As part of the Local Food Club’s theme for the quarter of April-June 2026, ‘The Labour Behind Food’, The Locavore brought together Rikta Krishnaswamy, Saif, and Omir Kumar to highlight the ground realities of the gig economy in India and discuss the demands of the many workers employed under this system. Rikta, Saif, and Omir have all been organising and advocating for gig workers’ rights.
The conversation took place in Hindi and English, and was moderated by The Locavore‘s Assistant Projects Editor, Shreya Bansal, who has spent the past month working on a story—Stable Income, Drinking Water, Rest: A Delhi-based Gig Worker on Unionising for Basic Labour Rights—to bring some of these issues to the fore.
Rikta Krishnaswamy, Vice President, Rajdhani App-Based Workers Union
Rikta Krishnaswamy is a designer and organiser based in Delhi. She is the Vice President of the Democratic Youth Federation of India and the Rajdhani App Workers Union (affl. to CITU). She organises at the intersection of education, employment, and labour rights, with a particular focus on gig and platform workers in the city.
Read Rikta’s essay on her experience of organising delivery workers’ collective strike against quick commerce platform Fraazo, within her capacity as the Delhi-NCR Union Coordinator of the All India Gig Workers’ Union (AIGWU).
Omir Kumar, Researcher and Policy Analyst
Omir Kumar is a public-interest technology researcher working at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI), policy, and the digital economy in India. Currently a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Responsible AI, IIT Madras, his work focuses on AI governance, AI safety, and the future of work. Previously, he has worked at PRS Legislative Research, supporting Members of Parliament and state legislators on issues ranging from data protection and platform regulation to public finance. He has also previously worked at a gig platform, gaining an inside view of how digital platforms operate. Omir brings a people-centric perspective to understanding how technology shapes society and how policy can respond meaningfully.
For a deeper insight into the many loopholes surrounding the algorithm driving gig work, check out Omir’s work with AI4India, “The Algorithmic–Human Manager: AI, Apps, and Workers in the Indian Gig Economy.”
Saif, gig worker, Union leader and Member of the Rajdhani App-Based Workers Union
Saif is a Delhi-based gig worker across various quick commerce platforms and is the secretary of Rajdhani App Workers Union (affl. to CITU).
Moderator: Shreya Bansal, Assistant Projects Editor, The Locavore
Shreya is a writer and journalist and her work revolves around climate justice and human rights. As a reporter and researcher her work has also featured across various news outlets and publications in India. At The Locavore, she wants to tell stories sensitively, ethically and accurately.
Discussion and Learnings
All the panelists are members of the Rajdhani App-Based Workers Union (RAWU) that advocates for gig workers’ rights in the Delhi NCR region. Affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), RAWU was formalised in January 2025. Although each of them have different disciplinary and professional backgrounds, they work together at RAWU with a shared purpose to organise and further gig workers’ rights—as was reflected in the discussion. The exchange and synthesis of their experiences and expertise, alongside mutual trust, paved the way for an insightful dialogue on gig work’s ground realities—encompassing dark stores [1], app technology, unionising, and the tripartite model.
On Dark Stores
The discussion began with Rikta bringing to the audience’s attention,
“By the way, Saif is talking to us in between his delivery runs at a dark store in Delhi. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk to all of us during peak delivery time.”
Saif has been working across multiple gig work [2] platforms in Delhi NCR for the past three years. Drawing from his personal experience, he opened a window into the daily struggles experienced by gig workers. Seated in one himself, Saif illustrated the dark realities of dark stores. In most of these stores, the workers neither have access to safe drinking water nor toilets. One such crack revealed itself on his first day of this work—despite it being a hot day, the dark store did not have a functioning cooler.
Omir, having conducted first-hand surveys across 51 dark stores in Delhi NCR with RAWU, expanded further on these cracks. He found that dark stores are exactly that—dark. RAWU was not allowed to enter the stores, making their operations entirely opaque. Omir raised concerns over women packers’ safety: “Are they under CCTV surveillance inside? We don’t know what happens there.” There are also problems outside dark stores, he added: “They are not offered parking spaces. They are fined and their bikes are towed.”
Drawing from his career as a Policy Analyst, Omir further highlighted, “In Indian law, there is no definition for the term ‘dark stores’ despite it being such a big economy.” Rikta substantiated, adding, “It has evolved into a vast economy—2.3 crores [by 2029] according to a report by Niti Ayog—that many are dependent on and affected by. The size is only increasing by the day, and will inevitably creep into other industries as well.”
On the System of Providing Incentives
The technology and algorithms used by quick commerce platforms is as obscure as dark stores—specifically, the incentives system, Omir explained. The incentives [3] come with specific terms—for instance, workers will be paid only at the end of completing a certain number of orders. Besides, there is no standardised incentive rate and it fluctuates daily. He also described how different platforms compete for workers and entice them by offering more attractive incentives. Saif chimed in, sharing, “I keep shifting between apps, sometimes I do BlinkIt, Zepto, Swiggy… What can I do? It’s to maximise my earnings.” He put forth demands for standardised, transparent calculation of incentives and base rates and, in general, making these apps easier to use.
Rikta brought to attention the fact that these incentives quickly dwindle, as gig workers themselves pay for everything—fuel, bike maintenance, rain jackets, t-shirts, and shoes. By doing so, they subsidise companies’ operations.”
On Unionising Gig Workers
All of these exploitations, Omir reasoned, are sustained by taking advantage of a desperate and unaware young workforce—for whom gig work is likely their first job. If not part of this demography, “they are workers who have already exhausted all their options in the organised and unorganised sectors,” Rikta added. This is why unionising is pertinent—to protect a vulnerable workforce from being taken advantage of, and for spreading awareness of their basic rights. Omir spoke of the leverage of unionising that lies in the collective power of workers against the company. Once all workers strike and “operations are shut, the company will talk to you.” This paves the way for tripartism [4]—where workers, governments, and companies come together and negotiate on a regular basis.
Yet it comes with its own set of challenges. “In a factory, you can meet a hundred workers in one place. The workers know each other, and it’s easier to unionise. But in the gig workforce, workers are just not physically present in one place they don’t know each other,” Omir noted. “It is a last resort as workers also lose wages when on strike.”
He spoke from his own experience of unionising with RAWU: “In our first meeting, we mobilised for six months. We were expecting at least 20-50 people to show up. But only 5-10 were present. Of course, eventually, as part of the [union] meeting, we called more workers.”
Saif shared his own successes and struggles with organising. “If all workers come together, we will have all our demands met. For how long can one fight alone? I have organised many workers, made them understand the importance of unionising.” Nonetheless, it came with consequences for Saif: “I have been threatened in the store for organising. They say they will cancel my ID. Despite these challenges, he remains unruffled: “I am going to continue uniting and organising workers, to make them understand about the money, the union, and its work.” Omir, too, ended on an hopeful note on the collective power of workers. Despite the costs of unionising, RAWU has had smaller victories within the larger struggle. Rikta suggested moving from spontaneity to more organised demands-based, issue-based struggles.
On Tripartism
Rikta broached the subject of the State’s responsibility within the system of gig work. She drew attention to the fact that it is an evolving form of work—and is a bigger question of political will. It requires challenging the State’s denial and demanding regulation. Their immediate demand, she stated, is worker recognition which is not radical. She also brought up corporate responsibility: “We need a better defined relationship between employee and employer—to resolve and regulate the matter of fluctuating pay, incentives, exploitation.” Relatedly, Saif appealed, “Quick commerce companies should acknowledge and respect that their companies run on the backs of gig workers.”
Omir weighed in as well, sharing, “You need enforceable regulation on all of these things or it’s a shame that in 2026 we are talking about social security, minimum wages, and our imaginations. These are things that we learned back in 2020—it’s like we’ve gone back in time. Our demands are still exactly the same.”
Call to Action
The focus of the discussion then shifted to the audience, many who use quick commerce apps. They raised the same question: “What can we, as consumers, do?” Saif responded by voicing his customer-related concerns. He revealed that customer complaints lead to their IDs being closed off. There are also problems he faced beyond the app, during deliveries. In the evenings, most neighborhood gates (like in Green Park, Delhi) are closed off—how is he to deliver the package then? Conclusively, he suggested, customers can be more understanding of the workers’ situation and acknowledge their shared humanity.
Rikta too spoke from her own experience. She offered, “Tipping is great, I live on the fifth floor of a building and I know the average rate is so stupid.” She also suggested if there are any movements happening in one’s city—with State-based unions—consumers can stand in abject solidarity with gig workers.
To conclude, Rikta affirmed:
“Gig worker rights are not an isolated fight we are fighting; they’re your rights as a worker, your rights as a small business or a shop or a restaurant. It’s your rights as a consumer.
So to recognise that we are not separate from the society we live in, and that these fights are actually connected, is the starting point of any solidarity between consumers and workers.”
Glossary
[1] Dark Stores: Warehouses for storage of consumer goods operating mostly in residential areas. [Source: Rajdhani App Workers Union (RAWU)]
[2] Gig Work: Gig workers–those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement–can be broadly classified into platform and non platform-based workers. Platform workers are those whose work is based on online software apps or digital platforms. [Source: Niti Ayog report]
[3] Incentives: Earnings in addition to the base rate for deliveries after working for a certain number of hours, or finishing a certain number of orders. [Source: Shreya’s piece].
[4] Tripartism: The interaction of government, employers, and workers (through their representatives) as equal and independent partners to seek solutions to issues of common concern. [Source: ILO Thesaurus]. Learn more about tripartism and social dialogue here.
Beyond the Plate is an initiative by The Locavore where we engage in meaningful conversations, live events, and dining experiences that look at food beyond the sum of its parts. It is our attempt to narrow the divide between what’s on our plate, where it comes from, how it’s produced, and the deeper stories around it.