How Safe Is Your Job?

With the economy in a pandemic seizure, no industry is really immune though some are more vulnerable than others. Expect pay cuts or worse

- M.G. Arun and Shwweta Punj

For 30-year-old Sasi Kumar, an Uber driver in Delhi, owning a car and earning Rs 15,000-20,000 a month was more than enough. It was more money than he had ever earned; it helped his small family of three survive. He also had the flexibility to earn more if he wanted to; more hours meant extra cash.

Life, however, came to a standstill for Kumar this March when the coronavirus pandemic overwhelmed the country. Stuck at home, his earnings abruptly halted, he has been at the mercy of the local moneylender for his expenses, of which the EMI (equated monthly instalment) of the car loan he took from an NBFC (non-banking financial company) accounts for a fat chunk. “Uber told me I’d be put on goods delivery duty, but it didn’t work. Getting (police) passes to move around is very difficult,” he says. He has got 20 kilos of wheat free from the state government, but it isn’t sufficient.