Movie Case Study
The scene that you just saw shows Sachin R. Tichkule (played by Akshay Kumar) praying and requesting GOD to award him a contract to build a dam or a shopping mall or building a municipality bus stand. It’s been 3 years since he received the government license.
He is also seen complaining that till now he is involved only in making either a road or a gutter. He is worried about how he will pay the salaries of the labor that he works with.
In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of a contractor.
Who are Contractors?
A contractor is a self-employed individual who offers expertise. This expertise can be in many fields ranging from being a writer to a civil engineer. These services are generally offered in exchange for a price by the client. A client can be an individual or a big institution. It can be government too as we saw in the scene.
Government offers licenses to individuals, who undertake government projects. These licenses have certain stipulations before they are awarded to them. In India, there is a thorough background check before this license is given.
Division of Contractors
The government divides these contractors into four categories: A, B, C, and D class contractors. Each has certain conditions to fulfill before they are awarded the license. The one that Sachin mentions in the scene. Although, he had the license for 3 years but did not have a big contract.
All of them should have the sound financial capacity to undertake a contract, the experience of each contractor differs according to the class of the contractor. For a ‘D’ class contractor, no field experience shall be required for Degree and Diploma holder in Civil Engineering.
In addition, doctors, teachers, and lawyers offer their services privately and can take up contracts from clients. Holistic health coaches, life mentors, and yoga instructors too have become self-employed and offer packages and coaching to their clients. They can now be classified as freelance contractors if they are doing this part-time. If they are conducting this as a full-time activity, then it is a full-time business.
Many websites offer an opportunity for freelancers to market their services while clients can also hire contractors from such platforms. Upwork and freelancer websites are some of the common platforms for freelance contractors.
