Sometimes innovation in the economy doesn't get acknowledged until the stamp of powers that be are obtained. Such is the case of a newer version of the lunch kulis, an innovation introduced during the British Raj and perfected through the years. Rain, wind or shine, the hordes of kulis, young and old collect the noon meal from a drop-off point and guarantee they teach on time. In days of yore, healthy food options were few and far between. Nowadays, the options are there but dubiously unhealthy. The combination of home-made plus the health factor contributes to ensure the kulis survive. The e-commerce restaurant and fast-food sales fired by imaginative home-delivery concepts boosted Pizza sales into the west. In Dhaka, even superstores are offering free home-delivery for purchases above a certain amount.
The difference between the services in Asia and the West lies in the definition of the job. Given the nature is unpredictable, it's being termed as zero-hour employment and applies as much to the delivery-boys as it does to Uber driving. Although these jobs have significantly clawed back unemployment rates to just above 4.0%, the ban announced on Uber services due to complex labour laws such as options for paid leave, medical support and off-hour allowances, it could well be that one of the two, jobs or the gig economy will be at stake. With traditional job creation reaching stagnation due to the economics of efficiency, gig-economy employment was largely hailed as a saviour of sorts, even though it poked the minimum wages concept in the eye. When hungry stomachs and shivering nights come a-calling, the finer aspects of fairplay does tend to pale.
Uber and the modern-delivery processes have become an overnight success in Asian countries where, in general, public transportation is in a sorry mess. In a strange way, Uber fares compete favourably with taxis in the west, but not necessarily so in Asia where they're known you're go at a premium. What all the fuss has done is to co-army position the zero hours jobs in an uncertain but sure criteria. Essentially, this economy has thrived in Bangladesh if human-pulled carts, bullock-driven carts or even the cycle-vans are to be taken in into account. Cycle rickshaws or horse drawn are acceptable on the west only as a tourist novelty in places such as Covent Garden, Paris ,Granada or Florence. Whereas it used to be a popular form of carriage in Europe and the Indian sub-continent to mention a few, horse-drawn carriages have been added as an attraction for tourists who would rather not walk as much as can be required at times. The infamous but hugely popular Chader Gari in Cox's Bazar, the supposedly banned electric rickshaws and human-haulers are further derivatives. All of a sudden, they don't look that insignificant.
The Uber ban in London, designed to protect the livelihood of the hackney -carriage converted black cab will create a friction similar to the now banned but still in vogue Nasimons on Bangladesh's highways. Rickshaw-pulling might hurt the sensitivities of rights activists but the pullers themselves aren't complaining. Honest labour and decent earnings don't just drop from the sky. As always the difference has to be between whether such labour is voluntary or exploitative. Rickshaw pullers, CNG drivers all have options when they choose to work or not.
