5 min readMumbaiJan 14, 2026 09:46 AM IST First published on: Jan 14, 2026 at 09:46 AM IST
Good morning,
Does convenience come at a cost? The government has asked delivery platforms to drop the 10-minute delivery deadline, days after gig workers protested against it, citing unsafe working conditions and extreme stress. It is learnt that Blinkit has acted on the directive and has removed the 10-minute promise from its branding after a meetingwith Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, which also included representatives from other leading platforms. Swiggy is also initiating a process to remove the timeline, according to an industry executive.
What does the day of a gig worker delivering orders look like? My colleague Soumyarendra Barik spent a day each as a delivery worker for Zomato, Blinkit and Swiggy. He earned Rs 782, completing 23 deliveries. What he found was that India’s cost of convenience economy comes with long, punishing hours for precarious earnings. Read his account.
On that note, let’s get into the rest of today’s edition👇
🚨 Big Story
Mumbai votes tomorrow in the much-awaited elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Asia’s richest civic body with a budget of around Rs 75,000 crore. Under the BMC’s care, however, the Mithi river flowing through the city is in a deplorable state, underscoring the failure of successive governments to ensure accountability.
An Indian Express investigation, based on records obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, shows that the Mithi’s water quality has deteriorated sharply. The river is severely polluted, with faecal coliform levels—an indicator of sewage contamination—at 127 times the permissible limits. Over Rs 6,300 crore has been allocated for its rejuvenation, but the funds remain unspent, delaying or stalling mitigation projects. Nayonika Bose reports.
Express interview: Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde sat down with The Indian Express for a chat about the upcoming polls, the Thackeray cousins’ alliance, and his own ties with the BJP-led ruling alliance. Read the full interview here.
Need to know: Barring Mumbai, voters in 28 cities, including Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune, will have to vote under a three or four-member ward system in the elections. This means that they must cast three or four separate votes in a single visit to the polling booth, as their wards function on a multi-corporator system to ensure adequate representation. Read our step-by-step guide.
⚡Only in Express
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to India not only enhanced the bilateral relationship but also came at a time when both countries are navigating new realities. Europe must rethink its long-standing dependencies on Russian oil, China’s supply chain, and American security guarantees, while India faces steep American tariffs and disrupted trade. Columnist C Raja Mohan writes that this could signal the beginning of a fresh strategic geography — “the Indo-Europe“.
🎧 We discuss more about the pacts signed between India and Germany in today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode. Tune in.
📰 From the Front Page
Low-stakes: US President Donald Trump warned that any country trading with Iran will face fresh 25% tariffs. The move could primarily impact China, Iran’s largest trading partner. For India, however, experts suggest that the impact would be minimal, given low trade volumes. 👉 Look at the trade data and India’s investments in Iran.
On notice: During the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, if an elector names the same person as their parent as six other people, they are likely to receive a notice from the Election Commission. These notices flag a “suspicion of a possible wrong connection” and ask the electors to appear for a hearing. A Trinamool Congress minister said that the voters were being harassed in this manner.
📌 Must Read
On its tail: At least 20-odd people, including four children, are believed to have been killed by a rampaging bull elephant on the tribal-dominated Jharkhand-Odisha border. While man-animal conflict isn’t new in the area, the killings this time are “unlike anything seen in recent years” due to their brutality. Many have fled their homes in panic, while others have built machans for protection. Now, authorities have launched a massive hunt for the aggressive elephant, but pinpointing his location hasn’t been easy. Read.
The way forward: Who’s in control of Venezuela now? What can one make of Trump’s threats against Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland? Does the US action against Nicolas Maduro embolden Russia and China? We posed these questions to former ambassador Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, who served as India’s envoy to Venezuela between January 2007 and August 2009. Here’s what he explained.
⏳ And Finally…
The Railways have discontinued the bandhgala as part of their uniform, dismissing it as a “colonial relic”. The bandhgala is anything but. It was among the earliest “Made in India” fashion statements to capture the global imagination, emerging from Mughal ceremonial codes, Rajput warrior aesthetics and the refined tailoring traditions of Marwar. Rinku Ghosh traces the origins and history of the bandhgala.
That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow, Sonal Gupta
Business As Usual by EP Unny