Rajesh Jatavad*, a supply rider for Zomato, a meals supply app in southern India, is apprehensive about his full identify being displayed for patrons on the platform – as a result of his final identify reveals that he belongs to a marginalised caste.

Extra privileged communities amongst India’s caste system traditionally thought-about castes like Jatavad’s “untouchables”.

Jatavad’s fear is predicated on lived expertise. “It’s straightforward for others to establish my caste from my surname. A number of the clients, after studying my surname from the app, they received’t permit me close to them, and even [allow me to] hand over the meals packet. They may inform me to position it down after which depart,” Rajesh advised Al Jazeera.

Then, in mid-March, his employer introduced a call that threatens to make Jatavad’s already perilous each day battle in opposition to caste biases even more durable.

On March 19, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, declared on social media platform X that the corporate was launching a “Pure Veg Mode together with a Pure Veg Fleet on Zomato, for patrons who’ve a 100% vegetarian dietary choice.”

“India has the biggest proportion of vegetarians on the planet, and one of the vital vital suggestions we’ve gotten from them is that they’re very explicit about how their meals is cooked, and the way their meals is dealt with,” he wrote.

The Pure Veg Mode permits clients to select from curated checklist of eating places that serve solely vegetarian meals and excludes eateries that serve any meat or fish. The Pure Veg Fleet, Goyal introduced, would include riders who will solely carry meals from Pure Veg Mode eating places.

And sooner or later, Goyal wrote, the corporate plans to introduce different specialised fleets – a remark that left Jatavad anxious and that betrays, stated sociologists, an ignorance of a posh actuality that undergirds India’s huge app-based meals supply business, valued at $7.4bn in 2023.

Greater than half – 54.5 p.c – of supply employees belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in line with a March 11 examine by the College of Pennsylvania.

These communities are designated “scheduled” by the federal government as a result of they’ve suffered centuries of discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantages. In India’s caste-stratified society, they’re additionally usually related to being “impure” by privileged castes.

Zomato’s newest insurance policies may find yourself reinforcing these stereotypes and deepening the discrimination employees like Jatavad face, stated sociologists and employees’ rights advocates. There are 700,000 to at least one million meals supply employees on platforms like Zomato in India.

‘If that occurs, I’m in hassle’

Jatavad realized in regards to the specialised fleets from a screenshot shared by his colleagues. Immediately, his thoughts went racing.

“’What’s the firm aiming for?” he stated. “Will they create fleets based mostly on faith and caste subsequent? If that occurs, I’m in hassle.”

In his posts on X, Goyal defined his rationale for the separate fleets. “As a result of regardless of everybody’s finest efforts, typically the meals spills into the supply bins. In these circumstances, the scent of the earlier order travels to the subsequent order and should result in the subsequent order smelling of the earlier order,” Goyal reasoned. “For that reason, we needed to separate the fleet for veg orders.”

Following pushback over the dangers colour-coded uniforms may pose to riders, if neighbourhoods that view meat as impure determine to assault or abuse supply employees, Goyal backtracked partly.

“All our riders – each our common fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will put on the color crimson,” he wrote in a follow-up put up. “This can make sure that our crimson uniform supply companions will not be incorrectly related to non-veg meals and blocked by any throughout any particular days … our riders’ bodily security is of paramount significance to us,” his put up learn.

However whereas riders carrying vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals is not going to be distinguishable by their uniform, they may nonetheless belong to totally different fleets – and clients will have the ability to choose the “Pure Veg” fleet on the Zomato app.

Staff are apprehensive.

“At this time, they may say veg and non-veg; tomorrow, they may usher in faith and caste,” Shaik Salauddin, nationwide common secretary and co-founder of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Staff (IFAT), a commerce union federation of ride-sharing and different gig transport employees, advised Al Jazeera. “They may say, upper-caste clients have demanded upper-caste supply boys. This can create an additional division amongst employees.”

Shaikh questioned why Zomato was wading into delicate meals and culture-related points in a rustic as numerous as India. “This firm is dividing folks,” he stated. “In the event that they’re right here to do enterprise, allow them to do enterprise.”

‘Purity and air pollution’

Requested by Al Jazeera in regards to the issues of supply employees, Zomato stated that clients wouldn’t have the ability to select supply companions based mostly on the rider’s personal dietary choice.

It added that the “supply companions onboarded on Zomato will not be and can by no means be discriminated in opposition to on the idea of any standards (together with dietary/ political/faith preferences).”

However that’s simpler stated than executed, in line with Mini Mohan, a sociologist based mostly within the southern Indian state of Kerala, who argued that by segregating vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices, Zomato was exploiting non secular and caste-based divisions.

“The caste system in India hyperlinks meals with purity and air pollution,” she stated. “Vegetarian meals is taken into account ‘pure’, whereas meat and occupations related to decrease castes are seen as ‘impure’. This shapes dietary practices, with increased castes even avoiding meals dealt with by decrease castes.”

Zomato’s method “not solely discriminates in opposition to sure teams but additionally dangers widening social rifts. When meals decisions dictate therapy, it creates conflicts and undermines social concord,” she added.

And the intersection of deep-seated biases and meals supply isn’t new for India – or for Zomato.

In 2019, Zomato confronted controversy when a buyer cancelled an order because of the supply individual’s faith. Zomato’s response, highlighting that meals has no faith, was broadly praised on social media. 5 years later, the corporate now discover itself on the opposite facet of the fence.

‘Rise in Brahmin eating places’

The idea of pure and impure meals in Hinduism dates again to the Dharmasutras, Vedic texts written by totally different authors between BCE 700 and BCE 100, TS Syam Kumar, a Sanskrit scholar and instructor and debater advised Al Jazeera.

“Dharmasutras are historic Indian texts that functioned as guides for dharma – an idea encompassing obligation, righteousness and moral conduct. They’re thought-about the earliest supply of Hindu legislation,” he stated.

Quoting chapters from Dharmasutras, the scholar stated that the scriptures declared that meals that has been touched by an impure individual turns into impure, however isn’t rendered unfit to be eaten. However, meals introduced by a Shudra – the bottom rung of the standard caste hierarchy – is unfit to be eaten.

The caste system usually associates historically deprived castes with meat consumption and considers them “polluted”, justifying their social exclusion. That’s true even in Kerala, a state usually seen as a progressive bastion in India.

Kerala, too, he stated, “is witnessing an increase in Brahmin eating places”.

“Individuals prioritise to purchase sure manufacturers of elements with upper-caste names,” Kumar stated.

In the meantime, Shashi Bellamkonda, a advertising professor and former hotelier stated Zomato’s controversial method is the end result of a failure of communication and of not understanding the shopper.

“As an alternative of introducing a separate ‘Pure Veg Mode’ and ‘Pure Veg Fleet’, the corporate may have targeted on enhancing its present processes to make sure that vegetarian orders are dealt with with the identical care and a spotlight as non-vegetarian orders,” he stated. “And communicated that to clients.”

*Identify modified to protect anonymity