India’s women gig workers are on their own

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Editor's note: From being married off at 16, and being left to fend for herself in her early twenties with two young daughters, Ganga Mandal has come a long way. Today, the 35-year-old single mother lives in a two-bedroom house she bought recently in Jaipur’s Jaisinghpura neighborhood. Parked outside the house is a white Maruti Suzuki Alto. “This is my car,” she says, beaming with pride.  Mandal is an Uber driver, a job she took up four years ago. It is as much a passion as a way to raise her teenage daughters, she says. The family of three, along with their two rabbits and a dog, is a happy one. But her journey hasn’t been easy. “Na din dekha, na raat, na barish [I worked day and night and even when it rained],” says Mandal. “I don’t have any man in my life. Whatever I have achieved till now, I have done it all by myself.” (Left to right) Daughters Payel (18) and Koyal (16) with Ganga Mandal, and their pets.  Mandal is part of India’s fast-growing gig workforce, which stood …