From claiming that he has received an “overwhelmingly positive” response to Zomato’s plans of launching a separate delivery fleet for vegetarian food, the company’s co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal has changed track in less than 11 hours, deciding against the segregation of the fleet on the ground basis of people’s dietary choices. On Tuesday, Zomato said it was introducing a dedicated fleet for delivering vegetarian food where the workers will don green jerseys as opposed to the red shirt. While the move was welcomed by some, app-based workers’ unions, activists, and academics criticised it over concerns that the segregation of workers into green and red clothes could result in potential harassment on the ground. A number of these workers already come from lower income groups backgrounds. On the reason behind this U-turn, Zomato - a listed company with a long history of restaurant listing and food delivery - said this was being done so that its delivery workers “are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days”. “We now realise that even some of our customers could get into trouble with their landlords, and that would not be a nice thing if that happened because of us,” he added. Food and politics Food has always been a political issue in India. A number of people from historically dominant castes have come to associate vegetarian food with a certain religious sense of ‘purity’ – and this was one of the criticisms that Zomato’s decision received, for having blindspots towards prevalent caste equations in the country. Unlike in the west, where vegetarianism and veganism are seen as lifestyle choices by many, in India, for a lot of people, their food choices are shaped by their generational experience with the caste system. In a country where delivery workers already have separate entrances and exits to and from restaurants, are not allowed to use restrooms in many of them, and are barred from accessing the same lifts in apartment complexes that residents use, the added differentiation of its fleet, donning red and green clothes for non-vegetarian and vegetarian food respectively had triggered concerns about discrimination they could face on the ground. Most resident welfare associations, typically led by older men, are hostile organisations not just for delivery workers but also for a number of people living in apartments that fall under the associations’ watch – especially when it comes to their food choices. Many housing societies across the country prohibit the consumption of non-vegetarian food even if people have it within the confines of their own home. Apart from delivery workers getting singled out depending on the colour of their clothes, the move also received backlash over fears that residents ordering for non-vegetarian food in certain complexes could face hostility from housing societies. Sheikh Salauddin, President of Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), the largest platform-based drivers’ union in India, said: “The last time someone on Zomato requested for a delivery partner of a particular religion, Goyal said ‘food has no religion’. Today, he seems to have gone back on this. I ask him directly, is he now going to categorise delivery partners on the lines of caste, community and religion?” Past problem And Zomato has been at this cross road before. Last year, Zomato had apologised for an advertisement that showed a Dalit character from the film Lagaan being “recycled” and used as inanimate objects. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) had also issued a notice to the company. Though it is worth noting that while making the initial announcement, Goyal had said that Zomato would not discriminate on the basis of a “pure veg” fleet delivery partner’s own dietary preferences. He said the company would “work with” any housing societies that may disallow regular Zomato riders. The idea of segregation of food items has been a contentious one in the country. Last year, IIT Bombay introduced separate dining spaces for students eating vegetarian food, a move which was protested by other students who felt it was discriminatory. The institute had also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the students who protested against the designated ‘veg-only’ space by one of the mess councils at the institute.
