Posts
Bahujan Digital Publishing Infrastructures
- January 18, 2025
In this study, we look at alternative Bahujan digital publishing as sites where Bahujans can claim media representation and how a vision of an anti-caste internet is emerging through these publishing practices.
Read more →Explainer | Predatory Pricing
- December 23, 2024
Who doesn't love discounts? After all, that is what got so many of us on the internet for the first time. And yet, earlier this year, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, in its draft Digital Competition Bill, mentioned 'Pricing/Deep Discounting' as one of the Anti-Competitive Practices, or ACPs, that the draft Bill relies on. Does this mean that discounting or pricing can be anti-competitive? If so, how do we identify this form of predatory pricing?
Read more →AI for Healthcare: Understanding Data Supply Chain and Auditability in India
- November 29, 2024
This report aims to understand the prevalence and use of AI auditing practices in the healthcare sector. By mapping the data supply chain underlying AI technologies, the study aims to unpack i) how AI systems are developed and deployed to achieve healthcare outcomes and, ii) how AI audits are perceived and implemented by key stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem.
Read more →Explainer | Tying and Bundling
- October 16, 2024
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs released the draft Digital Competition Bill for public comment. Although much has been written about the ex-ante process it proposes, there is little discussion of the nine Anti-Competitive Practices, or ACPs, that the draft Bill builds on. Even when it exists, this discussion is often accompanied by heavy jargon, thereby limiting its accessibility for small businesses, workers, and consumers who are most affected by these ACPs.
Read more →Platforming precarity: Data narratives of workers sustaining urban platform services
- October 15, 2024
CIS conducted quantitative surveys with over 800 workers employed in the app-based taxi and delivery sectors across 4 cities in India as part of the ‘Labour Futures’ project supported by the Internet Society Foundation. The surveys covered key employment indicators, including earnings and working hours, work-related cost burdens, income and social security, and platform policies and management. Findings from these surveys are presented as data visualisation briefs centring workers’ everyday experiences. These data briefs form a foundational evidence base for policy and action around labour rights, social protection, and urban inclusion in platform work.
Read more →Gig and platform workers’ perspectives on worker collectives
- August 13, 2024
This report highlights findings from a survey conducted by the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union on platform workers’ perspectives around various worker collectives, particularly platform worker unions and cooperative societies. The survey was conducted with workers working for app-based platform companies like Ola, Uber, InDriver, Swiggy, Zomato, and Flipkart.
Read more →Future of the Commons: A Conversation on Artificial Intelligence, Indian Languages, and Archives Conference Report
- August 06, 2024
We are pleased to share our report on the ‘Future of the Commons: A Conversation on Artificial Intelligence, Indian Languages, and Archives’ conference, held in July 2024 at the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) in Pune.
Read more →Combinations and Competition: Why the draft DCB must account for digital mergers and acquisitions
- August 05, 2024
Mergers and Acquisitions (collectively, M&As or Combinations) have been a common practice in industry consolidation for many years now. In fact, as Zuckerberg’s infamous quote suggests, it might be one of the central pillars of today’s internet economy.
Read more →Karnataka’s uniform fare policy—Do attempts at parity consider the impact on workers?
- July 08, 2024
Chiara Furtado and Nishkala Sekhar write in The News Minute about the Karnataka transport department’s February 2024 fare policy aiming for parity between aggregator (app-based) and other taxis. While policy interventions towards parity is a welcome step, the article highlights how inequalities and systemic barriers to parity remain for workers.
Read more →‘Future of work’ or 21st–century oppressed labour?: Findings from an AIGWU survey with 50 Urban Company housekeeping workers in Bengaluru
- May 16, 2024
n this essay, Nihira Ram shares findings from a survey done by the All India Gig Workers Union with more than 50 migrant workers living in a slum in Bengaluru. The workers primarily provided cleaning and domestic services on the platform, Urban Company (previously UrbanClap).
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