" Delivering discrimination? India’s gig workers see access denied by class divide", 20 October 2024

Gig workers have joined domestic helpers, cooks, nannies and drivers in suffering what many describe as second-class treatment by middle-class Indians, who like the services they provide but do not care to share the same spaces.

Some gated communities have implemented policies that segregate service workers. The Indian Express newspaper reported that DLF Hamilton Court in Gurgaon displays signs such as “staff and service lift” and “residents and guests only” in its lobby. Public amenities like lawns are off-limits, and workers are discouraged from resting on park benches, the report noted.

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In Delhi’s New Friends Colony, a notice posted in the neighbourhood bans cycle rickshaws, claiming they “lower” the tone of the area’s leafy streets.

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Noor Khan, a 26-year-old delivery agent for Blinkit, a grocery delivery service, said he was made to feel “like a thief” working in gated communities:

“First, the guard at the gates wants to know where I’m going,” he said. “Then the guard in the lobby area tells me to use the stairs, not the lift. They make me feel as though they’re doing me a favour by letting me in when I’m delivering a service to the customer.”

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Khan recalled wanting to rest in a shopping centre filled with benches but was always asked to leave by the guards. Once, after a tiring delivery, he sat on the stairs of a gated complex, only to be told by a resident to stand up because he made the place “look scruffy”.