Mapping Vulnerabilities of Indian Long-Haul Truck Drivers

To understand the occupational and socio-economic vulnerabilities experienced by truck drivers, one hundred nine long-haul truck drivers employed under truck-fleet owners of Delhi NCR were surveyed through a questionnaire. Participants were recruited as per convenience and snowball methods of sampling. The questionnaire was administered verbally in Hindi, transcribed, and subjected to descriptive analysis. Results indicate trucking sector in India is unorganised, with little to no standardisation in terms of the compensation rate for driving labour. While drivers receive meagre pay for long work hours, they are exposed to health difficulties and frequently engage in unsafe practices such as over-speeding. Indian truck drivers are burdened with various financial and social disadvantages due to the unorganised nature of the trucking sector. Drivers are compensated only for driving labour, and other costs related to their health and well-being are mostly externalised from the supply chain, negatively impacting their quality of life. A recommended future direction is to direct research towards reorganising this sector by restructuring the industry practice of incentivising faster delivery time, standardising terms of employment for truck drivers, and upskilling them through vocational training.