Informal Sector In India

This book focuses on the core problems of occupational health, safety and well-being of workers in the informal sector in developing countries, where it accounts for most of the rural labour force and a substantial percentage of the urban labour force. The sector is characterised by low incomes, unstable employment and lack of protection in the form of legislation/policies or trade unions. Though some health and problem-solving measures have been introduced, a focused academic effort to address the problems confronting workers in the unorganised sector, or informal economy, is lacking. The book evaluates workers’ physical and mental health in the context of labour migration, social inclusion of minorities and the differently abled, provisions for women workers, demonetisation, occupational safety for hazardous work, and in connection with various areas of informal work, e.g. agriculture, construction, transportation, sanitation, tanning, the tobacco industry, powerloom industry, surrogacy, and self-employment. It provides a well-rounded description of an analytical reflection on the challenges these workers face and focuses on social policy changes to help alleviate them. Accordingly, it offers a valuable asset for researchers and students interested in development studies, the sociology of work, health and labour economics, public health, and social work.

Following increased integration in global economic networks, some of India's informal sectors have expanded drastically in recent decades and are employing an increasing number of the country's working population. This book presents a powerful critique of the simplified representations that portray workers' politics in this informal sector as marked by low levels of class consciousness, limited abilities for resistance, and ruled by 'primordial' relations of caste, kinship and patronage. This study will be of interest to students of economy, politics, sociology and social anthropology as well as scholars of development studies.

Selected papers presented at a seminar during 1997 in Delhi, India.

With labour being pushed out of agriculture, Jan Breman analyses why, when, and how the massive shift in production and employment came about. The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the past and present path of capitalism and dwells on the abominable condition of theunorganized workforce and the commodification of labour, familiarizing the reader with the concept of informality and its ramifications. The second part, a compilation of well-established, critical readings in the field by the author, elaborates on themes and issues introduced in the first part ofthe book. Drawing upon detailed field accounts and a critique of the informal sector at both analytical and empirical levels, the author examines different aspects of the labour regime that, in the past decades, has become dominant in the world at large, with serious consequences for the labouringpoor in India.

This book examines the transition, transformation and future of the informal sector, informal work and informal workers in India from the perspectives of development economics as well as those of international organisations. Though the informal sector has a long tradition in India, it has been transformed in the wake of neoliberal economic policy. The sector took on new prominence in the 1980s, and has since grown much stronger and established itself as the country’s dominant sector. Several reports on the informal sector appeared during this period, and the status of the sector in India is positioned in the context of this international scenario. The major debate concerns the definition of this sector. While international labour statisticians had suggested a mechanism of definition and measurement of the sector, Indian official statistics took a different approach. The book analytically elaborates the different definitions and measurement controversies in different countries and contextualises the official Indian position. While deliberating on the size, contribution, productivity, and potential of the informal sector, the heterogeneity and decomposition of the sector with respect to these aspects are also suggested. The book develops a political economic interpretation of the historical transition of the informal sector in India, employing heterodox economics as a theoretical basis, with a critical note on standard neoclassical economic analysis. The final part of the book focuses on understanding the development of capitalism in the country under neoliberalism, as that development is crucial to understanding the informal sector in any country, and particularly in India. In the current context, the volume will be of great relevance to researchers, non-government organizations, policy makers and international organisations working on the topic.

This book explores the economy and society of Provincial India in the post-Green Revolution period. It argues that the low 'quality' of capital development in India's villages and small towns is the joint outcome of the informal economic organisation, that is strongly biased in favour of capital, and of the complex stratification of the workforce along class and caste lines. Focusing on the processes of growth induced by the introduction of the high-yield varieties in agriculture, the book demonstrates that a low-road pattern of capitalist development has been emerging in provincial India: firms compete over price and not over efficiency, with a constant pressure to reduce costs, in particular labour costs. The book shows that low-skilled employment prevails and low wages and poor working conditions are widespread. Based on original empirical research, the book makes a valuable contribution to the debate on varieties of capitalism, in particular of the Global South. It is of interest to academics working in the fields of Development Studies, Political Economy and South Asian Studies.

The Indian manufacturing sector has undergone comprehensive reforms since 1991. In spite of rapid rates of economic growth since the reforms, the informal sector has been a persistent phenomenon in India, leading to significant policy concerns on the lack of inclusivity of economic growth. This book assesses how informal manufacturing firms have responded to the context of economic liberalization in India, and provides policy recommendations on how to make India's economic growth more inclusive of the informal sector.