‘Pure veg fleet’: How Indian food app Zomato sparked a caste, purity debate
Rajesh Jatavad*, a delivery rider for Zomato, a food delivery app in southern India, is worried about his full name being displayed for customers on the platform – because his last name reveals that he belongs to a marginalised caste. More privileged communities among India’s caste system historically considered castes like Jatavad’s “untouchables”. Jatavad’s worry is based on lived experience. “It is easy for others to identify my caste from my surname. Some of the customers, after reading my surname from the app, they won’t allow me near them, or even [allow me to] hand over the food packet. They will tell me to place it down and then leave,” Rajesh told Al Jazeera. Then, in mid-March, his employer announced a decision that threatens to make Jatavad’s already perilous daily struggle against caste biases even tougher. On March 19, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, declared on social media platform X that the company was launching a “Pure Veg Mode along with a Pure Veg Fleet on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference.” “India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled,” he wrote. The Pure Veg Mode allows customers to pick from curated list of restaurants that serve only vegetarian food and excludes eateries that serve any meat or fish. The Pure Veg Fleet, Goyal announced, would consist of riders who will only carry food from Pure Veg Mode restaurants. And in the future, Goyal wrote, the company plans to introduce other specialised fleets – a comment that left Jatavad anxious and that betrays, said sociologists, an ignorance of a complex reality that undergirds India’s enormous app-based food delivery industry, valued at $7.4bn in 2023. More than half – 54.5 percent – of delivery workers belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, according to a March 11 study by the University of Pennsylvania. These communities are designated “scheduled” by the government because they have suffered centuries of discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantages. In India’s caste-stratified society, they are also often associated with being “impure” by privileged castes. Zomato’s latest policies could end up reinforcing those stereotypes and deepening the discrimination workers like Jatavad face, said sociologists and workers’ rights advocates. There are 700,000 to one million food delivery workers on platforms like Zomato in India. Delivery riders – many working for Zomato – wait in line to collect their orders outside a mall in Mumbai, India, on August 10, 2023 [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters] ‘If that happens, I’m in trouble’ Jatavad learned about the specialised fleets from a screenshot shared by his colleagues. Instantly, his mind went racing. “’What is the company aiming for?” he said. “Will they create fleets based on religion and caste next? If that happens, I’m in trouble.” In his posts on X, Goyal explained his rationale for the separate fleets. “Because despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes. In those cases, the smell of the previous order travels to the next order and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order,” Goyal reasoned. “For this reason, we had to separate the fleet for veg orders.” Following pushback over the risks colour-coded uniforms could pose to riders, if neighbourhoods that view meat as impure decide to attack or abuse delivery workers, Goyal backtracked partly. “All our riders – both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will wear the colour red,” he wrote in a follow-up post. “This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food and blocked by any during any special days … our riders’ physical safety is of paramount importance to us,” his post read. But while riders carrying vegetarian and non-vegetarian food will not be distinguishable by their uniform, they will still belong to different fleets – and customers will be able to pick the “Pure Veg” fleet on the Zomato app. Workers are worried. “Today, they will say veg and non-veg; tomorrow, they will bring in religion and caste,” Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary and co-founder of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), a trade union federation of ride-sharing and other gig transport workers, told Al Jazeera. “They will say, upper-caste customers have demanded upper-caste delivery boys. This will create a further division among workers.” Shaikh questioned why Zomato was wading into sensitive food and culture-related issues in a country as diverse as India. “This company is dividing people,” he said. “If they’re here to do business, let them do business.” ‘Purity and pollution’ Asked by Al Jazeera about the concerns of delivery workers, Zomato said that customers would not be able to choose delivery partners based on the rider’s own dietary preference. It added that the “delivery partners onboarded on Zomato are not and will never be discriminated against on the basis of any criteria (including dietary/ political/religion preferences).” But that’s easier said than done, according to Mini Mohan, a sociologist based in the southern Indian state of Kerala, who argued that by segregating vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, Zomato was exploiting religious and caste-based divisions. “The caste system in India links food with purity and pollution,” she said. “Vegetarian food is considered ‘pure’, while meat and occupations associated with lower castes are seen as ‘impure’. This shapes dietary practices, with higher castes even avoiding food handled by lower castes.” Zomato considered special green uniforms for its ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ delivery riders rather than the red uniform pictured here, but has backed away from that plan, Kolkata, India, July 13, 2021 [Rupak De Chowduri/Reuters] Zomato’s approach “not only discriminates against certain groups but also risks widening social rifts. When food choices dictate treatment, it creates conflicts and undermines social harmony,” she added. And the intersection of deep-seated biases and food delivery isn’t new for India – or for Zomato. In 2019,
How US police are co-opting a law meant to protect victims of crime
Columbus, Ohio – Some of the final moments of Ta’Kiya Young’s life unfolded in a supermarket car park last August. Suspected of stealing from a Kroger’s grocery store in Blendon Township, Ohio, Young had just climbed into her black Lexus sedan when two police officers approached her. “Are you going to shoot me?” Young asked as the officers ordered her out of the car, one with his weapon drawn. Her car started to roll slowly forward. The armed officer fired. His bullet pierced the car’s windscreen, and the body camera he wore captured a final, high-pitched scream. Young, only 21, later died in a nearby hospital. So too did her unborn daughter: Young was entering the final trimester of her pregnancy at the time of her death. She left behind two sons, ages six and three. It was a bitter loss for Nadine Young, her grandmother. “She was a fun-loving person,” Nadine said. “Always cheery.” But Nadine’s anguish was compounded when she discovered that officials considered there to be three possible victims in the deadly incident: Young plus the two cops. That allowed the officer who fired the fatal shot to invoke a state measure called Marsy’s Law, designed to conceal the identities of crime victims. Criminal justice advocates, however, warn this is part of a dangerous trend in the United States, where police officers use Marsy’s Law to shield themselves from public scrutiny. “They were saying he was a victim?” Nadine asked incredulously. “He was the man with the gun.” Nadine Young shares a photograph of Ta’Kiya Young, centre, and two other grandchildren [Patrick Orsagos/AP Photo] A shield against accountability? Marsy’s Law originated in California in 2008. Framed as a victims’ bill of rights, it sought to protect crime victims not only by ensuring their privacy but also by notifying them if their assailants were up for parole. Since then, variations of the law have been passed in about a dozen other states, including Ohio. But experts fear Marsy’s Law has been co-opted by police departments in those states to hide the identities of officers involved in use-of-force incidents. In Union County, South Dakota, for instance, a highway patrol trooper shot a man twice following an altercation in September 2018. His identity was withheld under Marsy’s Law. In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, another officer used Marsy’s Law to avoid being named after he fired upon a man who was armed and drunk last June. The law enforcement officers in both cases were said to be threatened or physically harmed, thereby making them crime victims. Voters in Ohio passed Marsy’s Law as an amendment to the state constitution in November 2017 [Stephen Starr/Al Jazeera] Supporters of the law’s use in law enforcement argue that police officers regularly face violent criminals, and the potential for victimisation is high. Their names should therefore remain private if they so wish. However, academics and rights groups have described the ability to hide officers’ identities as a “gift to bad cops”. The anonymity, they say, could translate into a lack of accountability — which in turn could lead to officers with a record of excessive force returning to the streets, endangering more lives. And the risk is on the rise. The nonprofit group Mapping Police Violence named 2023 the deadliest year in a decade. An estimated 1,243 people were killed by law enforcement last year, the nonprofit’s highest tally on record. Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington, DC-based think tank, believes scrutinising law enforcement’s use of force is a critical public right. It can also help reduce the rates of police violence, he said. “[It’s] one of the key ways in which we prevent the next incidents of abuse from happening.” Ta’Kiya Young and her unborn child were shot and killed in this car park in Blendon Township, Ohio, a suburb of the state capital Columbus [Stephen Starr/Al Jazeera] On shaky legal ground But Marsy’s Law is raising broader legal questions, not only about abuse of power in law enforcement but also about due process. Critics see the law as preventing potential litigants from accessing information that might be relevant in their court cases. Then there’s the question of how to decide who is a victim. “People are being accorded these crime-victim rights even though there has been no legal process determining whether they have been victimised. That’s a paradox,” said Olson. “It can go beyond their name not being released. It could be that they don’t have to reveal information to an opposing lawyer.” Those concerns have led to high-profile legal challenges and even protests. In Florida, for instance, Marsy’s Law has come under increasing public scrutiny. A 2020 investigation from USA Today and ProPublica found that, in at least half of the cases where Florida officers invoked the law, no physical injuries occurred. That same year, two fatal police shootings in the state capital Tallahassee prompted law enforcement to invoke Marsy’s Law. One of the shooting victims, Tony McDade, was a transgender Black man. His death came only days after George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed at the hands of police in Minnesota, prompting nationwide uproar and months of demonstrations. Protesters in Tallahassee likewise filled the streets, chanting McDade’s name and comparing him to Floyd. The pressure prompted the city to push for the release of the officers’ names, against the wishes of the state’s own police union. That escalated into a lawsuit. Last November, Florida’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled, six to zero, that Marsy’s Law “does not explicitly” shield the officers’ identities — nor the identities of any other victims. It was a victory for proponents of government transparency and a rebuke to law enforcement’s embrace of the statute. Sean Walton, the lawyer for the Young family, has called for police accountability in Ta’Kiya’s death [Stephen Starr/Al Jazeera] A family grappling with loss Other lawsuits are under way, including in Ohio, where Young was killed. For instance, the Columbus Dispatch, a newspaper in the state capital,
Photos: Israeli air raids kills dozens across the Gaza Strip
Israel has continued its aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing dozens more Palestinians, as fighting rages around Gaza City’s main al-Shifa hospital, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said. Seventy-one people were killed and 112 wounded over the last 24 hours, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Friday. Two Israeli attacks on the Shujayea suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people, while an Israeli air raid on a house in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed eight people, health authorities said. At least 10 policemen tasked with securing aid to the displaced in northern Gaza were among those killed in Shujayea, Gaza’s government media office said. The Israeli military said its forces continued operations around the al-Shifa medical complex, and that over the past day, it had killed a number of gunmen Al-Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital before the war, was one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in northern Gaza before the latest fighting. It had also been housing displaced civilians. The Israeli statement said its forces also conducted raids in central and southern areas of the besieged strip, including Khan Younis and al-Karara, where troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen before they killed them. The armed wing of Hamas said its fighters targeted Israeli forces near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the city’s two hospitals blockaded by Israeli soldiers for several days. In the far south of the Gaza Strip, Israel continued its bombardment in Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering. An air raid on a house killed 12 Palestinians late on Thursday. More than 32,623 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7. Adblock test (Why?)
Northern Ireland DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson resigns after police charges
Media reports say the charges against the Democratic Unionist Party head relate to ‘non-recent sexual offences’. The leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, Jeffrey Donaldson, has resigned after confirming he has been charged with “allegations of an historical nature”, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) says. “In accordance with the party rules, the party officers have suspended Mr Donaldson from membership, pending the outcome of a judicial process,” a DUP statement said on Friday. The statement added that party officers had unanimously appointed Gavin Robinson, another DUP lawmaker in the United Kingdom’s parliament, as interim party leader. While the DUP has not specified the reason behind the 61-year-old’s resignation, numerous media outlets reported that Donaldson stepping down from his position was linked to a statement by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) reporting two arrests. “A 61-year-old man has been charged in relation to non-recent sexual offences,” said a PSNI statement. “A 57-year-old woman was also arrested and charged at the time for aiding and abetting additional offences. “Both are due to appear before Newry Magistrates’ Court on 24 April,” it added. British police generally do not identify suspects by name. Meanwhile, all of Donaldson’s social media accounts appeared to have been deleted on Friday, with his handle on the social network X showing the message “This account doesn’t exist”. ‘Serious offences’ His resignation comes amid a tumultuous period for the DUP as the party tries to chart out its relations with the UK, which is expected to hold general elections later this year. Last month, Donaldson brokered a deal with the UK government that enabled the end of the DUP’s two-year boycott of the British region’s devolved power-sharing assembly at Stormont and had also been expected to lead his party into the next UK general election. Donaldson, is one of the British region’s best-known politicians and is Northern Ireland’s longest-serving lawmaker in the British parliament, to which he was first elected in 1997. He is also a former member of the Northern Irish Assembly. However, as a member of the London parliament, he does not hold a position in the Northern Irish power-sharing government, a key part of the region’s 1998 peace settlement that only resumed last month following a two-year suspension. After Donaldson’s sudden resignation, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the power-sharing government was focused on delivering its policy initiatives. “My priority is to continue to provide the leadership the public expect and deserve, and to ensure the four-party executive coalition delivers for the whole of our community now and in the future,” said O’Neill, whose Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein is obliged to share power with the DUP. “The DUP leader has resigned after being charged with serious offences. This is now a matter for the criminal justice system.” Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 764
As the war enters its 764th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Friday, March 29, 2024. Fighting At least three people were killed in Russian shelling and aerial attacks. One of the dead was a taxi driver in southern Kherson whose car was hit by a missile. His two passengers were injured and taken to hospital. Two people were injured by falling debris in southern Zaporizhzhia after Russia launched drone attacks on eastern, southern and southeastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said it shot down 26 of the 28 Iranian-designed attack drones. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said security measures in the Ukrainian capital would be tightened, particularly around large gatherings, after a spate of Russian ballistic missile attacks and threats of escalation. Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone with Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, telling him it was “vital” for the United States Congress to pass a $60bn military aid package for Kyiv that has been held up for months. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in New Delhi for talks on Kyiv’s 10-point peace formula ahead of a proposed summit in Switzerland. The plan demands the complete withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Moscow has dismissed the initiative as a non-starter. Matthew Axelrod, a senior official in the US Commerce Department, said the US was asking American companies to stop shipping goods to more than 600 foreign parties over fears the items could be diverted to Russia for use in Ukraine. Russian human rights group Memorial warned the health of Oleg Orlov, its 70-year-old leader, was deteriorating, and accused prison authorities of subjecting him to inhumane treatment. Orlov was jailed last month for two and a half years over his criticisms of the war in Ukraine. He has filed an appeal. A court in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad jailed journalist Mikhail Feldman for two years for criticism of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. A Russian military court in Yekaterinburg jailed 31-year-old self-described anarchist Azat Miftakhov for four years on charges of “justifying terrorism” over comments made to inmates while serving a six-year sentence for breaking a window at a local office of President Vladimir Putin’s political party. Prosecutors said Miftakhov had told other prisoners he would “avenge” a friend who died fighting for Ukraine and expressed support for the bombing of a regional office of Russia’s FSB security service in 2018. The French Defence Ministry said authorities took down a fake website recruiting volunteers to fight for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. The site had claimed that 200,000 French people were invited to “enlist in Ukraine”, with immigrants given priority. Weapons Ukraine’s defence minister asked allies for more air defences at an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council and said some 97 percent of Russian missile, drone and guided bomb attacks so far this year had been on civilian infrastructure. Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), visited Pyongyang this week to deepen bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. North Korea has been accused of sending weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine. Adblock test (Why?)
Biden administration OKs $60m in aid for Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster
Maryland Governor Wes Moore warns of ‘very long road ahead’ to recover from deadly bridge collapse. United States President Joe Biden’s administration has unveiled $60m in emergency funds to support cleanup and reconstruction efforts in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore. The Federal Highway Administration said on Thursday it provided the “quick release” funds to rebuild the collapsed bridge within hours of receiving a request from the Maryland Department of Transportation. The swift disbursement of the funds came after Biden earlier this week said he had directed the government to “move heaven and earth” to quickly rebuild the bridge, which collapsed on Tuesday after being struck by a cargo ship. “No one will ever forget the shocking images of a container vessel striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse and the tragic loss of six people,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The federal emergency funds we’re releasing today will help Maryland begin urgent work, to be followed by further resources as recovery and rebuilding efforts progress. President Biden has been clear: The federal government will do everything it takes to help rebuild the bridge and get the Port of Baltimore back open.” The announcements of the funds came as Maryland Governor Wes Moore warned of a “very long road ahead” to recover from the disaster as experts consider how to remove the Singapore-flagged Dali from the mangled wreckage of the bridge. “The Dali is almost as long as the Eiffel Tower and the Dali has the Key Bridge on top of it. We’re talking 3,000 or 4,000 tonnes of steel that’s sitting on top of that ship,” Moore said. Authorities have said they need clear wreckage from the ocean floor to reach the bodies of four missing workers believed to be trapped in their vehicles in a “superstructure” of concrete and other debris. Divers on Wednesday recovered the bodies of two workers from a pick-up truck near the bridge’s middle span. Federal officials have told Maryland lawmakers the final cost of reconstructing the bridge could reach $2bn, Roll Call reported, citing a source familiar with the discussions. Adblock test (Why?)
Life Magazine set for revival by Karlie Kloss and husband’s media company
Magazine known for photography of major 20th century events ceased print publication in 2007. Life magazine, the American magazine known for its iconic photography capturing major events of the 20th century, is set to be revived under a deal struck by fashion model Karlie Kloss’s media company. Bedford Media, which Kloss owns with her venture capitalist husband Joshua Kushner, said in a statement on Thursday that the magazine would be relaunched in print and digital form after it secured publishing rights in an agreement with Dotdash Meredith. The financial details of the deal and the relaunch date were not immediately disclosed. “Josh and I are honored to continue @LIFE’s legacy ❤,” Kloss said on Instagram. Joshua Kushner, the founder of Thrive Capital, is the brother of Jared Kushner, former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Life, launched in 1883, was a mainstay of American journalism for much of the 20th century, featuring history-defining photography such as the iconic image of a United States Navy sailor kissing a stranger on the day Japan surrendered to the US in WWII. After a period of decline, the magazine switched from weekly to monthly publication in the late 1970s before ceasing publication in 2000. Publisher Time Inc resuscitated the magazine as a supplement in 2004 before ending the print edition for good three years later and launching a website to display its archives. Adblock test (Why?)
Japan health scare: Drugmaker reports two more deaths linked to supplement
Kobayashi Pharma has recalled cholesterol-lowering supplements with red yeast rice over possible link to kidney disease. A Japanese drugmaker whose dietary supplements are at the centre of a growing health scare has reported two more deaths potentially linked to a pill that lowers cholesterol. Thursday’s announcement by Kobayashi Pharmaceuticals brings the total number of deaths under investigation by the company and health ministry to four, with more than 100 people hospitalised. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told parliament on Thursday that “we need to make clear the cause [of the illnesses] and consider various responses if necessary”. He was responding to an opposition politician who urged him to revise safety frameworks that were relaxed under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Last week, Kobayashi recalled three of its supplements, including Beni Koji Choleste Help, after about 106 customers were hospitalised because of kidney problems. The over-the-counter products contain an ingredient called red yeast rice, or “beni koji”, which is supposed to help lower bad cholesterol. The company said on Thursday that it was in the “process of confirming the facts and causal relationships” in the two additional fatalities and “decided to make this report public from the viewpoint of prompt disclosure”. “Beni koji” contains Monascus purpureus, a red mould that is also used as food colouring. Public concern Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a media conference that the government has urged the pharma company to take “swift and serious action toward determining the cause” and disclose relevant information as “concern among the public is spreading”, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. The Osaka-based drugmaker has yet to pinpoint a specific cause but said there was a possibility that the products contained “ingredients we had not intended to include”. The fermentation process can produce a toxin called citrinin which can damage the kidneys, however, the company said its analysis did not detect any citrinin. Medical studies describe red yeast rice as an alternative to statins for lowering high cholesterol, but also warn of a risk of organ damage depending on its chemical makeup. In addition to the supplements, more than 40 products from other companies containing “beni koji”, including miso paste, crackers, sake, bread and a vinegar dressing, have been recalled, the health ministry said. Hayashi said Japan was sharing information with the World Health Organization and relevant countries after online sales of products subject to the drugmaker’s voluntary recalls were suspended in China, while products have also been removed from circulation in Taiwan. The company supplies red yeast rice to some 50 firms in Japan and two in Taiwan. A Kobayashi executive said last week that the company first received complaints about kidney problems in January. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s opposition supporters protest arrest of key leader
NewsFeed Protesters attempted to march to Prime Minister Modi’s house after a key opposition leader was arrested in an alcohol corruptions case just weeks ahead of national elections. The ruling BJP has been accused of suppressing opposition after senior leaders were jailed for similar charges. Published On 28 Mar 202428 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Eleven dead, thousands affected as Cyclone Gamane batters Madagascar
Houses washed away and roads destroyed after cyclone hits north of the Indian Ocean island. At least 11 people have been killed and hundreds of homes destroyed as Cyclone Gamane smashed into northern Madagascar, according to officials. The storm was projected to skim the Indian Ocean island, but changed course and hit the island’s Vohemar district in the early hours of Wednesday. Video images showed torrents of water rushing through villages and people making human chains in waist-deep water while trying to help those trapped in their houses escape the deluge. Numerous routes and bridges were flooded and cut off. Six people drowned and five others were killed by collapsing houses or falling trees, with some 7,000 people affected overall. “It’s rare to have a cyclone like this. Its movement is nearly stationary,” General Elack Andriakaja, director general of the BNGRC national disaster management office, said in a statement. “When the system stops in one place, it devastates all the infrastructure. And that has serious consequences for the population. And significant flooding”, he said. The full extent of the damage is still unclear, because many villages in the region were cut off from the rest of the country, making access difficult for rescue teams. The cyclone moved across the island with an average wind speed of 150km/h (93mph) and heavy rainfall. In some places, winds of 210km/h (130mph) were measured. Gamane has been reclassified as a tropical storm and was expected to leave the island on Friday afternoon, according to meteorologists. Located off the coast of southeastern Africa, Madagascar is regularly affected by severe weather. A year ago, tropical Cyclone Freddy devastated the country as well as the neighbouring mainland countries of Mozambique and Malawi. More than 500 people lost their lives. Adblock test (Why?)