Outrage over Air India stopping non-veg meals on domestic flights for economy passengers is justified

Once again, rank obduracy and robbing of choice for consumer-citizens is being dressed up as an “austerity measure”. This time, it’s the turn of Air India, the national carrier on the brink of privatisation, that has decided to indulge in some majoritarian hypocrisy in the name of “cost-cutting measures”.

According to reports, since mid-June onwards, Air India has stopped serving non-vegetarian meals to economy class passengers on domestic flights.

Quoted in The Hindu is the chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani of Air India, who says: “We have decided to serve vegetarian meals in our economy-class seats on domestic flights… It also eliminates the possibility of mix-up: a non-veg meal getting served to a vegetarian passenger, as it had happened a few times in the past.”

The report, however, states that non-vegetarian will continue to be served in business and executive class on domestic flights, and all classes on international flights. The reason for this confounding decision has been cited as the increasing number of altercations on flights over meal choices, as the one that occurred on a Shanghai-Delhi-Mumbai flight of Air India, and the “mix-up” was about those demanding vegetarian meals being given non-vegetarian counterparts.

If there was any mix-up involving the vice-versa situation, The Hindu report doesn’t mention one.

The couching of this decision to withdraw the availability of non-vegetarian meals on domestic flights on “wastage” and expenditure is typical. Air India spends Rs 400 crore annually catering on its domestic and international flights, and the cost-cutting via stopping the non-veg meals on domestic flights would only save the national carrier a paltry Rs 8 crore in all.

While this is a tiny fraction of the overall expenditure on in-flight meals, this is being extended as reason why the very demand for non-veg meals is dropping, causing a lot of such packed meals to go waste. The 70 per cent veg and 30 per cent non-veg meal distribution, is apparently, bending in favour of the vegetarian camp, according to the national carrier executives quoted in the report.

However, isn’t this meal choice something that could be fixed with a simple software, or app, that would indicate the preference when digitally checking in, or even while booking flights? With the emphasis on digital solutions and food curating online portals mushrooming everywhere, how is it that a simple rectification process didn’t occur to the authorities at Air India?

As quoted in the report, the assault on passengers’ dietary choice in something that is being talked about in this seriously flawed decision by Air India. “A full-service carrier like Air India should not resort to such a measure. Even a low-cost carrier gives the passengers their food options. Air India should have conducted a passenger survey before taking this drastic step, and it should immediately withdraw the decision,” said Mahesh Y Reddy, secretary-general of Air Passengers Association of India.

The cost-cutting of Rs 8 crore might lead to a more drastic egress of passengers from Air India, given the airline is one of the last choices for domestic flights anyway. Hence, the argument that this is indeed an austerity measure doesn’t cut much ice.

However, what it certainly indicates is how majoritarianism is creeping into each and every experience in 21st century India under the Narendra Modi-led BJP-ruled India.

Much like the ubiquitous politics of selective beef ban, sparing the northeastern states or Goa, where BJP ministers themselves assure of beef availability and say it’s part of cuisine and culture, even the national carrier would implement its dietary sectarianism only on domestic flights, that too for the economy class, the passengers in which mainly belong to the salaried middle classes.

The majoritarian hypocrisy and inset of authoritarianism can only be experimented on the poor and middle classes, while the rich are exempted from such ridiculous lab-tests of pseudo-morality and pseudo-austerity. Any prohibition, whether it’s beef, alcohol or the meat ban on Air India, is solely directed at those who are economically lesser off than their better-heeled brethren.

This reminds us of Shashi Tharoor’s once-upon-a-time controversial tweet calling the economy class “cattle class”. Looks like he was literally prescient.

Also read: Are Hindus vegetarian?