New Delhi, A new novel seeks to shed light on the plight of gig workers of Kolkata, the challenges they face with limited rights and protection, and how they are often forced to accept poor working conditions.
Ashoke Mukhopadhay’s “No. 1, Akashganga Lane: The First Novel about the Gig Workers of Kolkata” has been translated from Bengali into English by Zenith Roy and published by Niyogi Books.
India ranks fifth globally in gig-economy workers, a number rising so quickly that experts predict the country may soon be third. NITI Aayog’s 2022 report estimates 23.5 million gig workers by 2029-30. Their contribution to the economy is valued at roughly USD 20 billion, with annual growth projected at 17 per cent until 2027.
Yet these workers remain classified as ‘informal’. Platforms call them ‘independent contractors’, but in practice they lack independence and contract security.
They earn an average of ₹15,000 per month, without provident fund, pension or paid leave. Their health deteriorates from long hours and physical strain, and they live with constant insecurity about accidents, illness, and old age.
Studies say long hours of driving, riding, lifting, or delivering lead to chronic stomach ailments, spinal problems, hearing loss and lung damage caused by pollution. Without accident insurance or retirement savings, these workers live in constant insecurity.
In the book, Kolkata’s streets pulse with a new rhythm – the restless hum of gig work – in the shadow of the Covid pandemic. At the heart of this fictional world is Sriman Kundu, employed by an app-based food delivery company.
His job is simple in theory: ferry meals from kitchens to doorsteps. Yet in practice, it is a life of disconnection – from the food he carries, from the people who prepare it, and often from the colleagues who share his fate. Even friendship feels costly, every invitation weighed against the price of participation.
Sriman knows the truth too well: riders like him live on borrowed time. Their life expectancy is measured not in years but in minutes, each ride a gamble with exhaustion, accident, or invisibility. To survive, he multiplies his hustles – signing up for multiple platforms, partnering in a cloud kitchen, even guarding gates as a night watchman.
Alongside Sriman is Mrittika Sen, a passenger carrier who voices the unspoken fears of women in this trade. For her, the road is doubly dangerous.
Together, they and their peers recognize the fragility of their existence. Unlike factory workers of old, they have no institutional safety net. A company’s decision can erase them overnight – a bloodless murder, exploitation perfected in digital form.
Yet resistance stirs. Sriman and a handful of riders begin to dream of solidarity, of demanding fairer wages and per-kilometre fees. But the questions loom: if their demands are denied, can they afford to strike? And if they strike, can they afford to survive?
Meanwhile, in a century-old house on Akashganga Lane, another life unfolds. Bishan Basu, an elderly man with a telescope, spends his nights searching the heavens for a new planet. A figure both enigmatic and connective, Bishan bridges the worlds of privilege and precarity, his gaze on the stars contrasting with the riders’ gaze on the road.
The novel depicts struggle, survival, fragile hope, and the resilient human spirit.
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