Online dispute resolution comes of age

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Editor's note: Vishnu Dabariya worked as a contract linesman with Bharatpur Electricity Services, a CESC Ltd subsidiary. When the government announced the nationwide lockdown on 24 March to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, he was at work, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead.  Later in the evening, when he heard the news, he was sure it was only a matter of days before life returned to normal. Even as reports surfaced of migrant workers across the country leaving for their hometowns in droves, Dabariya wasn’t the least bit worried. He worked for a power utility. His job was safe.  So when his contractor called him the next day, handed him some money and asked him to go home, he was bewildered.  “When should I come back,” he asked.  “I don’t know. Whenever the lockdown ends,” said the contractor.  “What about my wages?” (Dabariya hadn’t been paid for February and March.)  “I don't know. We’ll see when you’re back.”  With a few hundred rupees in his pocket, Dabariya returned home to Morena in Madhya Pradesh. He had enough time to ponder …