The year is 2022. The Kumar household in Bihar’s Bhagalpur is beaming with joy. Amit Kumar, the eldest son of the family, has secured a government job. He is now a government teacher. The joy is doubled up with its timing – after being unemployed for over two and a half years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amit Kumar cleared the government exam and landed a job as a physical education teacher. Cut to now, he is a food delivery person, doing two jobs, to make ends meet.

Amit Kumar was hired as a part-time teacher for a salary of Rs. 8,000, too little to run a house. Despite being a part-time teacher, Amit worked full-time, motivating children to participate in sports and bring accolades.

“Even after two and a half years, salary remains unchanged. The government is not taking the eligibility test either. Other teachers in the school draw a salary of Rs. 42,000, five times over what I get,” he says.

Amit and other part-time teachers weren’t paid for four months earlier this year. This led to him borrowing money from friends. As the loan amount increased, so did his financial worries.

Following his wife’s advice, Amit decided to register himself as a food delivery person on Zomato, a food delivery app. He adds, “I researched about working as a food delivery person and figured that there are no fixed working hours. I immediately registered myself and began working. Now, I teach in the morning and do a second job of delivery in the evening, from 5 pm to 1 am.”

Earlier Amit used to work for a private school until the COVID-19 pandemic took away his job. In 2019, he appeared for a government exam and secured 74 marks out of 100. After a long wait, in 2022, he landed the job.

“With Rs. 8,000 in hand, I am unable to raise a family. How will I feed my future generation if I cannot feed myself? I have an old mother to look after and therefore, I am forced to do two jobs”, he adds.