A Blinkit delivery boy, who had earlier gone viral with his video, received a lunch invitation from AAP MP Raghav Chadha. The invitation came after the Rajya Sabha MP had raised the issue of ‘invisible labour’ in the Parliament.
“Every day, we press a button on our mobile phone app and a notification arrives: ‘Your order is on its way’. Behind this notification, there is often a person whom we do not acknowledge,” Chadha said in the Parliament.
The Delhi politician spoke about delivery boys working for Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola Zepto and Uber. He also spoke about Urban Company.
No matter what the weather conditions are, they deliver without any protective gear and hazardous allowance, he said. They are someone’s father, brother, husband and son. They need to be taken care of, he added.
“In official language, they are called gig workers. But, I call them the invisible wheels of the Indian economy,” Chadha added.
Chadha watched a video by the Uttarakhand delivery boy, who runs an Instagram channel called Thapliyal Ji Vlogs. In his viral video, the delivery boy stated that he had earned only ₹763 after completing 28 deliveries in nearly 15 hours.
The vlogger does not have a big presence on social media. He has just 287 subscribers on YouTube and 1,275 followers on Instagram. However, he asks everyone to keep creating content. Nobody knows when you'll go big, he said.
His video raised serious concerns about low income, long work hours and the lack of social security for delivery workers. In his video, he also spoke about the daily challenges of app-based work. The widening gap between effort and earnings in the sector again came into focus.
The meeting between the delivery boy and the politician took place on 22 December. The vlogger showed how he reached the meeting.
He says in the viral video that he thinks it’s a prank. There’s no actual meeting.
“We’re clueless about how to dress up, whether to wear old clothes or new ones. Should we look like the poor or the rich?” wondered his partner.
“A viral video shook the system, and today the conversation reached Raghav Chadha directly. The real problems of delivery riders were discussed without drama and without filters,” the boy later wrote on Instagram.
“This was not just a meeting. It is a voice that can no longer be ignored,” he added.
He called his meeting with Raghav Chadha ‘unpredictable’. “I never imagined that one viral video would take me this far,” he wrote.
“This is a massive achievement. This is the biggest achievement of my life,” the vlogger said in the viral video.
"Yesterday, I got a chance to meet Raghav Chadha ji personally. We discussed openly the work of delivery riders, their hard work, and the issues they face. The best thing is that he never let me feel that he is an MP. He sat and talked like a normal person, ate food together and listened to the ground reality carefully.
This is not just a meeting for a delivery rider; it is a big responsibility. Thank you, Raghav Chadha, for listening and understanding the voice of riders,” he later posted.
“Please keep up the good work, sir!! You are our hope who brings up real issues in the parliament...but concrete action is the need of the hour,” one Instagram user wrote for Raghav Chadha.
“Sir seems to be a nice, humble gentleman,” wrote another.
Another user commented, “This is such excellent work by Raghav Chaddha.”
“Chaddha Ji is really a sensitive person. He realises the efforts behind all the facilities we are getting,” came from another.
“He is a down-to-earth man,” another user wrote about Chadha.