Were you among those who switched off all delivery apps on New Year’s Eve in solidarity with gig workers on strike? The first-of-its-kind consumer-led initiative got lukewarm response, but it’s a sign of growing anger over injustice
Shrishti Khanna with Prashant Pundir were one of the few who put out a call on social media asking people to go off quick commerce apps. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE
Vijay Kashyap, 35, skidded on his scooty and hit the asphalt near Belapur, Navi Mumbai, in 2025 while working as a delivery agent for quick commerce platforms. While Kashyap suffered minor injuries, he was left shaken and never returned to making deliveries.
“I already had a job as a driver for someone. My friends told me I could earn some extra cash as a delivery partner after I finished my chauffeur duty,” recalls Kashyap, who moved to Navi Mumbai from his hometown in Uttar Pradesh more than 15 years ago. “The accident happened around 1 am so I went home and went to the hospital the next day. I had never been as scared as I was at that moment. All I could think of was my wife and two children back home — I was doing it all for them but if I would not be around at all, what’s the point?” he adds with a wry smile.
All this for what? Gig workers put in long, gruelling hours — sometimes 16-hour days — for just R20 to 35 per delivery, with no insurance or benefits, and exploitative terms of work like harsh delivery deadlines and inability to turn down destinations that are too far or in remote locations. Sometimes their income doesn’t even cover their costs.
Still from Nandita Das directed and Kapil Sharma led Zwigato. PIC/YOUTUBE
It’s to highlight these unfair terms of work that multiple unions had called for a New Year’s Eve (December 31) strike of gig workers, particularly at platforms promising a 10-minute delivery guarantee. While some riders shunned work on the last day of the year, most could not afford to go on strike. But across the country, many took note of their misery and a call was put out to consumers to abstain from using the app for a day in solidarity with the workers. It was the first movement of its kind to occur at such a large scale, where consumers stood with the workers. Unfortunately, the response remained lukewarm.
Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato and Blinkit, posted on X that over 75 lakh customers had used the delivery apps during the peak New Year rush (6 pm to 12 am). “If a system were fundamentally unfair, it would not consistently attract and retain so many people who choose to work within it,” reads his post from Thursday.
Goyal’s statement has drawn criticism from many quarters. Shrishti Khanna and her partner Prashant Pundir, for instance, responded: “That [Goyal’s justification] is a comforting lie. People don’t ‘choose’ the gig economy because it’s fair — they’re pushed into it because other options are closed off. In India, stable jobs are gatekept by caste, class, migration status, language, and capital.”
The Mumbai residents have gained popularity on Instagram for their truth-telling videos. The couple (@shhrishtii.khannaa and @kafkasbluebug) had also appealed for a boycott of the apps.
Nandita Das and Vijay Kashyap
Pundir, 28, a creative supervisor in an advertising agency, snaays, “A major conversation that we had was about how deeply ingrained this 10-minute delivery has become in our lives,” he says, while also pointing out that it has genuinely helped in some cases like with his disability due fibromyalgia (chronic pain in joints and muscles), which does not allow him to go to the grocery store very often. But the question is, do we really need the deliveries to happen in 10 minutes?
“I have also been wondering what exactly the repercussions are for the workers, in terms of how they navigate traffic, when there is an urgency to deliver in minutes,” says Pundir.
Some are of the opinion that 10-minute delivery can be reserved for essential items or life-saving drugs. But placing multiple orders a day for just a bag of chips or a cold drink is misusing a system that should have been reserved for emergencies. The cost is not just multiple delivery charges that add up for users through the day, but also the stress on underpaid and overworked riders.
Khanna, an early childhood educator, feels that tech has made exploitation both more accessible and palatable. “Gig workers are paid as low as R12 rupees per delivery,” she says, “Exploitation is repackaged under the garb of efficiency, innovation, or people’s best interest.”
Dr Tilopa Chakraborty, a medical professional in the public health field, is part of an online #PauseIt movement along with their friends, calling on fellow consumers to pause using apps with the 10-minute delivery model on New Year’s Eve, synchronised with the gig workers’ strike. “Mostly, we got positive messages from people saying they were going to join the consumer solidarity movement. Only a minority of the comments were skeptical and pessimistic,” they say.
The movement, though, has seen a lot of criticism of “being an elite boycott” that has hijacked the actual workers’ movement. “We are connected to gig workers and their unions, who are already conducting a powerful movement. We are simply using our privilege and visibility as consumers to amplify their demands. The workers are the true leaders of the movement,” says Dr Chakraborty, adding that 10-minute delivery is downright “evil”.
Boycott is a powerful accompaniment to the workers’ movement because it can hit companies where it matters — money. “I think it’s a conversation that we need to have as consumers as well. We ourselves have been trying to boycott these apps and find alternatives,” says Khanna, while Pundir adds, “The change cannot happen overnight. It will take time, but the hope is to kick the habit.”
Maybe that should be our resolution in 2026?
‘Hidden in plain sight’
In 2022, the film Zwigato took us through the journey of a delivery rider (played by Kapil Sharma) under pressure to feed his family. Director Nandita Das says, “Nandita Das who directed Zwigato in 2022 says, “The intent of the film was to make us aware and empathise with those who make our life more comfortable, while they remain hidden in plain sight.” “Their [gig workers’] demands are not unfounded. What they want is more fair pay structures and a more stable payout system; and that is well within their rights,” she adds. Das says, “Today’s gig work is not too different from the daily wage labour. With all the same problems of lack of safety net of the organised sector. Except they wear colourful shirts and carry bag packs, which also they have to buy from the company!”
Voices
Shakti Dwidevi, National secretary, New Trade Union Initiative
‘I want to point out that one of the biggest employers of gig workers is the government of India. Right from anganwadi workers to the Agniveer Scheme. Choosing Diwali or Eid or Holi for the strike would have been much more impactful than December 31. I also believe staying off the apps is counterproductive; we have to instead overwhelm the system. Order more, until they have a back log and are able to deliver in those timelines and therefore go into losses. This is just 101 labour union tactics and something we should remember for Republic Day’
Shopping and Dopamine
A growing number of psychologists believe that shopping addiction can be considered a mental illness that manifests itself as an obsession with shopping and persistent purchase unwanted items, with an age of onset of 18 to 30 years and a prevalence of approximately six per cent, of which 80 per cent to 90 per cent are women. However, it seems to be considered one of the most prevalent psychological disorders in today’s society.
*The Psychology of Shopping Addiction in Consumer Behaviour
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