exchange relations produces the contemporary fabric of capitalist development (Smith, 2008). Cities, in this context in India, are not only important economic drivers but are also critical to the sustenance of the country’s international commitments to issues such as sustainability, climate change and social justice (NITI Aayog, 2021). Under neoliberalism, these issues are related to factors such as economic development, environmental policies and other allied services in the urban spaces which are mostly mediated through the market (Brenner & Theodore, 2005) within the much discussed Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) guided by platform-based digital technologies providing easier access to urban spaces for both the workers and service providers (de Ruyter et al., 2018).
The 4IR is mostly sustained by urban spaces and gig work is an important part of this new form of economic restructuring. Approximately, around 56 per cent new jobs in the Indian market are being created within the gig economy.<sup>1</sup> These new jobs mostly depend upon mediation performed by the market that encourages open employment relations and which tend to (or desire to) replace administrative rules and social policies with market dynamics, job outcomes and profit-oriented policies (Kalleberg, 2011). In a country such as India, the basic challenge in terms of workforce creation that confronts the economy is the creation of a skilled workforce, which can cater to the demands placed by the market amidst such socio-economic changes.<sup>2</sup> At a national level, this becomes extremely difficult in a country such as India, which is plagued by extreme levels of uneven geographical development, where ‘[most] of India’s economic development in the past four decades has come from the southern and western states … which have become hubs for manufacturing and high-tech industries [while] the heartland states … have shown little sign of catching up’.<sup>3</sup> Unequal public spending on some regions— such as Bihar—have been the key cause of such a disparity, which has been the major driving force behind unequal development in India (De Haan, 1997; Prasad, 1988).
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<sup>1</sup> See Sarkar, K. (2021). Why UK Supreme Court’s Uber Driver Verdict Can Impact Indian Gig Workers. The Leaflet, March 10, https://theleaflet.in/why-uk-supreme-courtsuber-driver-verdict-can-impact-indian-gig-workers/ [Accessed 04.07.2024].
<sup>2</sup> See Narayan, K. (2024). A Budget solution to India’s skilled workforce challenge: Unleash the Gig contingent. The Economic Times, January 21, https://economictimes. indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/a-budget-solution-to-indias-skilled-workforce-cha llenge-unleash-the-gig-contingent/articleshow/107027315.cms [Accessed 04.07.2024].
<sup>3</sup> See Para 5 of The Economist. (2022). India’s regional inequality could be politically explosive. October 27. Available at: https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/10/27/ind ias-regional-inequality-could-be-politically-explosive [Accessed 04.07.2024].