Why is driver welfare not a priority

It is a hard truth, like it or not. Out of nine million drivers enabling 1.3billion populace to get food, medicine, clothing, and several items, hardly a few thousand may receive proper attention from the shippers: small, medium, or large. And other stakeholders, too.

Sheer neglect, not ignorance, is the root cause of this deep malaise. To begin with, the government is least concerned because the truck driving community is not a vote bank. Their nomadic lifestyle does not permit them to exercise their inalienable democratic rights, voting to elect their representative for the local assembly or the national parliament.

Unfortunately, they do not show any inclination to exercise their vote on the D-day. Ensuring their livelihood by trucking even on those crucial decision-making days takes precedence over reaching the pooling booth. Unlike farmers, truck drivers cannot influence policymaking in any meaningful way due to this handicap.

Farmers are a surefire winner for politicians from a vote bank perspective. Not truck drivers. Significantly, the All India Transporters’ Welfare Association (AITWA) approached the government to determine whether the national survey captures truck drivers per se as a category. “We were shocked to hear that there is not such a category,” guffaws AITWA President Mahendra Arya.

Truck drivers, as a category, are non-existent. Simply put, they are there in the survey but in a different avatar. Why? Does the survey questionnaire has truck drivers as a category? Arya would have got a firm answer if it does: He has not. Ipso facto, the survey does not. Need a recheck with the government.

Government is nothing but a political group owing allegiance to a particular ideology that manages the economy. Noise-makers have to be listened to from two angles: primarily, public perception magnified and vilified by the media that would damage its political fortune. Or, the noise-makers disrupt the economy in parts or nationwide. The latest farmers’ agitation is an apt illustration of the power of noise-makers and the obliging media (it’s their dharma to be the mouthpiece of the general public) as the fourth pillar of democracy that broke the back of the government.

Are truck drivers so powerless that they cannot come under a single or multiple umbrella and demand justice and or their pound of flesh from various stakeholders? They aren’t able to so far. Pity. If they unite, they can finish off any government. So, it is a self-inflicted wound. Only the crying child gets the mother’s attention. Not that they don’t cry. They don’t cry collectively in public. Shedding tears in small groups and expecting the lobby groups to represent their grievances is akin to asking for the moon.

Lobby groups are not silent spectators. Certainly, they raise driver-related issues with the government. After all, these lobby groups’ survival depends totally on their own, or commissioned vehicles have drivers at the wheels. To that extent, they are concerned. Periodic appeals to the concerned ministry in writing are dispatched, but such papers gather dust mostly in the government corridors. A cold response, one may say.

For instance, during the covid19, the government did not include drivers in the frontline workers category for special insurance coverage and other benefits bestowed on sanitary workers, law and order, and medical fraternity. But, these drivers ensured the nation was kept alive with a seamless supply of essentials, including life-saving medicine right through the pandemic with periodic lockdowns — nationwide for some time and state or city-wise.

Squarely blaming the government for its cold reception to driver welfare is a bit stretched. Perhaps it is trying to address the challenge through a different approach. For instance, build better roads, remove state borders, create roadside amenities, reduce paperwork and increase digital document submission and verification. Indeed, laudable the thought process is.

What is that a driver is looking for? Comfort driving, primarily. Road infrastructure is better than in the past, say ten years ago. State borders where drivers were forced to spend long hours to cross have more or less vanished. Digitization is happening but at a slower clip. National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) is slowly rolling out wayside amenities on highways.

There are Highway Nests, but it is a pity that they are not adequately marketed, with many of them remaining empty or inoperable. The less said about the highway corruption, the better. It is a monster challenge, and the central government is unable to do anything meaningful because it is a state subject.

Government shows little concern for driver welfare. Lobby groups are ineffectual. Drivers per se are unable to mount a concerted campaign to improve their lot. That leaves the shippers, who depend on outsourced logistics services: trucking for inbound and outbound. Are they good? Mostly, not. The so-called CSR funds are “cleverly” used to promote their brands and score positive points in the government’s eyes, showcasing that they “care” for truck drivers they use. More of a publicity stunt.

Try visiting the biggest manufacturing plants of private and public sector units in the country. One common feature will be their apathy towards those who ensure their business runs non-stop by bringing in raw material or components and then equally helping their finished products reach the market shelves. Try to locate the rest and washroom facilities for the drivers outside their factory premises. Assuming they are found, try to assess their numbers and upkeep. Filthy. Smelly.

Undoubtedly, the users (the truck drivers) are blameworthy for lacking basic etiquette such as: not to throw beedi/cigarette butts or empty tobacco item pouches or not flushing after using and spitting anywhere they wish. What stops the shippers from using their CSR funds to educate them on such basics? Of course, there are exceptions to this general practice among the public and private sectors.

Some white-collar types claim that they regularly hold “Tea With Transporters” as if they were doing a favor! Height of hypocrisy. For argument’s sake, remove transporters and see the impact. No raw material. So no production. As a result, no dispatches. No market. No business. Finito! Got it?

Shippers argue that they have “outsourced” their transport to third parties directly or via 3PLs. So, what? They indirectly declare that looking after the basic needs of transporters or truck drivers is “not our responsibility.” Outsourcing does not mean abdication of responsibility. This simple truth has not registered with the better educated white-collar types.

There is none answerable to anyone for ensuring the basic needs of truck drivers. Welfare is bahut door ki baat hai! At times, it appears that the issue of driver shortage is non-existent. The truck purchase has not halted. Tatas, Leyland, Mahindras, Daimlers, and others continue to do business. Maybe their product portfolio has changed. Maybe they churn out higher payload vehicles for long hauls and low payload trucks and tempos for the last mile. Or even Electric vehicles to support the global fight against carbon emission.

So, the moot question is: who is buying these trucks? Not some alien from Mars or Moon, right? Why do these purchases happen? For parking in their yard, if it exists? Surely, for business purposes. It is safe to presume these motor maliks successfully manage to “contract” drivers to use these motorized iron horses for adding to their top and bottom lines. That’s where the question of the veracity of driver shortage creeps in.