Vivek.Gopal

The richer the media, the poorer it's coverage ~ P Sainath Listen to the full BG Verghese lecture youtu.be/laRD40h3yGM?si…

I've been speaking with reporters about digital #censorship in India since 2008. This is the first time since then that the govt has engaged in such expansive online censorship and I've not been inundated with calls about it. There's a distinct shift in press freedom. #FoE

@hvgoenka It isn’t enough that this is idiotic, but that it’s also plagiarised!

Can this be a solution?

Criticism, satire of PM, UGC regulations target of government takedowns on X, Instagram ✍️@AroonDeep thehindu.com/news/national/…

Can’t find the original tweet but someone made a great point about how India had two great cultural forms for the projection of soft power globally (cinema and cricket) but they’ve decided they’d rather use both to serve the BJP’s domestic political agenda.

X blocked this tweet of @annavetticad on 23 Feb on govt orders. She writes how years of abuse, threats & knobbling of her X acct in the #Modi era have not sapped her persistence. Subscribe to read her edit note article-14.com/subscribe

"We have no messages from India. You can ask them" - Iran's Ambassador to India. The ship was in India by invitation. They were torpedoed by the Americans. Sri Lanka responded to the distress call. 83 drowned. India hasn’t said a word. Totally shameless.

@HeerJeet @jonkay The man works for the quillete; I feel that answers that

@jonkay Have you ever enjoyed a work of art in your life -- a poem, a novel, a movie? Or is everything just culture war polemics to you?

canadian actor you've never heard of who appeared in canadian film you've never heard of returns canadian award you've never heard of because organization you've never heard of wouldn't play her palestinian-watermelon-emoji-genocide video

India must be the only place where if someone censored all the TV news media and took them off air, the public discourse would become better informed.

There are few things more dangerous to humanity than billionaire ownership of our media.

The legalities of whose water it was does not change the optics - our guests were slaughtered at our doorstep, and the PMs silence sends the signal that India is fine with that. This is also the perception in Iranian twitter and that will be difficult to ever change.

A moron’s divining rod

At some point, you have to admit, there’s no coherent intellectual moral tradition here, certainly nothing like a spiritual framework, nothing, except one load-bearing wall that holds the whole structure of this faith, ‘Muslim bad.’ Everything else is decoration.

On Sunday afternoon, my colleague @deshkar_ankita called from a government hospital in Nagpur. This was not going to be just another accident brief.... 19 workers were dead. SIXTEEEN of them were women. #Thread (1/8)

an organisation run by apparatchiks who've never known the meaning of academic freedom or debate. 'concerns have been raised' by a whatsapp factory of those who cannot argue out their views in the open so have to resort to the mob - 'we have numbers even if we don't have sense'

Apparently, in 2025, “reading Wikipedia and watching a podcast” now qualifies you as a historian, as long as you yell about “Indic frameworks” and tweet in caps. So let’s talk, slowly and academically, about why formal training in history is, in fact, necessary. 🧵

It’s only fair that I respond to Deepinder’s post with the gig economy numbers and clarification because I hadn’t read those when I posted my tweet. I will also talk about what can regulation fix and how. I’ll also respond to comments I’ve received and read (especially from Mahesh Peri) in a subsequent tweet. I'm glad that Deepi is engaging with this beyond the "you're uncomfortable because you can see poverty" rhetoric, because it surfaces crucial data about platform behavior and assumptions we make. I don't think I've seen such data in public before. I also didn't want to have this conversation, but here we are. When I'm in a debate, I'm in a debate. Not personal. In response to Deepi’s data: 1. Why is Aggregate and Median data not useful here: I said in my previous tweet that average and median numbers do not do justice to this conversation, and I had expected that data from Zomato, simply because these skew the outcome, but more importantly, about how modern platforms work. What are the levers that Zomato controls on the supply side? Number of hours someone works, how much distance they travel, how fast they deliver, how they pay as per rating, how people get paid depending on demand, and how much delivery workers are expecting in order to get paid (based on whether they accept or reject a delivery offer), how much to they make per month, how much the consumer on the demand side has chosen to tip. It’s probably much more granular than this. What this allows Zomato to estimate is essentially “Supplier Surplus” (I don't know if that phrase actually exists), which is how little is a delivery worker willing to accept in terms of pay than in the average situation. This is the inversion of “Consumer Surplus”, which is how much more is a consumer willing to pay than she is currently being charged. Data today actually allows us to practically (and not theoretically) estimate supply and demand, and thus, depending on price and cost elasticity, in two sided markets, allow platforms disproportionate leverage. They have leverage in terms of each individual customer and individual gig economy worker, but it can be misused both on the supply and demand side to maximise platform returns, and reduce risk of call-outs by pricing differentially for clusters. Remember how Zepto priced differentially for iPhone users versus Android. Dark patterns can exist on both supply and demand side. The opacity only helps platforms: There is clear public data on the demand side (consumers), and potential for backlash, so they play less with that, but the supply side is largely opaque, and the mercy of the platform. There’s clear lack of accountability here. How do we solve this? This remains he-said-she-said as long as there isn’t accountability and independent assessment, and average and median data. Regulations need to evolve, both legally and technically, to bring in algorithmic accountability, because without this, there’s far too much room for discrimination at scale. Again, I’m not saying that Zomato is doing this discrimination, or how it is discriminating, because we don't have transparency, but the fact is that this problem exists in marketplace constructs we have today, and there are clear complaints from suppliers across gig economy marketplaces, except maybe those like Rapido and Urban Company who apparently offer a more sustainable approach to the supply side. 2. Deepinder said: “In 2025, average earnings per hour (EPH), excluding tips, for a delivery partner on Zomato were ₹102. In 2024, this number was ₹92. That’s a ~10.9% year-on-year increase. Over a longer horizon also, EPH has shown steady growth. Most delivery partners work for a few hours and only a few days in a month. But if someone were to work for 10 hours/day, 26 days/month, this translates to ~₹26,500/month in gross earnings. After accounting for fuel and maintenance (~20%), the net earnings for the partner are ~₹21,000/month.” What we don’t know: What’s the distribution of earnings like? What’s the median? What’s the 25 percentile? How many earn below Rs. 70/hour? Averaging payouts across idle time hides volatility in payouts. What’s the wait time like, where they don’t get paid? What’s the longest wait time before a logged in worker has got work? Like I said, platforms may not have pricing consistency. Is life for every one of them actually 102x20x26? For how many? For what percentile? What is the variance across Tier 1 and tier 3, where costs may differ? Remember that delivery workers in metros have higher costs, and the cost of vehicle and fuel is theirs. Like I said earlier, the gig economy benefits from operating in that halfway house between employees and entrepreneurs: this would fall below the minimum wage threshold in Delhi. 3. Deepinder said: “In 2025, the average delivery partner on Zomato worked 38 days in the year and 7 hours per working day, reflecting true gig style participation rather than fixed schedules. “ “Only 2.3% of delivery partners worked more than 250 days a year.” “Delivery partners are not assigned shifts or geographies. They determine when to log in and log out, and their area of work in a specific city. Partners also have the freedom to add or remove a desired work area based on their preferences.” What this tells us: This data suggests that is clearly not a business that optimises for worker benefit, and that comes from the gig economy construct I mentioned earlier that leaves them in a halfway house of being neither employees nor entrepeneurs, but contractors. This indicates the fragility of the model. Again, what we dont know is why most worked 38 days in total: was it because of oversupply in the market, in comparison with demand? What is because they have other jobs because this doesn’t sustain them? How does this change across dependencies, and how are things different for those who have other jobs, and those who have only this? Can they sustain working only at Zomato, or do they split their work across multiple platforms, and hence Zomato has an incomplete picture here? We also don’t know how the platform incentivises or penalises participation in order to shape gig worker behavior here. To call this flexibility is to treat this as “freedom”. Phrasing this as flexibility suggests there is some semblance of security, which there isn’t. That doesn’t mean that the platform can actually restrict autonomy. We don’t know how platform incentives or penalties shape worker behaviour. Even without fixed shifts, workers may feel pressured to work during peak hours or face reduced order allocation. Platforms have leverage. At least in case of cab aggregators and their car loans, we know flexibility isn’t freedom. 4. Deepinder said: "On top of this - delivery partners earn 100% of tips given by customers. The average tip per hour in 2025 on Zomato was INR 2.6 and in 2024 was INR 2.4 per hour. Tips are transferred instantly, with zero deductions. We absorb the payment gateway processing cost ourselves. About 5% of the orders get tipped on Zomato; 2.5% on Blinkit." My take: Many people made a great point about how we just don’t tip enough. I'm guilty on occasion as well, at least in case of deliveries. I'm already paying the platform and the restaurant, right? Here’s the thing: tipping is also externalisation of costs by the gig economy (and restaurants), and especially in India, it adds a degree of uncertainty for a delivery worker and waiter. Sure, it might lead to better service qualitatively, but it also adds to pressure and rage for the delivery worker if it isn’t there or is insufficient. I read recently about a delivery worker poisoning food in the US because the tip was too low. In a deeply classist country like ours, tipping won’t happen. You can’t base a defence of delivery workers earnings on tipping, which is not yours to keep anyway, Deepi. Secondly, we do not know how, algorithmically, payout estimates change for delivery workers based on a customers choice of tip. The customer knows how much she is paying and tipping, as does Zomato. How the payout structure is reworked, and incentives reworked to convert this into a profit for Zomato is not clear. It can give them more control over contribution margins. Zomato has this kind of data and control. Also, at Zomato’s scale, gateway costs would be inordinately low on a per-order basis, so it isn't much benevolence for Zomato to absorb that as a part of the overall order value. I also don’t understand the logic of averaging tips on a per-hour basis. What is it on a per-order, per-worker basis? 5. Deepinder said: “Quick commerce’s 10-minute promise DOES NOT put pressure on gig workers, and it DOESN’T lead to unsafe driving. Why? The most common concern is that faster delivery promises translate into pressure on delivery partners to drive unsafely. That isn’t how the system operates. Firstly, delivery partners are not shown customer-facing time promises. There is no “10-minute timer” or countdown in the delivery app. 10 mins or faster deliveries are primarily due to our stores being closer to customers and not by higher speeds on the road. In 2025, the average distance travelled per order on Blinkit was 2.03 km. Average driving time was ~8 minutes, which implies an average speed of ~16 km/h. On Zomato, where delivery times are longer, average driving speeds in 2025 were ~21 km/h. As you can see, average driving speeds are broadly similar across Zomato and Blinkit: 10 vs 30 min delivery time is not affected by driving speed.” My take: Workers tend to figure out how they’re getting paid, and how their incentives, work allocation and payouts are getting impacted by their behaviour. I've seen it with Uber drivers. It's why they all ask for a high rating. Again, averages about speeds and distances here can be misleading. How does this differ in peak hours versus regular hours? How much pressure is there in peak hours? Given that orders and demand is higher during peak hours, isn’t their more pressure to deliver more orders to increase earnings (hence those averages can be misleading as well). We’ve all read enough news reports about accidents featuring delivery workers, no? This may be anecodal, but there is undeniable empirical evidence. Rider behaviour can also be impacted by how consumers respond to food delivered late and cold, and whether Zomato issued a refund. 6. Deepinder said: “In 2025, Zomato and Blinkit spent over ₹100 crore on insurance coverage for delivery partners. These premiums are borne entirely by us, and the benefits are administered with record speed without any fuss. Coverage includes: 1. Accident insurance with coverage of up to INR 10 lakh: 2. Medical insurance with coverage of INR 1 lakh plus OPD coverage of INR 5,000 3. Loss of pay insurance of up to INR 50,000 4. Maternity insurance with coverage of up to INR 40,000 Beyond insurance, we’ve added other forms of support where gaps are most visible. (5/5) 1. Period rest days of 2 days per month for women delivery partner 2. Support in filing income tax returns (95,000 delivery partners leveraged this) 3. Access to a gig-variant of National Pension Scheme (54,000 delivery partners enrolled in PRAN under NPS, enabling long-term retirement savings) 4. SOS Service for immediate support in case of emergencies, including accidents, vehicle breakdown, theft etc.” My take: This is great, it shows how supportive Zomato is of delivery workers that they’re actually trying to treat them as employees. My only questions here: how many delivery workers do you have active in a year? How many of those who work actually are eligible for this? How many of those who worked “38 days in a year” benefited from this? What percentile gets this? 7. Lastly, I see that Deepi is framing this as a flexible second job for most delivery workers. Is this a platform model construct and are delivery workers forced to work other jobs, or is that a choice? Is it a secondary job for the 2.3% that work 250 days a year, and what percentage of deliveries do they do? Flexible second job is a phrasing that fits with gig-economy platform thesis, but we know most drivers for cabs are full time, even though those platforms can claim these are flexible second jobs. Thankfully they stopped doing that a decade ago. This flexible second job framing is symptomatic of the halfway house between employees and entrepreneurs. I use the word entrepreneurs, because Uber used that a lot initially, instead of contractors. If it’s just a flexible second job, then why are they protesting? It shouldn’t matter that much, right? Anyway, this has been a long tweet. I’ll post my response to some of the comments I’ve received below.

Being old is having bar people bend you over to apply back patches because you pulled a muscle at the bar

Asked for a masala peanut. “We have something similar” Serves a plate of turnips, chikki, peas, bread

first RTI Act, now NREGA—this regime is killing powerful people’s movements that lay the foundation of welfare and accountability in india. i feel such a deep harrowing sense of shame for us all today.