn’t hesitate in writing that the idea of our great nation is decaying faster than ever before. Even sadder is that lawmakers, who are supposed to remain sane, go on to make comments that only cause immense harm to the sanity of our society for some petty electoral gains. I see the behaviour of Ola driver not in isolation but as a part of the events unfolding in the country that is polluting everyone’s minds and souls with hatred for each other.
 
So, here is how I had a first-hand experience of the theatre of hatred and bigotry unfolding every day in our society. A festive season in the profession of journalism brings its own kind of engagements. As a part of this engagement, I had to visit an Eid Milan at Jor Bagh in Central Delhi.
 
Soon after the event was over, I booked a cab as I do every day for conveyance, at around 9 pm. I strongly anticipated that the Ola cab driver would not be willing to go to Jamia Nagar where civilisation supposedly ends.
 
So, when I called him to pick me up from the spot, the driver enquired about my end destination (as anticipated by me). He is not supposed to do so according to Ola’s rules and norms. However, out of the fear of being rejected before the ride starts I asked him to drop me to Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University) in South Delhi, which is still considered to be a respectable part of the city. Now minutes later, it was my turn to board the cab and share the OTP with him, which would eventually let him know that he would have to land in an area where modernity ends.
 

 
Well, to my surprise, he did not utter a word and straightway pulled the gears and moved from that spot only to stop five minutes later on a secluded road.
 
As soon as the breaks were applied for the car to stop, I heard a voice causing some shock to me. “Neeche Utar jao (Get down from the car).” Initially, I couldn’t understand what he meant unless he clarified that he doesn’t want to go to Jamia Nagar. On being asked, why? The reply was without any reluctance. “Wahan ajeeb log rehtein hain (Strange people live over there).”
 
This is to note that Jamia Nagar is one of the most prominent Muslim ghettos in this country, which accommodates former foreign minister to rickshaw pullers.
 
I was not willing to give in that easily. I protested but only to realise the danger when this driver started calling his friends through his mobile phone to the spot. I raised an emergency alarm on the Ola app but this did not affect the man and he rather threatened me of dire consequences. Soon after, my conversation with him ended, I got out and he drove away leaving me alone on a deserted road.
 
I was now left to deal with Ola support and Delhi Police who assured me of immediate help but did not bother to answer my calls or reply to my texts even after two hours after the incident took place. The attitude of Delhi police was a grotesque reminder of how we have seen them while growing in Bollywood films, laid back, careless, insensitive. While I am writing this piece, I am still waiting for them to contact me and at least acknowledge that they had indeed taken a note of my complaint. I doubt if that will ever happen.
 

 
Amid all this display of hatred, bigotry, communalism, what came as a shock to me is the fraudulent means used by Ola cabs to manipulate my entire case. Soon after the response to my emergency alarm, they blocked my Ola app until I would rate them, which has never been the case earlier. So I was forced to give a two-star rating to the driver who didn’t even deserve to be on the rating parameters.
 
Ola did not show any concern for the emergency alarm raised by me until I posted about it on social media.
 
I have just been informed that Ola has terminated the driver for causing all the trouble to them. However, the question that arises is that if this is the solution to the entire issue. Probably no.
 
The driver was merely a product of hate that we have nurtured in this society. Terminating this driver might be a temporary solution but our long-term goal should be to reform him and many others in his position.
 
The solution to me is depolluting this society of communalism and the hatred it has caused in our hearts.
 
In a similar incident in April, a man had tweeted at Ola’s handle saying that he cancelled an Ola booking because the driver partner was Muslim and Ola’s secular response had won praise on social media.
 

 

The post Bigoted Ola driver refuses to ply to Muslim locality, said strange people live there appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
देश के सबसे सफल इंटरनेट उद्यमियों- फ्लिपकार्ट के सचिन बंसल और ओला के भावीश अग्रवाल ने अपनी विदेशी प्रतिद्वंद्वी के खिलाफ ‘राष्ट्रवाद’ का झंडा उठा लिया है। उन्होंने कहा है कि सरकार को ऐसी नीति बनानी चाहिए, जिससे इस सेगमेंट में भारतीय कंपनियों को फायदा हो।
 
ईटी के अनुसार, फ्लिपकार्ट के को-फाउंडर और एग्जिक्युटिव चेयरमैन बंसल ने कहा, ‘15 साल पहले जो चीन ने किया था, हमें वहीं करना चाहिए। हमें दुनिया को बताना चाहिए कि उनकी पूंजी का हम स्वागत करते हैं, लेकिन उनकी कंपनियों के लिए यहां कोई जगह नहीं है।’ उन्होंने यहां कार्नेगी इंडिया ग्लोबल टेक्नॉलजी समिट में यह बात कही। बंसल और अग्रवाल अमेरिकी इंटरनेट दिग्गज ऐमजॉन और ऊबर को रोकने के लिए संरक्षणवाद की वकालत कर रहे हैं। भारतीय इंटरनेट के दोनों पोस्टर बॉय ने कहा कि वे जिन सेगमेंट में काम करते हैं, वहां पूंजी सबसे बड़ी ताकत है, इनोवेशन नहीं। उनके कहने का मतलब यह है कि अमेरिकी कंपनियां भारत में बिजनस जमाने के लिए भारी घाटा उठा रही हैं।
 
ओला के सीईओ अग्रवाल ने कहा, ‘ऑनलाइन ई-कॉमर्स और ऐप बेस्ड टैक्सी एग्रीगेटर बिजनस में विदेशी कंपनियां इनोवेशन की दुहाई दे रही हैं, लेकिन असल मुकाबला पैसे के दम से लड़ा जा रहा है। इसमें इनोवेशन का कोई रोल नहीं है। पैसे के दम से मार्केट को खराब किया जा रहा है।’ इन उद्यमियों और निवेशकों के बीच भारतीय कंपनियों को बचाने के लिए सरकारी दखल की भावना पहले से थी, लेकिन पहली बार दो बड़ी कंपनियों के संस्थापकों ने यह बात खुलकर कही है।

Courtesy: National Dastak
 

The post नोटबंदी की मंदी में ओला और फ्लिपकार्ट को याद आया ‘राष्ट्रवाद’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.