Relevance in 2026 and Beyond
Ancient Ethics for AI, Gig Work, and Stakeholder Capitalism
How the Dharmashastra principles of righteous earning, fair pricing, just wages, and ethical debt apply to the distinctive challenges of 2026: AI disruption, gig economy debates, ESG investing, and the search for stakeholder capitalism that actually works.
The Algorithm Doesn't Care About Your Dharma
It's 2026, and you're a Swiggy delivery partner in Bengaluru. An algorithm decides which orders you receive, how much you earn per delivery, and whether your rating keeps you on the platform. You have no negotiating power, no benefits, and no certainty about tomorrow's income. Are you an entrepreneur enjoying flexibility, or a worker being exploited through legal loopholes?
Meanwhile, the app's investors are pressuring for profitability. The company's founders face a choice: squeeze delivery partners harder, or accept lower returns. The market rewards the squeeze.
This scenario, repeated across ride-sharing, quick commerce, and cloud kitchens, reveals something the Dharmashastras anticipated: economic relationships create moral obligations that legal structures can obscure but not eliminate. The question isn't what the contract says. The question is: what does dharma require?
The 2026 Challenge: When Old Categories Fail
The economic ethics framework we inherited assumed clear categories: employer/employee, creditor/debtor, merchant/customer. The Dharmashastras built elaborate ethics around these relationships.
But 2026's economy scrambles these categories deliberately:
The Gig Economy Blur: India's gig workforce exceeds 15 million in 2025, projected to reach 25 million by 2030. Platforms classify them as 'partners' to avoid employer obligations. The Dharmashastra question: when someone controls your work conditions, sets your rates, and can terminate you at will, aren't they functionally your employer regardless of contract language?
The AI Displacement: Goldman Sachs estimates 300 million jobs globally could be automated by AI. In India, BPO and IT services, which employ millions, face disruption from tools like ChatGPT and Claude. What does righteous earning (nyaya-arjana) mean when algorithms can do your job? What do employers owe workers they're replacing?
The ESG Paradox: SEBI's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) now mandates ESG disclosure for top 1000 listed companies. But is ESG actual ethics or sophisticated greenwashing? Adani Enterprises scores well on some ESG metrics while facing governance questions. The Dharmashastra test wasn't compliance, it was shuchi (genuine purity).