Abstract
The concept of the informal sector has come to prominence, particularly after India’s liberalization. This chapter demystifies the idea of informality in India, revealing the multilayered existence of various groups of workers in vulnerable positions which are the product of India’s history and political economy. Accordingly, certain interventions can transform the lives of India’s unorganized workers, but such policy would need to target the specific needs of each unorganized group of workers. The concept and discourse of the informal sectors imply the permanence of unorganized, unregulated work. Conceptualizing Indian labor in this way leads to a position that the state should provide welfare measures to help workers survive at a bare minimum level, and a fundamental failure to address structural causes of workers’ vulnerabilities.
This chapter is an extended version of article titled ‘India’s “Informal Sector”: Demystifying a Problematic Concept’ authored by Timothy Kerswell and Surendra Pratap published in Journal of Labor and Society, John Wiley and Sons
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Notes
- 1.
Mathadi means loading-unloading workers and Hamal means head load workers.
- 2.
This was reported by Mr. Amrut Meshram, CITU General Secretary Pune, in an interview conducted in November 2015, as part of a study on Conditions of Workers in Forestry and Wood Based Sector in Maharashtra conducted by one of the authors of this chapter for Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), South Asia Office, New Delhi. The report of the study is to be published soon.
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Kerswell, T., Pratap, S. (2019). India’s ‘Informal Sector’: Demystifying a Problematic Concept. In: Worker Cooperatives in India. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0384-5_2
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