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59th Annual Conference

THE INDIAN SOCIETY OF LABOUR ECONOMICS16-18 December 2017

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Summaries ofConference Papers

Conference Themes

Informality and Labour Market

Macro-Economic Policies and Employment

Technological Change and Employment

Organised by

Centre for Development StudiesThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

© Copyright 2017, Indian Society of Labour Economics

Published byIndian Society of Labour EconomicsC/o Institute for Human DevelopmentPlot No. 84, Functional Industrial Estate (FIE)Patparganj, Delhi- 110092Phone: +91-11-2215-9148/49Mobile: +91-987-117-7540 Email: [email protected]: www.isleijle.org

59th ISLE CONFERENCE ORGANIZING TEAM

Organized by:

Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation In association withDept. of Economics, University of Kerala and Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Conference President Professor S. Mahendra Dev Director and Vice Chancellor Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai

Conference Organizing SecretaryProfessor D. Narayana Director, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Kerala

Supported bySheeja N., GIFT, KeralaPreena Das, GIFT, Kerala

ISLE SecretariatProgramme and Communications ManagerPriyanka Tyagi, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Supported byJyoti Girish, Institute for Human Development, DelhiS.P. Sharma, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

EDITORIAL TEAM Summaries of Conference Papers

Editor Alakh N. Sharma

Director, Institute for Human Development (IHD), Delhi Editor, Indian Journal of Labour Economics

Editorial Advisor A.V. Jose| Professor, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

D. Narayana Director, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Production Manager Priyanka Tyagi Senior Manager, IHD, Delhi

Supported by S.P. Sharma, Admin. Associate IHD, Delhi

Editorial Associates Sandhya. A.S. Research Associate, IHD, Delhi Shantanu Kant Dubey Research Assistant, IHD, Delhi

Siddharth Dhote Research Assistant, IHD, Delhi

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Contents

Theme 1 INFORMALITY, LABOUR MARKET AND EMPLOYMENT

KEYNOTE PAPER ANd ThEmATic SESSiONFormalization of the Informal Economy: Perspective of Capital and Labour 3 Jeemol Unni

Formal Employers and Informal Workers: On a Growing Divide in Indian Manufacturing 4 Jayan Jose Thomas

Class Relations and Axes of Social Oppression in Contemporary Capitalism: 5 Agrarian Change and Conjugated Oppression in India Jens Lerche & Alpa Shah

Labour Law and Governance Reforms: A Retrogressive Step towards More Informality? 6 K.R. Shyam Sundar

Wage Employment, Informality and Social Networkers in Labour Market 7 Rajendra P. mamgain

Rectifying the Invisibility of Women’s Work: Evidence from a Few Villages and Slums 8 Asha Kapur mehta

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.1Who Does the Housework? Women’s Participation in Domestic Duties 10 and Paid Employment in India Ellina Samantroy

Labour Regulations and Informalization in the Organised Textile 11 and Clothing Industry in India Seema Bathla & Prateek Kukreja

Indian ‘Staffing Industry’: Flexibility and Third Party Recruiters in Formal Sector 11 Bhim Reddy, Shantanu Kant dubey & Tarini Shipurkar

How Formal is Employment in India: A Social Group Based Analysis 12 Swati dutta

Cards and Carriers: Migration, Identification and Surveillance in Kerala, South India 14 mythri Prasad

Understanding Informal Solid Waste Management in India Under 14 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Somjita Laha

China’s Labour Dispatch System 15 T G Suresh

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TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.2Women Workers and Informal Employment in India: 17 An Analysis From 68th Nsso Data, 2011 Sita Lama & Rajarshi majumder

Gender Norms, Unpaid Women and Informality in Rural India: 17 Quantifying the Time Use Anup K mishra, Santosh K Singh & Wendy Olsen

Does Invisible Home Based Workforce Countable in Indian Labour Force? 19 Evidence from Neo-liberal Periods Pushpendra Singh & Falguni Pattanaik

What If Occupations are Classified as Denoting Some Skills? 20 Skill-mapping of Indian States N.K. mishra, m. Satish Kumar & Tulika Tripathi

Gender-based Comparative Analysis of Workers Participation in Agriculture 22 in Rural Areas of Uttarakhand: A Study of Sahaspur Development Block Prashant Kandari & Rukmani

Underemployment in India: Measurement and Analysis 23 Subrata mukherjee, indrani chakraborty & dipankar coondoo

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.3Male Female Wage Differentials in Punjab: An Analysis from Amritsar District 24 mandeep Kaur & Kuldip Kaur

Paid Women in Informal Sector of India: A Poverty Nexus in Social Hierarchy 25 Archana

Employment Related Short-term Family Migration in India: 26 An Analysis of Magnitude and Characteristics madhusudan Nag

Restructuring the Rural-periphery through Dispossession: 27 Knowledge-based City, Informality and the Labour Question Animesh Roy

Informalisation of Employment and Poverty Status – An Empirical Study in India 29 Rajyasri Roy & Panchanan das

Trade Liberalisation and Its Impact on the Informal Sector 30 Pooja Khanna

Informality of Labour Market 31 Kailas Thaware

Emerging Patterns of Rural Enterprise in Manipur: 32 An Economic Census Data-based Study hanjabam isworchandra Sharma

Un/Disorganising the Organised Labour: Reflections on Closed Tea Plantation 34 Workers of North Bengal Swatahsiddha Sarkar

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Gender Dimensions of Small Growers’ Initiative: 35 Preliminary Observations from Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal Rinju Rasaily

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation – Wheels Coming Out of the Bus? 36 Ajit dayanandan, James Vadakkan & Ravi Raman

Economic Growth and Employment Elasticity: A Case Study of Informal Sector in India 37 Pawan Kumar

Trends in Remittances from GCC Countries – Effects of the Crisis and Oil Price Changes 38 Eugenia canessa

Earnings of Urban Informal Sector Workers in Guwahati and Tezpur Town of Assam 39 Biman Kumar Nath

Trade Liberalization and Unemployment Iin India: A State Level Analysis 40 Nidhi dhamija

Quality of Employment in the Unorganised Transport Sector: 41 A Study of Private Taxi Drivers in Punjab Amarjit Singh Sidhu & Lalita Kumari

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.4Relationship between Industrial Wage and Indebtedness: An Evidence of Theoretical Divide 43 Rajasekharan Pillai K.

Analyzing Female Invisibility and Time Use Data 43 m.G. mallika

Urban Informal Sector Employment: A Case Study of Hyderabad 44 Sarita Gallikonda & d. Sonia

Social Status as a Driver of Female Labour Force Participation 44 in India – A Neighbourhood Level Analysis deepak Gupta & Aparna mishra

Women Workforce in Informal Sector: An Evaluation 45 of the Domestic Female Workers in Jharkhand Prakash chandra deogharia

Informal Labour, Informal Politics: A Case Study of Auto Rickshaw Operators 47 Saourabh Paul

Gender, Space and Work: A Case Study of Waghari Gujarati Pheriwala 47 (Street Vendor) Women Kanika Tyagi

Conditions of Employment and Livelihood Security of Informal Workers: 48 A Study of Four Villages in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal mampi Bose & Shantanu de Roy

Surging Rural-urban Migration, Informal Sector Employment and Earning Differentials: 49 Reflections from Primary Survey of Indian Punjab Sukhwinder Singh & Jaswinder Singh Brar

Trends in Formal-informal Employment in Labour Market 51 Rajesh & Rakesh Kumar Singh

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Low Wages and Gender Discrimination: 52 The Case of Plantation Workers in Assam and West Bengal Kingshuk Sarkar

Exploitative Informal Labor Process in India: A Conceptualization 53 Rahul de

Impact of Economic Reforms on Employment in India 54 K madhu Babu

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.5Women in Informal Economy: The Case of Feminisation 56 of Agriculture in Arunachal Pradesh Vandana Upadhyay & dol Bahadur Thapa

Informalisation through Contractualisation of Labour Force in Coal Mining 57 Industry: A Case Study of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. Dhanbad Binod Narayan

Socio-economic Vulnerability of Rag Pickers in the Informal Economy 58 of India in The Post GST Scenario Reshma Rajeevan

Employment Generation in Urban Informal Sector: A Study of City of Greater Hyderabad 59 d. Sonia

The Challenge of Informality and Precarity in India’s Garment and Textile Value Chain 59

Timothy Kerswell & Surendra Pratap

Determinant of Home-based Work in Non-agriculture Sector in India 60 manik Kumar

Effect of MNREGA on Agricultural Wages and Consumption Expenditure 61 manjiri Gondhalekar

Exploring the Evolution of India’s Economic Structure 63 the Case of Manufacturing Services Inter Linkages chaitanya Talreja

Growing Informality in the Indian Banking Sector? 64 Changing Employment Structure and Job Quality Since 1990s Nitu Jaiswal

Reflections of Socio-economic Conditions of Women Workers 65 of Tobacco Industry in Murshidabad District Of West Bengal Nandini mukherjee & Piyali Roy

Characteristics of Unorganised Retail Sector in India 66 Bindu Oberoi

An Appraisal of Informalisation in the Services Economy: 67 A Case of Women Workers in Kerala Shalina Susan mathew

What Determine the Employability of Engineering Graduates? 68 A Case Study of Select Engineering Colleges in West Bengal Emon Nandi

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Informality, Status Occupational Safety and Health: A Case of Mathadi Workers in Maharashtra 69 Shital morage & Santosh Kadu

Spaces of Work to Spaces of Struggle: Case Study of Noida Domestic Workers 71 Tanya chaudhary

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.6A Brief History of Labour Migration from Bihar: 73 The Story of Underdevelopment and Inequality State Tarun manjhi

Wage-employment, Informality and Social Security in Rural India: 74 An Industry-specific Analysis of Gender Differentials Pampa Sengupta, Sujit Thakur & Anirban Ghosh

A Note on Recent Trends in Agricultural Wage Rates in India 76 Arindam das

Effects of Globalisation on Developments in the Women Workforce 77 Participation in India: An Exploratory Approach R. Rajesh Kanna & A. Abdul Raheem

MGNREGS and Unorganised Workers: A Case Study of Selected Villages 77 in Ranchi District of Jharkhand Jyoti Prakash

From Rags to Rags: A Study of Domestic Garbage Pickers in Chandigarh 78 manjit Sharma, Kulwinder Singh & Jatinder Singh

Minimum Wages and Informal Labour in Rural India 79 Aiswarya mishra

Female Labour Force Participation and Global Perspective 81 Rashmi Akhoury

Social Security in Unorganised Sector 82 Veena Kumari Jaiswal

Women and Informal Work in Manipur: An Analysis 83 Arambam Sophia, mayanglambam Sarda & Gurumayum Ranita

Urban Informal Labour Market: A Case Study of Women Food Vendors in Vellore Town 84 Sivasankar Vedi & hemanathan Subramani

Who has Microcredit Really Helped? A Look at Women's Empowerment 85 using Evidence from Rural India hangma Basumatary, Rajesh Raj S.N Natarajan & Prabin chhetri

Employment Performance of India’s Organised Manufacturing Sector: A Plant-Level Study 86

Gopal Krishna Roy & Suresh R.

Utilization Experience of Rashtriya Swashthya Bima Yojana among Labour 87 Section of People: A Case Study of a Tribal District of Odisha Babita Panda

Pluri-activity in Rural India: Determinants and Evidences 88 Subramanian S.

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Gender-based Employment and Wage Discrimination in the 88 Urban Labour Market of India: A Quintile Decomposition Analysis Balakrushna Padhi

TEchNicAL SESSiON 1.7Gender Issues and Wage Gap in the Informal Sector of India 90 Gayatri SomasekharanSkill Premium and Technological Change 90 harshil SharmaDemonetisation in Urban Informal Sectorw with Reference 92 to Female Street Vendors in Bengaluru City channamma KambaraThe Informal Small-Scale Brick Industry in Karnataka: An Economic Analysis 93 Sharanappa SaidapurIssues and Approaches to Development of Informal Sector Workforce in India 94 Roopesh KaushikGender Discrimination in Employment and Wages of Agricultural Labourers in Andhra Pradesh 95Narendra Kumar illuru, Kondeti Suneetha & Kuppam SudhaA Comparative Study of Labour Productivity in Formal 96 and Informal Manufacturing Enterprises in India maria KhanAnalysis of Head Load Labour Market in Kerala: A Pilot Survey of Calicut City 97 Shyba, m.Informality and Labour Market: Interrelationship between Farmer Collectives 97 and Market access: The Case of Farmer Producer Companies in Haryana Priyambda TripathiDifferent Dimensions of Migrant Informal Workers: A Case Study of Cuttack City, Odisha 98 Suvendu Barik & mirza Allim BaigSettlements of the Un-sedentary 99 Nivedita Jayaram & Sangeeth SugathanMGNREGS, Rural Labour and Rising Rural Distress? 100 Evidences from Micro Level Analysis in West Bengal dipanwita chakrabortyLabour Bank Experiments in Kerala 101 Shihas Abdul RazakWomen and Workforce Participation 103 Neha chauhanThe Influx of Contract based Employment in the Local Government: 104 A Descriptive Assessment of Contract Labour in Municipalities in South Goa K. SangeetaMoving from Amma Kitchen to Yogi Adityanath’s Annapurna Bhojanalaya 105 deepti chandraRural Non-Farm Sector Employment in Developing and Urbanized Regions of Maharashtra: 106 Results from an Empirical Study Shuchi misra & Om Prakash Shukla

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Theme 2 MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICIES AND EMPLOYMENT

KEYNOTE PAPER ANd ThEmATic SESSiONMacroeconomic Policies for Full and Productive Employment 109 Sukti dasgupta

Fiscal Consolidation, Growth and Employment: 110 International Evidence and Implications for India iyanatul islam

The “Missing Middle” Problem in Indian Manufacturing: What Role Do Institutions Play? 111 Kunal Sen & S. N. Rajesh Raj

Macroeconomic Policy and Employment: A Development Perspective 112 Rizwanul islam

Trade and Employment in Bangladesh 113 Selim Raihan & S.K. Sasikumar

TEchNicAL SESSiON 2.1Macroeconomics Policies and Employment Patterns in Nepal 114 dillip Raj Khanal

Economic Growth and Employment: An HD-based Approach 114 Sarthi Acharya

Structural Transformation and Inclusive Growth in India 115 N R Bhanumurthy

Macro-Economic Policies and Employment in Developing Countries 116 Biswajit chatterjee

Neo-liberal Macroeconomic Policy and its Impact on Employment and Livelihood: 117 An Evaluative Approach Surinder Kumar & Shivakar Tiwari

Outward FDI, Cross-Border M&As and Home-country Employment: Indian Evidence 119 Beena PL

Fumbling Schemes of Skill Development in India 120 Siddhartha K. Rastogi & Kajari mukherjee

Trade Liberalisation, Capital Intensive Export and Informalisation: 120 A Case study of India’s Manufacturing Export Sonal dsouza & Panchendra Naik

Impact of Firm’s Income Tax Reduction on Employment: 122 Identification through the Corporate Income Tax Reform in China Abhinav Alakshendra, Sixia chen, Ziming Li & Shengfeng Lu

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TEchNicAL SESSiON 2.2

From Garden to Tea Pot’: The Political Economy of Women’s 123 Work in the Tea Plantations of North Bengal Priyanka dutta

Minimum Wages in India: An Analysis of Policy Practice and Implementation 124 Gap with Reference to Agriculture Minimum Wages and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Biju Varkkey, Rupa Korde & Sunny Wadhwaniya

Development Sans Structural Transformation: A Study of Tamil Nadu 125 Nelson mandelas

Constraints in Macroeconomic Policies in Raising Employment 126 mudaser Bhat, Binish Qadri

Intensity of Overqualification in Kerala – A Case Example of Banking Sector 127 Razeena Rasheed & m. Bhasi

Unemployment in India: Demystifying Voluntary Unemployment and Data Deficiency 128 Ravi Kant dwivedi

Regional Dimension of India’s Employment Growth in the Post Reform Era 129 K.S. hari & hema Kurup

Growth and Employment in Odisha: An Analysis in the Post Reform Period 131 Priyabrata Sahoo

Deciphering the Reality of Mudra Loans in Creating Self-Employment 131 Arjun Kumar & Vivek Kaul

TEchNicAL SESSiON 2.3What Do the Graduates Do? Expansion of Higher Education and 133 Graduate Labour Market in India Sanjeer Alam

Macroeconomic Policies and the Employment Situation in India 133 manturam Samanta

Do Training and Experience Prior to Migration Help Migrants Earn more Abroad? 134 A Study of Returnee Migrants in Nepal dhruba Bhandari, Bishnu dev Pant, Saurab Shrestha & Shailie Rimal

Role of Aggregate Demand Components in the Shadow of Unemployment: 135 A Cross-Country Analysis Kamal Ray

Determinants of Employment Potential in India’s Service Sector: The Post-Reform Experience 137 deepak Kumar Behera

Occupational Sex Segregation in India: Pre- and Post Liberalisation 138 meenal Shah

A Study of the External Determinants of International Migration 139 and its Impact on Indian Economy

madhu G.R. & Uma h.R.

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TEchNicAL SESSiON 2.4How Elitist Macro Development Policies are Distorting Gujarat’s 142 Agricultural Output and Employment Scenario munish AlaghCurrent Account Surpluses in the World Economy – Examining Labour Market 142 Flexibility and Depreciated Real Exchange Rates as a Macroeconomic Strategy Krishna Kumar S.Relationship between Unemployment Rate and Economic Growth: 143 An Empirical Study of India Akhilesh Kumar Sharma & Sushil Kumar RaiImpact of Technology Adoption on Employment: A Case Study of 144 State of Bank of India madhav Shinde & Jivan SolankeGrowth Employment Linkages in India 145 P.S. KambleSocio-economic Measures, Employment and Poverty Alleviation 146 Ritu SharmaSpacio-temporal Growth Analysis of Agricultural Wages in India 146 Raj Grover & mahesh V.

TEchNicAL SESSiON 2.5Elderly Labour in India: Role of Support System 148 Arya U.R.Economic Performance of Publics Sector Undertakings in 149 Jammu and Kashmir with Special Reference to SICOP Ghulam Bhat & Showkat BhatEffects of Macro Economic Policies on Labour Market in General 149 and Employment Creation in Particular in Indian Economy dhiraj Kr. BandyopadhyayA Study of Gender Inequality in Education and Labour Market 150 and its Impact on Economic Growth in West Asia Sana Samreen‘Make in India’: Contextualizing it Within the Obtained Socio-Economic Reality 151 Nyima TenzingImpact of FDI Inflows on Employment 152 Tahir hussain & Ranjan SinhaEmployment Effect of Trade Facilitation in India: 153 Theoretical Discussions and Empirical Illustions mamta Kumari & Nalin Bharti

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Theme 3 TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND EMPLOYMENT

KEYNOTE PAPER ANd ThEmATic SESSiONTechnology and Employment Twelve Stylized Facts for the Digital Age 157 mario Pianta

Technological Change, Automation and Employment: 158 A Short Review of Theory and Evidence K.V. Ramaswamy

Technological Change and Employment: Creative Destruction 158 dev Nathan

Public Employment Service in India: Technology based 159 Solutions to Institutional Challenges Vinoj Abraham & S.K. Sasikumar

Technology and Labour Market: Insights from Indian Manufacturing Sector 160 Rajarshi majumder

Technology, Productivity and Employment: An Empirical Analysis of Indian Industries 161 Suresh chand Aggarwal

TEchNicAL SESSiON 3.1Labour Displacement Potential of Technology Adoption: 163 Firm-level Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industry Sandeep Kumar Kujur

Are Electronic Welfare Payments Solving the Problem of Massive Rural 164 Unemployment? Evidence from Three Districts of Barak Valley Region of Assam Rajshree Bedamatta & harish chandra

Technological Change, Skill Supply and Wage Distribution: Comparison of 165 High Technology and Low Technology Industries in India hansa Jain

Employment Polarization in Germany: Role of Technology, Trade and Human Capital 167 ipsita Roy & davide consoli

A Methodological Prescription For Forecasting the Job Growth for the Labor Market 168 in India: Using Multiple Sources of Data and Machine Learning Techniques Tutan Ahmed

The Effect of Access to Information and Communication Technology on 169 Household Labor Income: Evidence from One Laptop Per Child in Uruguay Jaoquin marandino & Phanindra V Wunnava

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TEchNicAL SESSiON 3.2The Web of Recruitment: Emerging Hiring Technologies and Methods 170 in India’s Urban Labour Market Bhim Reddy, Tarini Shipurkar & Shantanu Kant dubey

Productivity, Employment and Wages in Organised Manufacturing: 171 A Comparative Study of Orissa and India d P Priyadarshi Joshi & Priyabrata Sahoo

Estimating the Labour Productivity in Indian Manufacturing Sector: 172 A Special Focus on Technological Change Abdul Jamal, Arumugam Sankaran & muhammed Rafeeque

Technological Changes and Employment in Punjab Economy 173 with Emphasis on Agriculture Balwinder Singh Tiwana, Ravita Ravita, manpreet Kaur

Employment Effect of Technology Intensiveness 175 in Organised Manufacturing Sector harwant Singh & Swati mehta

Impact of Technology on the Low Paid Women Workers in Qatar 176 Anjali Jiothish & haseena c.A.

TEchNicAL SESSiON 3.3Is Technological Change A Potential Threat to Employment Opportunities 177 minali Banerjee

An Econometric Analysis of A Complementarity Between Profit-Wage and 178 Capital-labour: Skill-based Technological Change in Indian Services Sector Narender Thakur & Vipin Negi

ICT Usage, Productivity and Wage Shares in Unorganised Manufacturing Sector in India 179 mitali Gupta

Are They Shielded? – On The Link Between Employment Structure 180 and Automation Related Job Losses in India Raju John

Technology and Issue of Missing Female Agricultural Labour 181 Nilesh Kumar

Dynamic Triad of Technology, Employment and Labour Productivity? 182 The Case of Indian Manufacturing Bino Paul & mansi Awasthi

WORKSHOPS 183...

Theme 1

INFORMALITY, LABOUR MARKET AND EMPLOYMENT

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KEYNOTE PAPER

Formalization of the informal Economy: Perspective of capital and Labour

Jeemol Unni, Professor, Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad

The debate on dualism in the labour market began in the 1950s with Arthur Lewis’s (1954) traditional and modern sectors. The term informal sector was coined by Keith Hart (1973) two decades later. Since then there has been a plethora of literature on the concepts. The ILO (1993) formalized an empirical definition of informal sector two decades later based on the enterprise. It took another decade before the dissatisfaction with this definition led the ILO (2003) definition of informal employment to identify work in the cross section of formal and informal. In June 2015 the 104th International Labour Conference adopted a Recommendation 204 “Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy”. In the last decade the development of technology and the creation of hiring practices on the platform economy have led to a new debate on the blurring of the lines between the formal and the informal.

In this address I discuss this journey of the concept of informality in the labour market in developing and developed countries. The debate on formalizing the informal economy can be seen from the lens of capital or the lens of labour. We argue that the capital view is only normalizing the enterprises, while the labour view is actually formalizing, with inclusion of workers in formal systems. The Indian debate on formalization to overcome the formal/informal divide has mainly taken the capital view. The recent efforts at demonetisation and the implementation of GST can be seen as steps in this direction. The new form of work is the platform or gig-economy. This is another form of formalization from the lens of capital and is a growing challenge in countries across the globe. We conclude with some broad questions to be addressed in future research.

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ThEmATic SESSiON

Formal Employers and informal Workers: On a Growing divide in indian manufacturing

Jayan Jose Thomas, Associate Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

There is a growing divide in Indian manufacturing – between the organized and the unorganized sectors, and between managers and workers within the organized sector. This divide has been (and still is) accentuated by macroeconomic policies adopted by the country over the past two decades. On the one hand, a number of Indian manufacturing firms are now globally competitive, and they make use of innovative and increasingly automated technologies. Employment in India’s factory sector (which is broadly equivalent to organized manufacturing) rose from 8.5 million in 2004-05 to 13.4 million in 2011-12. Considerable numbers of jobs were generated in metals and metal products, machinery and equipment, chemicals and petrochemicals, and automobiles. The experience during the 2004-12 period contrasts sharply with the ‘jobless’ growth in India’s organized manufacturing between the early 1980s and early 2000s.

However, despite the acceleration in the growth of factory employment, growth of total (organized plus unorganized) manufacturing employment decelerated in India after the mid-2000s. According to employment and unemployment surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), manufacturing employment in the country increased from 55.2 million in 2004-05 to 61.3 million in 2011-12. This works out to an average annual growth of manufacturing employment of 0.7 million a year during the 2004-12 period, which is less than the average annual growth of manufacturing employment in India between 1993-94 and 2004-05 (1.2 million jobs a year). The slow growth of manufacturing employment despite the marked rise in factory employment points out that employment in unorganized manufacturing may have shrunk in the country between 2004-05 and 2011-12.

At the same time, there has been a rise in informalization of the workforce within organized manufacturing, with the growing share of contract workers in the factory sector. The ratio between the average salary received by a supervisor or manager and the average wage earned by a worker was 3.4 in 1999-2000, but rose to 6.1 in 2014-15.

There were a number of macroeconomic factors that helped the growth of organized manufacturing during the 2004-12 period. They include the relatively fast growth of agricultural incomes, rise in rural wages, favourable conditions in the global economy, and all of these contributing to a rise in private corporate investment.

At the same time, inadequate growth of public investment led to critical supply-side constraints, such as in power generation. There were other factors too that increased the divide between the organized and unorganized segments of manufacturing. They include the

Theme 1: Informality, and Labour Markets

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slow expansion of bank credit for micro and small industries, trade policies that increased dependence on imports and reduced scope for ancillarization, and the rise in prices of land and skilled workers following the emergence of finance and IT sectors.

After 2011-12, conditions in the Indian and the global economy have turned adverse. The stagnation in public and private corporate investment that began in India during the late 2000s continues even today. With the reduction in public expenditures on rural areas, rural demand has slowed down. All of these have also resulted in a slowing down in the growth of output and employment in the factory sector.

The overall deceleration in investment and economic growth has had more adverse impacts on micro and small industries in the informal sector. Some of the recent macroeconomic interventions – demonetization of high denomination currency notes and the introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax) – have further widened the gulf between the formal and informal sectors in India.

class Relations and Axes of Social Oppression in contemporary capitalism: Agrarian change and conjugated Oppression in india

Jens Lerche, Reader, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London

Alpa Shah, Associate Professor, London School of Economics

It is now fairly well established that in most parts of the Global South, although full-time work in agriculture has declined rapidly, the canonical agrarian-led transition to industrialisation no longer holds. Nor does the concomitant formation of a proletarian condition with workers solely reproducing through labour relations, with the potential to self-identify as proletarians. Instead, we have people seeking to reproduce their households through one foot in agriculture and the other in informal insecure work and precarious petty commodity production outside of agriculture, what Henry Bernstein has called ‘classes of labour’ (2007: 5), a new permanent reserve army of labour (Breman 2003:13) facing ‘terminal marginality within global capitalism’ (Davis 2006: 202). This, however, is only part of the picture. In this article, in line with concerns raised by Marx in the last decades of his life (as highlighted recently by Kevin Anderson [2010]), we draw attention to axes of social inequality, power and oppression. We argue that race/ethnicity/caste/gender relations are inseparable from, and part of, class relations (McNally 2015). This is central to an understanding of contemporary agrarian change and the spread of capitalism, and has deep-seated consequences for how we think about political struggles.

Our focus is the case of India. We draw on the analysis of a new major research programme and its five ethnographic studies in five different parts of country, as well as on macro-economic data and existing secondary sources. We show how class relations and co-constituted forms of caste and tribe based oppression mark the spread of capitalism across our sites in a context of rapid growth of informalised insecure work across the agrarian/non-

59th ISLE Conference Paper Summaries

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agrarian divide. We trace this by focussing on Dalits (the ex-untouchable castes) and Adivasis (tribal groups) who together constitute one quarter of the Indian population. We explore how transformed processes of what Philippe Bourgois has called ‘conjugated oppression’ – which we conceptualise within wider trends in capitalist development, by drawing on the wider literature including on Etienne Balibar’s concept of ‘class racism’ – is changing and entrenching Dalits and Adivasis at the bottom of social and economic hierarchies, including labour hierarchies. We document that class casteism is strongly promoted by capital and the state, and also that parts of the labouring classes play an active role in reinforcing these hierarchies as they defend their meagre privileges against those who are even worse off. We analyse the implications of these processes for struggles which foregrounds class, caste or tribe, with a focus on land and labour.

In a context where neoliberal globalisation has resulted in the bypassing of agrarian transition-led industrialisation, where proletarianisation of the kind experienced in the Global North is not occurring, and where class struggles based on class-for-itself consciousness are relatively rare, our analysis provides a powerful corrective to both agrarian and non-agrarian class analyses. Our approach to class and divisions of labour along other axes at the agrarian/non-agrarian crossover provides a strong argument against ‘reading off ’ class relations and political strategy from an imagined trend towards full-scale proletarianisation and proletarian-for-itself class action, and demonstrates the significance of placing at the centre of our analysis and our political struggles, class relations and their inseparability from race/ethnicity/caste/gender relations.

Labour Law and Governance Reforms: A Retrogressive Step towards more informality?

K.R. Shyam Sundar, Professor, XLRI, Xavier School of Management, Jharkhand

There are two schools to creation of informality in the labour market. The neo-liberal perspective argues that thanks to rigidities arising out of restrictive labour market institutions like labour laws, trade unions and collective bargaining the firms are not able to freely and quickly respond to the market forces which have assumed wider magnitude and effects in the era of globalisation and they resort to practices and strategies which create and sustain informality. The most [in]famous argument carrying this argument has been given even by policy makers like NITI Aayog. They argue that labour intensive industries are disincentivised to grow thanks to progressively stringent legislations and hence they remain small and owing to structural economic considerations like low profit margin per worker operate in the domestic market instead of competing in the global market. These have adverse economic implications such as little or no employment generation, low capital accumulation, little or no contribution to export revenue and so on. Firms remain informal and do not grow to avoid Shops and Establishments Act (state labour laws) or the Factories Act, 1948 in terms of registration. Firms remain informal to avoid social security laws like EPF or ESI laws as per the thresholds


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and areas in which they operate – for example, some segments in the same district will be covered by ESI Corporation while neighbouring areas will not be covered – the author came across such demarcations in Pune district. Firms keep workers non-formal or informal to deny collective bargaining coverage and the right to raise industrial disputes under the ID Act (see the definition of supervisors and others in the Act). Firms remain informal to avoid coming under the purview of Chapter V-A even to provide notice of lay-off, retrenchment and closure to the state agencies. Firms remain informal to avoid coming under the purview of Chapter V-B of the ID Act to avoid taking prior permission to close shop or lay-off or retrench workers. There are several layers of informality that we have engaged with in the paper.

Wage Employment, informality and Social Networkers in Labour market

Rajendra P. mamgain, Professor, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, UP

The economic reforms induced high economic growth development trajectory in India has been rather sluggish in bringing desired rate of growth in employment opportunities and related structural changes in therein. At the same time there has been an ever-increasing pace of informalisation of employment opportunities and related deterioration in the quality of employment in organized segment of the Indian economy, which was considered as major source of stable employment opportunities with reasonable social security to workers working therein. Such kind of informalisation process is widely spread across different industry segments in formal sector including both public and private enterprises and across different regions. Keeping in view these trends, the paper attempts to examine nature and access of wage employment broadly in the ILO’s framework of decent work by using NSSO data on employment and unemployment and primary survey data of 3000 households in four cities of Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Pune and Coimbatore collected during 2014-15. It argues that treating regular employment as a form of decent work may be misconception as a large number of regular salaried employment opportunities are devoid of any tenurial and social security benefits to workers, making them vulnerable, which is crucial indicator of ILO’s notion of decent employment. We find a high pace of contractualisation and casualisation of employment opportunities both in public and private formal sectors. It finds unequal access to quality jobs, particularly in private formal sector to different socio-religious groups---SCs, STs and OBCs have proportionately lower share in private sector quality jobs as compared to other social groups. OBCs though remain under-represented in private formal sector regular jobs but their representation tended to improve in recent years due to faster growth in their employment therein. Associated with the high prevalence of informal wage employment, sources of job information are highly informal in nature for a large majority of workers employed in wage employment despite a notable progress in the penetration of information


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technology in India. Social networks such as close family members, friends, relatives, co-villagers, etc., still are critical in providing job information to wage workers more so to those looking jobs in informal enterprises as well as private formal sector enterprises and also those searching jobs pertaining to low end occupational hierarchies. The new forms of job search such as job portals are largely being used by educated job seekers looking jobs in formal sector. This pattern in sources of job information in urban labour market among jobseekers only reiterates the limited access to job information in labour markets which still remain segmented and thus hamper the free flow of job information to job seekers and resultant efficiency and productivity of enterprises.

In brief, apart from lack of employment opportunities in general, the quality of employment is a major casualty in the current dispensation of liberal economic policies of last two decades or so. This dismal situation on the front of promotion of quality employment though attracted attention of political class in recent times but yet to be translated into reality with a comprehensive time bound agenda of creation of employment that ensures tenurial security, social security, dignity and decent earnings to workers. This is indeed a daunting challenge which if left entirely to the market forces would create another set of economic and social upheavals which no body would be able to afford.

Rectifying the invisibility of Women’s Work: Evidence from a Few Villages and Slums

Asha Kapur mehta, Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi

This paper argues that female work participation in villages and slums is far higher than is acknowledged. Despite improvements, female worker population ratio or work force participation rates of women under-report women’s work. According to estimates provided by the Census 2011 and NSS 2011-12, the worker population ratio for males is more than 50 per cent for both rural and urban areas. However, the corresponding Census 2011 estimates of work participation by females are only 30.3 per cent for rural and 15.44 per cent for urban areas. NSS 2011-12 estimates are even lower at 24.8 per cent and 14.7 per cent respectively.

These estimates fail to reflect the reality of the massive contribution made by women living in villages and slums in the economic survival of their families. Most women who live in villages and slums are workers. Women work jointly with other family members on farms, in shops and in the household. They look after animals, sell groceries, prepare and sell tea and other food items, undertake paid work as domestic workers in other people’s houses and are engaged in embroidery or tailoring or other home based work. A significant proportion of those who are working in the informal sector are simply not reported as workers. Further, a large proportion of women characterised as engaged only in domestic duties or household


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work are actually maintaining kitchen gardens, household poultry, etc. In addition to their heavy economic work burden, the bulk of the repetitive drudgery of cooking, cleaning, washing and caring or household chores is performed by women.

Based on field work conducted in four villages and four slums in different parts of India, this paper argues that women contribute substantially and significantly to output, especially in sectors such as agriculture, animal husbandry and other services. However, much of their contribution to economic activities in the informal sector is subsumed within the household and is attributed to men. While there is substantial scope for reducing drudgery and increasing the productivity of the tasks that women perform, the continued invisibility of women workers and of their contribution to SNA activities must be rectified.

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Who does the housework? Women’s Participation in domestic duties and Paid Employment in india

Ellina Samantroy, Fellow, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida, Uttar Pradesh

The recent report of the International Labour Organization (ILO) World Employment and Social Outlook, 2017, reflected upon the on a gender gap in labour market participation of women exceeding by a gap of 50 per cent in the South Asian region. Women’s participation in the South Asian region is the lowest i.e below 30 per cent, compared to the global average of 49 per cent. Within the South Asian context, India has witnessed a decline in the female labour market participation from 34.1 per cent in 1999-00 to 27.2 per cent in 2011-12 as per the National Sample Survey Organization. While on one hand, the employment trends for women in India has been declining, on the other hand, women’s participation in domestic duties has increased which is an important concern from a policy perspective. According to a recent report by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) on ‘Participation of Women in Specified Activities along with Domestic Duties’, the domestic duties participation for women in rural areas has increased from 53.4 per cent in 2004-2005 to 61.6 per cent in 2011-12. Further, time-use surveys of 26 OECD countries and three OECD enhanced engagement countries (China, India and South Africa) show that women devote, on average, more than twice as much time to household work as men (OECD 2012).

The recent Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 5) 2015 recognized the centrality of women’s empowerment and gender equality to the elimination of poverty and hunger, and the achievement of truly sustainable development. More quality jobs for women, universal social protection and measures to recognise, reduce and redistribute unpaid care and household work are indispensable to delivering on the new transformative sustainable development agenda. Which aims to reduce poverty and inequalities to achieve gender equality and promote inclusive and sustainable growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (ILO 2016).

The present paper tries to understand the gender differentials in employment trends in India. There is also an attempt to analyze women’s unpaid work with specific emphasis on their participation in household and related activities (domestic duties), thereby exploring intra-household dynamics and role of socio-cultural norms in interpreting gender roles in the household. The paper also aims to address the invisible dimensions of women’s work and highlights on the importance of capturing household and related work adequately in National Accounting Statistics. At the end, there is an attempt to inform governmental policy on recognition and redistribution of household work for encouraging women’s participation in paid employment. The paper is largely based on the reports of the National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Report on Participation of Women in Specified Activities along with Domestic Duties 2014 of the NSS.


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NSS data for employment estimates of the 15-59 age group is taken for all kinds of analysis from various years. The concept of usual activity status has been taken into consideration and unit level data is used to generate information on a more disaggregated level. Other published governmental reports and reports of international organizations are also analyzed.

Labour Regulations and informalization in the Organised Textile and clothing industry in india

Seema Bathla, Professor, CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Prateek Kukreja, Research Assistant, ICRIER, New Delhi

This paper seeks to understand the dynamics behind a slow employment growth in one of India’s key industries viz. textile and clothing, in view of labour market rigidities. It begins with delineation of labour regulations and amendments done by the respective central and state governments in organised manufacturing. A derived labour demand equation is estimated to gauge the impact of labour regulations and other factors on employment in the post-reform period from 1999-2000 to 2013-14. The paper reveals that the organised textile and clothing industry provides employment to 2.03 million people. However, the firms have been increasingly hiring contract workers in place of regular workers, whose share in total work force has shot up from 8.48 per cent to 14.51 per cent. This seems to be in a bid to escape the strict provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. We find a significant adjustment cost involved relating to the hiring and firing of workers, which, in turn, constrains the job creating potential of this sector. The regulations under the Act make it extremely difficult for the employer to adjust their labour input, in response to changes in technology. The sub- national analysis based on a pooled Ordinary Least Square estimation of a dynamic panel at National Informatics Centre three-digit level reveals that the states with flexible labour regulations have performed better in terms of employment growth than those with relatively rigid regulations. The findings have strong implications for bringing much needed amendments in the Industrial Dispute Act towards creation of gainful jobs.

Indian ‘Staffing Industry’: Flexibility and Third Party Recruiters in Formal Sector

Bhim Reddy, Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Shantanu Kant dubey, Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Tarini Shipurkar, Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

The changes in the labour market associated with the global shifts in capital and organisation of work brought into existence a new sector of intermediaries in the urban labour market, representing a ‘corporate’ avatar of the archetypal middle-men, the ‘labour contractors’. Alongside the entry of transnational players, a large number of local enterprises comprise this


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emerging sector, called as recruitment industry. Unlike the individual middlemen, they emerged as enterprises, ranging in scale, and branding themselves as credible businesses. These enterprises, variously identified as firms/consultancies of recruitment, staffing, placement and HR services, increasingly mediate the process of recruitment, provide and manage workforce and offer other services that were traditionally in the realm of human resource management (HRM) in the formal sector. Importantly, they cater to an industry that seeks a flexible and temporary workforce without accounting for standards of work and tenure security. This paper attempts to present the contours and modus operandi of these third party recruitment and staffing agencies in India based on a recent study on hiring practices conducted in the city of Delhi.

The recruitment industry has been growing while largely catering flexible workforce in the formal sector that increasingly relies on flexible employment relations. This expansion, in other words, compliments the case of organized sector employment, which is expanding largely through informal employment (Ghose 2016). On the other hand, this recruitment industry also engages in ‘head hunting’ and mediates hiring of highly specialised workforce.

Third party recruiters and staffers are so to speak symbolic of expanding market economies. Understandably so, this sector is linked to and emerging in line with the outsourcing model. In fact, apart from catering to the Indian industry, this sector in India is growing to cater to both recruitment and other HR services for the industry operating in the developing countries. With these global tendencies interplaying with Internet of Things (IoT) and denser interconnectivity, work and workspaces changing, these recruiters source job seekers from across countries while managing human resources from off shore.

This rebranded structure mediates the recruitment process and has grown to provide additional services that the industry refers to as the ‘non-core activities’ of human resource management. Smaller intermediary firms can be uni-functional, i.e. their primary focus being sourcing and vetting of the job seeker and are a critical cog in the larger labour supply process. There are also large firms that not only provide recruitment but also other services such as end-to-end processing, resource process outsourcing (RPO), general and temporary staffing, information system database, payroll processing, skill trainings, labour law compliance and much more. These consultancies have become effective and just in time in terms of delivery alongside structurally re-organizing labour market processes. In due course, associations such as Indian Staffing Federation have become a stepping-stone through which the industry is be able to collectively further its own interests.

how Formal is Employment in india: A Social Group Based Analysis

Swati dutta, Associate Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Informality in the labour market is a significant issue in the current development debate. Informal employment plays a very significant role in the labour market of many developing


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countries like India with a significant section of the population living below the poverty line. Very broadly, the informal labour market consists of workers in the informal sector, plus casual workers in the formal sector. There is a difference between employment in the formal sector and the informal sector in terms of the conditions of work, whether workers are subject to government taxes, have access to social security or insurance, are casual or contract workers, and whether or not they receive the minimum wages. Growing competition combined with increased market opportunities and limited resources have led to the emergence of an informal economy. The predominance of the informal sector has led to a situation of the benefits of economic growth being concentrated among few with a growing proportion of the population living as working poor. Though the Government changed its policy strategy to that of inclusive and sustainable growth in the last decade, the fundamental issues leading to growing informalisation are yet to be targeted. In this article, an attempt has been made to look at the extent of informalisation of employment among social groups and what could be the way out to reverse the trend towards formalization.

Most of the studies on social disparity and labour market, however, are either case studies, or even when the study is of macro dimension, are limited to studying the unemployment rates only without exploring the nature of quality of work, earning differential – the crux of disparity. The present study will bring out not only unemployment among socially disadvantaged groups, but also the nature of work quality, poverty across occupation groups, wage differentials. In addition, the study will also highlight the region wise occupational quality for the social groups.

This paper investigates these possibilities with in the informal labour market in India. Here, the major employment types as distinguished in this paper include the formally employed in formal sector, the informal employment in informal sector, the informal employment in formal enterprises and the formal employment in the informal sector. Having disaggregated informal employment into its forms, the analysis proceeds to throw light on the nature of these distinct forms of employment and the implications of the growing informalisation of the labour force. The results of the econometric analysis challenge the conventional understanding of informal employment. There is a considerable difference in the forms of informality in terms of the nature of individuals engaged in them. There are few studies to explore the nature and forms of informal workers from different social groups. This study will fill this gap. Further study will determine the forms of informal employment by using multinomial logit regression and identify whether there is any differences across social groups. This study is beased on NSSO 68th round data. There are significant differences in the access to quality of employment across different social groups and regions. Most of social groups have very limited access to quality jobs a need to be addressed in the employment policy. The poverty rate among various occupation groups indicates that there is an overlap between poor quality job and poverty. A large proportion of marginalized group not only in low paid job, they are the most deprived workers. The percentage of SCs and STs are mostly employed in the public sector. However, it is not true for the OBCs. OBC has a higher participation in the private sector job. In some


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states, some social groups are doing better than the others are. The OBCs of South India are doing better in terms of getting social security benefits than their counterparts in other regions. Given a limited access to formal sector job by the socially excluded groups, there is a need to upgrade the job quality and formalization of the informal works in terms of providing social protection schemes, contracts etc. These will help expansion of the labour force participation rate of the socially excluded people in one hand and on the other hand, it will help for securing better livelihoods for the socially excluded groups.

Cards and Carriers: Migration, Identification and Surveillance in Kerala, South india

mythri Prasad, Associate Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Identity cards and surveillance practices formed an important part of migrant experience and politics. Drawing on fieldwork in construction sites and factory premises in Ernakulam district and a market frequented by migrants in Perumbavoor, a small city near Kochi in Kerala, this paper argues that ID-based surveillance of migrant workers occurs through a complex spatial web of state repression, local power structures and fissures within the classes of workers in Kerala. Migrant workers from North and North-Eastern India and unionized Malayali workers in construction sites and factories in Kerala battle for and against these cards. Migrant workers resist not necessarily class power that inheres in capital, but in the state and surveillance practices. It will address the qualitative aspects of the quantitative relation between the state and people and the state and space. This has implications for the ongoing debate on Aadhaar because it alerts us to the complicated relationship between workers and identification regimes and the inability of classed ideas of privacy to engage with questions of surveillance that majority of citizens’ experience on a daily basis.

Understanding informal Solid Waste management in india Under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Somjita Laha, Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

This paper explores the changing informal landscape of solid waste management in urban India under the recent Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) that was implemented in October 2014. The SBA was launched as a flagship programme by the current elected government with the main aim of cleaning up the environment. One specific objective of the SBA is ‘Institutionalisation of modern Municipal Solid Waste management (MSWM) practices’ which focuses on modernising and/or reforming the existing MSWM systems.

The proposed interventions of the SBA on urban waste management systems will potentially have major implications for the complex ecology of actors and institutions that constitute the heterogeneous solid waste management (SWM) processes in Indian cities. This research is designed to examine the nature and scope of changes that are likely to ensue with


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the implementation of the SBA, in particular on the predominant role of the informal sector in waste handling and processing.

Informality is a rampant phenomenon in India and a hotly debated topic in academia and policy-making; however, within this scholarship, many crucial dimensions of informal lives and livelihoods have been typically under-researched. This paper analyses one such aspect, that of the informal solid waste actors who are largely invisible but indispensable to the health and hygiene of the urban environment. Frequently, their rights and entitlements are under threat and they mostly occupy marginalised positions in the socio-economic fabric of the urban milieu where they are often stigmatised and looked down upon.

The favoured waste treatment model promoted by the urban planners and municipal authorities in addressing the menace of solid waste is that of public-private partnership with the formal waste contractors.Under this model, the informal sector looses their right to waste that is the source of their livelihood. According to the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 (henceforth 2000 Rules) adopted by the Government of India, the municipal authorities have the mandate of handling locally generated solid waste, both collection and disposal. While the 2000 Rules have provision for the engagement of private sector firms in various aspects of waste transportation and treatment, it does not recognize any actual or intended role for the informal sector. In sharp contrast to the 2000 Rules, the recently adopted Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 acknowledges the role and contribution of the informal sector prominently. It explicitly proposes incentivizing the informal sector in waste segregation and recycling. It also instructs state urban development Dept.s to prepare broad guidelines to integrate informal actors in the overall waste management system.

In a view to analyse the impact of state interventions and apparatus on the existing economy of and around SWM with specific emphasis on the position of the informal waste actors, this study critically reviews and presents the relevant literature on socio-cultural institutions of informal SWM in India through a historical lens. It situates the SWM practices and processes in the context of waste conflicts in this country and in other developing nations where traditionally the informal sector has been a principal agent in this regard. Primarily focusing on Delhi’s very recent accident in Ghazipur landfill and earlier protests against establishing waste-to-energy incineration plants, it upholds the role and function of the informal sector in the network of SWM. It also questions the state’s perception and construction of informality, explicit in its policies that often disregard these actors’ social, economic and environmental contribution.

china’s Labour dispatch System

T G Suresh, Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

China’s labour market institutions have endured epochal changes since the reforming of the danwei (work unit) based employment system. The most significant among all was the reemergence of labour market intermediaries. Since the early 1990s, employment in most


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labour intensive sectors have practically become a function of intermediaries. China’s traditional baogongtou (labour contractor) long vanished during the central planning era has made a dramatic come back as a key social actor linking rural migrants and urban industries. There have been other forms of contract based intermediaries such as baogong dui (work contract teams). Later in the early decade of the new century, intermediation shifted from the traditional social form into modern industrial style agencies where small labour service firms began to supply workers to companies in a variety of sectors. These new contingencies have in effect swept away any influence of regulation and induced informalities in employment. In 2008, China attempted to bring some resemblance of regulation by introducing a new national labour law, which stipulates all firms to conclude a formal employment contract with workers. While the intent of the labour law was to end the vagaries of employment through a regime of regulations and compliance, the social world of Chinese labour today reveals a starkly different story. Instead of waning, the labour intermediaries have become actors that are more resilient and transmuted into large-scale formal institutions. The rise of labour dispatch (laodongpaiqian) system during the last decade embodies this larger transition in China’s labour relations. This system has institutionalized the new mode of recruiting workers and determine how their conditions of employment is governed and what kinds of norms. My paper will trace the origins of the labour dispatch system from the early socialist central planning era and elaborate how its revival is different under the capitalist economic rationalities. I will also examine the case of a labour dispatch company which uses quasi-militia like approach to instill discipline and regimentalize workers to elaborate how earlier political models are now being called upon to serve China’s state capitalism.

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Women Workers and informal Employment in india: An Analysis From 68th Nsso data, 2011

Sita Lama, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Burdwan, West Bengal

Rajarshi majumder, Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Burdwan, West Bengal

Although women constitute half of the total population in India, women’s economic contributions in terms of labour are far below men. Various National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) reports on Employment and Unemployment indicate a sharp declining trend in Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) over the recent decades. Women’s work participation rate has reduced drastically for rural areas to 17.58 per cent and to 12.52 per cent for urban areas in 2011-12. While nearly 18.11% of rural women and 13.40 % of urban women are in the labour force. Female workers figure in unpaid jobs and are over-represented in informal sectors and among the poor groups. Large proportions of women in the informal sector work as self-employed, operate from home and thus are likely to be excluded from the labour force enumeration. Women are over-represented in the informal sector because of their need for flexibility to manage both productive and home-based work and many other unpaid activities. Based on unit level data collected by the NSSO 68th round 2011-12 on “Employment and Unemployment Survey”, this paper tries to study the informal sector employment and the condition of workers, particularly of women workers, across regions, social and industry group etc. in India. Our finding suggests that the women workers in general, are a marginalized category, and there are vast differences within this subordinate group of women belonging to different social and economic backgrounds. The condition of women workers in rural areas are comparatively more deplorable than their counterparts in urban areas. Moreover, the women belonging to the lower stratum of social structure (i.e. ST and SC women) in rural areas are worse-off than other general category women and urban women belonging to same categories.

Gender Norms, Unpaid Women and informality in Rural india: Quantifying the Time Use

Anup K mishra, Assistant Professor in Economics, DAV PG College, BHU, Varanasi, UP

Santosh K Singh, Post Doctoral Fellow, CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Wendy Olsen, Professor, University of Manchester

Gender discrimination continues to be an enormous problem within Indian society. Traditional patriarchal norms have relegated women to secondary status within the household and workplace. This drastically affects women’s health, financial status, education, and political involvement. Women are commonly married young, quickly become mothers, and


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are then burdened by stringent domestic and financial responsibilities. They are frequently malnourished since women typically are the last member of a household to eat and the last to receive medical attention.

Rural women continue to be treated as if they contribute nothing of value to society or the nation. However, we experienced that women’s lives have changed rapidly over time. Social, economic and legislative improvements and scientific advancements have allowed women to gain greater control over their lives. However, these experiences reflect mostly only in the urban areas. Unless these trends reach the bottom strata of society especially in the rural areas, attaining the motive of gender equality and inclusive growth remains an impossible vision.

Gender norms are related to behavior, attitude, and ethics. It indicates the notions of society in what is good or bad. Most of society is male dominating as a result; women are in a vulnerable situation. Since the beginning of human civilization, males are emancipated and females seek equal rights. Every step towards women’s equality is a struggle against social norms. Northern part of rural India is comprises few poor states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand). Nearly half of the populations comprises women. Overall development cannot be achieved without women’s participation and involvement in the development sectors of the country. At the beginning of civilization, the first agriculture and pastoralist society was established by women. Long historical background of women’s development is exploitation by males. Women participation in socio-economic activities as well as decision making, political rights, human rights, decision making, access to properties, freedom of choice, freedom of speech everything are essential for women’s development but social norms are the main impediments of women’s development.

In spite of high economic growth during the last two decades, there has been a low rate of female labour force participation (FLP) in India. This has been the recent issue that has to be looked into thoroughly. It is in the recording of the work done by women that serious inaccuracies and measurement failure occurs. As a result, participation of women in economic activities in developing countries in general and in India in particular is undermined.

Census after Census, women’s contribution has been rendered invisible by failing to quantify their work inputs, especially in agriculture and the unorganized sector. There are two kinds of work. Work for which payment is received and work for which no payment is made. Women are known to work longer hours than men do than is measured by the data gathered in the census. However, a lot of the work they do is unrecognized, leave alone rewarded with equal remuneration.

This study focuses upon the contemporary process of Gender Norms and Status of Unpaid Rural Women in India. The main aim of this paper is to provide evidences of Gender Norms and to investigate women’s unpaid household and quantify women’s unpaid household work in the rural India and attempts to assess an economic value for it.


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This research is based on time use survey of about 500 rural households from three states of North India i.e. Uttar Pradesh , Bihar, Jharkhand of rural areas in fifteen villages with mixed method study using both the quantitative as well as qualitative methodology.

Our survey based gender norms show the positive sign of changing mindsets of men and women in rural India. But there are few social constraints and compulsions which stop female participation in labour force.

does invisible home Based Workforce countable in indian Labour Force? Evidence from Neo-liberal Periods

Pushpendra Singh, Research Fellow, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Falguni Pattanaik, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

In the recent decade, India has experienced high economic growth in spite of the great global economic crisis. However, this impact changes global economic environments, which leads to increased competition, the introduction of artificial intelligence, wage discrimination, reorganization of work and dynamics of changes in labour law and labour mobility. Multinational Corporations (MNCs), public sector undertakings (PSUs) and government agencies are trying to increase capital-intensive production processes and shift work on low-wage sites in the informal sector. Hence, it led to an increase in the home-based workforce in developing economies and decrease in formal sector jobs, opportunities to advance and social security. Due to the huge outsourcing of work after neo-liberalization in India, home-based work is mushrooming. In recent years, the international agencies involved in promoting housing activity in developing countries but International Labour Organization (ILO) Home Work Convention (C177), 1996 failed to protect the work rights of home-based workers in the world. Moreover, in India, the Ministry of Labour and Employment does not have any policy for irregular work. In this restructuring of production process, women are the main targets as they get low wages and remain outside of the realm of union activity. Hence, it required less capital to outsource the work. Further, informality has been increasing in the Indian labour market since 2001, and that creates uncertainty and insecurity in Indian labour.

The present study aims to estimate the amount of home-based workers in the organized and unorganized sector. The study tries to highlight social security issues in home-based workers across the different sector in India. Further, the study established the relationship between home-based workers and economic growth in India with a micro and macro variable.

To accomplish the objectives, data from various sources both at the micro and macro level shall be utilized. The study has used unit-level data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), as a part of its 55th (July 1999– June 2000), 61st (July 2004- June 2005), 66th (July 2009- June 2010) and 68th round (July 2011 - June 2012) respectively. Using a schedule of enquiry


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(Schedule 10), this conceded an all-India household survey on the subject of employment and unemployment (EU) in India. Further, CSO [h1] economic growth data has been used to build relationships with home-based labour. The authors have used the bivariate table to estimate the home-based workers in a different sector. Decomposition method was used to measure differences in male and female participation in home-based work. Though, Multinomial regression was used to understand sectoral differences. Further, Panel Ordinary Least Squares [h2] was used to estimate the relationship with economic growth and home based workers with micro and macro determinants.

This paper highlights the potential of NSSO data to bring out Household labour participation, roles, responsibilities in the households and estimates the sectoral household works, Results show 47% home-based workers are in the manufacturing sector. However, 61% rural women labour are involved in home-based work, and 52% urban women are in home-based production activity. Men’s contribution as home-based production is 34.6 % in urban and 57% in rural in 2011-12. However, 98.24 % home-based labour is in the informal sector and solely 1.7 % in the formal sector. Moreover, 79.4% workers do not have any social security, merely 0.25% workers have social security in home-based units. Further, on examining the relationship between the structure of the economy and home-based labour force, result reveals that it is not economic growth but composition of growth that increased outsourcing and home-based production.

What If Occupations are Classified as Denoting Some Skills? Skill-mapping of indian States

N.K. mishra, Professor, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, UP

m. Satish Kumar, Director, Queen's University

Tulika Tripathi, Assistant Professor, CSEP, SSS, Central University of Gujarat

Skilling of labour force is a priority area of the present government with only 2.3% of Indian workforce having undergone formal skill training compared to UK (68%), USA (52%), Japan (80%) and South Korea (96%). Lack of insufficient job skills is a major obstacle for sustaining the projected economic growth of India. In fact, the UPA-II government has realized its importance and initiatives were taken. This was partly a product of an observation that while industry is complaining of shortage of skilled workers, educated unemployment is growing in India. Clearly, there is a mismatch between quality of labour being supplied and quality of labour being demanded. Thus, there is excess of supply of unskilled labour and shortage of skilled labour and our education system has failed to keep pace with the skill requirement of the economy. So far, there has been limited work on skills in India. Most of these works are based on technical education and vocation education data of Employment and Unemployment Survey of National Sample Survey. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has come out with industry and state specific projections of demand and supply of skill. However,


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these projections are not based on sound methodology. Apart from data limitations, there are many other issues like defining and scaling skill limiting further research on skills. The present paper takes an entirely different perspective and attempts to correlate skills with occupations.

Occupations are some sort of reflections of skill endowment of labour and therefore, The International Labour Organisation (ILO) revised ISCO-66 on the recommendation of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians and brought out ISCO-88. The publication has been compiled based on the experience of the occupational and statistical experts of the International Community as well as through collaboration with experts from different countries. The International Standard Classification of Occupations-88 has been developed to facilitate international comparisons of occupational statistics and to serve as a model for countries developing or revising their national occupational classifications.

The framework necessary for designing and constructing ISCO 88 has been based on two criterions namely kind of work performed and the level of skill involved instead of one criteria i.e. the kind of work performed in the earlier edition. A “job” has been defined as a set of tasks - duties performed by one person and an “occupation” as a set of jobs whose tasks and duties are of a similar nature. “Skill” has been defined as the ability to carry out the tasks and duties of a given job, which encompasses two dimensions namely: -

1. Skill level– this is a function of the complexity and range of the tasks and duties involved.

2. Skill specialisation– this shows the field of knowledge required, the tools and machinery used, the materials worked on and the kinds of goods and services produced.

National Classification of Occupations (NCO) 2004 was brought out by India in light of above modifications by the ILO. Thus, NCO 2004 does recognizes importance of skill in classifying occupations. It classifies workers on four levels of skills. While level 1 is associated with informal skills or 10 years of formal education, remaining three levels are essentially defined in terms of years of education.

The present paper does away with NCO 2004 classification of skills. We reclassify occupation at a five-digit level into four categories or levels of skills, namely highly skilled, semi-skilled, partly skilled and unskilled. This reclassification of NCO 2004 is done based on informed judgment. These skill levels are applied on the workforce as obtained from EUS Survey of NSS for 68th round. Two types of analysis are carried out. First, it is applied to states of India to observe incidences of various skill levels in states. Second, the same exercise is carried out based on National Informatics Centre (NIC) classification to observe skill intensity of different industry groups. The analysis throws out some important inferences.

Industrialized states have higher incidences of highly skilled and semi-skilled workers as compared to least industrialized states. In addition, states with higher share of service sector in SDP have higher share of highly skilled labour. This is also supported from our analysis based on industry groups. Certain industry groups known for their high skill intensity are reporting larger share of highly skilled labour and artisanal industry groups are showing larger shares of unskilled and partly skilled labour. These inferences verify our proposition that if occupations


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are recoded from NCO 2004 based on a better method of skill classification, it does provide a better mapping of skill level of workforce and it is a better method than that of basing analysis on technical and vocational education data of EUS of NSS.

Gender-based comparative Analysis of Workers Participation in Agriculture in Rural Areas of Uttarakhand: A Study

of Sahaspur development Block

Prashant Kandari, Assistant Professor, HNB Garhwal University, Uttarakhand

Rukmani, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, HNB Garhwal University, Uttarakhand

Hill rural regions of Uttarakhand state represent the most deprived and underdeveloped regions that increase the vulnerability of their residents. Majority of villages lack basic infrastructure, while the prevalence of differentiation based on caste, creed and gender is still dominant. Further, social malices like dowry system, violence on women, alcoholism are prevalent. Women are the major sufferers of this malevolence prevalent in the rural areas of the district. Poverty and unemployment are the other problems, which aggravate the tribulations of women in these areas. Though living a life of negligence, the women of these areas are major bread earners for their families. Amidst the huge migration of males and tough working and living conditions, the females of the Hill Rural regions of Uttarakhand largely share the burden of the economy. Many studies depict that female participation is decreasing in rural areas. Amidst the low declining work force participation of women in India, a few changing patterns can be observed. The first is a shift away from agriculture over the last decade, from 1999-2000 to 2011-12, and the second is the gain in educated regular employment even during the period 2004-2012 when the overall work force participation rates were declining. The study of the workers’ participation in Uttarakhand state as per 2011 Census shows that female work participation rate is 26.7 per cent, which has decreased from 27.3 per cent in2001, the same is noticed in the rural areas of the state. The present study conducted in the rural region of Uttarakhand does not totally corroborate these facts and indicates that female work participation in agriculture, which is largely carried out for meeting subsistence levels of demand, is still higher under various conditions in which the female participation in agriculture decreases. The study also shows that male participation in non-agricultural activities is very high relative to that of females in these regions. Female participation in non-agricultural income generating activities is very low in these regions. The study reveals that factors like higher per-capita income have not affected female participation in agriculture in rural areas negatively. The study further raises the concern on issues of higher participation of younger age group female workers in agriculture and highlights factors like low level of educational attainment and marital status, which push females in this sector, thereby enhancing their participation rate. The comparison of male-female participation in pre and post harvest agricultural activities reflects that even after higher rates of participation then males in agriculture, males have a larger role in key agriculture activities (ploughing,


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selection of seeds, and spraying of chemical fertilizers - pre-harvest; marketing - post harvest). The overall analysis of the male-female participation in pre and post harvest activities clearly shows that females have higher participation rate in agriculture than males. The study reveals that households employing agricultural labour for agricultural activities on their farms prefer female workers to male workers and the main reason for it is low wages in which females are ready to work as agricultural labour, which is largely attributed to their lower skills and inaccessibility to the non-agricultural sector.

Underemployment in india: measurement and Analysis

Subrata mukherjee, Associate Professor, Institute of Development Studies, West Bengal

indrani chakraborty, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, West Bengal

dipankar coondoo, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, West Bengal

The problem of underemployment of labour is prevalent in both developed economies and developing third world economies. However, the qualitative nature of the problem in these two types of economy differs markedly. Whereas the phenomenon of underemployment in developed economies is frictional and transitory in nature arising mostly from short-run labour market fluctuations, that in a developing third world economy is basically of a structural nature resulting from the unorganized and informal nature of such economies. Therefore, for a developing country like India, underemployment essentially becomes a developmental issue. There is a dearth of literature, which empirically analyse underemployment as a developmental issue, and it is hard to find out a substantive analysis of underemployment seeking to identify factors leading to underemployment of labour in a developing economy. This pattern is observed in spite of the fact that many developing countries do conduct household surveys on employment and unemployment on a regular basis over time to monitor the country’s employment situation and publish report based on the analyse of such data. In most of the reports, underemployment is either not examined or examined only marginally. In this paper, we have proposed an underemployment index that is defined at the level of a worker and can be aggregated to give underemployment index for categories of workers. Using this index together with the unit-record data from the National Sample Survey’s 66th round Employment – Unemployment Survey, we have estimated the underemployment index for different categories of worker population and attempted to see how the underemployment index varies across categories of workers. In another empirical exercise, we have tried to identify statistically significant covariates of worker-level and household-level underemployment index based on a Tobit regression models using worker-level and household-level data sets. The results of the Tobit regression results models clearly bring out the significant effects of worker-level covariates as gender, education, marital status and household-level covariates such as household size, household occupational category, religion, social class and MGNREGA-related information. The results are instructive for understanding the existing labour market and employment and can have implications for macro-level labour policies for the country in the long run.


male Female Wage differentials in Punjab: An Analysis from Amritsar district

mandeep Kaur, Research Scholar, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab

Kuldip Kaur, Professor, Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab

The study explores the male-female wage differentials in Punjab, mainly from Amritsar district. Gender equality in the world is multi-dimensional in nature. The rise in global prosperity in the last few decades, led to more global participation of women in labour force. It has been seen that gender gaps are not shrinking with rise in income (World Development Report 2012). The present study is an attempt to measure the extent of wage differentials and its determinants in Amritsar. The study is based on primary data taking various quantitative and qualitative variables to analyze the research questions. Therefore, in this study, the Chi-square test has been applied along with percentages and ratios to investigate the extent of gender wage gap and determinants of male female wage differentials. Apart from determinants of male female wage differentials, the ratio of female to male has measured the extent of gender gaps. It has been found that wage differentials are lowest in rural areas as compared to urban areas of Amritsar district of Punjab. Due to mismatch between demand and supply, rural females of Punjab have got better negotiating power than urban female workers. Migrant casual urban female got less wages i.e. Rs 7.08 as compared to resident females. There are no regular workers in rural areas. In case of urban workers, regular male and female got Rs13.67 and Rs8.5 respectively and female got only 0.62 proportions. In rural areas, casual male got more than urban casual males i.e. Rs12.27. Casual rural female also got more wages and gap is less as compared to wage gap in urban areas. Based on Chi-Square test, the study that wage differentials are non- significantly related to age, religion, residency, education, membership of union of sample female workers. On the other hand, experience, health status, occupation of females, location, caste, marital status, type of workers (casual or regular), type of skill are the determinants which are significantly related to the gender wage differentials. In case of casual urban labour, the wage differential is significantly related to religion, experience, activity and skill of female sample workers. However, the wage gap is not associated with age, caste, residency status, marital status, education, membership of union of urban female casual workers. Here wages are significantly related to religion because there are many restrictions imposed on females in the name of religion and women have fewer chances to migrate to other states. The results are opposite in case of urban regular labour. The two economic factors i.e. activity and skill of female sample workers is significantly associated with male female wage differentials. The social determinants have played very little role and turned out to be non-significantly related to wage differential in case of casual rural workers.


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Paid Women in informal Sector of india: A Poverty Nexus in Social hierarchy

Archana, PhD Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Notwithstanding a rapid economic growth in the last decade, female labour force participation has been declining progressively over the years. In the same period, there has been feminizing of poverty among paid female labour in the informal sector. The Indian labour market is shaped by gender, caste, race, and ethnicity. The caste hierarchy continues in the labour market, which marks the type of work to maintain the hegemony of upper castes. This categorization of work made the condition of Dalit women more vulnerable. Majority of lower caste women are engaged in the informal sector due to lack of skillfulness, and at the same time, their participation is decreasing due to wage disparities. A rapidly changing economy creates economic disparity, which escalates the poverty among women workers. Poverty and work are proportionally associated with employment, informally paid women in the lower social hierarchy are more vulnerable because women in the rural areas are having less choice of work.It has been well-known that contribution of women in the labour force is not always verbalized by class, caste or religion, rather it may also be determined by the kind of work done and that works are less paid or underpaid, which are also major causes of poverty.

The study examines the dynamic nature of poverty of paid women labour in the informal sector in the social hierarchy. Moreover, the study attempts to analyze the extent of poverty and the determinants of poverty in the region/state. The study will also explore the relations of Dalit women and their participation in the paid labour market. Further, the study is building a relationship in sectoral labour force participation and poverty among the paid and unpaid women with macro variables. The study has used unit-level data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), as a part of its 50th round (July 1993– June 1994), 55th round (July 1999– June 2000), 61st round (July 2004- June 2005) and 66th round (July 2009- June 2010) and 68th round (July 2011 - June 2012) respectively. Using a schedule of enquiry, this conceded out an all-India household survey on the subject of employment and unemployment (EU) in India. Further, poverty analyses in India have depended largely on the cross-sectional National Sample Surveys (NSS) with the Planning Commission of India defining the poverty line in India. We have used the bivariate and multivariate technique to fulfill the objectives.

This paper’s analysis has been verifying that the problem of women engaged in paid work is universal. Results show that out of 17.9% paid women in urban and 18.7% in rural, 22.86% women are paid poor women. There is regional inequality in the poverty level, but the double burden of socio-economic and socio-religious disadvantage is the same for women throughout rural and urban India. 93.2% of paid women workers are poor. 29.4% of SC and 28.6% of ST paid women workers are poor in spite of 13.6% others. A better financial position does not imply an improved participation in paid work, rather, it relegates them further into paid work, which is less remunerative and leads to poverty.


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Employment Related Short-term Family migration in india: An Analysis of magnitude and characteristics

madhusudan Nag, Ph.D Research Scholar, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala

Although seasonal and short-term migration has often been distress driven, it contributes to the economy through different channels (Breman 1996; de Haan 2000; Deshingkar and Start 2003; and Smita 2008). Most studies on seasonal migration reported that this type of migration often leads to family migration (couple with children). The migrant family goes through multitudinous suffering in the journey from the place of origin to destination. In the workplace, members of migrant families work for long hours in “arduous and exploitative environment.” The most imperative characteristic of short-term family is that children also take part in the work with their family. Despite plenty of evidence on family migration, specifically from historically marginalized spaces, it has received little attention among the “policy makers” and remains to be “under-theorized” by academia (World Migration Report 2008:151).

The existing literature interprets family migration in the context of deprivation that migrant members undergo, both, in working and living place. Further, these studies are mostly descriptive rather than quantitative (see, Borhade 2007; Marius-Gnanou 2008; Smita 2008; Korra 2010; and Jayaraj 2013). Besides, there is a dearth of exploration of family migration at national level. In this backdrop, the present study aims to look into various aspects of family migration at macro level in the context of India. Specifically, the study would address the following issues: What is the extent of short-term family migration in India? What are the characteristics of short-term family migration in India? When and where do families migrate (rural and urban region classification based on both place of origin and destination? What are their work/industrial statuses at destination? What are their social, landholdings, educational and occupational background?

Against this backdrop, the broader conclusion of this paper is as follows. The short-term family migration in India had been studied under the umbrella of workers or individual migration showing approximately more than 2 million of the household. The results of the paper suggest that short-term family migration rate from rural areas are predominantly higher than urban areas. In terms of destination, however, short-term family migration equally moves to both rural and urban destination. Further, higher rates of families are migrating within the same state as intra-state migration than another state. The seasonal nature of short-term family migrants found that majority of them move for three months to six months. The study also found that majority of migrant families gone to destination through the contractor. Whereas, the agriculture labourer are migrated more with self-employment to rural areas, and the families of construction worker are largely moved through contractor to both urban and rural areas. Further, the study observed that the families who migrate to urban destination also move with job prospects as against the migrant families move to rural destination without job. The occupational status of family migrants reveals that most of them work as construction


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worker followed by agriculture worker. While families which migrated to rural destination, majority of them work exclusively as agriculture labourer.

State level analysis found that Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh have very high intensity of family migration. Moreover, MPCE level analysis found that majority of short term families migrants belong to low MPCE class and it decreases as MPCE level increase. Similarly, the education levels of family migrants show that rates of family migration are higher among the illiterate head member of the families. In fact, the study found that rate of migration decline as their education status increase. Further, given the situation of the agriculture sector and its employment holding capacity, the study observes that large proportion of families are migrating from agriculture background (including marginal farmer).At the same time, This study also found that a high proportion of migrant families are migrating from non-farm labour both rural and urban areas. The study proved that social factors are playing an important role in migration where higher rate of family migrants belong to ST’s followed by SCs and OBCs groups. This finding corresponds with earlier studies of short-term migration, which reported that lower caste and tribal groups are more movable in India (Bremen 1996; Mosse et al. 2005; Kesri and Bhagat 2012). On the other hand, religion-wise analysis shows that the family migration rate of Buddhist community is more than others religions. Finally, the study concludes that short-term family migration is higher among the poorer sections of society in India irrespective of caste and class.

Restructuring the Rural-periphery through dispossession: Knowledge-based city, informality and the Labour Question

Animesh Roy, Assistant Professor, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Uttar Pradesh

The question of employment and labour contingent upon the land expropriated from farmers, under the neoliberal capitalist development in the Global South in general and in India in particular, has become a focal point of debate. Especially in those Indian states where information technology (IT) and knowledge-based planned townships have taken off as a process of economic change under the neoliberal development mold. Due to structural deficiencies, neoliberal urbanism in the rural periphery produces a ‘dispossessed marginalized working class’ (Castells 1973; Muller 2017), living in informal urban conditions (Hardoy and Satterthwaite 1987).

Based on a household survey conducted in 2016 among 450 households of six revenue villages (urban villages) in the Rajarhat community development block adjoining Kolkata Metropolis; where the former Left Front Government had acquired 6933.72 acres of land for building a planned urban centre promoting a knowledge-based economy, and drawing on Saskia Sassen’s concept of global cities (1991), this paper conceptualizes the undercurrents and processes of transformations of traditional material labourers (agriculturalist) dispossessed from their land into self-employed businessmen, affectionate and survival labourers. It also


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illuminates how a neoliberal planned township through a large-scale dispossession of land gives birth to numerous new forms of livelihoods to the dispossessed households and contravenes the fundamental axiom (proletarianization) of primitive accumulation.

The study, however, reveals that with a sharp downsizing of the landholdings, the large-scale dispossession of land in Rajarhat has touched off a process of occupational transformation of the dispossessed farming households. In rapidly changing and urbanising social milieu, a large section of the labour force of dispossessed households, regardless of their landholding size in the pre-acquisition stage, established their foothold in various informal non-farm economic activities as ‘survival, service-providing, affectionate and caring labourers’. Which includes employment as construction labourers, masons, carpenters, e-rickshaw drivers, taxi-drivers, conductors, cycle and motorbike mechanics, security guards, salesmen in malls, grill-makers, housekeepers and baby and elderly sitters in gated apartments etc. On the other hand, one-third preferred to be engaged in self-employed activities which included both petty and flourished businesses. While the former included vegetables and fruit shops, tea and betel shop, snacks on the trolley, and small restaurant and grocery shop run mainly by the small and marginal dispossessed households, the latter comprised garment shops, mobile and electronic shops, selling and supplying construction materials (household hardware shop), motorbike service centres, motorbike and car accessory shops, package drinking water plants, real estate agents and renting out properties. Corporatisation through dispossession in Rajarhat does require labour− what Sanyal and Bhattacharya (2011) call ‘immaterial labour’− who helps formulate mathematical simulations, programming and logistics managements. No one from the dispossessed households, however, could grab one. Given the possibilities in the burgeoning urban market economy, more than fifty per cent of dispossessed households, regardless of their landholding size, have diversified their economic activities from a single in the pre-acquisition stage to two or more economic activities in the post-acquisition stage as a conscious and vehement livelihood strategy. The interim employment opportunities created by the government for the dispossessed households in the form of supplying construction materials− what is locally called ‘syndicate’− to the planned private capital-intensive urbanization involving IT parks and multistoried housing complexes have failed to absorb the majority of dispossessed households. The better-off dispossessed households with prolific individual social capital (networks and political ties to local panchayat officials and ruling political leaders), as opposed to Bourdieuan ‘collective social capita’ (1987), have gained greater access to the syndicate employment compared to others. The diversified livelihood activities of the dispossessed and their entrepreneurship in business ventures in the post-acquisition stage, therefore, does not equate with the result of the Marxian ‘primitive accumulation’, i.e. proletarianization.


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informalisation of Employment and Poverty Status – An Empirical Study in india

Rajyasri Roy, M.Phil Scholar, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal

Panchanan das, Professor, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal

Informalisation of employment as observed during the high growth regime does not necessarily affect badly the incidence of poverty. Marjit et al. (2009) analyses theoretically that increase in informalisation can reduce poverty and deprivation of the informal workers. Nevertheless, in a country like India where unskilled or semi-skilled workers have been dominating in the labour market, the creation of informal jobs in the growth process may be beneficial in reducing absolute poverty. As there is a little scope to get formal jobs with better job conditions because of the lack of human capital endowment or other reasons relating to skill- biased technological change, people are forced to accept informal jobs with worse working conditions. In many cases, there is significant mismatch between level of education and type of jobs accepted by the workers. The skill mismatch in the labour market has a significance in analyzing inequality and poverty status during the high growth regime. The informal workers earn lower income as compared to formal workers and get very little or no social security benefits and many of them are working poor.

In this paper, by following ILO, we define informal workers are those who do not enjoy any type of social security benefits by supply their physical or mental labour. We first discuss the changing pattern of distribution of workers lying below poverty line by nature of employment separately for rural and urban areas during the period between 2004-05 and 2011-12. To identify the poor we have used the official poverty line fixed by the erstwhile Planning Commission by following the biological norms of poverty. We analyse the partial out effect of employment status on poverty status of workers in probabilistic sense by estimating logit model with unit level data taken from 61st and 68th survey rounds on employment and unemployment conducted by the National Sample survey office (NSSO).

There is no dearth of studies on poverty status in India. Different scholars focused on different issues relating to poverty in India. Das (2012), for example, examines the relative deprivation in terms of prevalence, depth and severity indices of poverty across social and religious groups in India since the early 1990s by taking 75 per cent and 50 per cent of the median expenditure per capita as the relative poverty lines over different survey rounds of household consumer expenditure. The study criticizes the conventional norms of poverty as used in official estimation and by utilizing the concept of relative poverty observes that poverty risk was significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas at any threshold level of consumption everywhere in India. Scheduled tribes among the social groups and Muslims among religious groups are mostly deprived in terms of headcount measure. The extreme poverty measured at 50 per cent of the median expenditure per capita has also been significantly higher for scheduled tribes.


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There has, however, been very much limited studies on the status of poverty with employment status in India with divergence in their findings. Sundaram (2008) uses the conventional norms of poverty in terms of headcount ratio and found that the incidence of poverty is the highest among the unorganised sector workers in comparison with that of the other sectors. Papola (2008) also analysed the incidence of poverty in terms of employment status and observes that the incidence of poverty in terms of headcount ratio was significantly higher among the casual workers than the regular salaried workers in India. Heintz et al.(2007) compares the poverty status among workers between India and China. As there is no studies as such in the literature focusing on the effects of employment status on poverty using micro level information, our study fills the gap in the literature.

In order to find out the determinants of poverty, we have used logistic regression model. The explanatory variables are the characteristics of the workers. In order to carry out the analysis, 61st round and 68th round NSSO data has been used. It can be said without any doubt that chances of being poor among the formal workers are significantly lower compared to that of the informal workers. Formal workers with single and dual benefits are also better off than the workers who are deprived of any type of benefits. This is true for both the rural and urban area. Apart from that, incidence of poverty among the regular wage workers have been significantly less compared to that of other types of workers.

Trade Liberalisation and its impact on the informal Sector

Pooja Khanna, Senior Assistant Professor, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, Delhi

The main conclusions that emerge from the panel data estimation are that trade flows do not affect informal sector growth in the BRICS nations. Investment also has no impact on the informal sector growth in these countries.These results may have emerged as there are numerous channels through which trade can affect the informal sector, like labour market conditions, degree of capital mobility, the level of economic development of a country (Temkin and Veizaga 2010) and internal factors like political conditions, corruption, etc. (Fugassa and Fiess 2010). Some of the above-mentioned mechanisms may be stronger and some factors more prominent in different countries, which can therefore be examined by further country specific empirical investigations. Policy implications that emerge from the analysis of the existing literature, is that the policymakers should focus on the informal employment besides the unemployed, as the proportion of the workers employed in this sector is huge. The conditions they work in and the insecurities in the nature of their work should be taken into consideration while formulating policies. These workers are extremely vulnerable as they are without any formal working contracts and social security. Since in developing countries, they form the majority of the workforce, it is therefore not only desirable but also necessary that the policies be made to reduce their vulnerabilities and to bring them under the social security net.

A more comprehensive data set of the informal sector could also help in research and therefore could help in providing insights as to the response of this sector to liberalisation and


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globalisation. A closer investigation on a few points could shed some light on the links and mechanisms between reforms and growth and employment in the unorganised sector. The questions to be examined are:

How is the informal sector affected by trade patterns across the world? If import demand of developing economies increases, how would this affect the size, growth and employment of the informal sector? Is informality higher in countries/sectors with fewer exports?

If technological changes are biased towards the formal sector, then trade liberalisation could lead to a widening of the gap between the formal-informal sectors. As trade grows, a greater demand could arise for skilled labour and a technology intensive sector or the formal sector, thus dampening the growth and employment changes of the informal sector further increasing the gap between the workers of the two sectors. Whether this holds or not, can be empirically tested. There exists a large body of literature to show the impact of trade on the manufacturing/ formal sector. However, the evidence on the impact of trade on the unorganised sector for emerging countries such as India and China is limited. A few questions that can be examined are:

What is the impact on the informal output and employment on the BRICS, post trade liberalisation, as these economies have a large informal sector? What is the impact of the increasing demand of the low quality products coming from China on the informal sector of countries like India and others? Does this increasing demand of products from these economies acts favourably for the wages and employment of the informal workers or do the same adversely affect them?

informality of Labour market

Kailas Thaware, Professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Maharashtra

The informal sector is heterogeneous in nature. This sector has a various facet in developing countries since its characteristics are different from that found in developed countries. It commonly indulges child labour practices. Most of workers are underpaid. They work for a longer hour beyond the stipulated time prescribed by international laws. Insecure job profile makes them vulnerable in income earning while lack of social security coverage makes them vulnerable in post-retirement period or during old age.

Since India is one of the most highly populated developing countries, the getting opportunity of employment in labour market and particularly in public sector is becoming rare. As a result, the informal sector employs a large number of not only skilled persons who are unable to get jobs in public sector and unskilled workers who are rejected by public sector due to having less minimum educational qualification. So, informal sector become now a “diversified employment giver sector” with a complex characteristic. Since informal labour market engages diversified work force, workers usually expect and demand more social security benefits in labour market. However, informal labour market has weak labour welfare organization and so, deprived them from basic rights and benefits.


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The stringent registration system, and corruption while allocating registration numbers discourages many small enterprises to register them. For example, workers in construction sector face a lot of problem to become registered workers for government compensation and benefits. This is sector works mostly as informal sector, but neglected. The registration system exists on paper, but workers are unable to register themselves because number of hassles and corruption in the process. Why can’t be there simple registration system?

The problem of this sector is very unique since it is not regulated. Despite this sector provides employment to a large numbers of workers, the children below 14 age are being employed (8.04 million) (NSS 61st round). The laws in India prohibit child labour under Article 24 of the Constitution of India, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act-1986, and Juvenile Justice (care and protection) of Children Act-2000. Why can’t be Indian state governments and central government serious in implementation of provisions? Since provisions are not implemented, children have lost their natural rights given/ guaranteed by Constitution and laws. For example, when children are employed in early age, they remained less educated or not educated throughout their life. This results in high illiteracy rate in informal sector. NSS 61st round estimated that 42.43 per cent work force are illiterate and 41.47 per cent are educated less that 10th standard in the informal sector. Illiteracy and low level of education are the great concerns of this sector employment. Overall, the way laws are implemented by the governments, it is very casual for Indian informal sector.

Out of total workforce employ in the informal sector, about 42.43 per cent are illiterate that could not have employed in the formal sector. About 80 per cent workforce are working in rural area in this sector. This will help to not only retain people in the rural areas but also provide the additional income seasonally. The share of agriculture in the informal sector workers reduced to 64.02 per cent, while that of industry and services increased to 15.28 per cent and 20.69 per cent respectively. In the informal sector, about 34.21 per cent were females in both rural and urban areas. However, female work participation in this sector is higher in rural area (29.68 per cent) as compared to the urban work participation of female. Social groups like OBC, SC and others are dominants in the informal sector. All these primarily indicate that how this sector important is in terms of employment.

Emerging Patterns of Rural Enterprise in manipur: An Economic census data-based Study

hanjabam isworchandra Sharma, Assistant Professor, Manipur University, Manipur

The paper tries to examine the emerging patterns of rural enterprises of Manipur, which form the bulk of the rural informal sector. The rural economy that is witnessing a tectonic shift from agriculture to non-agriculture is still largely an informal sector. In India, the 76 per cent of all workers in the non-agriculture informal sectors are in the rural area. The present paper will seek to explore the various dimensions of rural enterprise using Economic Census data, which collects and combines detailed data of all the enterprise in the country, of which majority of


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the rural enterprise falls under the unorganized or informal sector. The paper tries to capture the changing trend and pattern of the rural enterprises, which are largely under the informal economy using all the economic census data of Manipur. It is evident from the latest data from the 2013 Economic Census that the government sector contributes only 0.23 per cent of total units and total employment in rural agricultural enterprise and the rest in the informal sector. In the non-agriculture enterprise category, government sector contributes 26.11 per cent of total units and 30.53 per cent of total employment and the rest in the informal sector. The analysis is both temporal and spatial. A detailed district wise level data analysis across the various sectors is carried out with focus on three economic censuses of 1998, 2005 and 2013. Sector wise trends, gender dimension, growth pattern of the various enterprises are addressed in the paper. The growth rate trend in the post reform period show a robust picture that is more pronounced in the 2005-2013 growth rates as compared to 1998-2005 phase. What is worth noticing is the growth rate in the rural agriculture enterprise and employment where there is significant growth rate with 20.49 per cent and 18.35 per cent respectively, indicating growth and expansion of non-cereal agriculture. Across districts, it is observed that there is a high inter-district variation in the number of enterprises located. In all hill districts except Senapati, there has been phenomenal growth rate in 2005-2013 period for agricultural enterprise. In the establishment with at least one hired labour category, most of the districts except Imphal East and Senapati were showing negative growth rate during the 1998-2005 period. However, all the districts are showing positive and high growth in the 2005-2013 period with the highest being registered in Thoubal district with 19.62 per cent followed by Chandel with 13.75 per cent. The overall observation from both the agriculture and non-agriculture enterprise in both Own Account Enterprise (OAE) or establishment without hired labour and establishment with at least one hired labour is that in terms of units and employment, OAE is still the dominant one. Further, it is interesting to observe that though establishment with at least one hired labour has small proportion in term of units, it is growing significantly with 9.01 per cent in 2005-2013 as compared to -0.55 per cent in 1998-2005. A high growth rate of OAE in almost all the districts indicates a growing tendency of monetisation of household activities or households becoming more enterprising or economically active. As for the dominance of the valley district in the non-agricultural enterprise, it can be explained by the valley area having certain advantages in terms of infrastructure, both soft and hard, which might have contributed in the growth of rural non-farm sectors. Manufacturing, agriculture, retail trade, restaurants, transport and storage, community, social and personal service are prominent activities generating self-employment and absorbing household labour. It is pertinent to highlight that high contribution of agriculture and manufacturing enterprise even though household workers mainly drive it, is a clear sign of strengthening of the productive base of rural economy in recent times. Female participation is immense in non-agriculture enterprise especially in OAE as it is a common phenomenon where Manipuri women are engaged in manufacturing (esp. handloom) and trade. Hiring of female workers is an emerging trend in Manipur, which is also reflected by the sizeable presence of female in establishment


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with hired labour category. Self-finance is an important source of finance as it accounts for 94.8 per cent in agricultural enterprises and 81 per cent in non-agricultural enterprise. Apart from government sources in non-agriculture enterprise, formal institutional finance both in agricultural and non-agricultural finance is yet to witness a significant role in contribution to enterprise. Rural enterprise is still predominantly dependent for finance on self, relatives or friends for the growth of their enterprise, which explains a lot for the informality of the large chunk of rural enterprise.

Un/Disorganising the Organised Labour: Reflections on closed Tea Plantation Workers of North Bengal

Swatahsiddha Sarkar, Assistant Professor, University of North Bengal, West Bengal

This paper will focus on conceptualizing how informalisation of work continues to take place in the tea plantations of North Bengal in general and in closed tea plantations of Dooars in particular. It would also reflect upon the implications such courses of informalisation mean for the plantation labour who are engaged in an organized sector. Although in academia, the plantations and plantation labour have been adequately researched, the precarity of plantation labour as embedded in its encounter with neo-liberal capital needs to be examined rather scrupulously. Findings of studies based on tea producing regions across the world indicated a global trend of casualisation among the plantation labour (Wal 2008), informalisation of plantation labour in India in the context of North Bengal has also been indicated in a number of recent studies (Joseph and Viswanathan 2016; Mishra, Upadhyay and Sarma 2012; Thapa 2012; Talwar et al; 2003, CEC 2003). We still know very little about the nature and directions of informalisation of labour in case of closed tea plantations.

The tea producing belt of North Bengal (consisting of the three districts namely, Jalpaiguri, Alipuduar, and Darjeeling) popularly known as Dooars-Terai-Hill tract, is spread over 1,62,979.12 hectares of land. It comprises 276 tea estates and employs more than 2.6 lakh permanent workers (JLC 2013). Since the last two decades, more than twenty tea estates of Dooars-Terai-Hills tract have either been closed down or abandoned and many others are susceptible to the closure-opening gimmicks. While no wages, unsafe migration, human trafficking, malnutrition, health hazards and starvation death underlie the plight of plantation labour in the closed down tea gardens, the so-called running tea estates are not free from the problems of casualisation, non-payment of legal entitlements, low wages, retrenchment, and outmigration. All these unlikely though unavoidable developments render the historical geography of the North Bengal tea zone at a key inflection point in which the political and economic concerns of tea industry are rapidly shifting and the livelihoods of the plantation workers are affected by the processes of increasing informalisation of the plantation work.

The rationale of giving the plantations – particularly when they are shut down – a center stage in this paper is rested upon the indeterminacy of labour – that is, the distinctive


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characteristic of labour as a commodity vis-à-vis the possibility of employability and profitability for capital. The indeterminacy of labour looms large in the closed tea plantations of North Bengal. This indeterminacy has a telling effect in the way labour informalisation is construed in the present paper. Speaking of labour informalisation in the context of closed tea plantations implies that the so-called organized sector (that a tea plantation has always been) has already been transformed into an unorganized space characterized by the many absences like the absconding managers, employers, management, absences of wage, social security measures and all pecuniary benefits entitled legally. This paper examines what they do in order to “make out” a living by “playing out” the labour process as a “game” in Burawoyian way. The paper will restrict itself with one such course of “game” involved in the labour process, that the workers of closed down tea plantations are “playing from all angles” in order to maximize this system for their benefit. Rather than being “coerced” by a production arrangement that is current in all closed down tea plantations of North Bengal, workers participate in the system and consent in various ways to the very system that estranges them from the fruits of their labour. The point is that the implication of labour informalisation in the closed tea plantations has actually given birth to a new form near institutionalized labour process that further disorganizes the already unorganized plantation labour. The journey involves a politics of production in which the state as silent spectator has been approving everything and so-called trade unions with their blind eyes collaborating with these tendencies that are producing consent to the processes that would ultimately eat up the political content of the idea of working class as a whole.

Gender dimensions of Small Growers’ initiative: Preliminary Observations from Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal

Rinju Rasaily, Assistant Professor, Ambedkar University, Delhi

The small tea grower sector in India emerged post 1980’s with the institutional support under the Tea Board of India (TBI). What started as “nucleus tea gardens” (ILO 2005) under the pilot projects of the TBI in order to cater to international demand, has now become a significant contributor to all India tea production (32 per cent, TBI 2008) as opposed to the organised estate sector. The significant tea producing states are Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This paper is situated in the state of West Bengal that has two districts – Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri historically, as the tea growing areas under the estate sector- organised, with resident, family based employment system. However, with the TBI’s efforts, the small grower sector expanded in West Bengal. Despite the state government’s notification with 30th June 2001 as the last date for issuing NOC[h1] s for land to be used for growing tea, the STG[h2] sector mushroomed. Existing literature on the STG sector has raised concerns on price-fixation of green leaf, role of agents and regulations (Hayami and Damodaran 2004; Das 2012; Hannan 2013). It is with these shifts from agrarian food grain to tea cultivation by small farmers and the dismantling of the estate sector, that the changing labour relations are examined in the


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North Bengal tea sector. Importantly, these two shifts resulted in closures and abandonments of the estate sector and exodus of the tea working population on the one hand and on the other - excessive conversions to tea cultivation by small farmers increasing marketing as well as survival competitiveness. Such restructuring of the organisation of production does have implications for labour, notably informalising the entire tea production processes.

Given this context, in this paper, the author will attempt to examine the vulnerabilities of small farmers particularly women producers in the tea value chain analysis for the case of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal. The paper relies on both secondary and primary data sources with earlier field engagements in Jalpaiguri amongst the women tea growers cum workers in 2014. Based on empirical evidences, the author argues that women’s position in the tea value chain however democratic the production processes envisages, is hindered by aspects of their everyday negotiations. Such negotiations include the leaf agents/Bought Leaf Factories (BLFs), primary producers associations /self-help groups and the domestic realms of production. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data 72nd Round on Employment and Unemployment, (2011-12) by taking the occupational category “workers in their own farms” (NIC classification 2008), show that almost 37 per cent in Jalpaiguri district and 47 per cent in Kooch Behar district out of 2,26,392 tea growers cum workers and 47.7 per cent across all the major tea producing states in India are women. Krishnaraj and Kanchi (2008) posit that women’s work as farmers is seen as part of domestic responsibility. The author argues that women as agents of change nevertheless have varied experiences within production relations given their locations in terms of gender, ethnicity and caste, with a clear absence of power and wealth. Notwithstanding a sense of empowerment vis-à-vis self help group societies, differentiation in terms of power, class, caste, ethnicity and gender gets reproduced within these structures of production relations. Such changes within the tea sector with the knowledge or the sponsorship of the state may perhaps boomerang when the questions of organising and collective bargaining of the marginal tea growers resonate.

Kerala State Road Transport corporation – is Wheels coming Out of The Bus?

Ajit dayanandan, Former Director, Reserve Bank of India, Cochin, Kerala

James Vadakkan, Director, Centre for Kerala Studies

Ravi Raman, Member, State Planning Board, Government of Kerala

Kerala Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a fully state-owned entity operating in Kerala but has consistently been in red for most of the years. It has a fully unionised workforce from which entire management cadre is populated. The Board of Directors is appointed by the government and includes representatives of unions and sympathisers of labour unions who has influence and control of the political establishment. Hence labour has full control of the organisation’s conduct, operations, management and control. The government attributes to


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the dismal performance of KSRTC to its decision to extend very liberal government pension scheme to KSRTC employees (in 1984) which boosted its cost from Rs.44 per km to Rs. 69 per km compared to its average revenue of Rs. 34 per km. Given the huge gap between overall expense and revenue, KSRTC has resorted to huge borrowing from banks/financial institutions and borrowed money from Government of Kerala. These funds at present occupy nearly 72 per cent of the total assets of KSRTC as on end-March 2016. If other incidental borrowings are taken into account, the leverage ratio (total liabilities/total assets ratio) of KSRTC is as high as 86 per cent. The empirical analysis shows that apart from pensions, the double-duty system of paying overtime wages to its workers also contributed to the financial distress of the Corporation. Our analysis shows the double duty system compromised (inflated) nearly 25 per cent of duty hours and had an annual burden to the extent of Rs. 162 crore in 2014 on the finances of the Corporation which is 16 per cent of the salaries of its workforce. Apart from these, various concessions accorded to various sections of the society has also added to the financial woes of the Corporation. Besides lack of management and ineffective board added to poor quality of management and unscientific managerial decision making.

KSRTC is classic case of labour unions looking only for their self-interest. They milked the Corporation for their own benefit- salaries, overtime benefits and pensions. Through their political muscle they have been able to get pension system on par with state government employees which no other road transport authority in India has offered to its employees. The net result is an enduring financial distress for the Corporation which functions like a zombie entity struggling each month to pay salaries and pensions to its employees. The other stakeholders in the road transport industry like owners (government/tax payer), users (travelling public), lenders of capital (government, banks and financial institutions) were at the receiving end of the value proposition. KSRTC’s conduct and functioning validates the thesis that labour can exploit and destroy capital especially public capital. Ultimately, the workers compromised themselves with the Corporation unable to pay their wages, benefits and pensions.

Economic Growth and Employment Elasticity: A case Study of informal Sector in india

Pawan Kumar, Assistant Professor, Ramjas College, Delhi

Employment plays an important role in growth and development. No issue of employment can be understood without making reference to informal sector, which has been contributing significantly in total GDP and total employment. More than 90 per cent of workforce is engaged in informal sector. Compared to the formal sector, informal sector still suffers from the problem of ‘vicious circle of low skill formation’. Neo-liberalism led sub-contracting has become key to the progress of informal sector, most big firms (including MNCs) in order to stay competitive and to avoid labour regulations in the form of minimum wage, hire or fire or labour union, etc. are heavily resorting to informal sector. A close examination of data also shows that ‘infornalization of formal sector’ is also on the rise. NCEUS Report


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(2009) says more than half of employment in formal sector is informal in nature (i.e. no back up of any social security). Employment elasticity (EE), another important dimension to understand labour market dynamics, is found to be low during 2011-16. Against a total of 6 million new enterprises came up during this period (5 million in OAEs and 1 million in establishments) nearly 3.3 million employment lost in OAEs and 2.3 million employments gained in establishment, so a net loss of nearly 1 million employments recorded in informal sector during the said period. In the paper, it is also attempted to know the employment impact of technological change (measured by capital labour ratio), it is found that demand for labour per Rs.1 Crore of output produced has declined by steeply by 100 worker in OAEs and 65 in establishment during 2011-16. And, so the employment elasticity (EE) also has recorded low level during the reference period. The same analysis is carried at the state level.

Trends in Remittances from Gcc countries – Effects of the crisis and Oil Price changes

Eugenia canessa, Ph.D Student, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy

Among the consequences of the global financial crisis, remittance flows to Asian countries declined, showing decreasing rates since the third quarter of 2008; these were primarily due to rising unemployment, wage cuts and increase in number of returns. However, even if a steep decline in money transferred home by migrants was expected, it was not always the case, especially in countries like India, where remittances are significant both for the national budget and at household level, providing a large and stable source of foreign currency.

Understanding the effect of the crisis on remittances is indeed important for any assessment of how international migration affects origin households. Using data from Kerala, this research aims at investigating flows of Indian migrants directed to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries- where migrants represent, on average, the 50.4 per cent of the total population-and their transfers of remittances that constitute up to the 31 per cent of the State's net domestic product,. The Kerala Migration Survey (KMS), conducted by the Centre for Development Studies, is proposed as data source for investigating how these money transfers have been affected by the 2008 global crisis, and in particular by the severe drop in oil prices. Taking advantage of the panel nature of the survey for the period 2008-2009, we exploit the rapid increase of unemployment that affected the labour force hosted in these countries to test the expected decline in remittances.

Literature has advanced possible explanations for the stable or even upward trend observed in these flows, such as the increasing amount of saving sent home by migrants before returning, or the fact that the majority of migrants remitting might be living in countries or be employed in sectors not largely affected by the crisis. However, in the case considered all these hypothesis are to be excluded, as the 89 per cent Kerala migrants moved to the Gulf region and are reported to remain at destination despite the crisis, and despite being employed for the majority in the construction sector, largely hit by the crisis. Therefore, additional


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evidence would try to clarify remittances' resilience through alternative explanations given by the literature, such as the need for debt repayment, the employment level in origin country and the presence of social networks at destination (Migration and Remittances Factbook, World Bank 2011). The experimental approach employed proceeds identifying a set of households that already have one or more members working abroad, focusing of those expatriating to Gulf countries, who where hit by an economic shock (over the last years), and then examining the effect of the shock at household level, looking at the changes in money transfers received from them.

After an analysis of the trends of money received by migrants’ households, preliminary results obtained show a resilience behaviour of remittances in time of crisis, that are unaffected but rather enlarged during the period of rapid shot-term oil price shock that hit migrants' destination countries. Fixed effect estimations applied to panel observation for the years 2008-2009, show in fact a not significant effect of the increase in unemployment faced by migrants in the Gulf on the change in remittances received by households in Kerala. Other variables suggested to explain the resilience of transfers, such as the need to repay the debt incurred before migration and the presence of relatives in the same countries result to be positively correlated to the increase in transfers observed.

Earnings of Urban informal Sector Workers in Guwahati and Tezpur Town of Assam

Biman Kumar Nath, Assistant Professor, Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya, Assam

Employment has been stagnant in formal sector for last few decades. The growing labour force has settled their lives in informal sector. Unorganised sector social security act, 2008 has defined unorganised workers as a home based, self employed and a wage worker in unorganized sector and includes a worker in organized sector who is not covered by any of the acts mentioned in Schedule-II of the act. As informal sector is vibrant, heterogeneous and diverse from state to state and country to country, the present study has adopted a modified version of National Council for Enterprises in Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) definition of workers in informal sector. Some social scientists like Santos, Geertz, McGee and others recognize a dichotomous urban economy in a framework other than formal-informal classification. Santos (1979) has considered the city consisting of two sub-systems: the “upper” or “modern sector” and the “lower circuits.” The upper circuit is the direct result of technological progress and the monopolies are its leading representative elements. The lower circuit consists of small-scale activities and is almost exclusively for the poor. He assumes dependency of the lower circuit upon the higher circuit. Santos has mentioned about two dozens of distinguishing features of the “lower” circuit. According to Santos, in the lower circuit, haggling-price negotiation between buyers and sellers - is the rule. This particular feature of haggling over the terms is similarly present in the “bazaar” economy of Geertz. Thus, the researcher finds it suitable to


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segregate between upper and lower circuit of informal sector in the sample districts and also finds that a sizable portion of it is in the lower circuit. And the informal workers (as per 17th ICLS and NSSO 68th Round Report) from the lower circuit are studied in present research work. Assam is a state who could not get the benefits of economic reform of 1991 and is continued to be marked by low agricultural productivity, poor infrastructure and minimal presence of industrial activity. Manufacturing has been slowly surged in unregistered segment. However, the present study has been conducted in two growing towns of Assam namely Guwahati and Tezpur which have a noticeable presence of informal employment. Guwahati is the fastest growing and highly urbanised place of the state while Tezpur town is one of the growing towns with slowly growing urbanisation and widespread presence of informal employment in non agricultural pursuits. A survey of 441 Urban Informal Sector (UIS) workers located in 18 urban locations of both the towns has been conducted to understand the earnings and pattern of employment. There are two parts of surveyed workers. One part has been confined to self employed workers while the other part includes workers in enterprises, workers employed by individual (hired workers). The self employed respondent earns less than Rs 10000 in the surveyed towns. However, education and savings are found to be significantly correlated, resulting from the correlation matrix of selected variables (except self employed workers). In the study area, among all other items provided by the employer, tea is found to be very common among majority of the employment categories. Many UIS workers do have ration card, but they hardly purchase food items from PDS. Appropriate econometric tools are used to understand the determinants of earnings of both self employed and hired workers in the study area. Creation of decent jobs, effective mechanism for domestic workers and street vendors and inclusive labour market policies are need of the hour.

Trade Liberalization and Unemployment in india: A State Level Analysis

Nidhi dhamija, Assistant Professor, Delhi University, Delhi, New Delhi

According to Hecksher-Ohlin theorem, developing countries would export more labour intensive goods, thereby increasing the demand for labour. Thus, when a developing country like India, opens to international trade and exports more labour-intensive goods, it increases the labour demand. The study empirically examines this relationship between trade liberalization and unemployment for the Indian economy.

Various approaches have been undertaken by Felbermayr et.al. (2011b), Blanchard & Wolfers (2000), Nickell et al. (2005), Sener (2001), Moore & Ranjan (2005), Hasan et.al. (2012) and Goldar (2009) for empirically analysing this relationship. The overall evidence as to whether trade liberalization leads to fall in unemployment is found to be ambiguous. But some general conclusions emerge: One, country specific effects are important and hence, country case studies are more relevant in this area. Second, the differences in labour market institutions explain divergence of results for various countries. Third, the exclusive focus on manufacturing


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employment (leaving out agriculture and services sectors) is an important shortcoming of the existing studies.

The present study empirically analyses the relationship between trade and aggregate unemployment on the data for 21 major states. The data for unemployment rate is taken from household surveys conducted by the NSSO. The period under study is post 1991 reforms and hence the data for five thick survey rounds for the years 1993-94, 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2011-12, has been used for the analysis.

The final results showed that the increase in trade openness leads to significant reduction in total unemployment rates of states, with an elasticity of -1.52. The elasticity of -1.8 for the rural areas of the states is found to be significant. However, for the urban areas of the states, the estimated elasticity is not found to be significant.

The results also found that the negative effect of trade openness on the unemployment rate is higher and stronger for relatively flexible states by taking the interaction term of trade openness and labour market flexibility indicator in the regression. The results provided the evidence that trade liberalization reduces unemployment in states and more so in the states with flexible labour markets. This effect is also found to be stronger for rural parts of the states than their urban counterparts, implying that the rural sector is driving the results of total states and is dominant in explaining unemployment situation of the country.

Thus, our results conform to the theory that trade openness increases employment in the developing countries; more so of unskilled workers and hence, a movement away from the rural agricultural sector of the economy. The argument is supported by the evidence of the increase in population mobility from 24.8 percent in 1993 to 28.5 percent in 2007-08 in India. The data for internal migration showed a shift from rural agricultural to rural non-agricultural and urban sectors of the economy. The prominent reason for migration for females was marriage and the dominant flow was from rural to rural whereas for males, the prominent reason was employment and the dominant flow was from rural to urban (NSSO 2007–2008). The upsurge of urban informal sector in the post liberalization era, accompanied by increase in employment opportunities, have been the main motivation behind this rural to urban migration across states of India (Chakraborty & Kuri, 2013).

Quality of Employment in the Unorganised Transport Sector: A Study of Private Taxi drivers in Punjab

Amarjit Singh Sidhu, Professor, University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University

Lalita Kumari, Research Scholar, University Business School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

The imbalance in the demand and supply of workforce has led to serious consequences in the national and international labour market. It has been found that the increase in supply of workforce due to high growth in population and declining demand for work force due to the


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development of the labour saving technology and capital intensive model of development has not led to unemployment and underemployment only rather it has deteriorated the quality of job/ employment. This phenomenon has led to the casualization of the workforce, non-implementation of labour laws and denial of social security benefits particularly in the unorganized sector of the economy. Though this development has taken place at the global level but its impact is more visible in a developing country like India during the post WTO era. In recent times, debate has also been started on the issue of quality of employment. It has been found that quality of job has been deteriorated over the period of time in the unorganized sector.

In the present study we have attempted to study the quality of employment on the basis of multidimensional approach. We have taken the parameters like the personal and job characteristics, implementation of labour laws, coverage of social security schemes, work related health problems, constraints in performing work, occurrence of stress among workers, causes of fatigue and major work stressors etc. at the work place.

To achieve the objective, the study focuses on the service sector. The current study is based on primary data. A well-structured research schedule has been used for the collection of primary data. The research schedule was divided into two sections. First section of the research schedule was designed to collect information about the Demographic & Socio Economic and Life Style Factors. Second section of the research schedule deals with the drivers’ fatigue and stress related causes and problems.

The universe of the study is the private taxi drivers operating in the state of Punjab. To achieve the objectives of the study a sample of 300 private taxi drivers were interviewed from three major cities of Punjab i.e. Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana because these cities represent three major regions (geographical distribution e.g. Majha, Doaba and Malwa) of Punjab.

The study conclude that taxi drivers are working under miserable conditions and living in inhuman working conditions, violations of labour laws and denial of social security benefits. The study recommends that there is need to make the taxi drivers aware of their rights. The state must perform its responsibility in regard to the implementation of labour laws and social security legislations. The owners of taxies should also perform their duty in regard to the provision of proper rest, regulated hours of work and inner conditions of vehicles. Drivers should be provided insurance courage as well as reimbursement of their accidental expenses by the employers. The regulatory agencies must implement the provisions of Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.

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Relationship between industrial Wage and indebtedness: An Evidence of Theoretical divide

Rajasekharan Pillai K., Professor, School of Management, Manipal

Studies on indebtedness of working class had unarguably contented insufficient remunerative component as antecedent to the deplorable state of working class. The labour movements across the world came into being an uprising to mend this this issue. But the present study identifies that higher wage and indebtedness co-exists posing a query against the theoretical robustness of the conventional labour market studies. Selected employees, belong to workmen category, from two public sector undertakings from Kerala were contacted to investigate their general socio-economic status and indebtedness. The results of the study confirm that there is a complementarity between wage and indebtedness. It was identified that people tend to live up to the expectation of their social circles than that of their capability and affordability conditioned by their current income.

Analyzing Female invisibility and Time Use data

m.G. mallika, Assistant Professor, The Zamorins’ Guruvayurappan College, Kerala

Accounting for the informal sector is a major issue for the academic community. Analysing the invisibility of women seems to be an important area of research recently. Women constitute almost half the population and so their participation in social, political, household and economic activities is necessary for the development of humankind. The equality of women with men would remain a myth until women become self-reliant. Present study tries to explain the reasons for the invisibility of women in a household production framework. The analysis unveils an important matter that domestic work burden is the main hindrance of female invisibility. Women who are economically politically and socially visible also face the problem of domestic work burden due to the gendered division of work. In the case of economically visible females, it is evident that females are not considered as the primary breadwinner. Their economic, social and political participation is in relation to the husband’s family atmosphere. This domestic work is the major informal area of work that is out of the official accounting system in the present world. In this context, the purpose of the present study is to expose the extent of gendered division of labour by using time-use survey data and to give a suitable explanation for female invisibility. The study used 25 samples each from Nadapuram grama panchayath and Olavanna Grama Panchayath.

The activity which is measured by the traditional method fails to explain the gendered division of activities. The study found that there is a clear difference in the utilization of time for various purposes. It is seen that 18.7 per cent of time is utilized by the total community for market work, in which the contribution of the male community is very high. Out of the


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total time for male community, 29.34 per cent is being utilized for market work, while the percentage for the female community is only 9.83 per cent. However, more strikingly, in the case of non-remunerative work, (extended SNA[h1] ) women spend 28.12 per cent of their entire time per day. Women are spending 37.54 per cent of their total time for work (market work plus domestic work). Majority of their work is not for personal gain, but for the welfare of their family. While comparing this with the male community, they spend 34.82 per cent of their time for both market work and domestic work in which majority is for market work. From this it is very much clear that women are working (economically invisible), but their contribution is not included in SNA.

Both men and women spend somewhat similar parentage of their time for personal care and leisure. When it comes to community and social help, and entertainment, men get more time when compared with women. This data clearly points out the relevance of the reduction of household work for increasing social economic and political participation of women.

Urban informal Sector Employment: A case Study of hyderabad

Sarita Gallikonda, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh

d. Sonia, Research Scholars, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh

The informal sector is highly heterogeneous in nature. It depicts a picture of unorganized, unregulated, unregistered and labour – intensive activities. This sector with its historical presence in the rural economy has now become an integral part of urban economy due to the changing socio – economic structure of the country. The state of Telangana is no exception to this trend with Greater Hyderabad providing the impetus to the rapid urbanization process. The significance of the informal sector as a tool of employment generation is undeniable for Greater Hyderabad. The objective of the study is to significant role in the economy of Greater Hyderabad by contributing a high percentage to the total employment generated in the city. The present paper focuses on the jobs created in the informed sector in the ten-year period. Acknowledging the significance of this sector, the paper offers some policy suggestions for the optimum utilization of human resources operating in it.

Social Status as a driver of Female Labour Force Participation in india – A Neighbourhood Level Analysis

deepak Gupta, Professor, Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Aparna mishra, MBA, Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

A prevalent school of thought has advocated that women education empowers the family and drives the economic growth of a nation. This thought gave rise to development policies in women education like scholarships and women reservations. According to the most recent


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national reports, in 2011, 45.9 per cent of all enrolled undergraduates were women and 40.5 per-cent of all enrolled PHD scholars were women. However this increase has not been reflected in female labour force participation or GDP growth. In fact, in 2011, 61.25 per-cent among urban females with graduate degrees or higher were attending to domestic duties. A part of this story can be explained through lack of demand, or the growing unemployment in the country, but it does not draw a complete picture. In this study, we seek to understand this increasing gap between women education and employment in India from the supply side. This study specifically focuses on the role of social status and resident neighbourhood as factors influencing women labour force participation. We use data from the Indian Human Development Survey II (IHDS-II) and multinomial logit models to explore the impact of status on the choice of specific employment activities by Indian women. The results suggest that relative social status, which is calculated using social consumption as a proxy, increases the likelihood that women choose agricultural and non-agricultural wage labor over household duties, but decreases the likelihood that they choose business, salaried or professional jobs. In contrast there were marginal but significant effects for neighbourhood income which suggested that the median neighbourhood income positively influenced the likelihood of women taking salaried and professional jobs over household duties, but was negatively associated with all other employment choices. Social consumption and neighbourhood income, in other words, influence the employment choices of Indian women saliently but differently.

Women Workforce in informal Sector: An Evaluation of the domestic Female Workers in Jharkhand

Prakash chandra deogharia, Associate Professor, Vinoba Bhave University, Ranchi, Jharkhand

The Informal Sector in India comprises roughly of 92-93 per cent of the population in the working age group. Of the 376 million workers, only 8 per cent were in the formal Sector and has access to statutory social security benefits. The remaining work force had been socially excluded and suffered from persistent deprivation associated with general low standards of living of social insecurity.

Women in the unorganized sector received special attention during the Tenth Plan that endeavors to extend the important labour legislations to the informal sector, especially those legislations where the employers have a mandatory binding for providing basic minimum working conditions along with necessary welfare services for women workers. The domestic workers do not have any special skill but seek such service for protection in the household and a treatment that can be expected from members of a respectable family. Most of them are extremely poor and illiterate. They work for many hours and are at the beck and call of their employer. Many of them do not get adequate food and clothing and satisfied with left over of the employers. Most of the domestic workers are women and children; they run the risk of sexual harassment and exploitation in some houses. Migration has been a regular phenomenon


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in recent times involving people within given geographical area or beyond the boundaries of the state.

Due to the gender division of labour and responsibilities for household welfare, women bear a disproportionately burden, attempting to manage household consumption and production under conditions of increasing scarcity. The present paper examines status of domestic worker regarding some socio-economic indicators and their progress towards equality and empowerment. Primary data was collected through a sample survey of Ranchi.

The unorganized sector provides employment to a very high proportion of working women in India. The informal economy is diverse and varied in terms of technology, size and market access. The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector drafted the Unorganized Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2005 and has given definition for the unorganized sector workers. The governments at the central and state levels have found it challenging to formulate social security schemes for unorganized workers for the flowing reasons: A large proportion of these workers is poor, illiterate vulnerable and isolated. A vast majority of them do not have fixed employer and employee relationship.

The study shows that both the labour force and employment of females has been increasing in the Indian economy. Recent economic reforms have given more benefits to urban females in employment. The increase in urban employment has been in the category as defined by NSSO ‘other services’ which include both high and low wage services. It has been observed that the increase in high profile jobs is still low. This may be due to gender bias. Most of the female domestic servants in urban areas are engaged in low profile domestic jobs such as washing, cleaning, sweeping, baby sitting, etc. the menial and arduous work of educated, skilled and middle class households is passed on to domestic servants. These domestic servants belong to low caste, low income and menial migrant families in Jharkhand. Domestic servants have compulsion of supplementing family income to make both ends meet. Most of the domestic servants are young and adults. Domestic servants in Ranchi are both from native place and from migrant. The main problems faced by domestic servants are low level of wages, absence of leave facility, no social security, no protection etc. they do not have any monitoring agency as well as union.

The involvement of voluntary organizations, associations, federations, trade unions, nongovernmental organizations, women’s organizations, as well as institutions dealing with education, training and research should ensured in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of all policies and programmes affecting women. Thus, women workers should be aware of the various laws/ policies enacted in their favor in order to fight any bias and exploitation.

The socio-economic condition of the domestic servants under the present conditions will remain the same. There must be an agency that may take care of the interests of these domestic servants and fix pay according to the work in other comparable jobs. Social security and insurance scheme of these workers should be there and cost must be born by their employers.


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informal Labour, informal Politics: A case Study of Auto Rickshaw Operators

Saourabh Paul, Ph.D. Research Scholar, School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, West Bengal

This paper investigates the relationship among auto-rickshaw operators, trade unions and political parties in the city of Kolkata. In a recent survey covering 243 auto-rickshaw operators in 62 routes, we have found this relationship to be a complex one. The paper tries to understand the context of these auto rickshaw operators (informal labour) as actors in informal politics. I will argue the following: first, that the auto-rickshaw trade has developed over the years under the protection of trade unions affiliated to the ruling party, which has enabled them to exercise considerable control over fares, routes and other operational details usually regulated by the state (as in case of buses and taxis). Second, that despite or because of the informality of the sector, the nature of their politics and their relationship with unions and political parties has also remained informal. Third, this informality is highly valued by political parties, who have deployed auto-rickshaw drivers for direct gains in electoral politics. Fourth, there is constant tension between unions who resist demands for rights and welfare from drivers and drivers, who expect greater gains from their involvements in unions. The last section of the paper deals with an emerging phenomenon related to the trade union as an agency of political control. My recent interaction with auto-rickshaw drivers and a senior trade union leader supported my observation that the incumbent political leadership is destined to control informal sectors such as auto-rickshaw through governmental agencies, such as Police and Public Vehicles Dept. rather than trade union.

Gender, Space and Work: A case Study of Waghari Gujarati Pheriwala (Street Vendor) Women

Kanika Tyagi, Research Scholar, Ambedkar University, Delhi

Street vendors are an important segment of the unorganized sector of the economy. A peculiar type of street vending involves mostly women going from doorstep to doorstep and engaging in the barter trade of steel/plastic utensils for old clothes. These women, known as pheriwala in the local language, are crucial to the covert recycling industries, whereby the old clothes are recycled so that brand new clothes reach the market again. This study is a primary research, which uses qualitative methodology, based on semi-structured interviews of pheriwala women. This study attempts to understand the various levels of the covert recycling industry. It explores the forward and backward linkages of the pheriwala barter trade to exactly understand their place in the labour market. It also attempts to look into the gender division of labour and how crucial the gender identity of the pheriwala and gendered spaces become in facilitating the barter trade of old clothes. In this regard, the study contextualizes its findings within the intersection of the domain of gender, space and work. It also questions if there exists a female breadwinner among pheriwala women.


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The study describes the process of old clothes becoming new as a five stage process: sale/purchase of utensils, barter exchange, sale of old clothes, sorting of particular variety of old clothes by first set of traders and recycling of the sorted clothes by second set of traders. In studying the gendered division of labour, it finds two categories of pheriwala women. First, those women who go for pheri alone - highlighting that the space of home is seen traditionally as a woman’s place and is easier to access because of their gender identity. Second, there are women who either go for pheri only with their husbands or with other female family members. The findings show that women have limited access to certain parts of the city. Moreover, their everyday movement is closely linked to the production of respectability, which in turn (re)produces hegemonic gender-space. However, the women who work alone and are the sole earners of the family, what are their perceptions about their own work? The study finds that despite earning, these women do not consider themselves as breadwinners because either their husbands explicitly subordinate them or they have internalized it as something being associated with males only.

conditions of Employment and Livelihood Security of informal Workers: A Study of Four Villages in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal

mampi Bose, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Shantanu de Roy, Assistant Professor, TERI University, New Delhi

This paper analyses (a) labour market and changing employment opportunities over time in rural Jalpaiguri district, (b) conditions of informal employment in which days of wage employment, duration of work, wage rate and labour contracts were discussed, (c) forms of discriminations that exists against women workers in rural informal labour market and (d) role of informal wage work in providing livelihood security to the workers. The core of this study is based on a primary survey that was done in four villages in Jalpaiguri district in 2013-14.

Based on the Census database, the paper shows that there was substantial unemployment in all the study villages and Jalpaiguri district as a whole. Female worker population ratios were higher in the villages—Kurti tea garden and Daikhata—that had a tea garden or smallholder plots where tea cultivation was done. Census database also showed that there were increases in the marginal workers in all the study villages between 1991 and 2011. Occupational structure showed that other than wage work in tea cultivation, agriculture was the main source of employment in the study region. Lack of employment opportunities in the study areas and the state in general meant that migration was quite common. Among the migrant workers, Kerala was the most preferred state, with all the workers being employed in a local industry called cement ‘katta’ in local parlance.

Distribution of workers across formal and informal sector showed that almost two-thirds of the workers were informally employed with no written contracts or social security benefits. The tea garden at Kurti was the main source of formal employment in study areas; few workers were employed in other formal jobs.


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There were declines in real wages of workers in the tea garden and smallholder plots in Daikhata with the crisis that has been looming over the tea industry in India for some time. A comparison of wage rate across activities with the legal minimum wage in West Bengal showed that except for construction work, workers were receiving lower wages than the legal minimum wage and the situation was worst for the tea garden workers who were receiving less than half of the legal minimum.

Extent of unemployment among the male and female workers in the study villages can be seen from the fact that they received employment, on average, only for four and a half months in a year. Except for the tea garden workers, days of employment in other activities were quite low. In this context, government financed employment programmes like MGNREGA could have provided some relief. However, only 45 days of employment were obtained under MGNREGA; also, the number of workers who had received employment under this scheme was quite poor in all the study villages.

The paper shows that wage incomes from participation in informal work in the study area were not sufficient in ensuring a decent level of living. Almost two-third households were living below the poverty line. Proportion of poor households declined substantially to around 4 per cent when remittances of migrant workers were taken into consideration. It shows that the wage work available in the study areas were inadequate for a decent living.

Surging Rural-urban migration, informal Sector Employment and Earning Differentials: Reflections from

Primary Survey of indian Punjab

Sukhwinder Singh, Professor, Centre for Research in Economic Change, Punjab

Jaswinder Singh Brar, Professor, Centre for Research in Economic Change, Punjab

The paper unravels how migration and economic development are intimately related to each other in Punjab, India, where the success of the Green Revolution strategy created demand for manual labour in the agriculture sector of Punjab. Surging demand for agricultural labour in the state was fulfilled largely by the seasonal influx of migratory labour from other states of India. Internal migration inflows in the state was very slow during the 1970s, but rapidly picked up during the 1990s. Though earlier intra-state migrants (short distance) dominated internal migration, but later on inter-state (long distance) migrants grew at a faster rate in the state. Across the four migration streams, empirical data states that the rural-urban (R-U) migrants have acquired a dominant position in the state. The basic objective of the paper is to examine causes and consequences of rising number of R-U migrants on available urban amenities, wage rates, earning levels, upward mobility, etc.

The study is primarily based upon the primary survey of 1567 - migrant households working and residing in eight cities/towns of Punjab. Analysis revealed that an overwhelming majority of them (80.3 per cent) had low level of education and belonged to the mature age group (up to 45 years of age). Nearly one-half of them were engaged in the street vending;


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and another one-half got employment in informal industrial and services sectors without any social security. More than one-half of them (53.2 per cent) were self-employed, nearly one-third (34.2 per cent) as wage/salary earners and 12.3 per cent as daily wagers. Nearly three-fourths of them (74.2 per cent) resided in the rented houses and just 8 per cent got free accommodation at work places. Most of these households did not enjoy basic facilities (such as kitchen, bathroom, toilet, etc.) and most of them were living in slums where lack of urban facilities was rampant.

Further, a little more than one-half of surveyed migrants (52.8 per cent) migrated with their families and the rest (47.2 per cent) left their families at their place of origin. Kinship played an important role for taking migration decisions as nearly three-fourths of migrants reported at least a family relative/friend/villager who was living at their chosen city/town. Almost all migrants were attracted to cities/towns of Punjab for a better employment and income opportunities.

Regarding the determinants/reasons behind migration decisions, responses of R-U migrants varied significantly by the gender of migrants. Amongst the males, ‘work/employment’ and ‘moved with household/moved after birth’ were two important reasons behind their migration decisions, whereas ‘marriage’ was the most important determinant/reason behind females’ decisions to migrate. Poverty, low wage rate, mounting family debt, and lack of employment at origin on one side and enhancing living standards, better education, accompanying family members, getting independence from family and job transfers were also reported by a significant number of surveyed migrants. It means that both the pull and push factors in the form of economic, socio-cultural, political and miscellaneous factors were behind the migration related decisions of males and females in the state.

The study found a wide variety of occupations/jobs where the pay/earning potentials were very low (street venders, drivers, mechanics, barbers, cobblers, loader/de-loaders, maids, manual workers in factories/hotels/dhabas/construction sites, etc). For most of such migrants having low-level skills, finding work/employment was very easy. But, it was also found that a few of them having better education/skill levels or skills learnt by practice got better income generating jobs. For instance, just 3.5 per cent of surveyed migrant households reported a monthly earning level of Rs. 20,000 or more. The study also revealed that a vast majority of migrants did not enjoy any worthwhile social security benefits. Even the weekly-off day was denied to them. This rising tendency of R-U migration in Punjab poses several challenges for policy makers. For instance, such migration caused a scarcity of urban space, supply of housing, growth of slums and other civic amenities. Regular inflow of such migrants from other states already depressed not only the urban wage rates, but also caused social and communal tensions in the minds of original residents. Emergence of slums and separate housing of these migrants is also a cause of concern and put a question mark of cohesive society. Rising proportion of casual workers employed in the informal sector is a cause of concern for the policy makers.


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Trends in Formal-informal Employment in Labour market

Rajesh, Associate Professor, MV College, Bihar

Rakesh Kumar Singh, Associate Professor, RDS College, Bihar

The labour market can be divided into two distinct spheres: the formal and the informal. State agencies monitor the formal labour market by tracking all income generating activities that require routine censuses, regulation and taxation. However, when the formal markets fail and unemployment rises, the informal sector can become the best available option for people, for whom there are lack of local credentials (e.g. education, legal status) or other type of barriers that prevent entry to the formal labour market (e.g. discrimination age, care work responsibilities). Also known as the shadow economy, sub economy or underground economy, the informal sector involves the production of legal goods and services in an unregulated system. It usually involves indiscretions such as tax evasion and unlicensed businesses, given that most transactions involve cash exchange to escape detection or records. The informal labour market constitutes, “the process of productions and income generating activity outside of regulatory institutions and the formal market system”. The formal and informal labour markets function interdependently and are codependent. At times, an increased share of informality derives from sub contracts from the formal market, resulting in a greater need for informal workers increased profit while the formal labour market benefits those who control and own the means of production. The informal labour market attract marginalized people of colour, women and undocumented immigrants who must innovate to achieve subsistence. In many instances, the formal sector excludes undocumented laborers by forcing them to negotiate with employers for job provision and pay without a contract. Immigrants often lack legal documentation required by employers. In other situations, corporations and businesses sub contracts their labour to intermediaries, who later employ unauthorized workers for low wages. This arrangement is pivotal in the accumulation of huge profits for it allows people to do business in cash and avoid taxes and record keeping. Informal employment is actually connected to the formal sector but it can reduce labour costs and achieve higher profit margins while also providing a cheap and expandable labour force. This organisation of labour shows the interdependence between the informal and formal labour markets that become central to the profit making machinery of certain industries. Informal work often takes place in remote areas that are predominantly unregulated and in the private sector, where detection is unlikely and the opportunity to benefit from an exploitable workforce increases, discriminating practices in the labour market can force recently arrived immigrants to accept undesirable jobs with little pay offs. The informal sector pits people of colour, women and undocumented immigrants against each other on fierce competition for low status jobs.

A holistic approach is needed to address the issue of informalisation, which to a larger part, is due to the socio-economic fabric of society comprising a larger number of poorly educated labour force, traditional occupation, poor financial inclusion, combined with lack of motivation or aspirational skills. The way forward should be creating an ambience that would


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encourage even micro and small enterprises to register. Where they realize that this cost of informalization is coming with benefits of access to finance, better infrastructure, market information, government incentives, a plate form for formal association, providing the legal framework, efforts to overcome uncertainty in financial return and safety nets for them as well as their workers. This largely will help to overcome challenges to informalizaion not only in the unorganised sector, but also arrest growth of informal employment in organised enterprises. This in turn will include a tradition of regulatory compliance in terms of taxes and labour laws. Which will not only help to increase the tax base but also help government finance minimum social security cover for workers in those enterprises that still prefer to stay outside the ambit of becoming organised providing formal employment. The trend of informalizaion would see a reversal with an improvement in skill levels of the workforce that match the requirements of the job market and at the same time improve the bargaining power of the work force to settle for decent wages, social security and job security.

Formal and informal employment is spread across two sector viz organised (formal) and unorganised sector (informal). The informal/unorganised sector, as all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households, is engaged in the sale and production of jobs and services operated on a proprietary or partnership basis and with less workers.

Low Wages and Gender discrimination: The case of Plantation Workers in Assam and West Bengal

Kingshuk Sarkar, Fellow, VV Giri National Labour Institute, Noida

The tea industry requires a very large workforce and is one of the most labour-intensive sectors of Indian industry. Among the various field crops, the tea industry employs more labour per hectare than any other crop. In addition, the tea industry engages a higher female labour than any other industry. In this industry, almost 50 to 60% workers are engaged in crop harvesting, of which 80% are women. In the earlier days, women were paid lower wages than men, and so it was cheaper to employ women. Moreover, their higher efficiency over men in field activities made employment of women more attractive to the employers. The absence of bargaining power among plantation labour is chiefly responsible for the low wage structure in the tea plantations of Northeast India. The employers tried to justify this by projecting that the wages were low because of payment in kind which included food grains, medical facilities, housing and maternity benefits, etc. The widespread labour unrest in Assam plantations during the early part of the century was attributed chiefly to low wages. The situation further aggravated after World War I when there was a sudden increase in the prices of all commodities. During this period, tea garden workers experienced extreme economic hardship. A majority of the workers were perpetually in debt with local moneylenders who charged heavy rates of interest and fleeced them. In Assam and West Bengal, wage is determined through collective bargaining mechanism in a tripartite forum. Representatives of planters, workers’ union and the government sit together


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through a series of negotiations to determine daily wage in an industry wise manner for a specified period. But it is pitiful that such negotiations always lead to abysmally low wages. In this context it becomes important to understand why wages and conditions of work are poor for the plantation workers in the Tea sector of West Bengal and Assam. Also in the non-cash component of compensation basket decided as part of tripartite agreement, female workers’ entitlement is lesser than the male workers. Female workers’ entitlement to food grains is lesser than the male workers assuming that calorie requirement of female workers are comparatively less. But no objective justification is provided for such explicit discrimination to female workers. Further, if this non-cash component is considered as part of remuneration then it violates the provision of Equal Remuneration Act 1976.

Exploitative informal Labor Process in india: A conceptualization

Rahul de, Senior Lecturer, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka

This paper will focus on conceptualising why informal labour continues to persist in the Indian economy. More specifically, it will try to theorise why, despite generating growth, informal labour has been locked in unequal and exploitative terms of contracts. Crucially, it will try to understand why informal labour processes do not evolve mechanisms for providing security and support to labour in the form of benefits and rights. In this paper, I will focus specifically on highly exploitative and unequal informal labour processes. I categorise under this category those labour processes that do not provide a mechanism to reproduce labour power. These processes are predicated on maximising the appropriation of surplus from labour, without providing any provision to support the workers in ill health, facing work related accidents and injuries, or due to retrenchment. While informal labour is defined as labour without legal rights or contracts, I specifically focus on those processes where there do not exist any norms or mechanisms of providing security to labour within the production process. Hence, I refer to these processes as highly exploitative and unequal labour processes.

This paper will be structured in the following manner. Firstly, it will introduce the concept of labour process and argue that highly exploitative informal labour processes in India broadly fall into two distinct labour processes namely: informal coercive accumulation process and petty commodity production. It will then derive concepts from the Paris Regulation School to modify the labour process framework. It will then describe concrete case studies conducted by other researchers, to demonstrate that this framework can be utilised to make sense of field work based research on the informal sector. Lastly, I will assess the questions posed in this paper based on the derived framework and will argue that informality is connected to the nature of capitalist development in India.


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impact of Economic Reforms on Employment in india

K. madhu Babu, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

In recent years, the Indian economy has put up a remarkable growth performance for which it has become the centre of global attention. National income and per capita income have been growing very fast, we are now in the league of the faster growing economies of the world. The relationship between economic growth and poverty is one of the important aspects to examine whether the growth has the characteristic feature of distributiveness or not. If the economic growth has distributive in nature then automatically the status of poverty in any country or society is at lowest levels. If the poverty levels are very high then the growth would be termed as “rootless growth” as described by the development theories. In the same way, if the growth will be sustainable, it has to provide employment opportunities to all the people which enhance their quality of life which in turn leads to augment the potential human capital. Hence, unless otherwise the economic growth increases employment opportunities it is called as “Jobless growth” in nature. Job less growth is bound to enhance social tension and disequilibrium. Hence, an attempt has been made to observe whether growth is rootless and jobless during the study period . The following are the main objectives of the present paper. To examine the plan-wise growth trends in GSDP during the study period, and To test the sector-wise employment growth during the Pre and Post-Liberalization period in India. The study is based on secondary data, yet the main data source for the study is the NSSO data collected during different rounds of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). Statistical Abstract of India. Macro economic policies, of course, have some objectives such as control of inflation, sustenance of public expenditure and attainment of fiscal balance, as their primary concern and employment generation features, if at all, only as a secondary objectives of the monetary and fiscal policies. Credit quotas and lower rates of interest for small and rural industries have also been part of the package of assistance for their promotion and development, with the objective, among other, of employment generation. In fact, a sizeable part of the budgetary resources have also been allocated, continuously since the mid seventies on programmes aimed at creating self and wage employment for poverty alleviation. Accelerated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is the core of any viable strategy for employment generation and the policy framework for achieving rapid growth of GDP must be regarded as an essential pre-condition for successful employment generation. Hence, higher rate of investment improvement in efficiency and improvement in infrastructure are the main element of macro level policies for rapid growth and employment creation. A new thrust for the creation of employment can be by way of encouraging large-scale private sector investment in forestry and promotion of agro forestry on agricultural land. The financial system should be reoriented to achieve nationally desired objectives. An efficient banking system and well functioning capital market are an essential support structure to achieve above 8 per cent of GDP in our economy. The formal financial system is not well suited to meet the


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credit needs of informal sector, which is expected to play a major role in the expansion of the economy and the provision of employment over the coming years.

It is very disheartening to notice from the analysis there is a clear indication of declining trend in the growth of employment during Post-Liberalization. It is fact that in the near future. The quality of employment in employment would decline further because of the government’s intention to downsize its expenditure on pubic sector and there will be an alarming trend of casualization, contracutalization of employment in service sector. The post-reforms period witnessed the rising casualization of the workforce. Casual labour’s share on the total labourforce rose from 31.2 per cent in 1988 to 37.0 per cent in 1988, retrenchment, closure and lockouts were also on the rising trend . The deceleration has been largely due to decline in employment in the public sector that accounts for more than two-thirds of total organized employment. It is argued that in the post-reform period the income growth is “jobless growth” .The public sector was shedding the extra-fat and a policy of rationalization of employment was resulting negative growth rate in central and local governments and nil or negligible growth rates in employment in the stage governments. It can be conclude that, accelerating the rate of growth of GDP, with a particular emphasis on sectors likely to ensure the spread of income to the low income segments of the labour force. Implementing focused special programmes for creating additional employment of enhancing income generation from existing activities aimed at helping vulnerable groups that may not be sufficiently benefited by the general growth promoting policies. Finally, if properly implemented, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme along with “Bharat Nirman” and “Make India” programmes can enhance employment and incomes of the poor and improve rural and urban assets.

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Women in informal Economy: The case of Feminisation of Agriculture in Arunachal Pradesh

Vandana Upadhyay, Professor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh

dol Bahadur Thapa, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh

This paper attempts to locate the work burden and working conditions of informal sector women workers in the rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh, a mountainous border state located in the northeast of India. The institutional peculiarity of the informal sector in the state includes the inner-line permit system that restricts the entry of outside labour to the state and the laws preventing transfer of land to people from outside the state. Thus the lack of industrialization, predominance of government service within the non-farm sector, and an ethnically diverse, labour force with a substantial migrant component have shaped the growth of the state’s economy. The labour relations in the informal labour market in the state have been influenced by these specificities largely. This paper investigates the transformation of land rights and changing gender distribution of work and employment in rural Arunachal Pradesh. Using both, secondary data from population census and agricultural census and primary data collected through various rounds of household survey, this paper argues that commercialisation of agriculture has led to a situation where informal private property rights regime over agricultural land has emerged in the state. This transformation is land rights is not merely a substitution of collective ownership by private ownership over land, rather it has led to a process of gendered dispossession, where the women peasants have lost their rights over land, as privatisation usually means transfer of land rights to the male heads in the households. Potentially, women can obtain or acquire land through the State, the family and the market. The paper explores that the State has played an extremely ambiguous role during this period of transition, by allowing and even encouraging the gendered privatisation of land in practice, while formally recognising collective, community ownership over agricultural land. The emergence of informal land-leasing involving migrant tenant households and local landowners has introduced another class of invisible women farmers and children, who simply work as family labour in leased-in holdings. There has been a gendered diversification and increasing feminisation of work force in the state in recent years. Simultaneously the process of privatisation and commercialisation of agriculture is also happening in a big way mainly by the rich and the powerful people in the state. The analysis of two rounds of time use pattern of rural women in the plain district of East Siang, and the hill districts of Changlang and West Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh clearly points out that on an average; women are spending more labour days in farm operations than men. The weekly average time spent by them in primary agricultural activities are found to be more than men in recent years. The women disproportionately share the burden of maintaining subsistence agriculture and they


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end up doing even those tasks, which were earlier performed by the men folk. Thus, the data from the eighteen districts of Arunachal Pradesh points to the fact that male-centric private property rights over land has emerged and expanded specifically during a period of increasing feminisation of agriculture and higher work burden of women in crop farming as men move out from farm to other non farm activities. This paper looks into the question as to whether there exists a more egalitarian gender relations in society and argues that the political economy of agrarian transition provides a better structure to understand the gendered transformation of land relations in Arunachal Pradesh.

informalisation through contractualisation of Labour Force in coal mining industry: A case Study of Bharat coking coal Ltd. dhanbad

Binod Narayan, Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Ranchi University, Jharkhand

After the 1980s after the beginning of economic reforms through the processes of LPG, there has been growing informalization of industrial labour in India. This has taken the form of a rising share of the unorganized sector in total manufacturing employment, and informalization of the organized manufacturing sector itself with greater use of subcontracting and increasing employment of contract and temporary workers. The phenomenon of increasing informalization of industrial labour is a serious issue of concern because if industrialization does not create many good jobs for people to shift from low productivity occupations, it cannot make a big contribution to economic development. This micro study examines the consequences of informalisation of labour through contractualisation in coal industry with special reference to Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., one of the major subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (BCCL). Using a micro-level data from the respective field and secondary evidence from the company’s records and website, the paper tries to analyse the set objectives. BCCL is a Public Sector Undertaking engaged in mining of coal and allied activities. It occupies an important place in as much as it produces the bulk of the coking coal mined in the country. BCCL meets almost 50% of the total prime coking coal requirement of the integrated steel sector. BCCL was incorporated in January 1972 to operate coking coal mines operating in the Jharia and Raniganj Coalfields, taken over by the Govt. of India on 16th Oct 1971 to ensure planned development of the scarce coking coal resources in the country. Informalisation in the coal industry, which increasing with considerable rate, began to pose challenges for labour welfare by the state and trade unionism in the coal industry. The present paper tries to highlight as well as examine the extent of contractualisation, factors responsible for the increased rate of informalisation, areas of operation in the coal industry in which informalisation replacing regular or formal labour force, the consequences of informalisation and structural changes in the labour force of coal mining industry.


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Socio-economic Vulnerability of Rag Pickers in the informal Economy of india in The Post GST Scenario

Reshma Rajeevan, Student, Dept. of Economics, Kariavattom Campus, University of Kerala

The unorganised sector or the informal sector of India occupies a pivotal position in the Indian economy and it is characterised by the involvement of a significant number of economically and socially backward and underprivileged sections .The informal economy of India, accounts for about 50% of the national product and 90% of workforce. Over the years, the informal sector of the Indian economy has been depicting signs of expansion. However, unlike the organised or formal sector, accurate or precise data on the size, distribution and contribution of informal sector is not readily available.

In the broad spectrum of activities in the unorganised sector, the informal waste sector occupies a vital role. A June 2015 report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry stated that India’s recycling industry employed nearly 1.6 million people. However, unfortunately, attention has never been accorded to this sector neither by society nor by the government. Rag pickers, scrap dealers, or in more simple terms waste pickers are the primary components in the informal waste sector. A rag picker is a term used to denote scrap dealers who act as an intermediary to collect waste for a price and sells it to those who recycle it. The service of the rag pickers are integral to society in tackling issues of waste management, and thereby protecting the environment. But often their challenges, problems and socio-economic vulnerability goes unnoticed.

The revolutionary tax reform in the form of Goods and Services taxes, aimed to reduce complexities in the taxing regime and to lubricate the wheels of economic development has got far reaching implications in the informal economy of India. The increase in the tax bracket of recyclable plastic, from 5.5% to 18% and the imposition of tax on other scrap materials, previously exempted has gotten far fledged impacts upon the informal waste sector in general and among the rag pickers in particular. Though the government has tried to address the issue, its actual implications needed to be further explored with a delicate approach incorporating the views of relevant stakeholders.

The present study is an earnest and sincere attempt to study and analyse the socio-economic aspects of rag pickers in the informal sector and probe into the effects of implementation of GST in their livelihoods. The study also extends its scope to analyse the crucial role played by waste pickers in environment protection and highlights the need for the integration of rag pickers or scrap dealers with the organised sectors. The study also tries to give a brief account of various government initiatives for informal waste sector and rag picking community and tries to reflect the pitfalls in it. The methodology of the study includes both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data is based on a direct survey among the rag picking community of Kollam district in Kerala. The direct survey also extends its scope to other important constituents in the formal waste management sector including various


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government officials in concerned municipalities or local bodies, workers etc. The secondary source of data is collected from official government websites, government reports, newspaper reports, journals etc. Thus the study has a broad scope and it is intended to make constructive suggestions in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by the informal waste sector and it tries to probe into novel methods by which a systematic integration with the organised waste management sector is possible, for the greater good of the society.

Employment Generation in Urban informal Sector: A Study of city of Greater hyderabad

d. Sonia, Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh

The Informal sector is highly heterogeneous in nature. It depicts a picture of unorganized, unregulated, unregistered and labour – intensive activities. This sector with its historical presence in the rural economy has now become an integral part of urban economy due to the changing socio – economic structure of the country. The state of Telangana is no exception to this trend with Greater Hyderabad providing the impetus to the rapid urbanization process. The significance of the informal sector as a tool of employment generation is undeniable for Greater Hyderabad. The objective of the study is to significant role in the economy of Greater Hyderabad by contributing high percentage to the total employment generated in the city. The present paper focuses on the jobs created in the informed sector in the ten – year period.

The challenge of informality and Precarity in india’s Garment and Textile Value chain

Timothy Kerswell, Assistant Professor, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR

Surendra Pratap, Director, Centre for Workers Education, New Delhi

The garment Industry in India is one of the fastest growing sectors in the manufacturing, and it has been contributing a major share in manufacturing employment. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) estimates, Textiles, apparel and leather products accounted for almost one-third of employment in manufacturing, apparel and leather products accounted for more than 18%, and apparel alone accounted for more than 16 per cent of manufacturing employment. Textiles and wearing apparel accounted for 7.7% of total non-agriculture employment and 9.73% of total additional employment generated in the non-agriculture sector during 1999-00 to 2011-12.

We can appreciate its significance to the Indian and economy and society in the light of the fact that agrarian sector in India has been facing a severe structural crisis and recording a negative employment growth. During 1999-00 to 2011-12, agriculture recorded an annual growth rate of 0.50 per cent. Recurrent droughts particularly during 2000-03, 2009 and again in 2012 (Assadi 2010, The Hindu Business line 2002, GOI 2011, Sarkar 2011 and Down to


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Earth 2012) aggravated the agrarian crisis to unbearable levels and acted as the final blow that forced a major distress shift of population from agriculture to urban sectors.

This is one of the reasons why textiles and garments emerge as one of the flagship sectors of the ‘Make in India’ program with an aim to boost manufacturing and employment. Under the ‘Make in India’ program, 100% FDI is allowed without prior approval by the Government of India or the Reserve Bank (known as the automatic route)in the sector, and various schemes for reduction and exemption in duties and taxes are implemented (GOI 2016). 55 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are notified especially for the garment industry (Pandey and Mathur 2013). The government sanctioned 19 new textiles parks in various regions of India and three new Mega Textile Clusters in Bareilly, Lucknow and Kutch have. Most importantly, the government has approved an INR60 billion special package for the textiles sector with the aim of creating 10 million jobs over the next three years and to attract investments worth USD 11 billion and generate USD 30 billion in exports (GOI 2016a).

It is in this light it becomes important to study and understand the nature of employment generated in the garment industry, to what extent it can provide decent and sustainable employment opportunities for rural migrants. As this is one of the most liberalised sectors and one recording highest employment growth in the post liberalisation period, the emerging nature of employment and labour relations in this sector also provides a window to look at the nature of employment and industrial relations regime emerging in liberalised India.

This study considers the challenge of informality within the garment and textile industry in India. It explores this question through a primary study of the industry in the National Capital Region (NCR), before using secondary data to present a national picture of challenges and changes in the industry.

We argue that the garment and textile sector in India is undergoing a process of structural change driven by insertion into global value chains, a shifting focus of the industry toward exports, and consolidation of the industry all incentivized by government policy. Conditions in the industry are analysed, noting the important role the industry plays in alleviating the agricultural distress of small and marginal farmers by providing employment outlets. Despite this, we present a skeptical view of the ability of the industry to provide quality employment under the current dynamics.

determinant of home-based Work in Non-agriculture Sector in india

manik Kumar, Doctoral Student, Banaras Hindu University, UP

Home working or wage labour working at home under the putting-out system is not a recent phenomenon in India. Traditional artisan production is known to be carried out under the classical out-work system for a long time. The earliest form of home working in India existed in the jajmani system during 1500-1750 BC (Raychaudhary and Habib 1982). Krugman (2008)


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argued that the collapse of the Soviet Union (SU) was not just end of an institution but actually the end of an idea. After the starting of Structural Adjustment Programme jointly by World Bank and IMF in one hand and collapse of SU in other hand, all globes fall in the capitalist umbrella. Governments of developed countries have implemented policies that deregulate labour market. This has led to fall in formal sector jobs as well as informalization of formal sector. Industrialization of developing countries, particularly in South Asian countries was principally dependent on imported technology from advanced capitalist countries, which has less employment elastic (Mehrotra and Biggeri 2007). Flexible policy for labour market adopted by developing countries’ government, industrialization with less employment elastic technology and heavy pursuit of working population in developing countries make the formal sector incompetent to absorb all the labour force. It creates new forms of work organization, that includes subcontracting and putting out to small enterprises and home based worker from large capitalist firms in developing countries. Workers in such type of work organization is less than informal, because they have not any kinds of security like; job, employment, labour market, wage and social. They also earn less than casual labour (Carr et. al. 2010, Mishra and Kumar 2016). There are diverse pragmatic studies on home based workers that raise analytical and definitional issues. Only few econometric analysis have been done on this particular topic by Edward and F-Hendry (2002) using US population Census data; and Rani and Unni (2009) used National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), Employment and Unemployment 2004-05 data. Recent data of employment and unemployment is more important for the analysis of female home based worker; many researchers argue about the de-feminization of labour force in recent era (Abraham 2013; Thomas 2014). Literature explains that the de-feminization of labour force is caused by income and substitution (education) effect. Naidu (2016) argues de-feminization of home based worker is main cause of de-feminization of labour force. Trade liberalization also has negative impact on female labour in manufacturing industry at recent period of time (Bannerjee and Veeramani 2017). In this study, we examine factors that pressurise any individual to participate in home based work (male and female separately). This study is different from earlier empirical literature as it includes all industrial groups for analysis, because in recent years, there has been significant number of home based workers working in the service sector (Ravendren et al 2013). This study uses two rounds (199-00 and 2010-11) of national representative cross sectional data obtained from the NSSO.

Effect of mNREGA on Agricultural Wages and consumption Expenditure

manjiri Gondhalekar, Associate Professor, Satish Pradhan Dnyanasadhana College, Maharashtra

Rural wages are increasing in recent times. Although possibility of the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in rural wage hike was accepted by researchers, factors like increase in agricultural productivity, increase in wages of


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non-agricultural sector, especially that of the construction sector were also found responsible having strong association with rural wage hike. The claims that MNREGA can be one of the factors contributing to rural wages, gained support with increase in government expenditure on MNREGA with its phased roll out and with increase in state-specified MNREGA wages by the government. A simple comparison of daily wages of agricultural labours between the years 2004-05 and 2011-12, by using Indian Human Development Survey data, apparently suggested that for the years 2004-05 and 2011-12, the average daily wages of agricultural labourers increased in almost all Indian states. Previous literature about the contribution of MNREGA in rural wage hike and apparent confirmation about it by using IHDS data motivated exploration about the association between MNREGA participation of households and rural wage hike. A formal exercise by applying difference indifference method was undertaken to estimate the impact of MNREGA on rural wages.

Further MNREGA is designed to provide employment to rural households in agricultural slack season. It is expected to improve living standards of poor casual labour households who get additional sources of employment. The study also examines impact of MNREGA on consumption expenditure of MNREGA participating households.

The data used for this work is sourced from IHDS. Availability of panel data for the year 2004-05 and 2011-12 from IHDS enabled application of difference indifference method to estimate the impact of MNREGA on desired outcomes. Different states have different capacities to implement MNREGA. Again, there are state specific differences. Such differences are controlled by introducing state specific dummies in the equation.

After controlling time trends and state specific differences, estimates suggest that in general, across all states, the coefficient associated with time treatment and state interaction is statistically insignificant. This suggest that MNREGA has no effect on agricultural wages.

Difference indifference strategy was further applied to estimate impact of MNREGA on consumption expenditure of households. After controlling for the time trends and state specific differences, results suggested that the consumption expenditure of MNREGA participating households increased as compared to MNREGA non-participating households in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Positive coefficient associated with difference indifference estimator further suggested positive associations between MNREGA participation of the households and their consumption expenditure.

In general, our results suggest that MNREGA has very little impact on daily wages of agricultural labours in majority of major states in India. However, MNREGA has positive effects on consumption expenditure of participating households. Previous regional studies have pointed out effect of MNREGA on consumption expenditure of households, our estimates with state level study of households also suggest that MNREGA has overall positive effect on the consumption expenditure of the households.


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Exploring the Evolution of india’s Economic Structure the case of manufacturing Services inter Linkages

chaitanya Talreja, Ph.D. Student, South Asian University, New Delhi

In this paper, we have analysed the production and demand linkages of the manufacturing and service sector using the available Input-Output Transactions Tables in the post-reforms period. We have found that in terms of contribution to the production of India’s output manufacturing sector was much more important than the service sector and the importance of service sector during this period seems to have declined. In terms of Hirschman-type, demand stimulus manufacturing sector has been much more integrated in the India’s production structure as compared to services. For each unit of final demand generated for manufacturing it created much larger stimulus on output and employment of the sectors in the Indian economy as compared to services. We find that though service sector grew more rapidly than manufacturing during this period, but its ability to pull growth and employment in other sectors remained muted in comparison to manufacturing. In addition, its integration within the production structure was not as broad based as that of manufacturing. We also find that service sector contribution to manufacturing production did not witness intensification over this period. At the same time, manufacturing remained an important source of intermediate demand for services. We also saw that modern/technology-intensive producer services rapidly increased their share of service value added but contributed much less in terms of employment. Therefore, the distribution of value added within service sector was highly uneven across its sub-sectors and gains of technological progress seem to have been unevenly distributed within the service sector. These services do not seem to have witnessed a greater integration with manufacturing. Some of these producer services like computer and related activities (ICT-related) and business services have been highly export oriented during this period. A larger part of service sector demand during this period came from the final demand segment. Within final demand, it was private consumption and exports that were major sources of service sector demand. In addition, service sector share in total private consumption grew rapidly and was much higher than all the other sectors of the Indian economy. This finding is particularly peculiar in comparison to the level of India’s development. It seems rapid service sector growth in India needs to be seen as a part of a larger growth process.

A body of research on service sector growth in India has recently argued that income inequality seems to have contributed to rapid service sector growth. However, the channels through which income inequality fits into explaining the post-reform service sector growth and the growth process in India seems to have been inadequately addressed in the literature. Based on the analysis in this paper it can be suggested that income inequality has been a feature of post-reform production process in India, which in turn also fed-back into the production process through the channel of consumption/demand pattern. The findings in this paper suggest that this might have happened. Firstly, we have shown that over the post-reforms period the distribution of value added between aggregate manufacturing and service


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sectors remained highly uneven as compared to their employment shares in the economy. At the same time, the economic gains from technologically intensive sectors within the service sector have been found to be highly unevenly distributed. Therefore, rapid growth of the service sector is found have been associated with uneven distribution of gains as a feature of post-reform growth and production process. Secondly, a rapid rise of service share in private consumption seems to be a reflection of an aggregate consumption pattern driven by income inequality as such a rise does not seem to be commensurate with the level of India’s economic development. This in turn seems to have fed-back into the production structure to create a self-reinforcing pattern. The findings in this paper are only suggestive of such a process and to understand the causal links and channels within this cyclical process further research is warranted. A better understanding of this growth process might equip us to assess the employment and income-distribution related implications of India’s post-reform growth process. This paper is only a small step in this direction.

Growing informality in the indian Banking Sector? changing Employment Structure and Job Quality Since 1990s

Nitu Jaiswal, PhD Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The study mainly focussed capturing the growing informality in the Indian labour market. Historically, the Indian labour market is dominated by the informal sector, with only a minority of workers being in formal employment. However, the growing informality in the formal sector replicated the formal employment into informal, where workers do not have employment security and social benefits. It is in this context, that the study considered a highly regulated and formal sector i.e., the Indian banking sector employment and its changing structure and nature of employment. During the last two decade, it has been seen that banking sector employment is gradually transforming from standard full time employment to more nonstandard forms of employment (NSFE). As nonstandard employment is closely associated with poor quality of jobs, NSFE in the banking sector also recognised poor quality of job and hence lacked the Decent Work dimension fixed by the ILO. The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on banking sector employment are used in this study to highlight the changing structure of banking sector employment, with more particular reference to the growth of informal employment (NSFE) in the banking sector. However, the study is based on the field survey of 200 irregular employees working within the bank premises or outside the premises as no secondary data on informal employment is available. The Indian banking sector has seen a marked slowdown in the growth rate of employment during the post reform period. Though recently, a moderate positive growth rate has been recorded due to massive retirement. There is also a structural shift in favour of officer ranked employment in comparison to clerical and subordinate groups of employees. Flexible work arrangement encourages NSFE in the banking sector. The study, based on ILO classification of NSFE, identifies four major forms of NSFE that emerged in the Indian banking sector:


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Short-term Specialist Officer, Temporary Agency hiring (THA), Contract Company Employees (CCE) and casual or daily-wage workers. The study shows the different segments of NSFE as well as highlighted their demographic profile. Most of them are graduates, middle-aged, high skilled to semi-skilled to low skilled and well experienced.

The study also highlighted how the banking sector profitability and productivity enhances during the post-reform period of flexibility. Cost-income ratio of banking industry has declined sharply over the period, whereby business per employee, business per branch has drastically increased. On the other side, the NSFE affects the workers/employees adversely in terms of low earnings, poor working condition, no productivity gain, lack of social protection or security, job stability, no bargaining power and hence lack the labour rights. At the same time, it is also seen that NSFE acts as “stepping in” the job market for many who otherwise would be devoid of jobs. For many, it is only best option available, though in large, such NSFE is more like a “Dead end” with no progress or promotion in the jobs.

Hence, the study concluded that though the formal-informal mix becomes the economic reality of twenty-first century industrial model, a policy change or alternative regulation is required to check the adversity of NSFE on the employees and enhance the profitability of the employers in a balanced way.

Reflections of Socio-economic Conditions of Women Workers of Tobacco industry in murshidabad district Of West Bengal

Nandini mukherjee, Assistant Professor, Asutosh College, West Bengal

Piyali Roy, M.Phil Research Scholar, School of Women’s Studies, West Bengal

Labour force has the capability to define the growth and development of any country. Labour welfare poses major challenges for policy makers in any country in terms of creating decent work environment and ensuring well-being and prosperity of its labour force. Indian labour market has a sharp divide between organised and unorganised sector. The major chunk however consists of unorganised labour with almost no job or social security. Women labour constitute another major segment whose work needs to be recognised for economic growth, although measurement of women’s employment presents some additional problems.

In this connection, the present study tries to establish the depiction of the economic empowerment of a female beedi worker in relation to the improvement in her position in the family. The objectives of the study are: (i) To evaluate the present scenario of the socio- economic condition of the women beedi-workers of the Suti-1 block in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. (ii) To investigate the problems/difficulties faced by the women in the beedi-industry in context of health, employment opportunities and remuneration, educational facilities and access to different social assistance schemes. (iii) To recommend policy frame for combating discrimination faced by the women with respect to health problems, wage differences, equal opportunity, educational facilities and accessibility of the different schemes.


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In the study, the required data has been collected both from primary and secondary sources. The Murshidabad district of the State of West Bengal has been selected. One block namely, Suti-I of the district has been chosen purposively based on the highest concentration of the beedi industry. Data has been collected for women aged between 15 years to 65 years and above from four-gram sansads, through structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and observation technique.

To cover an extensive area, the study is mainly based on survey method and purposive random sampling technique has been done for selection of the sample. In this study, close-ended type questionnaire has been used as a tool for data collection focusing on major sections namely- socio-economic condition, work pattern and other associated matters and awareness regarding different schemes and benefits available for them in terms of social security, minimum wage payment and recommendation for improvement of the scenario of beedi workers.

It has been observed that Most of the workers live below poverty line. The basic cause of poverty among beedi workers is a lack of job opportunities available to them by the local government system. It has been observed that no beedi company is concerned about resolving the exploitation and miseries of female beedi workers who have been working for decades. Government has to play a key role in improving the conditions of the female workers and child labourers. Exploration to other income generating opportunities, skill development programme and other entrepreneurial sectors to be planned for them to reduce their engagement in this rolling industry and at the same time sustainable plan is to be designed in convergence with other Dept.s and institutions for reducing discrimination faced by them.

characteristics of Unorganised Retail Sector in india

Bindu Oberoi, Associate Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi

The growth of the service sector in India during the post-liberalisation period presents a contrasting picture where high-productivity and high-income services have grown side by side with low-productivity and low-income services. While the growth of the former has attracted worldwide attention, the growth of the latter has been largely ignored. India’s unorganised retail presents one example of such low productivity and low-income services. Rapid increases in incomes during the period led to the increase in demand for a variety of goods including food, pan, tobacco, fuel, light, footwear, clothing, goods for personal care, toilet articles, consumer durables etc. Consequently, retail sale in the economy grew at a high average annual rate of 13.6 per cent during 1994-95 to 1999-00. It declined during 2000-01 to 2002-03 but picked up again at about 11 per cent per annum during 2003-04 to 2006-07 (NCAER 2008:7). It then grew at 14.29 per cent per annum during 2005 to 2010. Though a number of organised retailers entered the market in various modern forms during the period, India’s retail sector continued to remain dominated by unorganised retailers accounting for about 93.08 per cent of the retail business in the year 2010. The National Sample Survey Employment– Unemployment surveys, indicates the growth of the retail sector, in employment terms. According to the survey, about 17.07


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million persons were engaged in buying goods from the wholesaler or dealer and selling them to the consumers according to their usual principal activity (ps) during 1993-94 at the all-India level. The employment increased to 26.92 million by 2004-05, which further increased to 30.63 million by 2011-12. Though all types of employment increased in the sector during the period from 1993-94 to 2011-12, the highest increase (9.94 m) was in the category of self-employees. While regular employment, which is more characteristic of the organised retail sector, remained located mainly in the urban areas, the number of self-employed retailers increased both in the rural and urban areas. Though the share of self-employees declined at the all-India level from about 86.36 per cent in the year 1993-94 to 80.57 per cent by 2011-12, they continued to dominate India’s retail sector operating as own account retail enterprises (OAREs) in the unorganised sector of the economy. The growth of India’s unorganised retail sector is important as it provided source of livelihood to large number of persons when employment opportunities were shrinking in the rapidly growing economy since the 1990s. The present paper analyses characteristics of India’s unorganised retail sector and argues that despite the growth of the unorganised retail during the post liberalization period, there was hardly any transition within the sector from the smaller, less productive units to units, which were larger and were far more productive. The sector continued to remain dominated by primitive or traditional units that worked with limited amount of capital and generated low quality employment resulting in low productivity and low incomes. The analysis is based mainly on the unit level data from the NSS survey of unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises for the year 2010-11. The survey divided the unorganised retail enterprises into Own Account Retail Enterprises (OAREs) that did not employ hired workers on a regular basis and Retail Establishments (REs) that employed hired workers on a regular basis. According to the survey, the OAREs dominated the unorganised retail and accounted for about 89.28 per cent of the unorganized retail enterprises. These OAREs employed about 78.62 per cent of the workers in the unorganized retail at the all-India level. An analysis of the kind of workers employed in the unorganised retail suggests that a majority (about 74 per cent) of those engaged in OAREs were working owners who himself worked on a regular basis in both rural and urban areas. Clearly, contrary to what is expected during a period of high growth of the economy, the analysis of the unorganised retail sector, which dominates the overall retail in India, suggests an appalling scenario characterised by excessively small OAREs based on more primitive non-hired labour forms of organisation with complete absence of any signs of development of impersonal forms of organisation.

An Appraisal of informalisation in the Services Economy: A case of Women Workers in Kerala

Shalina Susan mathew, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Palakkad, Kerala

The paper attempts to examine the reviving trends in women’s employment, drawing parallels between their decision to seek paid activities in the market and the underlying economic attributes


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of the households. Against the broader trends in economic growth and its distribution and social sector spending, the paper evaluates the reconfiguration and restructuring in the labour market outcomes among women in Kerala, the southernmost state in India. The paper looks at the relative role of household economic characteristics, individuals attributes in the labour market and the changing labour relations in influencing women’s participation in paid work. Alongside a rise in employment rates among women in Kerala as against the dampened work participation among women in the rest of the country observed post 2004-05, the immediate rationale for assessing the labour market participation among women in the state stems from the compositional shifts in the employment outcomes. The paper hypothesises that the observed changes in the labour market are reflective of the recommodification effects of a skewed distribution of economic resources and a neglect of the state’s expenditure on social sectors including education and health. This is particularly true in the case of women, whose secondary worker status enables them to enter the labour market to tide over the household crisis. This paper posits that the qualitative changes corresponding to increased participation of women in paid employment reflects increased informalisation of labour in Kerala, marking a departure from the distinction that Kerala holds in terms of extending employment protection and welfare schemes to the workers even in the informal sector activities.

What determine the Employability of Engineering Graduates? A case Study of Select Engineering colleges in West Bengal

Emon Nandi, Doctoral Candidate, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The recent addition to the three already-identified issues before Indian higher education sector is- Employability (Tharoor, 2017). Employability is the “Fourth E”, while the other three “E”-s challenging Indian higher education system are- Expansion, Equity and Excellence, as identified by the National Knowledge Commission (2009). However, the concern for employability is more discussed in relation to professional courses, in particular, engineering courses, compared to the general field of studies. A good number of studies have pointed out that only a tiny percentage of India’s engineering graduates are employable (NASSCOM, 2005, 2009; Blom and Saeki, 2012). Not only the industry, but also the Working Group on Engineering Education (2008) appointed by the National Knowledge Commission has expressed serious concern about the poor quality of education and training imparted by these private engineering colleges in India. The problems of low employability and poor labour productivity are attributable mainly to the problem of poor quality of education delivered by the private technical institutes (Sudarshan and Subramanian, 2013; Sharma, 2014; Mehrotra, 2014). Students after graduating from these poor quality institutes often fail to find a suitable job, remain unemployed for quite a long period of time (which increases the opportunity cost) or join the low-paid jobs, which do not require any engineering skills. The demand for seats in those colleges, which have failed to attract employers for campus-recruitment has declined and as a consequence, a large number of private engineering colleges have been shut


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down in India. In this context, this paper analyses the factors determining employability of the engineering graduates with the help of a case study involving the students from select engineering colleges in West Bengal. The state of West Bengal the technical education sector remained under the purview of the government for long in this state as it did not immediately follow the model of private sector led expansion like the southern states. The development of private engineering colleges in West Bengal is comparatively a recent phenomenon compared to other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu and started as a response to migration of students from West Bengal to these states. It is to be noted that all the engineering colleges under the umbrella university in the state of West Bengal have the same curriculum, similar mode of evaluation and examination, but in spite of being under the same regulatory authority, there is a huge qualitative difference across colleges and the news about poor quality, poor placements and closure of private colleges has been recently reported in media. Against this backdrop, this study would try to look into the role of various factors in determining the employability of engineering graduates in select engineering colleges in this state. It involves a purposive sample of twelve undergraduate engineering colleges affiliated to the umbrella university of technology in West Bengal, based on their relative position in the market (as reflected through the preferences of the studenst) and the mode of funding (public and private). The entire set of colleges was thus categorized into three groups- (a) Highly preferred government colleges, (b) Highly preferred private colleges and (c) Less preferred private colleges. Eventually, 4 public and 8 private colleges were selected for this study and 309 students (final year students of studying Computer Science Engineering or Information Technology) in this twelve engineering colleges in West Bengal have been randomly selected for the interview. The conditions of labour market faced by all the students were assumed to be similar as the survey was done within six months of the same year (2015). On the basis of a quantitative anallysis, it was observed that the students with better abilities select the institutions which had a record of good results and placement in campus-recruitment drives. The students studying in those institutions which were endowed with better quality inputs (students, teachers and infrastructure), were more likely to perform better than others who were not. Students’ socio-economic background also played a role in determining their performance albeit by a moderate extent. The non-academic traits also matter for the placements. The combination of academic and non-academic attributes reflected a mix of human capital and signalling theories in explaining the placement of the students.

informality, Status Occupational Safety and health: A case of mathadi Workers in maharashtra

Shital morage, Doctoral Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai

Santosh Kadu, Doctoral Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Mathadi workers are head-load carriers in the state of Maharashtra. They are engaged in remunerative work of loading and unloading of goods. They work in different markets and


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shops such as Iron and steel, cloth, cotton, grocery, and APMC or vegetable markets. Even they also engaged in the factories, railway yards, and goods-sheds. In this context, workers employed in railway goods-sheds are most vulnerable and oppressed. Considering nature of work and materials, associated occupational health, safety, environmental risk and workplace relationship with clearing agents, the Mathadi workers remained deplorable than other scheduled Mathadi employments. Majority of the studies on Mathadi workers concentrated on showing the victory and appreciated Mathadi Act. However, limited studies attempted critically unfold the reality at the workplace.

In the above mentioned context present paper intends to explore the informality and status of occupational safety and health of Mathadi workers employed in railway goods-sheds in Maharashtra. Specifically, it examines the nature of informal work, working conditions and implications of inadequate safety and health provisions at railway goods-sheds. It unfolds the experiences of women Mathadi workers. It also highlights the lifeworld of Mathadi workers after retirement and their expectations.

Using qualitative methods, the study was conducted amongst the Mathadi workers employed in two railway goods-sheds at Shrirampur and Ahmednagar city in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The study is exploratory in nature and participants were selected using purposive sampling and identified by snowball technique. In-depth interviews were conducted with the participants as well as it supplemented with key informant interviews. Semi-structured interview schedule and interview guide were used respectively to conduct the interviews.

Findings of the study demonstrate informality at the workplace in taking into account nature of work, wage patterns, recruitment, unfixed working hours and inadequate provision of holidays or weekly off. It is observed that male workers dominate Mathadi employment and malpractice prevailed in the process of recruitment of new workers. Clearing agents, union leaders, and Mukadam are observed as exploitative actors. The study revealed the absence of basic amenities and facilities at the workplace. Also, Mathadi workers employed in railway goods-sheds perform their work in hazardous conditions and become the victim of accidents, somatic and psychological health issues. Health issues such as allergy, respiratory problems, musculoskeletal disorder, air and water-borne diseases, hysterectomy, worries, tension, and addictions are observed among the Mathadi workers.

Study argues that in spite of enactment of Mathadi Act, informality and adverse working conditions are still evident in railway goods-sheds. Moreover, it is highly characterized by occupational safety and health issues of Mathadi workers. It anticipates that health and safety at the workplace should be a higher priority in employment regulation, labour welfare and social protection. Priority should be given to the preventive approach to remove occupational hazards. Awareness about health and safe working practices should spread among the workers. In addition, existing measures of social protection need to strengthen by incorporating measures such as maternity benefits, old age pension, and medical insurance.


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Spaces of Work to Spaces of Struggle: case study of Noida domestic workers

Tanya chaudhary, PhD Research Scholar, Ambedkar University Delhi, New Delhi

Incident which took place on 12th July, 2017, in Noida Sector 78 in premises of Mahagun Modern Society a posh gated society, flooded the newspapers and brought the issue of domestic workers again in academic discourse. The incident has revealed many faces of the class fracture which occurs in urban society. Three major concerns which are much talked about with the unfolding of the events are: “the enmeshed class struggle which exists between the two worlds of rich and poor, particularly migrant workers; Housing Societies as place where spatial segregation and borders are created and the unresponsive State which takes no responsibility for domestic workers and indeed criminalises the poor”. Amidst all these debates this another interesting unfolding that this incident had was, on 16th July, 2017, where at a meeting in the complex with its residents, Mahesh Sharma, the union culture minister and member of parliament from Gautam Budh Nagar, reportedly criminalised the workers and gave the incident a communal colour by alleging the workers to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. However, such efforts of State and the liberalised middle class society does not go uncontested and are faced by myriad hues of political and social mobilisation of marginalised group of urban India. Nevertheless, the workers and slum dwellers are introduced to a new reign of horror which is imposed by the police authorities and the politicians. The continuous withdrawal of State from the matters of unorganised and informal workers and its ignorance to acknowledge State, had been a major concern in the proceedings of this incident and uphill fight for Justice by the workers. These apprehensions, highlighted by various journalists, union members, activists have been addressed in the academic debates and publications and therefore will not be given much ado here.

An important concern which needs to be addressed is the influence of space and spatial context in labour control and response. The labour responses shall not be confused with labour movements, but shall rather be apprehended as everyday forms of resistances through various formal and informal labour agencies. The disappearance of labour movements can be inevitably explained through the current regime of economic and developmental policies, which had a great deal of impact on labour markets, which thereby influences the politico-economic environment of labour. Given the current economic regime of neoliberalisation, there has evidently been introduction of women labour to domestic labour market on a large scale. Besides, the working of domestic labour inside premises of home spaces further weakens the chances of implementation of any regulatory framework without legal intervention. The consequence of this is manifested in the emergence of informal labour agencies which the workers adopt to negotiate with the capitalist system of work. The protest by the domestic workers and their families was an extreme form of manifestation of labour resistance which occurred because of inherent acrimonious discontent against the exploitation and injustice. In the given incident, it becomes important to apprehend the forces behind fragmentation


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and collectivisation of the labour which in some instances make render them powerless and in other instigates them to resort to best possible way of resisting. An attempt, therefore has been made to study the influence of space and spatial context in labour response and controls, where labour in turn influences the production of space. Therefore, this work borrows from the framework of labour geography which critiques the traditional neo-Marxists economic geography. The labour responses shall not be confused with labour movements, but shall rather be apprehended as everyday forms of resistances through various formal and informal labour agencies. This article, in its first part traces the lives of workers in this changed milieu of development and the agency they adopt to fight the privation. The spatial organisation of these workers is behind the agency formation which is argued in later part of this paper.

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A Brief history of Labour migration from Bihar: The Story of Underdevelopment and inequality State

Tarun manjhi, Assistant Professor, Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, New Delhi

Migration related issues have been prominent on the research agenda of social scientists working on India for quite some times. There is a huge literature on migrations which tries to examine multiple dimensions of migration- both within India and outside the country. After launching of so called economic reforms in India, there has been renewed interest in the context and prospects of migration. Macroeconomic policy regime in India has witnessed a shift to new economic policy in 1991 as a measure to solve problems which were there in the economy and to bring the Indian economy on path of high GDP growth. Indian economy attained high GDP growth in post reform period. However, in spite of reasonably high growth of state domestic product during the reform era, interstate inequality in terms of per capita income, consumption, literacy rate, health indicators, creation of infrastructure, etc. have increased. The ‘Trickledown Effect’ in India under new economic policy is not only negligible; it has further widened the gap between rich and poor. On the one hand, the better-off states and households benefited in the era of new economic policies and on the other hand, backward states and poor households benefited minimally or were thrown out of the growth process. Under new policy regime, there has been a gradual withdrawal of state from all economic activities, fate of people is largely left to market which leads to concentration of wealth and causes disparity in society. There has been adverse affect of new economic policy on Indian agriculture. Reduction in public investment in rural areas, reduction in agricultural subsidy, decline in terms of trade for agricultural products, contraction in size of availability of credit to agriculture sector under new economic policies have pushed Indian agriculture in distress. This severe crisis in agriculture sector has been reflected in the decline in growth rate of this sector, increase in the number of farmer suicides and increase in out-migration from rural areas to urban areas. There is close relationship between labour migration and the development process of modern economies. The capitalist (modern) model of development is known for generating uneven growth that causes migration of labour from rural to urban areas and from agricultural to secondary and tertiary sectors. After independence from colonisation, developing countries like India adopted the ‘Western model’ of economic growth which has resulted in imbalanced regional growth and unevenness within regions. Consequently there has been migration of labour from under-developed regions/areas to developed regions/areas. Bihar is one of the underdeveloped states of India since long time. While successive government in Bihar have been failing in generating adequate infrastructures and employment opportunities for its people, presence of private sector in the state economy


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has been negligible. Withdrawal of state assistance particularly subsidy to the agricultural sector has worsen the material conditions of the most of the households because it is the main source of their livelihood and hence in absence of adequate employment opportunities people of Bihar are migrating from Bihar to escape poverty at place of birth to some other places. While migration of labour from Bihar can be broadly classified as distress migration, there are also some people who migrate for supplementing income of households and/or better educational opportunities in rest of the India.

Wage-employment, informality and Social Security in Rural india: An Industry-specific Analysis of Gender Differentials

Pampa Sengupta, Associate Professor, Vivekananda College, West Bengal

Sujit Thakur, Social Media Analyst, Cheil India Pvt. Ltd.

Anirban Ghosh, Consultant, MetLife Global, India

The present study, primarily based on National Sample Survey data, endeavours to make an in - depth analysis of wage-employment, informality and social security in rural India with a focus on gender-differentials in the post – reform period. It begins with an assessment of the level, pattern and trend of two inherently distinct wage employments - of casual labourers and of regular wage/salaried employees by some basic factors like age group, educational level, MPCE decile class etc. for both genders. The issue of informality, which is characteristically different in these two wage employments, is taken up next. For better understanding, it delves further into industry - specific analysis. Trends in average daily wage at constant price (base: 1986-87 for CPIAL in rural areas) in those industries which provide maximum employment are examined separately for both genders and for both types of wage employment. Finally, an appraisal is made on social security measures including method of payment on an overall basis as well as on the basis of each of the industries identified earlier.

The results obtained so far at all-India level are quite interesting and revealing. Concentrating first on the participation of casual labourers one notices the following observations. First percentages of ‘illiterates’ fall with a rise in ‘secondary and above’ among casual labourers in both the working age groups (years) viz., ‘15-29’ and ’30-59’. Gender-differentials exist but are not very much pronounced. Second, though the basic pattern of ‘lower the MPCE decile class, higher is the participation of casual labourers’ persists, their concentration in lower decile classes declines over NSS periods.

These two results, as a whole, definitely point towards betterment of the position of casual labourers. Issues like whether they would try for better quality jobs or, if cannot, would get better provisions of social security in their existing jobs should come up at this stage. The proportion of informal sector workers (workers engaged largely in Partnership and Proprietorship enterprises) among casual labourers is considerably higher compared to the same for regular employees and it increases during 2011-12. Quite interestingly, average

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daily wages of male casual informal labourers are found to be higher than the same of ‘all’ male casual labourers irrespective of whether their wages in ‘other than public works’ or in ‘public works other than MGNREGA‘ or in ‘public works in MGNREGA’ are concerned. For female casual labourers, the same picture is true in 2011-12. Percentages of households having MGNREGA job cards increase from 2009-10 to 2011-12.Quite reasonably such percentages decline for higher MPCE decile classes. Industry-wise, among others, ‘Construction’ and ‘Manufacturing’ emerge as the main employment providers for both the genders. In addition, over time, average daily wage rises in these two industries for both. Ironically, condition of social security benefits is very poor, especially in ‘Construction’. Considerable gender differentials are noticed. Percentages of casual labourers getting ‘daily payment’ usually are maximum. Despite this fact, continuous rise in the same getting ‘regular weekly payment’ in majority industries mainly at the cost of a fall in the percentages getting ‘piece-rate payments’ is noted. This fact seems to indicate ‘gradual formalization’ in the method of payments of casual labourers in general and informal casual labourers in particular.

Considering next the participation of regular workers one notes the following major observations. First, for age groups and educational levels of male regular employees almost the similar result as in case of casual male labourers is noted. In fact, quite expectedly, higher the level of education, higher is the participation of regular employees in 2011-12. Moderate gender differentials are present. Second, unlike the casual labourers, higher the MPCE decile class, higher is the participation of regular employees. In addition, this pattern continues over time.These two results are almost obvious for the basic stature of regular employees because one, percentages of informal sector workers among regular employees are though quite meagre, over time rise, for both genders, particularly in 2011-12. Two, average daily wage at constant price (base: 1986-87 for CPIAL in rural areas) is higher for ‘all’ regular workers compared to regular informal sector workers for all the industries. Three, ‘Manufacturing’, ‘Education’ and ‘Public Administration’ are the main industries providing maximum employment to both genders. Average daily wages show a rising trend over time. Considerable gender differentials are noted in this regard. Four, social security benefits do not render a rosy picture at all. Since majority of regular employees are engaged in formal jobs, this clearly points towards a gloomy picture for them. Five, percentages of regular employees getting ‘regular monthly payments’ is maximum and display an increasing trend in majority industries during 2011-12. The analysis carried out so far shows. Mere change in occupation in this manner should not be a point of complacency as the major bulk of regular formal employees is also found to be devoid of getting basic social benefits. The State should formulate suitable policies to provide the marginalized group with basic social securities, ceteris paribus and then incorporate them into the market process properly. It is only then that the true purpose of inclusive growth gets justified.


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A Note on Recent Trends in Agricultural Wage Rates in india

Arindam das, Senior Programme Manager, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, Karnataka

This paper examines recent trends in agricultural wages in India since 1998-1999. This paper also aims to capture the pattern and changes in rural wage rates and wage earnings of manual worker households in rural India. It also critically discusses the methodology used for collecting data of agricultural wages in India by major official sources. The purpose of the note is to review Wage Rates in Rural India (WRRI) data, particularly to compare the old and new series of WRRI data. The paper will attempt to explain certain jumps in wages, particularly the month of November 2013. An attempt has been made to look at changes in nominal wages, pre and post demonetisation, at the all India level of various agricultural operations.The manual worker households are households whose major income comes from working as hired workers on others’ land. According to the Rural Labour Enquiry Report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), about 37 per cent of rural households in India were rural labour households. As per the Census 2011, more than 300 million people belong to manual worker households in the countryside. According to Project on Agrarian Relation in India of Foreign Agriculture Service data, between 40-60% of the households have been classified as manual worker households as they derive about 90% of income from manual work. It would go up to 70% of the households in each village, if we consider the aggregate income and work participation in manual work. Therefore, the vast part of the population therefore depends on semi-skilled and unskilled manual work, especially the agricultural sector. Income poverty is much higher among the manual worker households due to under-employment and low levels of wages. In a country where unemployment is very high, living wages is an extremely important determination for the well being of manual worker households. This study is based on WRRI and Project on Agrarian Relations in India data of Foundation for Agrarian Studies. The major observation from the survey data are as follows:

First, wage rates in agriculture vary according to crop and crop operation, season, type of contract and gender. Second, there are two major forms of wage contracts: contracts based on time-rate (daily wages) and piece-rates (tasks paid for by the acre or per unit of output). Third, wages consist of cash and kind (share of production). Sometimes, cooking food is also an integral part of wages paid to workers. In the case of all daily rated cash operations, female wage rates were lower than male wage rates. Forth, the trends show from WRRI data that there was a stagnation of agricultural wages since 2014. However, there was a certain wage jump from October 2013 to November 2013 due to definition. The low number of days of employment, accompanied by very low wages, pushed the majority of hired manual worker households even below the official poverty line. Hired manual worker households would require many more days of employment, at the prevailing wage rates, to reach the poverty line.


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Effects of Globalisation on developments in the Women Workforce Participation in india: An Exploratory Approach

R. Rajesh Kanna, Research Invigilator, Dept. of Economics, The New College, Tamil Nadu

A. Abdul Raheem, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, The New College. Tamil Nadu

Women labour is an important segment of the total labour force in India. Women represent 50% of the total adult population and one third of the labour force of India. They perform nearly two- third of working hours and receive only one-tenth world income. Women work longer hours than men in every country do. More than 90 per cent of the working women in India are engaged as wage labourers in the unorganised sector, many of them belong to the economically poor, socially backward, and oppressed section of the society. Mostly they are from backward caste communities. Most of them withstand the worst of poverty, homelessness, underemployment and destitution. Many of these women workers are primary earners for their families. In this age of globalization, rapid changes are taking place in social political, industrial and cultural aspects. There occurs massive restructuring of work, employment and industry. Identity and aspirations shift swiftly. The knowledge revolution is taking place. Technologies change in an un-imaginable speed. All these developments caused an increase in the women workforce participation all over the world and in India. India’s workforce comprises nearly 93 per cent in the unorganized segment, with the entire farm sector falling under the informal category, while only one-fifth of the non-farm workers are found in the organized segment. It is widely acknowledged that the informal sector in India suffers from a low productivity syndrome, compared to the formal sector. Poor human capital base (in terms of education, skill and training) as well as lower mobilization status of the work force further add to the vulnerability and weaken the bargaining strength of workers in the informal sector. Therefore, this paper attempts to analyse Effects of globalisation on developments in the women workforce participation in India.

mGNREGS and Unorganised Workers: A case Study of Selected Villages in Ranchi district of Jharkhand

Jyoti Prakash, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Ranchi College, Jharkhand

The signification of NREGA lies in the fact that it creates a right-based framework for wage employment programme. The passing of NREGA in India as fairy downing from the heaven achieves our twin objectives of growth and distributive justice by providing employment to all adult members of the household for at least 100 days. NREGA leads to a substantial reduction of rural-urban migration. If there is provision of work in the village itself, the affected families will stay in the villages instead of moving for the cities in search of employment. NREGA is a means of creation and strengthening of the bargaining power of workers in the unorganised sector helping them to fight for other important entitlements such as minimum wages and social security. The act provides an opportunity and shows a path for the unorganised workers


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to organise, and serves as a watershed moment for the labour movement throughout the nation. NSS data shows that a vast majority of agricultural labour families in India are poor and marginal. They are compelled and subject to movement to cities in search of work as the productivity of the land they own has been so deteriorated that it is no longer able to support their family members. The NREGA is best seen as an attempt to provide a big-push in India’s region of distress. Public investment that aims to increase the labour-supporting capacity of farms through rainwater harvesting, soil conservation and treatment of their catchment areas could set up a cycle of growth which is supposed to promote sustainability from environmental and financial point of view.

The study analyses the impact of MANREGS on employment conditions of the households four sample villages of Ranchi district of Jharkhand. For this purpose two blocks, Ratu and Angara, has been identified. The four villages for the study were Bhonda and Tigra in Ratu Block whereas Janum and Soso in Angara Block.

As can be seen from the study that commencement of the NREGA programme has brought about an increase in the man days of work of the workers, thereby increasing their income and bettering their standard of living. As can be attributed to NREGA the percentage of respondents not getting work (zero days) has decreased drastically.

From Rags to Rags: A Study of domestic Garbage Pickers in chandigarh

manjit Sharma, Assistant Professor, DAV College, Chandigarh

Kulwinder Singh, Assistant Professor, Punjab University, Chandigarh

Jatinder Singh, Assistant Professor, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh

The informal sector, in developing countries, is a major sector both in terms of its contribution to national income as well as in terms of employment generation. India is not an exception to this as around 93 per cent of India’s workforce is employed in the informal sector and around 50 per cent of the country’s GDP comes from the informal sector. Within the informal sector, there is a huge variation in employment activities as some activities are very less rewarding and provide less scope of occupational mobility vis-a-vis other employment activities.

It is in this context, the present paper attempts to analyze the case of lowest paid informal economic activities. The specific objectives of the study are: (i) to analyze the occupational and educational mobility in case of domestic garbage pickers and (ii) to understand the mechanism of wage determination of these workers and their level of awareness about health issues. Evidence suggests that they come from lowest caste hierarchy, are mostly illiterate and more vulnerable to health problems owing to the nature of their occupation.

To analyse the previously mentioned objectives, primary data of 100 garbage pickers from various locations of Chandigarh City. Was collected Out of the total sample, 70 per cent are


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males and 30 are females. The city is not only top in terms of per capital income but also termed as one of the cleanest cities in the country. It is a torchbearer of the smart city initiative of the Government of India. Data is collected on various socio-economic indicators including employment profile, education level, mechanism of wage determination and health problems they have been facing. Data is analyzed using simple statistical techniques.

Preliminary findings of the study have highlighted some interesting facts. First, evidence reveals that all the garbage pickers in the region are migrants from various parts of India. With few exceptions, almost all the respondents are illiterate or have had an education up to class five. Second, less than 30 per cent of workers have adopted this occupation from their father. Among other workers, most of them are first generation workers in this occupation. These first generation workers were initially engaged in other informal activities and through their own networks, such as friends and relatives, they entered this occupation. Third, there is an absence of proper wage determination mechanism. Hence, wage determination is purely done based on bargaining between household and rag pickers. Fourth, in large number of cases, young children are also working with their parents. It is interesting to note that the average educational attainment has increased over generations but upward occupational mobility remained almost absent. Fifth, we did not find a worker who has been using any safety measures while performing their duty. As a result of this, they have been suffering from various health problems. Sixth, they are residing in slum areas without proper sanitation facilities. Seventh, they are under threat of losing their jobs as private firms are entering into this business. To save their job, they have been continuously registering their protest with the Chandigarh administration since 2011. Generally, private contractors are not employing existing workers. In some cases, even if they employ the same workers they have been paying less wages as compared to the wages they get in the open market.

minimum Wages and informal Labour in Rural india

Aiswarya mishra, Consultant, Sutra Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Odisha

Wages can be defined as the basic price or fare paid to a worker in return of his/her service to the owner or contractor. Many economists and thinkers have many theories related to it. However, wages mainly depend on the availability of work force for a particular task that depends on the demand of the task. When we speak of wages, there are mainly two sectors that come to mind i.e. the Agricultural sector and Industrial Sector.

During the Eleventh Five year Plan (2007‐12), nominal farm wages in India increased by 17.5 per cent per annum (p.a), and real farm wages by 6.8 per cent per annum., registering the fastest growth since economic reforms began in 1991. Farming being labour intensive, this rapid increase in farm wages has raised the cost of production of agriculture-based commodities across the board. No wonder farmers’ organizations have been demanding higher minimum support prices (MSPs) to cover increased costs of production. A recent report released by International Labour Organization (ILO), indicates that real wages in India declined in a


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majority of recent years, decreasing the purchasing power of wage earners. As per the report, India’s real wages fell 1 per cent between 2008 and 2011, while labour productivity grew 7.6 per cent in the same period. The trend, however, is surprising in the light of the country’s rapid economic growth over the last decade. It also contrasts with the Employment–Unemployment Survey from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), conducted every five years along with the Consumer Expenditure Survey, in which salaried and casual workers report a 150 per cent increase in their earnings – much higher than the 52 per cent increase in the consumer price index – in the five years between 2004‐05 and 2009‐10. This makes one curious to know what is happening to farm wages when around half of the Indian work force is engaged in agriculture and where much of the landless labour is working. (Gulati, Jain and Satija 2013)

Now talking about industrial wages, the two most difficult areas of modern India’s industrial relations are worker remuneration and conflict resolution. The literature produced in India and overseas abounds in the treatment of current specific issues in the field of Indian industrial relations; there is not much standard analytical account of the development of modern laws and concepts. In order to find a basis for industrial peace, the Government of India, in addition to the Industrial Disputes Law enacted in 1947, convened in December of the same year at an Industrial Conference in which representatives of government, employers, and labour participated. This tripartite conference produced a truce resolution, popularly known as the Industrial Truce Resolution of 1947 which stated that: “the system of remuneration to capital as well as labour must be so devised that while in the interest of the consumer and the primary producer excessive profits should be prevented by suitable measures of taxation and otherwise, both will share the pro duct of their common effort by making provision for payment of fair wages to labour and a fair return on capital employed in industry.” (GOI 1969)

This paper attempts to understand the concept of Minimum Wages as it functions in India along with its variations and its impact on the lives of rural work force. This research is mainly based on various secondary sources along with a small sample study done in Odisha in different locations to capture the situations of Agricultural, Non-Agricultural and Industrial labour.

The research has been conducted by collecting household data and by interaction with daily wage labour in both agricultural and non-agricultural occupations. The research shows that the workers who are employed as daily wage labour in Informal Sector such as Agricultural Occupations are paid variedly as compared to Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Whereas the daily wage labour employed in the formal sector, such as in a large manufacturing industry, are paid as per the guidelines of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 because proper monitoring and audit processes takes place in such sectors. The most affected and exploited are the women and the research shows that there is high gender wage gap in the labour in informal sector.

A large percentage of workers (about 92 per cent) are engaged in informal employment and a large majority of them have low earnings with limited or no social protection. This is true for a substantial proportion of workers in the organized sector as well. Over half the workers are self-employed, largely with a poor asset-base, and around 30 per cent are casual


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labourers seeking employment on a daily basis. About 18 per cent of those employed are regular workers, and amongst them, less than 8 per cent have regular, full-time employment with social protection. (IHD 2014)

It is true that the wages have increased with the due course of time keeping in mind the consumer price index but the ratio of increase of wages is not the same for workers in organised sector and workers in unorganised sector.

Female Labour Force Participation and Global Perspective

Rashmi Akhoury, Professor, College of Commerce, Arts and Science, Bihar

Women labour force participation and access to decent work are important and necessary elements of an inclusive and sustainable development process. Considerable research has shown that investing in women’s full economic potential is critical to increasing productivity and economic growth. Moreover, reducing gender barriers to decent work is fundamental to promoting women’s economic empowerment. High levels of labour force participation rates among women in developing countries can be a reflection of growing levels of poverty in that country. Given the prominence of this issue in the development process, a sizable literature has emerged over recent decades, addressing the different dimensions of this complex issue. Globally, women’s participation in the labour market has remained relatively stable from 1993 to 2013, whereas the participation rate for men has declined steadily over the same period. Though 345 million women have joined the labour force in the past 20 years, women still only account for approximately 40 % of the global labour force.

In terms of the female labour force participation rates across South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh saw increased female labour participation rates over the last decade, while the rate remained stable in Sri Lanka. However, there has been a declining trend in the female labour participation rate in India despite strong economic growth (until the most recent data from 2011–12, which shows a surge in participation rates in urban areas but a continuing fall in rural areas). The econometric analysis of factors associated with employment outcomes reveals that higher education is critical if women are to access regular wage and salaried jobs.

To provide insights on this critical economic and development challenge, this paper provides a comparative review of the literature and situation in South Asia, notably in India, which will complement existing country studies. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 reviews the literature on female labour force participation and associated factors. Section 3 presents a statistical analysis of female labour force participation rates in South Asia in general, while section 4 deals with the Indian case more specifically, and focuses on labour market outcomes for women in India. However, it is important to remember that at the core of the issue, lie demand and supply side constraints that hinder women’s entry and sustenance in the workforce. As a young woman looking at future prospects in the Indian job market, current statistics and figures are disheartening. It is important that concrete and time-bound policy adjustments be put into place to increase LFPR in India.


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Social Security in Unorganised Sector

Veena Kumari Jaiswal, Project Coordinator of IAWS, and Guest Faculty of Economics, Dept. of Economics, Ranchi University, Jharkhand

As per the Census 2011 92 per cent of the Indian population is engaged in the unorganised sector. According to the definition of National Council for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) Informal Sector consists of those working in the informal sector or households, excluding regular worker with social security benefits provided by the employers and the workers in the formal sector without any employment and social security benefits provided by the employers.The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) calculated that the informal economy generates 62 per cent of GDP, 50 per cent of Gross National Saving and 40 per cent of National Export. Despite of economic importance the workers of informal sector are bound to work in poor condition and receive low wages as compared to organised sector for the similar job. Most of the works are seasonal in nature, therefore leading to insecurity of job. Construction work involves unskilled to semiskilled workers. Construction workers get work in two ways: workers directly find work in the construction site or they work through the contractor who assures maximum number of regular working days but gives them less wage as compared to open market wage rate. Still, the workers prefer to work under contractors, as they don’t need to search for a job every day. These workers work under poor working condition and at high risk. They do not have access to any job security and social security. The condition of the workers turn worse if they fall sick as they face dual loss: they lose their daily earnings and on the other hand, spend money on treatment. They may fall in debt, as their saving capacity is very low. In case of loss of limb due to an accident at work, they permanently lose their earnings (if he is the head of family and the only earner then the condition faced is beyond our imagination). To tackle such conditions, the government has recently framed an Act known as Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008. The state government of Jharkhand constituted the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Welfare Board in 2008 itself. The Board has 21 plans of social security, including ten laid in the Social Security Act 2008.The board has registered 648380 workers by September 2017 and number of beneficiaries is 816117 workers. The board has spent 172.88 crores out of cess collected 362.57 crores on the beneficiaries. The number of beneficiaries is rising continuously after formation of board stills more publicity and awareness is needed. The overview of literature shows that large numbers of studies on the unorganised sector appear at the national level. In the case of Jharkhand, a few appear in the unorganised sector but in case of social security schemes of construction workers, no such has been study found. This study aims at examining the correlation between education level and awareness of social security schemes run by the government, their working condition and prevailing wage rate. The primary data was collected from 50 workers working in building construction in ward number six of Ranchi district, using well-structured schedules through personal interviews to meet the objectives of the study. Primary data revealed that workers lack awareness; only


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ten per cent of the sample data (5 out of sample size 50) are aware about the social security schemes runs by the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and are registered by the Board. Education level has no impact on awareness about government programs of social security. The value of coefficient of correlation shows that there exists a very low negative relationship (-0.21) between education level and awareness of social security schemes provided by the government. It was observed during interviews, that workers do not use any safety kits like helmet, shoes, etc. The workers who individually find work get more wage as compared to those who work under contractors. Hundred per cent of the sample workers who work under contractors (35 out of 50 sample size) reported that they get less wage rate as compare to prevailing market wage rate, which vary from 10 per cent to 30 per cent less. They are aware of it, but continue to work. 80 per cent (28 out of 35) of the sample workers reported that they receive monetary help from their contractors when needed.

Women and informal Work in manipur: An Analysis

Arambam Sophia, Dept. of Economics, Manipur University, Manipur

mayanglambam Sarda, Principal, Kakching Khunou College, Manipur

Gurumayum Ranita, Dept. of Economics, Oriental College, Manipur

There is renewed interest in the informal economy worldwide because a large share of the global economy and workforce is of an informal character. Women’s increasing participation in the labour force can be seen as a signal of declining discrimination and increasing empowerment of women. However, feminization of the workforce is not necessarily a sign of improvement of women’s opportunities and position in society. The increasing economic participation of women can be mainly in the informal sector with irregular nature of work, seasonal variation, low wages and employment insecurity and no social protection mechanism. By itself, the informal sector is characterized by insecure conditions of work, poor wages, etc. In Manipur, according to the 2011 Census, women constitute nearly half of the total population and 43% of the total work force. The work participation rate is quite high for women, as compared to the rest of India, and women are quite visible in the economic field. Women in Manipur play a very important role in the socio-economic sphere. They are the managers of the local market network and they actively participate in all kinds of productive activities. However, in contemporary development, we are also witnessing a marginalization of these women. Women contribute a lot to economy of Manipur through their heavy presence in agriculture, trade and manufacturing. However, their concentration is mainly in informal work, of insecure tenure, and lower wage rates compared to male workers. The analysis of the various rounds of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) over the years show that the work participation of women over the years has higher coefficient of variation than the male rates signifying insecurity and unstable nature of women’s work. Majority of women are in the self-employed and casual labour category and the regular salaried proportion of women is quite low. Also, the majority of women self–employed workers are own account workers and


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unpaid family workers which are not covered by social security measures. A comprehensive policy package should be designed for workers in the informal sector. There is a need to create more formal jobs, to regulate informal enterprises and informal jobs, and extend state protection, both social and legal, to the informal workforce, particularly women workers.

Urban informal Labour market: A case Study of Women Food Vendors in Vellore Town

Sivasankar Vedi, Assistant Professor, Muthurangam Government Arts College, Tamil Nadu

hemanathan Subramani, Ph.D Research Scholar, Muthurangam Government Arts College, Tamil Nadu

This study examines the unorganized self-employed women workers in urban areas in Vellore town of Tamil Nadu. This study is limited to urban women food vendors in roadsides and workplace in residence. The objective of this study is examining the self-employed women workers as food vendors in Vellore. The broader objectives of this study are to examine the problems and magnitude of women workers self-employed in food industries in unorganised work. This study examines social and economic background of self-employed women workers like education, caste and religion. The specific objectives are; to study the socio economic conditions of self-employed women food vendors; to examine the nature of employment and occupational mobility of self-employed food vendors; to study the standard of living, income and expenditure pattern, indebtedness, food vendors in Vellore. The interview schedule was used for 75 women food vendors located in 5 different areas of Vellore.

Out of 75 respondents, 69 per cent reported that this occupation was their first occupation. For 19 per cent of workers. This was second occupation and 12 per cent reported that this occupation was their third and. The result revealed that the 76 per cent of women workers entered the labour market after marriage. In addition to this, the researcher asked about the nature of employment. The researcher found seven types of employments before marriage. 18 sample respondents were engaged in coolie work, flower sales, fancy stores, childcare, saree sales, soda sales and food leaf. 57 married women worker sample respondents were engaged in eight types of employments which were: sarees sales, stationary stall, coolie, vending vegetables, snack shop, packet milk and juice stall, home workers and candle making.

The husband’s occupation plays an important role to determine women entering into occupations. All the sample respondents’ husbands had engaged in informal employment in the study. Out of 75 respondents, 17 per cent of husbands worked as daily wage labourers in the urban economy of Vellore. 10.7 per cent of husbands worked in repair shops and 8 per cent of husbands were electricians. The other occupations were painter, carpenters, drivers, and watch man, office Assistant in private office, pot making, tiles workers, cycle shop and stationery shop. The researcher explored the reason for entering the present occupation and results revealed that the purposes were to educate their children in private schools (32.0


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per cent), insufficient family income (28.0 per cent), family debt (9.3 per cent), daughter’s marriage (16.0 per cent), medical care (9.3 per cent) and construction of houses (5.3 per cent) and other important things.This study clearly indicated that women food vendors were unskilled and came from a low level literacy background. This food vendor labour market was clearly segmented on caste lines and low present of SCs. Women food vendors vary a double burden of household maintenance and their occupation. There was an absence of credit availability from institutional sources and they fully depended upon urban informal credit agency.

Who has microcredit Really helped? A Look at Women's Empowerment using Evidence from Rural india

hangma Basumatary, M.Phil Scholar, Sikkim University, Guwahati, Assam

Rajesh Raj S.N Natarajan, Associate Professor, Sikkim University, Assam

Prabin chhetri, Ph.D Scholar, Sikkim University, Assam

In this study, we examine the impact of microcredit on time allocation outcomes for men and women, and rely on this analysis to draw conclusions on the relationship between microcredit and women’s empowerment. The study is based on household survey data collected from rural India. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 240 households in the Udalguri district of Assam in India. The impact of microcredit on economic empowerment of women is examined by comparing the time allocation outcomes for men and women belonging to households participating in self-help groups; with outcomes for men and women belonging to the control group, that is, those who are not participating in self-help groups; and the difference between these groups is ascribed to microcredit. Besides employing linear-in-the-variables estimation to estimate time use regressions, we also check the robustness of our results using instrumental variable regression model and tobit model. Our findings from time use regressions suggest little evidence to endorse the linkage between microcredit and women’s empowerment as women continue to spend most of their time in wage and non-market work; being part of a credit group fails to change this reality. On the other hand, we also find that men in the participating households have succeeded in reallocating their work hours toward self-employment because of their wives’ participation in the credit program. This points to the fact that though the microcredit program is targeted at women, its real beneficiaries are men.


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Employment Performance of india’s Organised manufacturing Sector: A Plant-Level Study

Gopal Krishna Roy, M Phil/PhD Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Suresh R, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

This study analysed the employment performance of the organised manufacturing sector in India with a focus on the role of labour market flexibility taking center stage. The study covered the period from 1998-99 to 2007-08 and utilized the recently available Annual Survey of Industries Panel data which provide detailed plant-level data with common factory identifiers that helped to overcome the limitations of aggregate and industry level data used in the existing literature. Taking advantage of the plant level data with common factors identifiers, two separate panel datasets were formed consisting of a balanced panel of plants and an unbalanced of plants. The present study seeks to analyse the performance of organised manufacturing in employment generation and identify possible explanations for its performance with a special focus on the role of labour market flexibility on employment generation. The main hypothesis tested in the study is that the elasticity of employment with respect to output in the organised manufacturing sector has been weak, and the growth in employment has suffered due to the rising capital intensity in the production process. Moreover, the variation in the state-level degree of labour market flexibility in terms of employment adjustment doesn’t have a significant effect on employment growth and doesn’t explain the difference in employment outcomes. The study found that the overall employment performance of the organised manufacturing sector has been rather weak. The Fixed Effect regression results estimated for the static labour demand equation for total employees in the balanced panel sample estimated an employment elasticity of 0.14 with respect to the output during the period from 1998-99 to 2007-08, i.e., employment grew by just 0.14% with a percentage rise in output. The employment elasticity estimated from the Fixed Effect model for the unbalanced panel of plants is found to be 0.23. The low value of the employment elasticity suggesting that most of the gain in output is associated with labour productivity gains. The capital intensity was found to be statistically significant and negatively associated with total employment in both the samples. This suggests that capital had displaced workers in the production process and deterred the employment growth in the sector. The effect of labour market flexibility as captured by the state-level labour market flexibility index was statistically insignificant for both the samples which indicate that interstate variation in relative labour market flexibility over time didn’t have a significant effect on employment outcome. Moreover, the study found that the elasticity of employment in the flexible States is no different than the elasticity in the rigid States in the balanced panel sample of plants. However, the unbalanced panel sample presented an interesting result in that the employment elasticity of growth is, in fact, lower in the flexible states as compared to the rigid states. This finding certainly challenges the


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view that higher labour market flexibility is associated with a higher employment growth. The lower employment elasticity in flexible states may be explained by the high turnover rate of workers which includes a higher separation rate and the rising capital intensity of production. This, in fact, demonstrates that greater flexibility is associated with lowering the employment growth as against increasing it as suggested by many in the literature who argue against India's stringent employment protection legislations.

Utilization Experience of Rashtriya Swashthya Bima Yojana among Labour Section of People: A case Study of a Tribal district of Odisha

Babita Panda, ICSSR Doctoral Fellow of A&A Economics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

The central government has launched RSBY health insurance scheme for the BPL families and enables each beneficiary of the scheme to receive inpatient medical care and reduce the burden of health care treatment cost including pre and post hospitalization. It has already crossed eight years of journey so the study is interested to examine the above two objectives. By the household survey, the study revealed that only 8.4 per cent beneficiaries got fully financial relief from RSBY scheme but more than 50 per cent were bound to spend from own pocket due to lack of health care services provided by RSBY scheme which force them to fall in poverty cycle. Due to low segment of population they took the help of borrowing from friends and relatives and mixed income including all sources of income. Here it is clearly visible that in real life situation the scheme neither provides fully financial protection to beneficiaries for health care treatment cost nor fully financial relief. The study also pointed out the obstacles faced by beneficiaries at the time of utilization and found out that lack of awareness about where and how to use this health insurance card, no proper enrolment procedure, non cooperative behaviour of hospital staff, limited assured money sanctioned per day, provision of only inpatient care services, unhygienic atmosphere in hospital, long distance of empanelled hospital and corruption in the delivery process of services provided by scheme are the major problems that created barrier in the utilization process. So there is a need to take necessary action by the government to make proper implementation of the scheme on the basis of valuable suggestion given by the beneficiaries. These are as follows. First awareness should be created among the villagers, prior information should be circulated by insurance camp among the people before organizing enrolment camp in village level, the behaviour of hospital staff should be friendly and cooperative, immediate and quick attainment should be made towards beneficiaries, the hygienic condition of hospital should be maintained so that beneficiaries will take interest for inpatient care, qualitative services should included in benefit package of the scheme, ambulance services should be provided in benefit package of the scheme to reduce long distance from beneficiaries home to empanelled hospital and last but not the least corruption should checked at time of implementation and delivery of scheme.


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Pluri-activity in Rural india: determinants and Evidences

Subramanian S, Research Scholar, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Karnataka

Farm households diversify their activities to supplement their income from outside the agriculture, it is an important adaptive strategy to increase family income, spread risk, stabilize salaries, reduce income inequalities to cope up to the income differentials etc. This paper analyses the diversification possibility of farm households by considering three possibilities viz. working only in farm, working only in non-farm and working in multi-activities (pluri-activity) in the Indian context. The factors responsible for the rural household labour allocation decision are studied in detail. The study uses India Human Development Survey data and employs generalized multinomial logit model to analyse the decision of the farm households to participate in diverse activities. The results show that there seem to be a wider interest among the rural farm households to opt for pluriactivity to supplement the household income. It is interesting to find that the older age group members are more pluriactive than the youth in the household who either specialize or pursue higher education. Further the female members of the household tend to work more on farm than in other activities.

Gender-based Employment and Wage discrimination in the Urban Labour market of india: A Quintile decomposition Analysis

Balakrushna Padhi, Doctoral Scholar in Economics, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The wages and earning disparity in the labour market mostly causes impoverishment in a multidimensional and interactional way. This wage/income differentials can occur through a number of dimensions such as, caste, gender, and age which tends to reduce the opportunity of such groups to access basic social services and limits their participation in the labour market. The phenomenon of unequal pay across genders is one of the stubborn and universal problems across globe. Even when women entered in the labour market in general paid less than that of their male counterpart (ILO, 2013). It is observed that women in different parts of the world denied to access equal opportunities as men both in employment and earnings.

This study intends to explore whether the wage gap across genders persists in the urban labour market of India. As the implication of earning discrimination in the labour market on other forms of deprivation, the present study analyses the NSSO employment 55th and 68th round data to examine the wage gap between across genders among regular and casual workers in the urban India. Given the dual structure of the market of Indian economy the regular wage earners considered to be more secure as compared to the casual workers, because as per the definition of NSSO the casual workers never get wages at par with the regular workers. The casual labour considered to be subset of informal labour market, are generally engaged in economic activity with low wages and unstable employment structure. So given this structure of differential wage earners, it is essential to understand how the pattern of wage growth


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is changing over the period of time across genders and what explains this observed trend. For analytical purposes, this study has used the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method to understand the given level of wage gap across genders is due to endowment or discrimination component, further the wage gap across distributions has analyzed using quintile decomposition analysis. Given this pretext this study analyses the issues of gender disparity in wages by focusing on the evolution on gender wage gaps in the urban labour market, given the dynamic changes followed in the urban India along with various policy transformations. It is observed that on average, the male workers earn higher than their female counterparts both among casual and regular workers categories in the urban India. The overall wage growth of females is lower as compared to male in two time points and considerable disparities exist in terms of employment and earning standard. There is persistence of discrimination against women in the urban labour market of India. Even the wage growth of females is negative in terms of educational categories for regular workers, which is a serious concern in the present phase of defeminisation of labour force. In this study, it is also found that, in most of the industries the female wage share is much less even half of that of males wage share. Across the wage distributions in the urban India, the wage decomposition shows wages are lower for females as compare to males in different quintiles. The decomposition exercise displays the role of the discrimination component effect to be larger than that of endowment component. Controlling for characteristic homogeneity, it is observed that workers belonging to female workers have a systematic wage disadvantage against their male counterparts. The possible reason for such discrimination goes well beyond the variables this study could capture. The main factor for this observed trend across genders is due to the endowment factors in terms of education and industrial affiliation as well. In this context, it is essential for not only providing equal job opportunities to the females but also enables them employable through proper quality of education and hand on skills formation.

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Gender issues and Wage Gap in the informal Sector of india

Gayatri Somasekharan, Assistant Professor, Sri Vyasa NSS College, Thrissur, Kerala

Street vendors in Mexico City, push-cart vendors in New York city, rickshaw pullers in Calcutta, garbage collectors in Bogota and roadside barbers in Durban - those who work on the streets or in the open-air are the visible occupational groups in the informal economy. However, the informal economy also includes activities and workers that are less visible and, sometimes, invisible. The majority of the least visible informal workers are women and they sell or produce goods from their homes like garment makers, embroiderers, incense–stick rollers, cigarette–rollers, paper bag makers, kite makers, hair band makers, food processors and others.

Unorganized or informal sector constitutes an important part of the Indian economy. More than 90 per cent of the workforce and about 50 per cent of national product are accounted for by the informal economy. Informal employment is generally a larger source of employment for women in the developing world. Other than in North Africa (43 per cent of women workers are in informal employment), 60 per cent or more of women workers in the developing world are in informal employment(outside agriculture). In sub-Saharan Africa 84 per cent of women non-agricultural workers are in the informal sector. Similarly in Latin America, 58 per cent of women are engaged in this sector in comparison to 48 per cent of men. Many of these women workers are primary earners for their families. Their earnings are imperative for mere survival.

This article examines the issues of women working in the informal economy. Women perform multiple tasks like feeding families, educating children and occupy key positions in government and the private sector. This role, however, is not always recognized and there are major policy gaps that leave women unprotected and prone to exploitation. Women are often undermined by their male counterparts who use traditional norms to subjugate them. One of the gaps found in this area are the huge wage differences between men and women engaged in the informal sector, which is looked into in this article.

Skill Premium and Technological change

harshil Sharma, Phd Research Scholar, CISLS Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The growth of the service sector in India during the post-liberalisation period presents a contrasting picture where high-productivity and high-income services have grown side by side with low-productivity and low-income services. While the growth of the former has attracted worldwide attention, the growth of the latter has been largely ignored. India’s unorganised retail presents one example of such low productivity and low-income services. Rapid increases in


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incomes during the period led to the increase in demand for a variety of goods including food, pan, tobacco, fuel, light, footwear, clothing, goods for personal care, toilet articles, consumer durables etc. Consequently, retail sale in the economy grew at a high average annual rate of 13.6 per cent during 1994-95 to 1999-00. It declined during 2000-01 to 2002-03 but picked up again at about 11 per cent per annum during 2003-04 to 2006-07 (NCAER 2008:7). It then grew at 14.29 per cent per annum during 2005 to 2010. Though a number of organised retailers entered the market in various modern forms during the period, India’s retail sector continued to remain dominated by unorganised retailers accounting for about 93.08 per cent of the retail business in the year 2010. The National Sample Survey Employment– Unemployment surveys, indicates the growth of the retail sector, in employment terms. According to the survey, about 17.07 million persons were engaged in buying goods from the wholesaler or dealer and selling them to the consumers according to their usual principal activity (ps) during 1993-94 at the all-India level. The employment increased to 26.92 million by 2004-05, which further increased to 30.63 million by 2011-12. Though all types of employment increased in the sector during the period from 1993-94 to 2011-12, the highest increase (9.94 m) was in the category of self-employees. While regular employment, which is more characteristic of the organised retail sector, remained located mainly in the urban areas, the number of self-employed retailers increased both in the rural and urban areas. Though the share of self-employees declined at the all-India level from about 86.36 per cent in the year 1993-94 to 80.57 per cent by 2011-12, they continued to dominate India’s retail sector operating as own account retail enterprises (OAREs) in the unorganised sector of the economy. The growth of India’s unorganised retail sector is important as it provided source of livelihood to large number of persons when employment opportunities were shrinking in the rapidly growing economy since the 1990s. The present paper analyses characteristics of India’s unorganised retail sector and argues that despite the growth of the unorganised retail during the post liberalization period, there was hardly any transition within the sector from the smaller, less productive units to units, which were larger and were far more productive. The sector continued to remain dominated by primitive or traditional units that worked with limited amount of capital and generated low quality employment resulting in low productivity and low incomes. The analysis is based mainly on the unit level data from the NSS survey of unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises for the year 2010-11. The survey divided the unorganised retail enterprises into Own Account Retail Enterprises (OAREs) that did not employ hired workers on a regular basis and Retail Establishments (REs) that employed hired workers on a regular basis. According to the survey, the OAREs dominated the unorganised retail and accounted for about 89.28 per cent of the unorganized retail enterprises. These OAREs employed about 78.62 per cent of the workers in the unorganized retail at the all-India level. An analysis of the kind of workers employed in the unorganised retail suggests that a majority (about 74 per cent) of those engaged in OAREs were working owners who himself worked on a regular basis in both rural and urban areas. Clearly, contrary to what is expected during a period of high growth of the economy, the analysis of the unorganised retail sector, which dominates the overall retail in India, suggests


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an appalling scenario characterised by excessively small OAREs based on more primitive non-hired labour forms of organisation with complete absence of any signs of development of impersonal forms of organisation.

demonetisation in Urban informal Sectorw with Reference to Female Street Vendors in Bengaluru city

channamma Kambara, Assistant Professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Karnataka

Demonetisation was announced in India with the intention of curbing black money and as an effort to convert the present economy into a less cash or cashless economy. It was appreciated as a brave and necessary step to tackle the problem of black money and terrorist financing. As transactions in India are mainly through cash, the demonetisation policy caused inconvenience to the people. The workers in the unorganised sector were hard hit, as there was no prior caution issued about the withdrawal of high denomination notes from the economy. They are people who depend on informal sources for their daily transactions of money. It is to be noted that more than 83 per cent of women are employed in the informal sector. Women who are in such marginalised economic activities due to lack of education and skills, are further marginalised as resources are prioritised during a situation like demonetisation and they are the first to get negatively affected. In this context, the paper attempts to find out the short-term impact of demonetisation on these women working as street vendors in Bengaluru city.

The earlier study of the author on street vendors in Bengaluru city indicated that migrant vendors are more vulnerable in their personal life, though they are more educated compared to native vendors. However, when the rate of investment is considered, it is seen that natives are better compared to migrants. In this context, this paper tries to explore the impact of demonetisation on female street vendors in Bengaluru city and their coping strategies. Repetitive sampling method has been followed, with an attempt to follow up with the respondents of the earlier study of 2014.

In this study based on primary survey, it was found that many vendors have either discontinued or suspended their vending activity due to demonetisation. The dwindling business and lack of availability of small denomination money left vendors with little or no profit for many days. Most of the vendors have sold the once bought items for two to three days. Due to their lack of literacy, the female vendors hesitated to accept the idea of online payment options. As they do business and have to repay the loan taken from private financiers on a daily basis, liquid money is of utmost importance to them. The study shows that among these vendors, migrants are cautious and hence flexible in adjusting to unexpected change than native vendors. However, their disadvantage in the wholesale market affects them during the sudden implementation of policy, which further has negative impacts on their investment, earnings and savings.


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This study also illustrates that street vendors who are always under the threat of losing their livelihood due to eviction, had an unseen blow in the form of Demonetization. The article is suggestive that henceforth, the marginalised sections of society who are earning their livelihood through meagre means peacefully have to be taken into consideration before announcing such an overwhelming measure.

The informal Small-Scale Brick industry in Karnataka: An Economic Analysis

Sharanappa Saidapur, Assistant Professor of Economics, Govt. First Grade College, Karnataka

Karnataka is a pioneer and premier state in small-scale industry in the country. However, small-scale industries are not equally distributed in the state. The organized (formal) small-scale industries are producing more goods but the unorganized (informal) small-scale brick industries are not producing sufficient goods because of lack of government support to brick making industry in Karnataka State. Because, these brick industries do not come under the purview of government rules and regulation. Although, the brick industry is playing an important role in the economy of the state. The present paper discusses about level of production, informal labour wages, financial performance, level of profit, problems and prospects of small-scale brick industries in North Karnataka. Karnataka is divided into two parts i.e, South Karnataka and North Karnataka. According to the Dr. DM. Najundappa Committee Report (2002), South Karnataka is a developed region and North Karnataka is an underdeveloped region. Moreover, it covers areas that are industrially backward. Therefore, this region is called Hyderabad Karnataka. This area lacks modern industrial establishment. Hence, people have established small-scale brick industry in this backward region. The brick industry is labour intensive and it needs less capital. Brick is the main raw material for building. It fulfils the ever-growing demand of the construction sector. Further, it leads to rapid urbanization of the state. Hence, brick-kiln small-scale industries have an important role to play in the Karnataka economy. In fact, they are considered to be the foundation of the State economy. According to Mahatma Gandhi, “the salvation of India lies in the cottage and small scale industries”. Even in advanced countries like England, Russia, France and Japan etc., they have occupied an important role in economic development. The brick industry also plays a key role in the regional economy of North Karnataka. The brick industry is playing crucial role in supporting, sustaining and retaining a substantial segment of the labour-force and fulfilling special needs of a weaker section of society. It provides employment and income opportunities for the increasing population in the urban area. Unorganized sector commands 55.45 per cent share in the Net Domestic Product of the state but is ‘clearly’ away from the ambit of state regulation and protection. Brick-kiln workers who are considered semi-skilled workers are one of the most exploited, unorganized and unregulated labour force in India. There are around 10000 brick-kilns operating in Karnataka and employing around


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3 million workers. Karnataka is a poverty-ridden state; because there is no employment opportunity. Brick-kilns are considered as a means of the strategy for eradication of poverty and unemployment in the study areas.

The large numbers of the brick units face many problems in the study region. There are mainly two types of problems: 1) internal problems, such as lack of entrepreneurial or managerial skill and 2) external problems such as difficulties in access to product market, credit, technology, raw materials and benefits of government policy. Shortage of raw materials and working capital are the major problems for facing the brick-kiln units. The brick industry plays a pivotal role in both national and state level of economy based on its contribution towards developmental work, generation of employment and pattern and level of investment in the industrial scenario of the economy concerned. Brick making is one of the important labour intensive industries in the North Karnataka Region. It augments of brick production in the informal sector. It increases the income of the manufacturer and as well as workers. The brick activity is panacea for all socio-economic problems faced by Karnataka in general and North Karnataka in particular.

issues and Approaches to development of informal Sector Workforce in india

Roopesh Kaushik, Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur

The informal sector is highly heterogeneous and is characterized by low productivity and less remunerated jobs in urban areas. Informal jobs are in the form of street-vending, stalls, shops, transportation, etc. Small, marginal farmers and landless labourers also comprise the informal sector. Keith hart, in Ghana, during the 1970s, classified informal jobs as exterior to formal sector enterprises like, factories, public services, large-scale commerce, etc.

Underdeveloped countries are characterized by their surplus labour force, mainly in rural areas. The key challenge is to absorb the surplus labour force, whose marginal productivity is zero. They are either not working or constitute disguised unemployment. The urban sector is having an advantage of excess demand, therefore scope for reinvestment of capital. The urban sector is having the potential to absorb the surplus labour force in the rural regions. The labourers in the rural sector are forced to migrate to urban areas to seek jobs. Due to excess demand, they are starting their small ventures like hawkers, cycle repairing shops, food stalls etc. In the long term, the rural sector will also be developed due to the spread effects. Myrdal discarded the thesis and claims that migration of labour force from rural sector to urban sector will have a backwash effects in the former. This is due to the transfer of human capital and thus demand to the urban sector. In India, in every metropolis, one can find the labourers who are migrating from rural areas to urban areas. These are permanent as well as temporary migrations in an unfamiliar environment/ land, where there is no house or accommodation for the labourers to stay. There are many schemes linked with food and education, but are not very


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successful in providing social and economic securities to the rural migrants/labours. In Indian traditional societies, family and society acts as a supporting mechanism for the sustenance of individuals and their family. The moment an individual takes birth, they will be taken care of by family and village community. However, the nature and pace of transformation in the villages have destroyed the traditional support system. Means and attitudes are transforming, and thus safety measures are gradually dwindling. In Europe, the joint family structure had been broken down during the Industrial Revolution. In India also, the joint family structure is gradually diminishing or is at the verge of destruction.

Gender discrimination in Employment and Wages of Agricultural Labourers in Andhra Pradesh

Narendra Kumar illuru, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Econometrics, S.V. University, Andhra Pradesh

Kondeti Suneetha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Econometrics, S.V.University, Andhra Pradesh

Kuppam Sudha, Research Scholar, Dept. of Commerce, S.V. University, Andhra Pradesh

The human resources in an economy constitute a significant input in the production process of goods and services. The most of the population (60 per cent) is depending upon agriculture, which is contributing about half of the national income in the Indian economy. The agricultural labour constitutes an overwhelmingly predominant auction of the rural workforce. The agricultural labour is provided mostly by backward classes and other depressed classes who are economically poor and socially downtrodden since the days immemorial. The agriculture labourers have to work in cold and hot weather from sunrise to sunset. Their wages are low when compared to industrial labourers. They suffer from many social handicaps and majority of these handicaps are interconnected with economic problems, which overweigh other problems. These agricultural labourers are suffering due to unemployment, underemployment and low wages, there wages are different in seasonal, regional and structural variations. The employment in agriculture is mostly seasonal and intermittent in character. The agricultural labourers suffer with seasonal unemployment, during the periods of peak agricultural activity, the demand for labour well is high and during the off-season, they have to face acute unemployment problem.

So the present study has been undertaken with the purpose of revealing the position of employment and wages of agricultural labour in Andhra Pradesh. The objectives are to find out the nature of employment for male and female agricultural labour separately; to study the pattern of employment of agricultural labour for different crops; and the differences in the wage rates between male and female agricultural labour in the study area. The data was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. The primary data collected directly from the sample respondents through a field survey in Kurnool and West


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Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. A multi-stage stratified random sampling frame is used for collection of the primary data. The schedules has been prepared and canvassed for the collection of primary data. The analysis shows that in addition to employment and wage differentials by sex there are regional differences. The main influencing factor for wage and employment differential is gender bias which is against the interests of the female labourers. The demand female labour for exceeds the demand for male labour since the supply of female labour outstrips the supply of male labourers considerably, the female labourers are forced to accept the discriminatory wages for their survival though the efficiency of male and female labourers in the performance of the operations is the same. The measures taken by the Government to improve the economic conditions of agricultural labourers. The measures are the welfare programmes are implemented the Food for Works Programme (FWP), National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), National Scheme of Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) and Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). The suggestions are improvement of socio-economic positions of the agricultural labourers in Andhra Pradesh.

A comparative Study of Labour Productivity in Formal and informal manufacturing Enterprises in india

maria Khan, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, UP

Just like any other developing economy going through the process of development Indian economy too has experienced structural changes in the last few decades but these change are not in conformity with the traditional theory of structural changes. Reduction in the share of agriculture sector in GDP has been followed by an increase in the share of services sector instead of a growing vibrant industrial sector. Over the last three and half decades from 1980 to 2015, the share of manufacturing in GDP has been almost stagnant hovering in the range of 14 to 17 per cent. On the other side, the share of services sector has increased from 37 per cent to nearly 60 per cent. On the employment front the manufacturing sector again stagnated at around 11 per cent whereas services sector in spite of being regarded as capital intensive sector managed to increase its share from around 17 per cent to 25 per cent during the period concerned. This sluggish growth performance of the manufacturing sector in comparison to services has been a cause of worry among the policy makers. Increase in the share of manufacturing is crucial for enlarging employment avenues in India because agriculture has been already under huge stress of labour force with the prevalence of large-scale disguised unemployment. So, enough employment generation in this sector cannot be expected. As regarding services sector, which is showing a positive sign in employment growth but India has a huge population of 1.2 billion and it cannot endure on services led economy and needs a more diverse economy. Therefore, what we need is sustainable growth and development of manufacturing sector, which has the highest employment potential after agriculture. This


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concern is also reflected in the form of National Manufacturing Policy (2011) which aims to increase the share of manufacturing to 25 per cent by 2022. To increase the manufacturing output it is crucial to improve the productivity of the factors involved. The manufacturing sector in India has 81 per cent of its workers in informal enterprise in 2011-12. Such high percentage of workers in this sector can be a reason for slow growth in output in this sector. This is reflected in various studies like that of Bairagya (2010); Naik, (2009); Narayana, (2006) which shows that there has been a deceleration in the employment growth rate in informal sector. Further, they are also studies which shows that growth rate in factor productivity is higher in formal as compared to informal manufacturing enterprises.

In this background, this paper tries to find out the differences in labour productivity growth between formal and informal manufacturing enterprises in India. This study uses data of 14 manufacturing sub-sectors from 1983-84 to 2011-12 to compare the labour productivity between formal and informal manufacturing units in India. This study is important in the present context when all efforts are put in to increase the share of manufacturing output in the economy, which is essential for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Analysis of head Load Labour market in Kerala: A Pilot Survey of calicut city

Shyba, m., Research Scholar in Economics, The Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kerala

The head load workers are the one of the important traditional workers in Kerala. The head load working sections are inevitable parts of trade and commercial establishments of Calicut. They constitute the informal category and they are known for its trade union strength in Kerala. The present paper analyses the demand and supply and wage fixation of the head load labour market in Calicut. Results show that workers are not promoted, the entry of new workers to the market due to the fear that their wages share will decrease and there is an inequality shown in the wages and benefits received among workers and that the wages of workers decreased with year of experience of workers.

informality and Labour market: interrelationship between Farmer collectives and market access: The case of

Farmer Producer companies in haryana

Priyambda Tripathi, Market Analytics and Impact, Aero City, New Delhi

The unorganized sector comprises 86% of the workforce. Most of these workers are engaged in agriculture and are mainly self-employed. The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report on the ‘Status of Education and Vocational Training in India’ also highlights the fact that more than half of the population directly or indirectly depends on agriculture for a living. Given the important contribution of agriculture in employment, the sector has not been given serious policy consideration. Reforms have been limited to non-agricultural sectors, and hence,


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have no impact on the rural population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood (Fan and Gulati 2008; Sen 1992). Even during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, growth rate of four per cent remained elusive. Host of structural factors like low resource base, regional imbalances in growth, declining public investment, inadequate provision of credit and lack of marketing infrastructure are the barriers facing the sector (Balakrishnan et al. 1991). One of the key issues is the inefficient marketing system of produce making farming unprofitable.

The irony of agriculture is the interlocking of markets with over pricing of inputs and underpricing of output, affecting price realization by farmers (Singh 2015). In a recent interview to Times of India, the Ex-Governor of RBI, Mr. Raghu Ram Rajan, while talking about India’s economic performance, emphasized the need for improving the quality of markets for farmers through reduction in gap between what farmer gets and what the end consumer pays. (Rajan. 2017). One of the key interventions highlighted in the Twelfth Five Year Plan working group reports is the organization of small farmers to enhance their collective bargaining power. Literature strongly supports organization of farmers (Stockbridge et al 2003). In India, Farmer Producer Company is an evolving model of farmer organization and hence not many studies have been conducted in this area. Most of the studies conducted are descriptive (Singh 2014; Reddy A and Cherukuri R 2014). While one of them focused on vertical integration through value chain framework. (Trebbin 2014) Organization research has largely focused on investor owned business with very few studies on organizational structure and functioning of member based organization of poor like cooperatives (Biswas 2013) from the point of view of members.

While organization of farmers is an effective way of galvanizing the strength of small farmers as owners of the enterprise and facilitates increased economies of scale, reduction of transaction and coordination cost, access to capital, improved income and increased bargaining power for farmers (Trebbin 2014). Apart from that, from the points highlighted emerging models like Farmer Producer Companies can become important means to provide livelihood to small and marginal farmers who form a chunk of self-employed workers in the labour market. This article looks into the interrelationship between small farmer collectives and markets in Haryana from an actor perspective.

different dimensions of migrant informal Workers: A case Study of cuttack city, Odisha

Suvendu Barik, Research Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

mirza Allim Baig, Associate Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

This paper has attempted to define the determinants of internal migration, employment patterns, various socio-economic conditions, income variations, living conditions and social security benefits, etc. The objectives of this paper are based on an in-depth household level primary survey, which was conducted in Cuttack city of Odisha through a multi stage stratified random sampling method. For the analysis to get a better and significant result, this study has


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used the factor analysis technique. The existing problems workers have faced like the social security problem, job uncertainty, no written job contract, even not eligible for paid leave, most have the specification of job contact by the means of ‘oral communication’ and for any ‘social security benefits’, 95 per cent are not eligible are the main findings of the study. It is important to notice that migrant people’s average income is higher than the non-migrants, and in case of non-migrants, the living conditions, sanitary facility, local unity and job security are somehow better for the non-migrants than the migrants. But in both cases (migrants and non-migrants) the ultimate sufferers are groups of informal workers in the labour markets. Thus, in this regard, the government should focus on their budgetary allocations for this sector - health, insurance, employment guaranty, etc, and more importance to MGNREGS to increase employment facility and to reduce rural-urban migration.

Settlements of the Un-sedentary

Nivedita Jayaram, Executive, Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau, Ahmedabad

Sangeeth Sugathan, Executive, Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau, Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is recognised as one of the fastest growing cities, not only in India, but also in the world. With a hectic industrial periphery containing chemical, pharmaceutical, garment, agro-based processing and textile factories of varying sizes, as well as incessant, city-wide construction driven by real estate and infrastructure development, Ahmedabad has secured a place as one of the growth engines of the country. Informal, seasonal migrant labourers are the invisible engineers of this production and expansion. There are approximately 1.3 million migrant workers in Ahmedabad, coming from the adjoining impoverished belts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, as well as Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In the city, they face poor terms and conditions of work, often holding informal, temporary and insecure jobs in unsafe workspaces. Without official count or identity, this large, floating community provides the type of flexible and cheap labour, stripped of rights or claims, which is needed to flourish the city’s economics of unequal agglomeration.

The vulnerabilities faced by these migrant workers are exacerbated by the poor state of their living arrangements in the city. These labour migrants are located on the margins of the city, spatially and in its imagination of itself. Earning less than a living wage, they are unable to afford rental housing even in the slum settlements of Ahmedabad. A large group of migrant workers live in open spaces, temporary shelters and ‘labour colonies’ near factory sites in sub-human conditions. Those living in rented rooms finds themselves in exploitative rental agreements without basic amenities. Another hidden segment lives inside factories and on construction sites, spaces that seem like the black holes of the city. In these sites, any notion of a minimum living condition or citizenship rights are rendered to a state of suspension.


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This paper argues that the abysmal living conditions of migrants in the city is an extension of the exploitation that they face in its informal labour market, which engages diverse means to relinquish responsibility towards, and shift the costs of production to the worker. These settlements therefore become another site of extraction and marginalization of the migrant community in the city.

Ahmedabad’s urban governance and planning is a web of overlapping and grandiose government initiatives such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’s Basic Services to the Urban Poor scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the Smart Cities mission. Loosely designed policy that focuses on the housing needs of the broad category of urban poor cannot be blindly reproduced for seasonal migrant labour. The limited public appetite that is available for any social justice agenda has been monopolized by slum upgrading efforts. Thus, the interests of seasonal, labour migrants, living outside of these officially recognized slums, have been entirely absent from this discourse.

Top-down action on housing for this large and floating population must take into consideration the complex web of informality, seasonality and mobility patterns characteristic of this group. This paper attempts to fill this gap and inform policy by bringing forth evidence from an ongoing-action research project facilitated by Aajeevika Bureau, a grassroots organisation, on the living conditions and experiences of labour migrants in Ahmedabad. In doing so, it throws light on the key factors that shape their living arrangements, including exclusionary policies with a sedentary bias, terms of employment, social networks and household’s financial goals. In addition, the project attempts to understand the layers of informal arrangements, rules and relationships that the migrants use to sustain themselves in these conditions. The project has been engaging with three cross-sections – construction sector workers living in open spaces/temporary shelters; labourers living on-site in garments factories; and those living in densely populated rented rooms controlled by local landlords and strongmen (mixed occupational group).

mGNREGS, Rural Labour and Rising Rural distress? Evidences from micro Level Analysis in West Bengal

dipanwita chakraborty, Ph.D Scholar, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Karnataka

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), is the largest Public Works Programme ever launched in India in response to the persistent poverty of the rural unorganized labour section. Since its inception, the review of literature suggests promising impact of MGNREGS on agricultural wages, family income of rural labour, rural indebtedness and rural-urban migration. However, for some time there are complaints of ‘delayed MGNREGS payment’ that is alleged to be limiting the extent its success in giving them a secured livelihood. The change in the Central Government was likely to improve the


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scenario. However, in reality situation deteriorates so much so that by mid-2016 Supreme Court intervenes in and orders the Union Government to get strict in following paragraph 29 of Schedule II of NREG Act or pay compensation at the rate of 0.05 per cent per day post the due date, to avoid undue negative repercussions. Keeping the above in mind, the paper strives to make micro-level analysis of the implication of MGNREGS delayed payment on the rural labour households, their employment pattern and livelihood. The survey of the above-mentioned study is conducted in the financial year of 2015-16 and three of the most backward agricultural districts of West Bengal (where MGNREGS was first launched i.e., in 2006) namely Birbhum, Bankura and Utter Dinajpur. The districts were purposively selected on the basis of MGNREGA work intensity (number of households demanding MGNREG works covered and number of man-days generated across the rural households) to permit comparative analysis among the district persistently excelling in terms of intensity of MGNREGS implementation (Birbhum); the district with moderate performance (Bankura) and the district displaying the poorest MGNREGS performance (Utter Dinajpur), for the period of three years at a stretch (2013-15). The sample size of MGNREGS participant households is 70 and the control group of non-participant rural labourers is 30 in each of study area so the total sample size adds up to 300 rural labour households. The results of the survey indicates that MGNREGS, when effectively implemented with timely payment, reduces out-migration by more than 30 per cent and make the rural labours forgo more than half of farm works and one-fourth of rural non-farm works. However, in the face of delay in MGNREGS wages to the extent of 4 to 5 months, MGNREGS is proving to be counter-productive in providing ‘social protection’ as the beneficiary households run into debt more than the non-participants provide. The most hit is the region where MGNREGS is successful in providing thickest density of protection (Birbhum). The borrowing due to MGNREGS there comprises 46 per cent of total amount of the annual household loans. As an aftermath, the rural labours are found to be unfortunately doubling their period of distressed migration to fight seasonal poverty.

Labour Bank Experiments in Kerala

Shihas Abdul Razak, Masters Student, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala

In the midst of rapid informalization of labour market throughout the globe, there are some initiations to formalize the same. Green Army in Wadakkanchery Block Panchayat from Trissur District and Labour Army in Kunnathukal Grama Panchayat from Thiruvananthapuram District are such initiations. This paper analyses these two labour bank experiments in Kerala, both tried to formalize the casual agricultural labours under decentralized planning in the state. IRRP Wadakkanchery and Kunnathukal Labour Army both have tried to address the problem of shortage of agricultural labour availability by bringing the willing workers under the supervision of respective Labour Banks. The problem of high wage rate in relation to the productivity has been dealt with in different ways in both Labour Banks. IRRP Wadakkanchery


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ensured a high wage rate for the workers and emphasized on increasing the productivity of the labour through providing the labours training and mechanization of most of the activities in cultivation as we have seen above. On the other hand, Kunnathukal Labour Army focused on making sure there is no shortage of labours faced by the farmers at cheap rate. They provided labour at a wage rate less than what they used to gett. Both experiments were almost the same in dealing with labour rather than relative wage rate differential. Now the interesting question is what were the Kunnathukal experiment’s flaws in paddy cultivation in the initial years and on the other hand, Wadakkanchery Green Army is working smoothly and showing great prospects. When we contrast both experiments, we can notice that the aims of both were same: to solve the crisis in paddy cultivation and solve labour shortage for agricultural work. Both Kunnathukal Labour Army and Wadakkanchery IRRP constituted Labour Banks and provided skilled labour but Green Army, the labour bank in Wadakkanchry was only a part of their more sophisticated and novel IRRP. The IRRP, through participatory planning and creating linkages between different institutions, focused on the overall economic viability of paddy cultivation. They have designed mechanisms to integrate all the financial resources available from all sources and to use them to achieve local goals more efficiently. The institutional setup of IRRP on one side focused on capacity building among labourers and making them more productive and at the same time, it gave similar importance to incentives for farmers and landowners to continue paddy cultivation. They have also given much emphasis on the production and marketing structure. All together, the IRRP project has approached the crisis in a broad and pervasive manner. Kunnathukal Labour Army, as same as Green Army Wadakkanchery, provided trained agricultural labourers and supervision. Labour Bank structure was almost same in both places, but at Kunnathukal, no attention was given to the production and marketing structure. In addition, the case of the farmers and land owners were not taken into consideration, as a result we can see that even when skilled labour was made available, farmers started giving up paddy cultivation and the Labour Army had been forced to take up other non-agricultural works. The availability of cheap labours only solved a section of problems faced by the farmers and it was not enough to sustain the paddy cultivation. This has serious policy implication, only providing skills to the labourers will not sustain any production activities and thus improve the welfare of labourers. The production activity should be economically viable and made sure it is running smoothly without any missing links in the markets. The two labour bank experiments from Kerala clearly show through formalizing the casual labour market, the welfare of labourers can be enhanced but focusing only labour side would not ensure its sustainability. We have seen the role of government and root level planning in these experiments. As the viable primary sector activity varies from place to place, decentralized planning is necessary. This paper recommends for finding suitable primary sector activity in each location through Panchayat bodies and to plan efficiently to enhance that particular activity through smoothening the market incentives to both producers and workers, which will result in development of both labour welfare and primary sector activity in the state. In addition, as there are calls for passing laws banning landowners from leaving


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their lands fallow, the Government should focus on motivating and incentivizing farmers and landowners to cultivate rather going for such laws. The IRRP Wadakkanchery project shows us economic incentives will bring back the farmers and landowners to cultivation.

Women and Workforce Participation

Neha chauhan, Assistant Director, Govt of India, New Delhi

One of the important debate in labour economics is the issue of the difference in structure of employment and productive pursuits of men and women. The employment and general roles of men and women in economic arena are turning out to gender determined. Even with same level of education, women are supposed to be less benefitted by their educational attainments in terms of employability because of their gender-determined roles in society and their impact on economic and social decision making from the side of both employees and job providers.

The study aims at analysing the effects of various exogenous variables including Gender on work force participation rate of working age population. Interplay of social and economic variables in workforce participation rate of women is the question I have tried to answer in this study. Workforce of an economy consists of all those economic agents who contributes towards the creation of National Product and includes all those employed in productive activities as well as seeking employment in a particular financial year. This definition in many economies fails to capture the gender wise distribution of workforce mainly because of social norms and non-favourable accounting rules. The United Nations System of National Accounts (UN-SNA) defines the production boundary of an economy and thereby determines what kind of market and nonmarket production of goods and services is included in the estimation of the gross domestic product or gross national income (UN 1993 2008).

The relationship between education and workforce participation of women not linear and unidimentional many studies have shown that these two variables exhibit a strong J shaped relationship. Workforce participation rates are high for illiterate women in both rural and urban area. As women engage themselves with educational attainment, their participation in workforce declines mainly upto middle school level. High Dropout rate of women again plays a significant role in improvement in workforce participation of women at this level. Female work participation again shows an improvement after matric and above educational level In fact, the female activity rates show two “educational thresholds” The first, beginning with matriculation and rising steeply through those with non-technical diplomas such as teaching and reaching the peak in the case of those with technical diplomas of less-than-graduate standard. With further increase in the level of education, participation rates reach a trough in the case of ordinary graduates. The second stage starts with relatively lower participation rates in the case of ordinary graduates and rises steeply with post-graduate, professional, and technical education, reaching the peak in the case of medical education. Further, urban and rural differences in female activity


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rates which are overwhelmingly high regarding illiterates, literates with some education, those with primary education and higher elementary education, are substantially narrowed down to a negligible level in the case of those with metric and higher level of education.

The present study is based on the National Sample Survey (NSSO) 68th round unit level data (Employment and Unemployment situation in India). Appropriate bivariate analyses have been taken into consideration along with a logistic regression model, which attempts to estimate the effects of selected background variables on the labour force participation of women. Three separate models have been computed for women’s who are in their working age (14-59 years). The marginal effects are calculated with respect to different age groups and income classes for female and male workers separately to analyse the effect of educational attainment on workforce participation of people in the working age. Interestingly educational attainment brings shows different results for the female and male workers. For Males educational attainment improves the chances of participation in labour force whereas, for females the relationaship is not unidirectional. The probability of educated unemployment is high for all workers irrespective of their gender.

The Influx of Contract based Employment in the Local Government: A descriptive Assessment of contract

Labour in municipalities in South Goa

K. Sangeeta, Assistant Professor, Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Goa

The heterogeneous labour market has attracted a worldwide debate on the treatment given to non-regular workers, especially the contract and casual labour. In India, the New Economic Policy of 1991 favored the concept of flexibility for the enterprise in labour employment. Similar to all India trends, the intensity of reliance on flexible workforce has been observed in the local government body of the state of Goa as well. This is a conceptual paper with a micro study on the contract labour employed in municipalities in Goa. The paper examines the trend of contract labour employment in the formal sector .The municipalities in the state of Goa have been selected as a foreground to get a glimpse of the outsourcing of stipulated work to labourers under a contract. With an ever-increasing reliance on contract labour, it becomes inevitable that we examine changes in the status of informal workers in the formal Dept. of the government. In this research, the analysis of the condition of contract labour has been restricted to the municipal bodies alone. The study concludes that the distribution of informal employment in the municipalities is very diverse. The treatment given to the workers under contract in this formal unit of the government is an exact replica of the situation in private industrial units. It reveals the bitter truth of lack of any job security, social protection and absence of other benefits faced by the workers under this informal structure of employment. Considering the fact that there is a strong preference of the principal employer towards this system of flexibility in labour employment, we need to design a strategy wherein the worker gets a better bargain, namely, a direct contract between the municipality and the worker without


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any mediation of any third outsider party. In fact, the municipality can setup an authorised panel to perform the role of contractor. A ready pool of trained workers is in contract with the enterprise and preference is given to these workers.

moving from Amma Kitchen to Yogi Adityanath’s Annapurna Bhojanalaya

deepti chandra, Assistant Professor, Institute of Public Enterprises, Osmania University, Hyderabad

‘Amma Unavagam’ is a food subsidization programme run by the Government of Tamil Nadu in India. Under the scheme, municipal corporations of the state run canteens serve subsidized food at very low prices. This restaurant chain was introduced as part of government schemes aimed at aiding economically disadvantaged sections of society. The scheme requires municipal corporations in the state to establish canteens at multiple places in cities and sell subsidized food. The first canteens were opened in several localities of Chennai, and later in other corporations of the state. The food is well prepared, hygienic and tasty. The all-women workforce is a pleasant change as the scheme has generated employment for thousands of women who cook, clean and serve. Moreover, the scheme has served the Late Ms Jayalalithaa and her party well too. However, it has been reported that corporations incur massive losses by offering food at very low rates. There was opposition to the appropriation of government funds to this scheme. Concerns were also raised about the effects subsidized canteens can have on small eateries, importantly that small business ventures may not be able to withstand competition from government subsidized low cost canteens on a long-term basis. The canteens have helped poor and lower middle-class families to slash their food bills massively. The concept of soup kitchens has always proved to be a positive aspect for the urban poor. The success of the scheme lies not only in the low prices, but also due to the cooperative management of all the outlets by the Self- Help Groups (SHGs), which have been able to run the canteens based on self-governing norms, mutual reciprocity and shared responsibilities of their job. Additionally, the scheme’s accomplishment in generating employment for poor slum dwelling women has an important implication for inclusive growth. During the previous year, National Food Security Act at last assured two of every three Indians subsidized food grains. Starvation due to the recent drought was in fact because of the prolonged delay in the implementation of the Act. However, there is slight gleam of hope as many state governments, completely taking initiatives on their own, have begun to serve cooked food at highly subsidized rates. Such a scheme helps control food inflation. It may directly contest malnutrition and hunger - core problems in India. It serves healthy and nutritious vegetarian food, which comprises wholesome meals at minimal cost. The scheme also makes sure the subsidy reaches straight to people it is intended for - especially women and children. However, corruption in such Government schemes cannot be overlooked. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a remarkable step for the residents of the State to provide subsidized food, as he is all set to


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initiate the ‘Annapurna Bhojnalaya’. An individual can get three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) by spending just Rs. 13. The government will incur Rs. 48 on it. Even if the CM manages to provide food for half the people who are going to bed on an empty stomach, he has won the battle against hunger.

Rural Non-Farm Sector Employment in developing and Urbanized Regions of maharashtra: Results from an Empirical Study

Shuchi misra, Research Associate, National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad, Telangana

Om Prakash Shukla, Principal, National Defence Academy, Pune

This study attempts to understand rural non-farm employment scenario in the developing and urbanized regions of the state. An empirical study of Kadam Wak Wasti village in Pune District in Maharashtra reveals that rural non-farm employment is dominated by rural men while rural women are engaged in the farm sector. Findings from primary data analysis are well supported by the literature and the available secondary data where casual rural non-farm employment is preferred over agricultural wage labour and the latter is opted out of economic compulsion in the developing and urbanised regions of the state. Urbanization and close proximity to an urban area have a positive impact on the growth of rural non-farm employment affirming that growth of rural non-farm employment in the developing and urbanised regions of the state is due to pull or growth induced factors.

Theme 2

MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICIES AND EMPLOYMENT

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KEYNOTE PAPER

Macroeconomic Policies for Full and Productive Employment

Sukti Dasgupta, Chief, Employment and Labour Markets Branch, ILO Office, Geneva

Full and productive employment is a development goal in its own right, including in the SDG 2030 agenda, and a cross-cutting objective that can help in the realization of other developmental goals. But experience over the past many years has shown that even during periods of economic growth, in the absence of policies that promote employment, this goal cannot be achieved. This paper presents the current trends in global unemployment and underemployment, which show signs of worsening in recent years. It also highlights emerging labour market challenges in emerging countries such as India. Realisation of the development goal of stable growth along with full and productive employment will therefore require concerted policy action, and it will need to be an objective of macroeconomic policy frameworks. In this context, the paper discusses the contours of a macroeconomic policy framework that promotes the full employment objective. It reviews in this context the various phases of policy frameworks that have dominated economics in the last century, in particular the struggle between two paradigms – the neoclassical and the Keynesian, and their variations – which yield rather different outcomes on the role of the state and the market in achieving stability in growth and employment. However, much of this literature is in the context of advanced countries and it is useful to examine the relevance of the full employment concept in developing countries, and the scope of macroeconomic policies, in conditions where the workforce is characterised by large shares in underemployment and informal employment. The paper then presents a pro-employment macroeconomic policy framework which sets full and productive employment as a policy objective, and a specific target, and uses monetary and fiscal instruments in a way that will lead to the achievement of the employment objective and target. It illustrates the relevance of such a framework with evidence and examples from developed and developing countries. It then goes on to examine the ‘resurgence’ of fiscal policy in western Europe, and in some emerging countries the last few years, the nature of this ‘resurgence’, and the effect this has had on youth unemployment and NEET (not in employment education or training) rates. However, the fiscal context and risks need to be understood better as there continues to be a high level of uncertainty surrounding the outlook, constraining the environment for operation and the risks associated with financialisation. The paper argues that policy coordination and coherence is critical. Monetary and fiscal policy tools need to work together. This ensures that there are sufficient domestic and external resources available to sustain the employment goal and provide the space for counter-cyclical policies. Altogether, they ensure that the economic environment is conducive to economic diversification, economic growth and sustainable creation of productive employment opportunities in the development context.

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THEMATIC SESSION

Fiscal Consolidation, Growth and Employment: International Evidence and Implications for India

Iyanatul Islam, Adjunct Professor, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University and Former Branch Chief, ILO, Geneva

The global financial crisis and the world-wide recession that followed from it struck the international community in 2007-2009, the overwhelming response was one of coordinated fiscal expansion among the systemically important countries to stave off the adverse impact on jobs and livelihoods. Yet, by 2010, there was a shift in favour of fiscal consolidation ushering a global ‘age of austerity’. Further, consolidations since 2010 was most marked in the Eurozone economies as well as in the UK. . Indeed, this move was endorsed in the June 2010 Toronto declaration of the G20 summit. The G20 leaders noted that ‘advanced economies have committed to fiscal plans that will at least halve deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016’. To be fair, the Toronto G20 Summit also highlighted the ‘risk that synchronized fiscal adjustment across several major economies could adversely impact the recovery’ and that attention should be given to ‘strengthen social safety nets’. Nevertheless, the 2010 G20 declaration was based on the optimistic premise that a global recovery was underway and that an ambitious agenda of ‘structural reforms’ cutting across both labour and product markets would lift global output significantly, create ‘tens of millions more jobs’, sustain poverty reduction and reduce global imbalances significantly. Subsequent G20 declarations have moved away from the endorsement of specific fiscal targets, but the emphasis on structural reforms has remained intact. Furthermore, a 2012 OECD paper claimed that ‘faster fiscal consolidation in OECD countries’ combined with structural reforms ‘…could boost annual GDP growth on average by 0.3 percentage points over the next 50 years’.

This paper revisits the issue of fiscal consolidation and its consequences from a growth and employment perspective. Some implications for India are drawn from this comparative exercise, especially in light of recent concerns over a growth slowdown. It covers the following issues: offering a brief definition and scope of fiscal consolidation. It then critically reviews the rationale for fiscal consolidation. It further discusses whether there are ‘tipping points’ in fiscal policy settings beyond which there is a sharp deceleration in growth. It provides some international evidence on the consequences of fiscal consolidation and complements this discussion by a review of the evidence on the impact of fiscal rules from the perspective of low and middle income economies. The paper critically reviews the proposition that fiscal consolidation ought to be supplemented by regulatory and structural reforms to enhance growth and employment prospects in developing countries. Finally, the paper concludes with some lessons learnt from the international evidence pertaining to fiscal consolidation. Implications for India are noted at an appropriate juncture.

Theme 2: Macro-Economic Policies and Employment

India lags behind even poorer South Asian neighbours, such as Bangladesh, in terms of key social indicators, notably life expectancy, malnutrition, and access to sanitation facilities. It faces a major challenge of provide productive and durable jobs for its burgeoning work-force. Adequate and sustainable financing of such critical development needs ought to be at the centre of any fiscal framework. ‘Responsible growth’ – which is the title of the FRBM Review Committee report – will be sound hollow if it cannot foster ‘inclusive growth’.

The “Missing Middle” Problem in Indian Manufacturing: What Role Do Institutions Play?

Kunal Sen, Professor, University of Manchester, UK

S. N. Rajesh Raj, Associate Professor, Sikkim University, Sikkim

A peculiar feature of the Indian manufacturing sector is the missing middle – the relative lack of firms in the mid-sizes of the firm distribution. We follow a novel approach in determining the key factors that explain the missing middle problem in Indian manufacturing. In this paper, we follow a novel approach in determining the key factors that explain why are there not enough mid-sized firms in Indian manufacturing. We use self-reported data by Indian firms on a variety of impediments they face that are drawn from the Enterprise Surveys conducted by the World Bank. The enterprise surveys are for both formal and informal firms, and we combine the data for formal and informal firms to obtain a pooled data-set that cover the continuum of firms in Indian manufacturing from the smallest to the largest firms.

While a large literature exists on how institutions affect firm performance in the global context there is limited understanding on the role of institutions in determining the lack of mid-sized firms in the Indian context. This omission is surprising as there is a great deal of interest in the policy community and in current government policy in easing the constraints to doing business in India. We find that the missing middle problem is an institutional problem, and less to do with infrastructure and finance constraints, and in particular to do with “predatory” institutions – the corruption that mid-sized firms face in their day to day interactions with the state.

Our results point towards the fact that the missing middle problem is an institutional problem, and less to do with infrastructure and finance constraints. The most important set of institutions are the ones that could be termed “predatory” institutions – the corruption that mid- sized firms face in their day to day interactions with the state. While the current policy approach to the manufacturing sector is to improve the ease of doing business which is to do with reforming regulatory institutions, our findings suggest that such reforms in themselves are not enough to solve the missing middle problem and that more attention needs to be given to discipline lower level bureaucrats who engage in petty corruption and to make government procedures more transparent and accountable so that there is less scope for corruption.

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Macroeconomic Policy and Employment: A Development Perspective

Rizwanul Islam, Former Special Adviser, Employment Sector, International Labour Office, Geneva

The interaction between macroeconomic policies and employment is a relatively less explored area of research, especially in the context of developing countries. One reason for this is perhaps the perception about the role of such policies. In the conventional framework of macroeconomic policies, their primary role is to ensure macroeconomic stability of an economy which, in turn, should ensure economic growth and employment. However, practical experience shows that neither of these links – that is, between stability and growth and between growth and employment – is automatic. While stability is essential for growth, it does not ensure that growth will follow. There are studies providing evidence-based analysis of this relationship and arguing that it is more complex than is assumed. Likewise, the relationship between economic growth and employment is also not invariant; similar growth may be associated with different results in terms of employment (Islam, 2006, Khan, 2007). One of the reasons for such differences may be the pattern of growth which in turn is influenced by macroeconomic and sectoral policies. Hence it is important to understand the limitations of the conventional framework of macroeconomic policies in the context of the objective of growth and employment and the challenge of gearing such policies towards these goals. The basic purpose of the present paper is to address these issues in the context of developing countries.

If macroeconomic policies were to pursue the objective of employment, an important question would be how this objective is to be articulated in the context of developing countries where open unemployment is not usually an appropriate indicator of the state of the labour market in the same way as it is in developed countries. This question would open a broader issue of how “full employment” could be defined and what could be its indicators. While addressing this question would take one beyond the scope of the present paper, it is important that alternative indicators are identified for use in policy making at the country level. Of course, it is not essential that macroeconomic policies be mandated to attain some designated employment target(s). But effort should be made to integrate analysis of the employment and labour market situation in the process of formulating macroeconomic policies.

In India, there have been policies to provide subsidy on capital investment and interest rate with a view to boosting investment in industries[1]. In such situations, monetary policy may not be conducive to employment growth – unless the overall impact on employment via output growth outweighs the negative employment effects of changes in technology and sector composition.

As for fiscal policy, since a mix of different instruments (e.g., tax rates, and government expenditures)are available, from the point of view of growth and employment, the choice should depend on the size of the fiscal multiplier – i.e., the impact of a unit of tax reduction or additional expenditure on aggregated demand and hence on growth and employment. For countries of South Asia, not much is known about the relative size of these multipliers. However,


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if the experiences of countries like USA and China are any guide, it can be hypothesized that public expenditures (especially on infrastructure) should have a greater impact on employment compared to tax reduction.

ILO (2009) provides examples of subsidies provided (in normal times), especially at the state level, through a variety of schemes like capital investment subsidy, subsidy on interest rate, and credit-linked capital subsidy for technology upgrading of small scale industries. Some of these measures may have ostensibly been conceived as instruments for encouraging investment and growth; but an indirect effect of such measures has been to distort the relative prices of the factors of production.

Trade and Employment in Bangladesh

Selim Raihan, Executive Director, South Asia Network on Economic Modeling, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh has, by now, liberalized its economy considerably; during the 1990s, in particular, the pace of liberalization was very rapid. The liberalization measured contributed to reducing policy-induced anti-export bias at a moderate level. More liberalization and rationalization of the tariff regime could be another way of further reducing the anti-export bias. However, the evidence provided in this study calls for undertaking a more careful approach to future liberalization. Although liberalization should encompass many factors affecting trade and business practices, in Bangladesh overwhelming attention has been given to trade-related instruments. In fact, policy makers are so inclined towards measures related to tariffs and quantitative restrictions that most of the time reform measures are used interchangeably with trade liberalization measures. Reform of institutions has largely been overlooked. Embarking on such trade reforms as tariff cuts and elimination of quantitative restrictions is relatively easy. However, significant growth-enhancing effects perhaps require reforms in other difficult areas. In this regard, there are suggestions that institutional reforms should be considered the key to Bangladesh’s growth-supporting strategy. Perhaps it is high time for trade policy reform to be considered as institutional reform. There is no denying the need for further liberalization and the removal of anti-export bias. However, this will have to be supported by other, more difficult reform measures. It is understood that, since the 1990s, Bangladesh has embarked on a fast-paced tariff reform program, and that it may not be possible to continue further liberalization at a comparable rate. Nevertheless, it would be unwise to reverse the process of liberalization and, thus, the progress achieved in that decade. Finally, the estimated labor demand functions in the context of the manufacturing industries and CGE simulations suggest that, in general, trade liberalization in Bangladesh has generated employment in the major export-oriented industries, especially in the readymade garment industries, whereas major import-substituting industries have suffered. However, for most of the sectors, there are insignificant associations between trade liberalization and employment generation.

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TECHNICAl SESSION 2.1

Macroeconomics Policies and Employment Patterns in Nepal

Dillip Raj Khanal, Professor and Chairman, Institute of Policy Research and Development, Nepal

Until recently, economic stabilization centric pro-cyclical macroeconomic policy popularized since the early 1970s was predominant globally. But deepening productive and decent employment problem in recent years added by increased long term growth challenges have increasingly raised questions on the efficacy of such stabilization centric policy discourse. Many country experiences show that policy features, their directions and country specific contexts are critically important for sustained high growth and employment generation simultaneously. In such a background, the paper at first reviews both theoretical and empirical developments in the macroeconomic policy front recently taking employment dimension into special account. Thereafter, it reviews the overall macroeconomic policy direction of Nepal in general and features of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies in particular. Major feature of the paper is that it assesses the level and pattern of employment in Nepal more thoroughly in the light of likely ramification of major macroeconomic policies on the employment front. At the end, paper is devoted to identify the major lapses of the macroeconomic policies and draw important lessons for the future.

Economic Growth and Employment: An HD-based Approach

Sarthi Acharya, Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

This paper is not a prescription of what the current macroeconomic policies should be for promoting jobs. It rests on the premise that with increasing redundancy of unskilled-type work and financial globalisation in today’s world, the path to economic development/growth must have close synergies with greater human skill formation and inclusion. The paper is an attempt to put forth an approach to macro planning for employment and human capital augmentation, following from the Human Development (HD) paradigm, and under the credence that employment and human capital are integral components of HD. The empirical basis of the research draws upon the development experiences of different (developing and recently developed) Asian countries, and based on these experiences, it puts forth an HD-based model of development, wherein the three vertices (in the paper) with centrality on employment and human capital—assume supremacy.

Despite H.D. being recognised as a holistic paradigm for at least a quarter century, many among mainstream planners still perceive it to be merely a welfare-enhancing notion, and that rapid economic growth would provide the necessary resources for the social sectors for creating an educated, healthy and just society. Similarly, employment is treated as consequent


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to rapid growth and not a prime driver of growth despite that with the emergence of ‘financial capital-based globalisation’ has radically altered the relationship between employment and economic growth.

The HD paradigm, which we argue for, however, suggests that economic development must stem from people at large—their ingenuity and hard work—to create value and help the society enjoy the distribution gains from development. This is also termed as “inclusive” development. The HD paradigm further states that for workers to create value they have to be adequately nourished, educated and healthy for them to be able to perform at least the “basic functionings” in Amartya Sen’s sense, making a case for investing in people as a precondition for the economy to rapidly grow. There is sufficient literature from East Asian countries in the recent years to support this point. The essence of the argument is that for economic growth to happen and sustain, human capital and other measures to improve people’s empowerment are paramount. Contemporary literature on development also notes that economic growth cannot be sustained without people’s inclusion as seen from the works of Sen, Amsden, Osmani, and Nell – established scholars of Human Development.

Unlike conventional understanding, the HD paradigm goes further than just to invest in health and education. Much of Asia was/is labour surplus; hence, a key policy implication stemming from HD-based concepts is to make optimal use of the labour in the growth process, until the time when labour from the low-productivity sectors (notably, the agrarian sectors and other traditional activities in informal sectors) is redeployed elsewhere where that can get decent jobs and remunerations. This does not automatically happen; the HD paradigm requires this to be carefully planned and executed.

Economic growth, human capital formation and decent job creation (the last vertex also implying poverty reduction and income-generation among the larger populace) form the three vertices of sustainable and equitable development.

The capabilities approach (part of the HD paradigm, associated with the works of AK Sen and Martha Nussbaum), however, tends to remain somewhat ambiguous concerning its approach to macroeconomic strategy, policy and planning. In the past, this ambiguity was a reason why much rhetoric on HD could be grafted on to the policies advocated by some multilateral development agencies (e.g. the World Bank espousing human capital-based approaches and calling them HD). What we attempt to do is to draw implications for macro-economic strategy and policy based on the capabilities approach.

Structural Transformation and Inclusive Growth in India

N R Bhanumurthy, Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi

India has been one of the fastest growing economies with growth averaging to about 6.5 per cent in the post-2008 period. As the structure of the economy is dominated by the services sector, large part of the growth in this period was contributed by services sector as well as the

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government sector through fiscal expansions. However, most of the growth that India has achieved is termed as ‘jobless’ as high growth has not generated enough jobs. One of the main reasons for such discrepancy between growth and employment is the over reliance on services sector. To overcome this, there is a need for structural transformation of the economies from services oriented to a balanced growth that ensures expansion in the commodity producing sectors that have higher labour intensity than services. As it happened in many countries that are rich at present (Europe and North America), the structural transformation has resulted in expansion of high productive sectors at the cost of low productive sectors and could achieve macroeconomic stability through absorbing additional labour force in productive sectors. However, all structural transformations need not be growth and employment enhancing. Episodes in Africa and Latin America found that structural transformation has been growth retarding.

With this background, in this study, an attempt has been made to understand the possibility of introducing structural transformation policies in India. A simple analytical framework is developed through which possible public policy options may be suggested. Most importantly, as the outcomes of such policies are understood only in the long term, some ex ante analysis, although indicative, is undertaken to evaluate the possible outcomes of structural policies over a period upto 2030 and compared with the business-as-usual case. This will also be consistent with the SDG framework who’s goal is expected to enhance productivity. The analysis carried out is indicative and is largely exploratory.

Macro-Economic Policies and Employment in Developing Countries

Biswajit Chatterjee, Retired Professor of Economics, Jadavpur University, West Bengal

The primary focus of John Maynard Keynes’s classic book General Theory was ‘employment’ – it is well known that revolution in economic theory that occurred in the 1930s was motivated by the failure of the orthodox economic theory to explain the falling employment for a prolonged period that engulfed the capitalist world during that time. Macroeconomics as a separate sub-discipline of economics was born and the design of macroeconomic policies was geared to the promotion of economic growth, stabilization and employment generation at the national levels, with suitable modifications to tackle cross-country influences. Following the 1997 Asian crisis, macroeconomic policy designs entered a new juncture. Often termed “the post-Washington Consensus” (Rodrik 2006), the new understanding was based on factors such as institutional governance, social capital, and importance of credibility in fiscal and monetary policy. This new policy twist led to a broad consensus of great moderation with inflation targeting central banking, fiscal discipline, fully flexible and freely floating exchange rates, open capital accounts, and, along with privatization and increased scope for reduced regulation of the labor market. At the 99th session of the International Labour Conference, constituents endorsed the need to promote a ‘pro-employment’ macroeconomic framework. It was recognised that macroeconomic stability is necessary, but by no means sufficient to ensure inclusive, job-rich


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growth. It was felt that the current framework, while making an important contribution to the goal of macroeconomic stability, paid insufficient attention to the employment creation and poverty reduction, particularly in the developing world.

In the developing segments of the world economy, generation of employment is crucially linked with the maintenance of a sufficiently high level of aggregate effective demand in the short run, and the acceleration in the growth rate of the economy in the medium to long run. But this is not enough; such growth promotion strategies of macroeconomic policies must also ensure that the benefits of growth are fairly distributed and decent employment is generated in different sectors of the economy so that the development programmes become inclusive and sustainable. Greater inclusiveness depends on the distribution of income, employment creation, and its gender dimensions, among other factors. We need to reflect on the macroeconomic analysis which links growth, income distribution, and employment in the context of a labour-abundant developing country like India. In what follows, we shall be drawing on the threads of macroeconomic theories of conventional and structuralist models and linking them to the choices faced by the Indian policymakers to tackle the problem of growing unemployment in the Indian Economy.

Neo-liberal Macroeconomic Policy and its Impact on Employment and livelihood: An Evaluative Approach

Surinder Kumar, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, UP

Shivakar Tiwari, Research Assistant, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, UP

Growth with equity and stability has been one of the key goals of macroeconomic policy. For developing countries, in the process of attaining and sustaining higher GDP growth and ensuring sustainable & equitable distribution is a challenging task. In order to ensure it, employment generation in the growth process is of key importance. In this context, the paper attempts to examine the state of employment generation and livelihood in the present phase of the neo-liberal regime as compared to earlier decades of planned economic development in India. Hypotheses being examined are: (i) In the period of market-oriented reforms, given the inequitable distribution, reliance on market forces implicitly ignores the equity and distributive justice which leads to further widening of gap between the rich and the poor; (ii) Unequal distribution of personal income induces market demand structure which distorts the production structure of the economy in favour of luxury goods than essential goods and services which the poor people need and will demand if purchasing power is ensured to them for a decent life, the ‘Mall culture’. It has been generally argued that we need to generate employment; but question is, employment for whom? We need to generate employment for the unemployed poor people as a first priority with a dual purpose: employment will redistribute purchasing power and also generate demand for goods and services which are produced by

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less capital and more labour intensive methods and for the poor people which are the national priority. Such demand structure not only eradicates hunger and poverty from the country but is more viable for a long period of time as saturation of demand will have much longer span than the increased market demand by the rich people. With awareness programmes like ‘nature has sufficient natural resources to meet the needs of humanity but not their greed’ and discourage extreme consumer culture, we can achieve much higher human development index. Broadly, as the analysis shows, in this period it can be asserted that economic growth has relatively improved, however, regarding its sustainability, still, there is much debate given the huge negligence of demand side factor as well as rising unemployment and underemployment. On an average, growth level has been higher but it is much below the potential of the nation as there has been a huge and increasing share of the unemployed labour force in the economy whose productive utilisation can itself lead to addition in economic growth and demand. Further, even though growth has improved but emerging structure of income and distribution of workforce reflects that it is not very conducive for insurance of equitable distribution of resource generated. The shares of the services sector in income has increased with a huge share of the workforce still in agriculture sector whose productivity is declining.

In the post-reform period, growth achieved has remained by and large jobless. The growth in employment during the period 1993-94 and 2011-12 has been just around 1.3 per cent against long-term growth of workforce of around 2 per cent between 1972-73 and 2011-12. In the latest period between 2004-05 and 2011-12 which also marked the phase of higher growth of average 8 per cent, the growth in employment has been around 0.5 per cent p.a. Further, during 2004-05 and 2011-12, it may be appreciated that share of workers dependent on agriculture and allied activities has declined to below 50 per cent. However, the equal share has increased in construction sector and other low-productivity services sector. Even in construction sector employment increases are mostly casual in nature, thus leading to casualisation of jobs. Also, the failure of gainful employment generation is leading to the exit of females from labour market and their participation has been declining which cannot be fully explained by their increasing share in education.

Thus there have been certain lapses in macroeconomic policy pursued in this period leading to this situation of despair in the nation. One of the factors is the complete neglect of agriculture where investment has been declining consistently. This has affected the demand which is discouraging for investment and lesser employment generation. The solution for reviving employment and improvement in livelihood as well as aggregate demand as pointed out by Patnaik (2008) lies in the revival of agriculture production and expansionary fiscal policy with a focus on rural development. The current strategy will only exaggerate the problem.


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Outward FDI, Cross-Border M&As and Home-country Employment: Indian Evidence

Beena Pl, Associate Professor, Centre For Development Studies, Trivandrum

Although India has been engaging with OFDI activities much before 1990s, this trend has become more significant since 2000. Overseas expansion by Indian firms has also occurred in the form of CBM&As especially after 2000. The new agreements on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) under WTO and the new industrial policies adopted by the Government of India since the early 1990s, macroeconomic policy changes initiated especially after 2000 must have facilitated such overseas acquisitions. Various studies exist in the literature related to the determinants of India’s outward FDI (Lall S,1983;Lall RB,1986, Morris,1991; Nayyar,2006; UNCTAD, 2004; Gopinath,2007; Pradhan, 2008; Kumar 2008;Kumar and Alka,2009; Pradhan and Sauvant, 2010;Hattari and Rajan,2010; Khan 2012 and Beena, 2014). Literature argues that such acquisitions could be for improving corporate global competitiveness by pursuing related diversification and by integrating affiliates into global production networks, to move up in their production value chain and secure international technology and brand names.

Given this context, this study aims at analysing the trends, determinants and developmental implications of outward FDI through CBM&As. The characteristics of these Indian overseas acquiring firms in terms of various developmental indicators such as output, value addition, exports, R&D expenditure and employment has been further analysed. The study made use of the data that originates from various sources such as Venture Intelligence Data base, PROWESS database published by CMIE, World Investment Report, World Development Indicators; Global Governance Report and Global Competitiveness Report. According to our exploratory analysis, the study noted that almost 50 per cent of OFDI through CBM&As is attracted by US and UK. This is in contrast with the overall OFDI pattern observed based on RBI data. According to RBI data base, 50 per cent of OFDI is mainly attracted by Mauritius, Singapore and Netherlands. Majority of such investments are made in the manufacturing and service sector especially IT and enabled services. Export intensity of Indian overseas acquiring firms is relatively higher than import intensity of the corresponding firms. Firms that are investing abroad through CBM&As is preferring to invest more on in-house R&D and the intensity of technology purchases of those firms have declined significantly. Employment of Indian acquiring industries grew much better than their counterparts.

Our econometric exercise on the factors determining OFDI through CBM&As for the period 2004 to 2016 failed to find any empirical evidence to validate the hypothesis developed by Ownership-Location and Internationalisation (OLI) theory (Dunning, 1979; 1988) related to the market seeking motivations. Similar observation made by Amighini, Rabellotti and Sanfilippo (2011) in the context of Chinese OFDI. This study found inverse association between market size and Chinese OFDI in service sector and resource sector. However the

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association was positive in the case of Chinese OFDI in manufacturing sector. It should be further noted that major share of OFDI or OFDI through CBM&As from Chinese firms took place in Asian countries (Wang, 2009). According to our study, strategic assets such as technologies in the host countries were found to be the major determinants of Indian outward FDI through CBM&As. The study further argues that Indian firms must have invested abroad through CBM&As in order to support their export activities. And such association is complementary rather than a substitute for exports. High external cost due to the depreciation of Indian currency against dollar would have given enough incentives for Indian firms to engage such OFDI in those host countries. To speak of control variables in the home country i.e., India, ownership-specific advantages developed by the firms through inward FDI have played a significant role in facilitating such deals. Strong political stability which is measured in terms of rule of law of the host countries could have facilitated such deals in spite of having weak institutional set up. Institutional set up of India must have played a significant role in facilitating such deals.

Fumbling Schemes of Skill Development in India

Siddhartha K. Rastogi, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management, MP

Kajari Mukherjee, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management, MP

India’s demographic dividend has been a matter of anticipation, aspirations, and ridicule, all at the same time. The government of India has been trying hard for over a decade now to enhance the skill level of this demographic bulge. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate all such attempts critically. After taking stock of the skill situation of India, the paper asserts that skilling initiatives in India have more to do with the number of people trained rather than quality and relevance of training. The paper cites relevant data to prove that vocational skilling initiatives have failed to meet the objectives. The scope of this paper is limited to skill creation for wage employment.

Trade liberalisation, Capital Intensive Export and Informalisation: A Case study of India’s Manufacturing Export

Sonal Dsouza, Ph.D Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Panchendra Naik, Ph.D Scholar, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

The regime change in the production structure from Fordist to post-Fordist has effectively changed the composition of exports and production. Fordist mode of production was one in which there was a large scale production of standardised goods. A social contract existed between the producer and the labour and this was able to strike a balance between production and consumption of goods. The labour had the ability to bargain with the capital and hence was able to bring about minimum work and wage standard (Roy 2014).


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With the advent of the post-Fordist regime mode of production, the bargaining ability of labour however reduced. The production processes became fragmented where process at the higher echelons of the value chain worked under the oligopolistic condition and at the lower end, competitive conditions prevailed (Milberg 2004; Milberg and Deborah 2013). Inevitably, capital intensive or high technology intensive exporting countries controlled the production process with high-value addition, and the labour surplus countries came at the lower end of the process. The countries with labour surplus started competing to be the suppliers to the production network. Nonetheless, some other factors mattered while placing each of the countries in the global production network. The labour surplus countries which created institutions to discipline capital at an earlier period found their way up in the value chain (Amsden 2001).

The countries like India, which opened up its economy to the global capital in the late twentieth century, were stuck in a condition where their competitiveness was based on cheap labour. Through flexible employment contracts and reduction of labour in the formal sector, the labour cheapening took place. Thus, we see a growth of the informal sector which uses the flexible machines and lowers the cost of production. The remarkable shift in manufacturing export basket towards technological and skilled intensive goods, certainly, does not entail the rhetoric that India has become more innovative. The production structure shows that instead, India allowed “creative destruction” of the Schumpeterian kind there exists a condition where the ‘obsolete’ technology is used to take advantage of the cheap labour. Thus, informalisation does not mean that the value addition in this sector has increased, but it is more of a “survival strategy of self-exploitative fragmentation” (Roy 2008: 19).

The Indian condition is peculiar in the sense that the formal sector is moving toward high capital intensive production along with higher employment in the informal sector. This hints towards an interlinkage between the formal and informal sector which does not encourage the greater value addition in the informal sector. The output, however, comes from the informal sector whereas the value addition is done in the formal which the return to factor goes in the form of profit. The contraction of employment in formal sector and the consequent shift of employment in informal sector provide compelling evidence of global production structure, where, for a country like India, remaining “competitive” could only mean “racing to bottom” by further depriving its vulnerable proletarians.

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Impact of Firm’s Income Tax Reduction on Employment: Identification through the Corporate Income Tax Reform in China

Abhinav Alakshendra, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, U.S.A

Sixia Chen, Associate Professor, School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China

Ziming li, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, U.S.A.

Shengfeng lu, Associate Professor, School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, China

China’s Corporate Income Tax (CIT) reform of 2008 radically changed the tax structure for domestic and foreign investment enterprises. Before 2008, the corporate income tax rate for domestic enterprises (DEs) were higher than the rate for foreign investment enterprises (FIEs). This study evaluates the impact of corporate income tax reduction for domestic enterprises on employment through a Difference-in-Difference analysis. We use Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database (CIED) from China National Bureau of Statistics for the analysis. The data from CIED is a longitudinal firm-level data having more than a million observations (1,029,666 observations) collected between 2005-2009 from the nine coastal provinces of China.

We find that corporate income tax reduction significantly boosted employment in China regardless of firms’ scale and ownership. Both capital-intensive and labor-intensive firms contributed positively to overall employment. In particular, 1) the employment effect of tax reduction was more obvious for the enterprises having sales revenue higher than 300 million yuan; 2) the overall impact of non-state-owned enterprises were significantly higher than state owned enterprises; and 3) the impact on labor-intensive enterprises was larger than on capital-intensive ones. For the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of tax reduction in facilitating employment in China, we further take into account the uncertainties in the tax incidences in labor market induced by the CIT reform. However, we identify limited impact of tax reduction on the wage growth. The limited impact on the wage growth further solidifies the strength of our estimation as there are no potential impact on employment due the wage effect. There is no doubt that the CIT reform has boosted overall employment in China, however we find no or very little evidence of wage growth which is must for the sustainable economic growth. This study provides new evidences regarding the effectiveness of corporate income tax reduction in facilitating employment in China and to some extent in other developing countries.

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From Garden to Tea Pot’: The Political Economy of Women’s Work in the Tea Plantations of North Bengal

Priyanka Dutta, Research Advisor, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Karnataka

This paper critically examines the multiple ways in which the policies and strategic actions of the planters’ lobby, transnational corporations, labour unions and international organizations, often backed by a strictly rigid patriarchal state, have worked together in defining a marginalized position for women workers in the context of tea plantation economies of North Bengal, both in the colonial period as well as the current phase of global expansion. While examining this link between the ‘local’ everyday experiences of women tea plantation workers of North Bengal with the broader ‘global’ issues from a gender perspective using the global ethnographic approach, as propounded by Michael Burawoy (2001), an attempt has been made to analyze and find out some of the plausible reasons underlying the marginalization of women plantation workers of North Bengal. A brief review of the role of different actors is made to provide a contextual background for a better understanding of the issues related to women’s work in India, in general and also to serve as a backdrop to better comprehend the rationale underlying the various macro-economic policies and legislations that tend to influence the lives of women workers, including that of the women workers in the tea plantations of North Bengal. The findings show that since the colonial period, the women’s organisations in India were more concerned with issues like women’s education, legal rights, franchise, and of late, with violence against them, much to the neglect of their livelihood and employment related issues. Similarly, the trade unions in India since its inception in 1926 have also neglected the interests of women workers either by portraying them as ‘docile’ and thereby labeling them as those who exert a restraining influence on the militancy of labour movements or by playing an active role in eliminating and hindering their recruitment. It is also found that historically the relationship between the state and women’s livelihood issues in India has been a dubious and complex one, with many facets and nuances. It is complex in the sense that on one hand, the state at times projects itself as ‘protector’ of the interests of women workers by considering them as ‘special’ category of workers, and on the other, the same state under the influence of dominant capitalist lobbies or international organizations, has time and again, acted against the interests of women workers, either subtly or in very harsh ways. Moreover, it has been found that in the nationalist discourse also there existed a negative image of working class women, who were envisioned by the nationalist leaders as ‘unproductive’ and ‘immoral’. An examination of the legal and regulatory interventions pertaining to labour recruitment and in the tea plantations of North-East India, initiated by the colonial British administrators, either under the influence of the powerful ‘tea lobby’ or the ‘local elites’ reveal that these interventions had critically affected the lives of women workers by undermining their interests in multifarious ways. It is

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interesting to note that from time to time, the shifts that took place in the ideologies of the state and the planters’ lobby towards women’s work in tea plantations, were most often aligned to the broader shifts in the production processes and the needs of the capital, rather than being responsive towards the needs of the women workers. The analysis made in this paper also brings out that the current devastation in the lives of the working force, especially of the women tea pluckers in various tea plantations across North Bengal in the form of starvation deaths and closure of plantations, can be traced to the neo-liberal policies of international food conglomerates. It reveals that the struggles between factions of international, national and local capital, in terms of controlling the supply chain, mergers and acquisitions etc. culminate in finally producing a devastating effect on labouring class, especially women workers.

Minimum Wages in India: An Analysis of Policy Practice and Implementation Gap with Reference to Agriculture Minimum

Wages and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)

Biju Varkkey, Faculty, Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad , Gujarat

Rupa Korde, Faculty, Economics Area, FLAME University, Maharashtra

Sunny Wadhwaniya, Research Associate, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

India was one of the first amongst the developing countries to introduce Minimum Wage Law (henceforth, MWL). The MWL has been a subject of debate and has received criticism from social, political and legal perspectives due to its complicated structure and multiple MW rates depending on regions, occupations and qualifications. Although MWL in India has benefitted the informal sector to an extent. It’s complicated structure has also created challenges with respect to fixation, enforcement, implementation and coverage. Therefore, there is a general demand among the policy makers, academicians to improve the coherence of the system.

In this context, the paper essentially looks into two major issues: 1. Though MWL requires wages to be revised every five years, this rarely happens. Such an arrangement has led to laziness and unaccountability on the part of State Labour Dept.s. The paper examines this issue with a prime focus on Agricultural wages; 2. Another major concern is with reference to India’s largest demand based, wage employment guarantee scheme introduced to provide social security in the informal sector - The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which became effective from February 2006. The major issue with this scheme is regarding the payment of wages to the daily wage labourers. It is found that the wages paid under this scheme are less than the statutory MW agriculture wages in 15 states (viz. Karnataka, Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and others). Therefore, this scheme has always been in the centre of controversies as it violates and undermines the MW Act, 1948. The paper looks into this discrepancy of wages between


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MGNREGS and State wages. For this purpose, we use multiple data sources like Paycheck India database, WageIndicator foundation database, NSSO, and Labour Bureau.

Further, the paper also seeks to analyse the overall effect of The Code on Wages Bill, 2017 on MW. As a part of Labour law reform, The Code on Wages Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha in August 2017 which empowers the centre to set uniform minimum wages across all the sector of the economy.

Development Sans Structural Transformation: A Study of Tamil Nadu

Nelson Mandelas, PhD Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad, Telangana

The development economics literature associates improvements in development indicator to the structural transformation of the economy. From the analyses of data from NSSO Employment and Unemployment Survey and data on Net State Domestic Product, it can be observed that the share of agricultural employment in total employment declined from 53 per cent to 42.5 per cent between the years 1993-94 and 2004-05, and increased thereafter to 43.1 per cent in 2009-10. The proportionate share of agriculture to NSDP reduced from 24.1 per cent in 1993-94 to a mere 8.9 per cent in 2009-10. Despite the widening structural gap and rising productivity differentials between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors, various development indicators in Tamil Nadu seem to have improved.

The survey of the literature on various village level studies suggest that the welfare provisioning of the State such as, the provisioning of rice and other food items through Public Distribution System (PDS), well-functioning health care system, government school which provide free education along with the mid-day meal, and a variety of schemes like the MGNREGS, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers-Farmers (Social Security and Welfare) Scheme, Self-help Groups to access credit, etc. have improved the living conditions of the rural poor which reflected in the improvement of various development indicators. The analysis of the NSSO data on Consumer Expenditure has shown that the improvement in the relative position of the agricultural workers in the second period resulted in the decline in rural inequality.

Another defining feature of the rural economy in Tamil Nadu is the diversification of employment of the agricultural labour households. Though there is diversification across classes, the fact that the agricultural labour households, who are at the bottom of the rural society in terms of income distribution and other social oppressions, could diversify assumes significance in the distributional dynamics of the rural Tamil Nadu.

Overall, this paper attempts to offer a narrative of how and why this could have happened in Tamil Nadu. It argues that the substantial role of the State in the reproduction of rural households, the increasing diversification of rural employment, and the consequent changes in the class dynamics of rural Tamil Nadu explain the developmental outcomes.

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Constraints in Macroeconomic Policies in Raising Employment

Mudaser Bhat, Research Scholar, Central University of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir

Binish Qadri, Research scholar, Central University of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir

Economic growth, in the world or in a particular region or country, depends to a large extent on the nature and quality of economic policy (Collier and Dollar, 2001). Better the environment to save and invest in the developing world, better is the growth performance. The IMF (2000) also claims that where sound macroeconomic policies have been sustained, they have raised their growth. Economic growth creates job opportunities and hence stronger demand for labour. In turn, increasing employment opportunities has been crucial in delivering higher growth. Macroeconomic factors such as low inflation, export orientation and low labour taxes help to determine how much employment is created by growth. The relationship between growth and employment is strong and positive which gets enlightened when all macroeconomic policies work in harmony.

The status of the economy at the time of independence was in peril due to the residual effects of anti-Indian policies of the British Government. The country was engulfed by vicious circle of poverty and to break this vicious circle Government of India planned in a focused way. The emphasis shifted from agriculture to industry. Also, an emphasis was laid on increasing role of the state to generate employment and reduce poverty by appropriate macroeconomic policies. However, little was achieved till 1990’s. So the path to long-run economic growth was ensured by introducing New Economic Policy in 1991, which aimed at reducing fiscal deficits, lowering inflation, maintaining exchange rate stability, etc. One thing that was obvious was that under the New Economic Policy, the public sector has a diminished role and will be largely limited to social sectors and non-profit making activities unattractive to the private sector. These policy changes affected macroeconomic policies of the government. Despite these policy changes brought under the NEP, one feature that still remains an important feature of macroeconomic policies in India is that macroeconomic policies continue to act more as the control devices rather than as development tools. As a result macroeconomic policies fail to generate additional employment. There are various constraints in macroeconomic policies which refrain them to act as development tools and thereby increase unemployment levels in underdeveloped economies of the world. The present paper attempts to highlight such constraints and suggest remedial measures. The concern of the study is to understand the contemporaneous growth trajectory as witnessed by India. Now, the problem that the paper tries to highlight here also remains a commonality among the developing countries, that is, consistent average rates of economic growth without generating adequate ‘decent work’ opportunities. This also had been widely noted within the available literature using Census and NSSO data sets. Drawing from these discussions we try and further link this problem with the disharmony among the various macroeconomic policies that were brought out in an overlapping manner by the various governments in the past and present. Importantly, it is precisely this mismatch has hampered the growth and


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development of employment opportunities thereby furthering the problems between growth per se and employment generation. It is also important to point that the criticism is not towards policies specifically but the bad interfacing among the various numbers of policies issued. Furthermore, policies come with targets based on causation and their effectiveness thus become an imperative for solution delivery i.e. creating employment opportunities and not just economic growth - towards better interfacing between created policies.

Intensity of Overqualification in Kerala – A Case Example of Banking Sector

Razeena Rasheed, Research Scholar, School of Management Studies, Kerala

M. Bhasi, Professor and Dean, School of Management Studies, Kerala

The phenomenon of overqualification occurs when the employees possess higher educational qualifications than what is specified by the job. This happens primarily due to the concentration of skills and oversupply of graduates in the labor market. The Kerala model of development is characterized by high investment in education and health (Kothari, 1966). But there exists a paradox in Kerala that the unemployment rate among educated youth is highest in the State (Union Budget 2012). The employment opportunities not increasing commensurately with the supply of labor is one reason for the oversupply of graduates. The imbalance in the supply and demand of the educated people has resulted in a high proportion of overqualified employees in Kerala. An increasing proportion of graduates including professional graduates are forced to accept a job which ranks below the job they are eligible for based on their educational qualification. When people start accepting jobs below their educational level, the lower educated will also be forced to accept jobs below their levels of skills or even become unemployed (Borghans and Grip 2000; Tsang et al 1985). This, in turn, results in underemployment and misemployment of the educated (Geetha, 2004). Hence this study attempts to measure the intensity of over qualification in Kerala with special reference to Banking Industry. It purports to compare overqualification among the employees working in two different organization types with different working environments but in the same industry with the same nature of jobs. This study is a comparison between the socio-demographic profile of employees working in public sector banks and new generation private banks. The population of the study is employees working in nationalised and new generation private banks. The study is exploratory and descriptive in nature. Stratified proportionate sampling was applied to select the sample. The study adopted a survey method of data collection using structured questionnaire. It was observed that structural reasons stand to a large extent behind the overqualification in Kerala together with personal, organisational and cultural factors. The basic structural reasons behind overqualification are the paucity of alternate rewarding jobs, recessionary situations, and the oversupply of graduates. Overqualification is found to be largely voluntary

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as the employees accept the jobs available to them in order to prevent being unemployed. It is also observed that preference for a job gratifying their educational qualifications is considered secondary when compared with an alternate job which provides employee benefits and job security. The promotions in private banks are based on merit and hence the intensity of overqualification is found to be lesser. In contrast, in nationalised banks, an overqualified employee remains overqualified at higher job positions also because of the time-bound and seniority-based promotions. Cultural norms that prevail in Kerala stood as one of the reasons behind the overqualification among females. Some of the personal reasons were- the aversion to take up huge responsibilities and career indecision in the student community which make them pursue higher qualifications without a focus. Socialization process and job design are some of the organizational factors found behind over qualification. Even though overqualification does not explicitly turn out to be a problem at the individual level, from a macro perspective it is a pointer towards the wastage of manpower resources of the State. This study also points towards the necessity of having an effective manpower policy for the State to furnish a supply of graduates that meet the demand of the Industry. It can be concluded that proportion of overqualification is very high in Kerala due to an oversupply of graduates. In fact, these employees are getting contended with the available jobs because they would have remained unemployed if opted otherwise. It is high time to adopt remedial measures to reduce the severity of structural problems leading to over qualification.

Unemployment in India : Demystifying Voluntary Unemployment and Data Deficiency

Ravi Kant Dwivedi, PhD Research Scholar, Dept. of Humanities & Social Sciences, CSJM, University, UP

To capitalise demographic dividend, India needs to create 10 to 12 million new jobs every year. However, according to Labour Bureau, it has been able to create only about 1 million jobs. In spite of being a planned economy since first five year plan (1951-56), magnitude and percentage of unemployment keep on increasing in India - it has yet not been successful in providing employment to more than 30 per cent of its population. About 77 per cent of the households are reported to have no regular wage/salaried person. Unemployment rate is estimated to be 5 per cent at all India level in 2015-16 under the USP approach which was 4.9 per cent in 2013-14, 4.7 per cent in 2012-13, 3.8 per cent in 2011-12, and 9.3 per cent in 2009-10. Unsurprisingly, the unemployment rate is significantly higher among women (8.7 per cent) as compared to men (4.0 per cent). Manufacturing alone won’t create many direct jobs in short run despite various initiative including ‘Make In India’ and ‘Foreign Trade Policy – 2015’ because of poor physical and social infrastructure. The primary growth in jobs will come from the service sector. Even when reforms happen in agriculture, most of the jobs will be created in areas that will show up in national income accounts as


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services such as transportation, logistics, etc. The employment data also suggests that the dependence on agriculture is falling whereas dependence on the service sector is going up.

There are many reasons for the higher unemployment rate, and among them, voluntary unemployment and data deficiency on employment status are two important but under-noticed factors. While voluntary unemployment has multiple causes, lack of data on employment status may be attributed to unorganised nature of our economy coupled with poor data management.

The voluntary unemployment occurs when the person decides not to participate in the labour market, not because of the unavailability of jobs, but because of not finding the jobs of her choice or is not satisfied with the wage system. While the insufficient job creation could lead to resentment due to people’s high aspirations, there is a dramatic rise in voluntary unemployment across the country, where people choose not to work below a certain income level after ‘investing’ in education. Typically, a high rate of unemployment discourages people who search for jobs through a rise in the job search costs. High job search costs eventually push people out of the ‘labour force’ as they stop looking for jobs (discouraged worker effect). Another reason for voluntary unemployment may be the information asymmetry especially among the first-time job seekers, who might not have sufficient information about the nature of a job and decide to remain unemployed until the time they get the desired opportunity.

The current official data on labour and employment may prove detrimental as they can be used to claim ‘jobless growth’ as well as ‘growth-less jobs’ as per the subjectivity of the observer. Apart from this, they are not able to capture the predominantly informal and unorganised nature of the Indian economy. Therefore, they always reveal the half-truth and draw an imperfect picture. The real problem with employment data is that they hide more than they reveal. Despite indicating broad trends, these data do not provide any insight into the quality of the country’s workforce. Information on independent work and part-time jobs are excluded in current data assessment by the Labour Bureau and the NSSO which currently constitute an important part of the labour market. Given our large self-employed and unorganised sector, let us recognise that the one most credible way to get data on employment is using household surveys over and above enterprise - level surveys, and that need to be conducted periodically. We need employment policy suited to peculiarities of the domestic employment market, which is not possible without robust and frequent data support.

Regional Dimension of India’s Employment Growth in the Post Reform Era

K S Hari, Assistant Professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, Maharashtra

Hema Kurup, Ph.D. Scholar, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, Maharashtra

The broad objective of the study is to understand the regional dimension of employment growth and transformation in the post-reform period. Indian economy has undergone major

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growth transformation during the last 25 years of economic reforms and translated itself into one of the highest growing economies in the world. We have analysed the employment data from EUS of the NSSO for the period 1993-94 to 2011-12 and the AEUS of Labour Bureau, for the period 2011-12 to 2015-16, both at the all India level and state level to answer the question of employment generation in India.

India has seen a high growth rate across the sectors in the post reform period compared to the 1980s. During 2004-09 periods, the country witnessed a growth rate of more than 8.74 per cent. A paradoxical result of the growth process in India is its failure to generate a corresponding employment growth in the country. The higher growth phase in the Indian economy is always followed by a phase of mere stagnation or jobless growth in the labour market. The 2004-09 period of the Indian economy in terms of high output growth turned out to be the worst phase of employment growth and it hit the historical low during this period. The low employment elasticity of output in the post-reform period indicates the serious issue of substitution of capital with labour in India. The analysis of recent data also shows an absolute decline in the employment growth in the country. This fall in employment growth during a high GDP growth is despite the increase in population in the country. This is a clear indication of decline in the number of job opportunities in India especially in the second half of the post-reform era. At the regional level, all the states in India recorded higher growth especially in the first decade of 21st century. But along with the high growth rate the inequality across the states has also increased. The rich states have become richer and the poor states remain as poor. The catching up process by the low-income states is very slow in India. The state-wise employment scenario shows that the states having the highest population share has the maximum number of workers as well. But the employment growth shows a declining trend over the years. There was a high GSDP growth rate in all the states in the country, but the employment growth shows a paradoxical picture. During the second phase of the reforms, the historically high output growth rates in states were followed by low employment growth, showing a gloomy picture of state-level employment scenario across the Indian states. Even the most industrialised states of India have recorded a low employment growth rate during the second phase. The decline in the employment growth despite the high GSDP growth resulted in a very negligible employment elasticity at the state level. Also, employment is not getting generated in the rural areas of most of the states and the higher employment growth recorded in the urban areas are not sufficient to compensate for the job loss in rural India. The high output growth rate across the states and the country as a whole which is not accompanied by high employment generation is a clear indication of jobless growth in the country. This mismatch between employment and output growth raises a serious challenge for the Indian economy in the context of the country moving to an era where more than 65 per cent of the population is going to be in the employable age.


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Growth and Employment in Odisha: An Analysis in the Post Reform Period

Priyabrata Sahoo, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad, Telangana

The Odisha economy witnessed a higher growth in the post reform period. This paper is an attempt to find out if the structural transformation in Odisha economy is in the right direction or it’s a stunted one as mentioned in the literature. The NSDP data of CSO, MOSPI are used for the growth rate calculation. Unit level data of EUS and the corresponding reports have been used for the calculation of employment figures. Though the primary sector income share has been declining its share in employment does not seem to have much decline. The tertiary sector recorded a faster growth and an increase in the income share but the labour absorbing capacity of this sector is low. Hence, instead of having high growth in Odisha the structural transformation in the economy is a stunted one.

Deciphering the Reality of Mudra loans in Creating Self-Employment

Arjun Kumar, Visiting Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Vivek Kaul, Commentator and Author

There appears to be a lot of confusion over the recent claims and reality over the Indian employment scenario, mostly because of unavailability of periodic and reliable statistics. The NITI Aayog acknowledges this lacuna and is working toward mending this gap. However, we do know that more than ninety percent of the workforce are engaged in informal sector, and around half in agriculture, followed by real estate and construction, manufacturing and services. Further, in the last few years, the plight of agrarian distress, slowdown in real estate and construction sector and non-expanding manufacturing and IT sector can be substantiated by several estimates again and again. Interestingly, on the backdrop of data unavailability about the informal sector and those of self-employed, there are various claims made by the ruling coalition at the central government over the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY, and more popularly referred to as a Mudra Loan) and the macro figures of beneficiaries, financial penetration, and its huge impact on income and especially the employment (although there aren’t any estimate or study to substantiate).

This paper deconstructs the realities of the Mudra Yojana by crunching the publicly available data from the Mudra Bank. Using official statistics, it seeks to test the claim of the government that “Mudra loans are making crores of youth self-dependent”, and the tagline of the PMMY- Punji, Safalta ki Kunji (Capital, Key to Success). In light of this, this paper would make an objective analysis of the number of jobs created by the Mudra loans against the candid acknowledgement of the CEO of Mudra (Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd.) (during an interview to a private media house), who said, “We are yet to make an

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assessment on that… We don’t have a number right now, but I understand that NITI Aayog is making an effort to do that.”

The total number of loans sanctioned under PMMY since its inception in the financial year 2015-16 till 18th August 2017 was around 8.8 crores. The total amount sanctioned and disbursed towards PMMY loans stands at around Rs. 3.8 and 3.7 Lakh Crores respectively. An acceleration in such loans can be observed over time, with a rise in the average amount sanctioned per loan. Data analysis reflects that more than nine-tenth of the loans were under Shishu (loan amount under Rs. 50,000) category, with average loan amount of about Rs. 20 to 25 thousand. Though the increased coverage of PMMY, especially under Shishu category and for women and new entrepreneurs, in recent years, is imperative of a positive sign for the access and quality of formal credit to the self-employed. However, the average amount given to these formalized PMMY loans remains very low and might act as an Over Draft facility to the self-employed (such as Kishan Credit cards for farmers), therefore, contributing less to the GDP and Labour market as it has been portrayed by several claims, especially on the account of large section of informal economy.

The paper draws conclusions by contrasting the government claims vis-à-vis the real beneficiary-experiences. It makes policy recommendations in an effort to truly realize the stated objectives of the PMMY. Most importantly, it focusses on the reach, awareness and operational execution of PMMY loans which needs to be prioritized towards backward regions, medium and small towns as well as rural areas and weaker sections of the society. In essence, this paper argues that the PMMY can prove to be crucial and effective towards supporting and guiding the self-employed population who are engaged in the informal economy. This would particularly strengthen the quality of India’s labour market in the era of Start-up India, Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, demonetization, Goods and Services Tax (GST), financial inclusion, JAM (Jan Dhan- Aadhar- Mobile) trinity, Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), and a host of other government programs for New India by 2022.

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What Do the Graduates Do? Expansion of Higher Education and Graduate labour Market in India

Sanjeer Alam, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Although higher education has multiple purposes and ends, its economic role has long been recognized and emphasized. As the institutions of higher education are the major locus of production and transmission of ideas, knowledge and advanced skills, they provide the labour market with expertise and skills necessary for transforming the nature of economy (from the subsistence economy to the one based on knowledge and high skills) and propelling economic growth and development. At the individual level, advanced academic degrees give individuals access to jobs that entail greater employment stability, higher wages and social prestige. Simply put, both individuals and society benefit from a well-developed system of higher education. Since the 1990s, India’s higher education system has grown manifold, although it continues to be out of reach for a vast majority of the population (in the relevant age group). Nevertheless, the large and rapid expansion of higher education in the last two decades is said to have entailed a range of consequences for higher education itself, as well as for the educators, consumers of advanced education, planners and policy makers, and so on. One important consequence of the phenomenal expansion of higher education, as various reports – official or otherwise – suggests, has been the worsening employment situation of individuals with higher academic degrees in spite of robust economic growth and substantial structural shifts in the labour markets in recent years. While the problem of poor labour market conditions facing the educated individuals and reasons for it remains far from thoroughly investigated and diagnosed, higher education is placed under tremendous pressure to attune itself to changing needs of labour markets so as to avoid inefficiency in the use of social resources (like incidence of employment and underutilization of skills that individuals with higher academic degrees possess). But, the idea of achieving congruence between the education system and labour markets is beset with and marked by several tensions for the relationship between education and labour market is conditioned by a complex web of factors. Against this backdrop, the objective of the present paper is threefold: (a) to map the nature of expansion of higher education in India; (b) to examine and analyze how individuals with higher academic degrees are placed in the labour markets, and (c) to interrogate the idea of aligning higher education with labour markets.

Macroeconomic Policies and the Employment Situation in India

Manturam Samanta, Principal, Maharaja Manindra Chandra College, West Bengal

Macroeconomic policies have direct and indirect impacts on the generation of employment, both in terms of quality and quantity. In the era of LPG model of development plan, India has adopted several macroeconomic changes in its monetary and fiscal policies

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including trade and exchange rate liberalisation and restricting of tariff rates. Although the primary objectives of the policies are aimed at controlling inflation, reduction of trade deficit and fiscal deficit, expanding revenue sources and ultimately attaining fiscal balance, the two major goals, in case of India, are growth and employment creation. It is true that the liberalisation macroeconomic policies of India have brought some positive changes in the economy. Throughout the last decade the nation has experienced a high growth rate, the total national income of the country has increased to a significant extent, the public debt to GDP ratio has declined to a low of 39 per cent, the interest payment to revenue receipts ratio has decreased to 37 per cent in comparison to 51 per cent in 2002-2003, the foreign exchange reserve of the country has reached a comfortable high level. But, the real story of this growth is that fruits of this development are not transmitted to all sections. Rather, it has been concentrated in the hands of the few affluents increasing the number of millionaires in the country to a very high level. Now, 1 per cent of richest Indians owns 53 per cent total wealth of the country, whereas, this share is 37.3 per cent in case of the richest country, USA. On the other hand, it is observed that the said policies have failed to create sufficient jobs for the unemployment as advocated by the policy-makers. In reverse, the unemployment rate has increased and most of the jobs are being casualized or informalised causing more misery to the common people. Therefore, the Government should rethink its policy and macroeconomic policies should provide inclusive growth with a natural equitable distribution system.

Do Training and Experience Prior to Migration Help Migrants Earn more Abroad? A Study of Returnee Migrants in Nepal

Dhruba Bhandari, Senior Economist, Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal

Bishnu Dev Pant, Executive Director, Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal

Saurab Shrestha, Economist, Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal

Shailie Rimal, Economist, Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal

There is a growing trend of migration of youth from Nepal for foreign employment (especially in Gulf regions and Malaysia).The trend is increasing and one of the major factors for this increasing trend is lack of employment opportunity in the country. This growing trend has substantial benefit for households sending migrants as well as for the country in form of remittance income. Nepal is one of the top countries (remittance received is 29-31 per cent of country’s GDP) to receive remittance from international migration. It has been established in the literature that vocational training and work experience do have a positive impact on the earnings of individuals. Higher earning in foreign employment can increase remittance income and thus can increase household’s welfare. In this context, we use household survey data collected from thirty one districts in Nepal to investigate if returnee migrants, with vocational training and work experience in the similar sector as foreign employment prior to migration were able to earn more salary in average than their counterpart. We also investigate


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whether vocational training and experience prior to migration increased the probability of them receiving salary and benefits as expected or not, while in foreign employment. Returnee migrants in this study are defined as migrants who have worked abroad in the previous ten years for at least three months and have returned to Nepal to live permanently. We run a separate regression (OLS) for the impact of work experience and vocational training on ability to earn a higher salary and on the probability of receiving salary and benefits as expected. We find young returnee migrants (age less than 35 years) with work experience and training prior to migration do earn more salary on average. The result is positive and significant (at 1 per cent level) for young returnee migrants. On an average, young returnee migrants with vocational training and work experience earn an extra NRS 5000-6000 monthly than their counterpart. Average higher salary earned because of training and experience prior to migration is about 4-5 per cent of total cost of migration. This result does make sense given that most of the jobs at foreign employment is in manufacturing and construction sector that requires physical strength in addition to experience and training, which is favorable for youth population. However, training and work experience did not have an impact on the probability of them receiving salary and benefits as expected. Results were not significant either for all samples or for the returnee migrants. Finding of this study does have important policy implication on preparing skilled workforce with training and experience that can migrate and earn competitive salary abroad with the focus on young potential migrants.

Role of Aggregate Demand Components in the Shadow of Unemployment: A Cross-Country Analysis

Kamal Ray, Retired Associate Professor, Katwa College , West Bengal

In an economy with institutional or structural weaknesses, consolidation of the creation of employment with applications of macroeconomic policies matters much; quality of governance of the concerned country is an important factor. A variation of aggregate demand components to the desired directions because of the applications of either monetary or fiscal policy or both is being supported by our old theoretical frameworks. It is evident that unemployment is the cruelest tax to a part of the citizen; loss of jobs reduces the well-being of the citizens and hence psychological distress is pronounced. Human unpleasantness due to unemployment and inflation is often regarded as misery index and they are supposed to be the useful indices of the general health of the economy. The topic, relationship between monetary policy and unemployment, is frequently discussed, this debate is subjected to various empirical studies. Empirical findings support that growth rate of employment is directly proportional to the growth rate of GDP; a strong positive association between investment in fixed capital formation and employment is also another macroeconomic finding of the predecessors. The rise in aggregate demand plays a crucial role to reduce the unemployment level; increase in real wage is likely linked with the increase in productivity. What are the basic theoretical frameworks by which we could provide jobs to the job seekers when the actual

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growth rate of unemployment exceeds the natural growth rate of unemployment in particular? We are assuming that workers may not be well competent with skills so that they could deploy themselves in the productive job as per their capacity. According to conventional neoclassical theory, the flexibility of wage rates and adjustment mechanism of wage for clearing the labor market is pronounced. Capital-labor substitution in a wide range permits producers to pick out an appropriate technique of production. In contrast, Keynesian framework suggests that increase in effective demand by means of expansion of output and employment is possible; it could be a consumption-led investment. And multiplier effect works proactively, despite the start-center disintegration led by institutional drawbacks.

The reduction of interest rates with the help of monetary policy would raise aggregate demand that provokes to produce more and hence reduction of unemployment is possible theoretically. On the other hand, low-interest rate reduces income for a group of people depending on income generated through interest only. Generation of mass income in a growing economy or inclusive growth pattern optimizes our target. As demand grows, it would also be supplementary as an inducement to additional fixed investment, and as a stimulus for industrial growth and the creation of jobs to absorb the job seekers. The implementation of such policies in a market-based economy requires a robust institutional framework adapted to the economic structure and the historical specificities of each country. Fiscal policy is often applied by cutting tax rate which in turn raises aggregate demand. Here is a limitation too, it causes government-demand to move downward because of curtailment of tax-revenue. Policymakers often feel uncomfortable as neither of the policies can achieve desired goals.

Our hypothesis could be read as consumption demand, gross capital formation and government purchases do influence unemployment level. In the present context, the hypotheses are verified empirically in three South Asian countries namely Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. Time series datasets on percentage change in unemployment, annual growth rates on consumption, government expenses and gross capital formation are taken for the period 1996-2015 from the World Bank.

All the observed series are almost stationary and lengths of the series are short. Granger causality analysis is a method for investigating whether one time series can correctly forecast another (Granger, 1969).

The study observes that growth rates of aggregate consumption do not cause percentage change in unemployment levels in these countries. In a similar way, annual growth rate of government expenses in India does not influence percentage change of unemployment level, and it is also empirically true for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But the interplay between the gross fixed capital formation and unemployment level in India matters; an increase in GCF or net increase physical asset causes employment in India whereas Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not able to draw any benefits in terms of employment.


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Determinants of Employment Potential in India’s Service Sector: The Post-Reform Experience

Deepak Kumar Behera, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technology, Bihar

The Services sector in India has grown rapidly in the last one and a half decades. Its growth has been higher than the growth in other commodity-producing sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing sectors. If service sector the leads the growth process, the pertinent questions are what is its potential to generate employment? Can we assume it as the emerging sector to accommodate the surplus labour? In other words, the present paper examines the employment dynamics in both organised and unorganised service sector by empirically estimates the effects of macro-economic variables by using the data from 1972-73 to 2011-12. The study found that compared to the commodity sectors, service sector accounts for 58 per cent of its output to total GDP, but absorbs only 28 per cent of the workforce to the sector. It reflects that there has been a disproportional growth between income share and employment share in the sector. In terms of growth, though output in the sector is increasing, the rate of growth of employment is declining during post-reform period. This has reflected in terms of falling employment elasticities. The structure of employment in the sector is such that more than 80 per cent workers are engaged in unorganised sector which constitutes the highest share of informal workers in the economy. Further, we observe that the labour productivity has been increasing. This would necessitate greater factor substitution to sustain growth, which eventually can erode employment.

The study uses the Keynesian theoretical explanation about the change in employment which depends on expected output or change in output and estimated the determinants of employment in the sector for both organised and unorganised and found that for organised sector, non-services output, lagged output of services, human capital and net export do have positively affected the employment where labour productivity displaces labour. For unorganised services, employment is positively determined by non-services output and lag services output but negatively influenced by productivity, technology and human capital. A negative impact of human capital on employment in unorganised sector suggests that with the increase in human capital, people will prefer to work in organised services rather than unorganised services. It is the skill-based job which requires quality of persons to be engaged in the services. Therefore, those with more skill power intend to work in the organised sector. The result also suggests that gross capital formation does not influence the employment growth in the sector. The paper concludes that a high rate of economic growth has not been able to generate high employment growth, and it has, in fact, been accompanied by a slowdown in employment growth in India in recent years. This made economists to term the recent experience as ‘jobless growth’. Two main points need to be looked into for future of employment growth in India. First, labour productivity and capital-labour ratios have negatively influenced the employment creation. Employment driven by demand factors such as income and capital formation, the new employment creation will depend on the nature of the employment, technology and structure of the economy. Second, as the recent experience suggests, most of the new employment

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opportunities are likely to generate in the unorganised sector,. Even within the organised sector an increasing number of workers are being employed in a ‘flexible’ manner on a casual or contract basis, without the social security benefits. Thus, the challenge of quality of work in terms of earnings and social security will continue. With a decline in its share in the organised sector and increase in that of the unorganised sector, the share of the unprotected workers is increasing. Provision of a minimum social protection to this large mass of workers is, therefore, likely to emerge as a much greater challenge than expanding employment opportunities. It will require special attention of the state and society at large in coming years, as the market driven high growth even if accompanied by an expansion in employment opportunities may not by itself be adequate to address the issue of quality of employment.

Occupational Sex Segregation in India: Pre- and Post liberalisation

Meenal Shah, Centre for Developmental Studies and Research, Rajasthan

During the past few decades, women have entered the labour market in large numbers, this is as it should be. Women ought to be provided free space to take equal part in development fully. This is also pre-condition for the advancement of the country. However, there is still wide gender segregation in education, and work participation, employment and occupational pattern all over the world.

This paper explores and analyses the trend of occupational sex segregation in Indian labour market during two decades of economic reforms. Liberalisation can impact occupational sex segregation by increasing competition and skill requirements which increases the burden on workers.

On the one hand, liberalisation created new job opportunities, jobs with flexible working hours, facility to work from home, etc. With new jobs for women, there are opportunities for higher pay, which raises self-confidence and brings about independence. This, in turn, can promote equality between the sexes. Advertising effect and changing lifestyle resulted in families desiring more household income. To be able to afford a certain lifestyle woman need to work and contribute to the household income. Liberalisation has created jobs even to rural areas, where there was previously no employment. While on the other hand, these jobs available to women are almost always poorly paid, mentally and physically unhealthy, demeaning, or insecure.

Women are suffering two-fold. As women in developing countries move into the workforce, their domestic responsibilities are not narrowed. Women have to do two full-time jobs. One in a paid labour market, where they are paid lesser than men for equal work, the second is in the home where they are unpaid.

The greatest difference in work situation between the sexes is the difference in their distribution into occupational categories. The objective of this paper is to document and analyze the trend of occupational sex segregation in India on different levels: on the level


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of the whole labour force, rural and urban labour force, pre- liberalization, and after two decades of liberalization. The study is important because there is a drastic change in the economy, labour market, working conditions, and women work participation after reforms. The analysis is based on secondary data obtained from Census of India and NSSO. For measuring sex segregation concentration, dissimilarity, and association indices are used. For a comprehensive analysis, male dominated, female dominated, integrated occupations and top ten occupations for total workers, male workers and female workers are identified. Results indicate that development and liberalization process resulted in significant decrease in the level of occupational sex segregation in urban as well as in rural India. This decrease is much more pronounced in last decade compared to the 90’s. In India, the literacy level and life expectancy of women improved a lot but female work participation is still less than male work participation. Sex segregation in labour market still exists in India. Females are more into traditionally lower paying occupations and bound into their traditional image of home maker. So, a majority of the women’s contribution to the economic productivity of the nation is low. Planners and policy-makers should take measures to break this glass-ceiling and absorb more women in better paying managerial and top-level jobs.

A Study of the External Determinants of International Migration and its Impact on Indian Economy

Madhu G.R., ICSSR-Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Mysore, Karnataka

Uma H.R., Professor of Economics, University of Mysore, Karnataka

International labour migration is one of the universal phenomena, having a history as old as the history of mankind. The volume of International labour migration flows is increasing year by year as a result of globalization around the world. Advancement in the technology, transportation facilities, communication and availability of information about different countries labour market has helped in the fast movement of labourers all over the world. Remittances are generally defined as that part of the migrants’ earnings sent to his home country. According to IMF (2009), remittances denote “household income from foreign economies arising mainly from the temporary or permanent movement of people to those economies. Remittance to India has increased over the year as a result of the increase in the movement of international labour migration. Remittance inflows have a positive impact on both the household as well as Indian economy” (Singh and Hari 2011). The paper empirically investigates the impact of external determinants on the GDP. This paper is based on data collected from World Bank databank and UN Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs. An empirical analysis is carried out using 42 annual observations over the period 1975-2016. ADF technique has been used to check the stationarity of the time series data. All variables are non-stationary, at first difference all the variables (GDP, Remittances, FDI, and Imports) are statistically significant at 1

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per cent level. This implies that all the variables follow the stationary at first difference. For Lag selection SC, HQ, AIC, LR and FPE Technique has been used, out of these criteria, the best method is SC which is significant at 1 per cent level, Unrestricted Error Correction Model (UECM) has been estimated with one lag. Cointegration test has been used to check the relationship between GDP and selected other variables. The trace statistics and max-eigenvalue test both results show that one, cointegrating equations are significance at the 5 per cent level, which implies that there is a short-run relationship between GDP and other related variables. The VECM test has been used for analysing the short-term relationship between GDP, remittance, FDI and Imports. The coefficient of the error correction term which is also known as the speed of adjustment for the GDP is -0.06 suggesting that the short run disequilibrium can be corrected at a speed of 6 per cent in one year. This paper has found that there is a positive relationship between GDP remittance and FDI. Imports have a negative impact on GDP. International Labour Migration contributes to the Indian economy directly and indirectly in its economic growth.

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How Elitist Macro Development Policies are Distorting Gujarat’s Agricultural Output and Employment Scenario

Munish Alagh, Associate Professor, Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Gujarat

It is the view in certain circles that Gujarat Agriculture is transforming very fast based on initiatives of the Gujarat Government. Gulati (2017) opines that excellent performance in Gujarat Agriculture when Modi was the CM was based on- 1) responsive approach to available technology (BT Cotton). 2). basic infrastructure to farmers- irrigation, power, roads, check-dams, and electricity from Jyotirgram Yojana. 3) access to the foreign and domestic market. 4) Good marketing Institutions.

This view needs modification. Based on the visits to various districts of Gujarat, a more realistic assessment of Gujarat Agriculture is being presented here. Contrary to the government’s publicity material, many APMCs and market yards are not functioning properly, for example, a large one like Unjha storage godowns. Even the computers in Taluka offices are often not working. Proper back-up and feedback on government schemes are missing at the administrative level. In terms of water availability, its link with power supply and the bureaucracy’s denial mode is glaring. The traders have a vice-like grip on farmer finances and it gets reflected in their machinations with regard to farmers’ use of godowns and market yard; the farmer, unfortunately, is unable to free himself from these intermediaries because a proper understanding of his daily needs is not there on the part of the bureaucracy. The farmer in Gujarat, who grows a mix of crops is at sea with regard to high yielding Cotton because of inadequate irrigation, and more so recently because of Government’s mishandling of multinationals. The peasants in Gujarat have already been feeling inefficiency in their operation with regard to staples in their field.

The author underlines that there are no quick-fix solutions to transform Gujarat’s employment and output scenario in agriculture and help it adjust to the impatience of a quickly transforming urban market. Such impatience can be dangerous as authors like Mellor have stated earlier, not just for protecting the small traditional farmer but also for the state’s output growth and employment scenario. Using Mellor’s views on transforming traditional agriculture, the author gives a brief blueprint in this regard for Gujarat: well-directed efforts at increasing scientific agricultural research and the information and knowledge database alongside an implementation strategy of equal attention to the small food grain farmer as to commercialisation efforts, without falling prey to corporate whims. Gujarat Agriculture is still, by and large, a traditional agriculture, and as authors such as Adam Smith and more recently Daren Acemoglu have pointed out, for policy transformation to be effective policymakers, academics and administrators must avoid the urge to please the political elite or attempt full

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control over the power structure. The temptation to quick fix the situation by sidelining the reality of traditional peasants’ agricultural practices to focus instead on dressing-up government schemes and initiatives should be avoided.

Current Account Surpluses in the World Economy – Examining labour Market Flexibility and Depreciated Real Exchange

Rates as a Macroeconomic Strategy

Krishna Kumar S., Assistant Professor, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, New Delhi

The initial phase of the industrialization of the East Asian economies can be traced to their being used as export platforms by the United States and Japan, in the context of the appreciation of the currencies of the latter two. Systematic efforts were made by the East Asian economies to keep their currencies at a depreciated rate so as to enhance their competitiveness in the international market. Foreign exchange market intervention was being resorted to in a concerted manner towards improving the competitiveness of commodities in the international economy. In fact, many of the economies were witness to the large increase in export to GDP ratios in this course. In fact, when the same practice was resorted at stages by the People’s Bank of China, in the backdrop of large intervention in the foreign exchange intervention, catapulting it as one of the largest exporters in the global economy, this became an important point of discussion in the global economy. This system of the Chinese purchase of dollar securities facilitated the dollar to remain at stable levels and continue to play its role as an international reserve currency, notwithstanding the huge increase in current account deficits between the 2003 to 2006 phase of the global economy. The due attention of the observers has fallen on the Chinese intervention keeping exchange rates at depreciated levels. But since the crisis, we find that the surpluses of Germany have increased tremendously in the global economy. In fact, given that it has not got a currency of its own, and it has euro as its currency, the real exchange depreciation which it has been able to achieve not just vis-à-vis the USA, but also as against the other members of the Eurozone has been by keeping its wage-increase far lower than the productivity improvements in the German economy. This is attested by various reports of the OECD. Whereas it was the impossibility of the downward flexibility of the wages under the Gold Standard, which was providing the rationale for the system of fixed exchange rates visualized under the Bretton Woods regime of fixed exchange rates, permitting for changes in exchange rates under conditions of fundamental disequilibrium under the balance of payments, given that the very option of own domestic currency for countries in the Eurozone is not existent, and the countries in the Eurozone are constrained by the fiscal rules of the EC, it is left to tinker with only rules of labour market flexibility. When this works to the advantage of economies pursuing the same, through a beggar-thy–neighbour path, it manifests in the form of declining consumption to GDP ratios and further pushes the overall world economy to a


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persistent state of deflation. This paper intends to compare and contrast the Chinese case as against the German case of real exchange rate depreciation, relying on the data in this regard from ILO, OECD and International Financial Statistics.

Relationship between Unemployment Rate and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study of India

Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, Associate Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Sushil Kumar Rai, Assistant Professor, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun

The employment opportunity in a country depends to a great extent on the level of development. When a country progresses and its production activities expand, the employment opportunities grow and consequently the level of unemployment drop. Therefore, economic growth is considered as a prime objective of economic policy in developed as well as in developing economy to reduce the rate of unemployment. Economic policies that are directed to reduce unemployment rates assumes that any increase in the rates of growth must be associated with low unemployment rates. However, most of the available literature on this issue is not indicating any link between economic growth and unemployment rates.

The outcomes of the studies with a focus on the relationship between economic growth and unemployment suggest that labour development programs are the more effective device to tackle the problem of unemployment rather than economic growth. During the reform period in India, there has been a deceleration in the growth of employment in spite of the accelerated economic growth, and raise a possible conflict between higher economic growth and the rate of employment for the policy maker. In this regard, the present paper is an attempt to address the nature of the relationship between economic growth and the unemployment rate of India applying the Okun’s law. For analysing the Okun’s coefficient, four types of models such as the difference model, the dynamic model, error correction model (ECM), and vector autoregression (VAR) model are used in this paper to find the short term and the long-term probable relationship.

The analysis is based on annual data for the period 1991 to 2016. All the variables are used in natural logarithms to minimise the variance in the dataset. On the basis of Engle-Granger cointegration test, the study finds that the series of economic growth and the rate of unemployment are cointegrated. VAR and ECM are used to get the direction of relationship between the considered variables. The result of VAR model and ECM is indicating an absence of a causal relationship between these two variables and a change in the growth rate of real GDP doesn’t cause a change in the rate of unemployment and vice-versa. The empirical results from the applied models do not confirm an inverse relationship between unemployment rate and economic growth, as the Okun’s law suggests. Our findings are similar to the findings of previous study that indicate the absence of Okun’s relationship in developing

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economy. The absence of a statistically significant relationship between unemployment and growth indicates that an increase in output growth is not accompanied by a reduction of unemployment. This might reflect the size of the structural component of unemployment and accordingly, the policy should be more diverted towards skill improvement programs among unemployed labour force rather than assuming that higher growth rate will dilute the rate of unemployment.

Impact of Technology Adoption on Employment: A Case Study of State of Bank of India

Madhav Shinde, Assistant Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra

Jivan Solanke, Assistant Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra

Technology adoption is an important issue in the production process which increases the productivity of factors and affects the employment level in the country. Technology hits employment through automation and fragmentation of production process and with the use of robots in production. Adoption of new technology also causes structural unemployment in the country. Producers are always in favor of the adoption of labour-saving technologies hence, affects the process of job creation. However, the nature of technological change is based on the availability of resources and institutional capacity to research and develop new technologies. Though the technology destroys the jobs, it also creates new job opportunities with new innovations. A new innovation in technology expands the size of the production and helps the expansion of firms/ businesses. The expansion of firms creates job opportunities. The adoption of new technologies brings structural change in the process of production and generates employment opportunities. The present study throws light on technology adoption and its impact on job creation in State Bank of India (SBI). The bank has experienced a decline in the number of employees since the adoption of advanced technologies, though it has increased its branches across the world. The branches of the bank have increased from 9231 in 2006-07 to 16984 in 2015-16. The use of technology by the bank has also increased in markedly. Today, the bank has more than 59000 ATMs throughout the country. Similarly, the bank has expanded the net of mobile banking and internet banking which has resulted in huge increase in the transactions through mobile banking and internet banking from 64 crores and 574 lakhs in 2013-14 to 124 crores and 1441 lakhs in 2015-16. On the other hand, adoption of advanced technologies has affected the workforce strength of State Bank of India. The workforce strength has declined from 222809 employees in 2013-14 to 207739 employees in 2015-16. In brief, though, the adoption of new technologies is supported stating the examples of job creation through expansion of firms and businesses, the study, based on SBI’s experience, finds a decline in the workforce of the bank since the adoption of modern technologies.


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Growth Employment linkages in India

P.S. Kamble, HoD, Economics, Shivaji University, Maharashtra

Economic growth is an important indicator of economic development of the country, and consequently its standard of living. Employment is very closely associated with the economic growth. The Classical, as well as Keynesian theories of the Employment, describe positive growth-employment relationship. Its empirical analysis has a special importance, whether the same relationship between economic growth and employment is observed in the context of a particular economy, or otherwise. Economic reforms being implemented in India since 1991 has a special importance on economic growth ground. It is because it is stated that the economic growth of India has been speeded up significantly and comprehensively. It is during the economic reforms period only, India has crossed the 5 per cent rate of growth during the beginning of the implementation of the economic planning, and has succeeded in achieving growth rate up to 10 per cent and more than that also for sometimes. This poses the urgent need for examining the reality of the economic growth– employment linkages in India, especially in the post-reforms period. This will enable us in assessing the growth–employment association suggested by the Classical and Keynesian employment theories, or check if the linkages between growth and employment are different than the theories of the employment. The present research papers endeavours to examine the linkages between the economic growth and employment, especially in the post-economic reforms period. It will also attempt to identify the growth–employment linkages in the pre-reforms period so that the comparison between growth-employment linkages between pre and post linkages can be made; this comparison can have policy implications. The present paper is organized as- I) Introduction, II) Review of Research Studies, III) Objectives of the Study, IV) Hypothesis of the Study, V) Research Methodology, VI) Trends in Economic Growth of India, VII) Growth and Pattern of Employment in India, VIII) Economic Growth – Employment Linkages in India, IX) Major Conclusions and Policy Suggestions, X) Concluding Remarks, XI) References.

The study concludes that economic growth achieved by the Indian economy is a jobless-growth in both the pre as well as post-economic reforms periods. Its economic growth was considerable in the pre-reforms period than the post-reforms period. Sectoral employment has a different scenario for the pre and post-reforms period. The linkages between economic growth and employment show that growth in employment was lesser in the pre as well as post-reforms period. It is mainly contributed by the secondary sector and service sector but speeded up by the secondary sector and primary sector.

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Socio-economic Measures, Employment and Poverty Alleviation

Ritu Sharma, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi, New Delhi

The central tenants of this paper elaborate on the direct relationship between macroeconomic and financial sector policies to poverty reduction from the policy perspective. This paper expands the literature on poverty from a macroeconomic perspective with a sectoral composition of GDP. We find that macroeconomic and development policies in India play a much bigger role in reducing poverty, after having controlled for the sectoral income and terms of trade effects. The macroeconomic impacts can be both direct and indirect. The literature remains dominated by a paradigm of growth which is necessary for poverty reduction but it may not be sufficient if the relevant development policies are not in place. Although there exist many studies on the measurement and definitions of poverty, there is still limited focus on policy measures on how best to reduce poverty. So, evaluating what kind of policies may reduce poverty and the channels of transmission are interesting. In general, macroeconomic policies primarily contribute to maintaining macroeconomic stability, which in turn help economic growth and hence may contribute to poverty reduction. The objective of macroeconomic policies is to overcome permanent shocks and to weather temporary shocks. When it comes to economic development as a long-term goal, there is a need to identify macroeconomic policies that have distributional and allocational properties. Macroeconomic policies refer to contractions in public expenditure and restrictive monetary policy, usually designed to create conditions for stability with growth, but these policies can have negative consequences on poor households. The implications of sectoral GDP and price ratios by different macroeconomic policies on poverty are discussed here in the Indian context. We use rural poverty rate, as there is a higher concentration of poverty in the rural India where there is higher dependence on the agricultural sector. In addition, both types of fiscal spending, namely government current (consumption) and capital spending have a poverty-reducing effect. While government consumption can reduce poverty via the demand-side effect, government capital spending can have a supply-side effect on poverty reduction. To sum up, poverty reduction via distributional and allocational channels can be more permanent when an economy experiences a decline in its traditional sector leading to higher relative prices.

Spacio-temporal Growth Analysis of Agricultural Wages in India

Raj Grover, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Associate Director, Human Resource Management, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Haryana

Mahesh V., PG student, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Haryana

The present study is based on secondary data collected from various published sources for the years 1997 to 2014. Four states namely- Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were selected randomly, one from each region representing Eastern, Northern, Western and


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Southern region of India, respectively. Growth and trend in agricultural wages in money and real terms, and also in the consumer price index were examined. The results of the study indicated that there has been a considerable increase in the money wages of agricultural labour in each of these four states. The increase in money wages has been higher in the states of Haryana and Tamil Naidu. The wages paid to unskilled labour in Haryana were even higher than wages paid to skilled labour in the states of Bihar and Maharashtra. The results further reveal that the rate of increase has been much higher irrespective of the state and skill level of the agricultural labour beginning 2006 or so. The increase in money wages becomes superfluous when tested at purchasing power parameter of money wages as no considerable increase in real wages of agricultural labour was observed in any of the states. Though the trend values of real wages based on consumer price index for agricultural labour (Food and General), for skilled as well as unskilled labour irrespective of states, have been found positive and significant for almost all the states, yet the slope of the line ranged between 0.042 to 1.42 only. Further, not much difference was found among the values of trends and growth rates between CPI (food) and CPI (General), the growth rate CPI (General) have been higher than CPI (food) for all the states except Haryana. The values of R2 for all the states have been more than 0.84. The findings of the study suggest that to achieve the objective of proper distribution of gains of development, it should be ensured that agricultural wages maintain a pace with consumer price index.

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Elderly labour in India: Role of Support System

Arya U.R, Research Scholar, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

The value of the human resource in the form of labour has been identified long back in the field of Economics by Smith, Max, Ricardo, etc. Further, in modern economic theory, employees are treated as one of the most significant resources. Though this is the case, it is very important to understand the circumstances of a person which push him/her to take up a job in the labour market which becomes the main criteria for that person to be called as a labour. This aspect should be stressed especially when it comes to elderly who are marked as weak and frail and thus, not fit for employment in an ageing nation where many elderly people are forced to take up employment for their subsistence. It is contrasting to see the simultaneous increase in both government spending on elderly and labour force participation of the same. Thus, there is a need to look at whether inadequate government support is one of the reasons that push elderly into labour market to compel them to sell their labour services. Also, there exists a need to look at whether or not the kind of support that elderly receive from their family members influence the former’s participation in the labour market.

This paper aims to understand the role of support systems (both government and family) in influencing the supply of elderly labour. ‘Building a Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India’ (BKPAI), 2011, data is used in this study. Chi-square analysis and Binomial Logistic Regression are used to attain results. To represent support from the government, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (IGNOAP) is taken.

In the case of a relationship between government support and work participation of elderly, a significant relationship between the number of elderly availing the benefits of NOAP and number of elderly working for remuneration has been found. Of the total elderly currently working, 84 per cent are not availing the benefits of NOAP whereas more than 91 per cent of elderly workers who do not fall under the benefit-net of NOAP work for more than eight hours a day. Of the total beneficiaries of NOAP, 29 per cent of elderly who work for remuneration face problems in receiving benefits of the same. Among them, 29 per cent of elderly have difficulty due to delay in receiving fund from the government and they work for remuneration. Furthermore, 14.4 per cent of elderly who found that either they have not been receiving funds or funds were denied in the name of incomplete paperwork or seeking bribe; reported these hindrances in the path of elderly receiving their deserved-benefits. As a result, they participate in the labor market for their livelihood.


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Economic Performance of Publics Sector Undertakings in Jammu and Kashmir with Special Reference to SICOP

Ghulam Bhat, Professor, HoD, Central University of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir

Showkat Bhat, Assistant Professor, Central University of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir

Public sector undertakings were set up in the state in view of the Industrial Development for which private investment is not possible and available. Most of PSUs have not contributed well to the GSDP of the state and these PSUs were running into losses with exception of the few. Unfortunately, Jammu and Kashmir State has not attracted a huge investment in the industrial sector and the state thus remained industrially backward. Many small and medium scale industries have initiated their working process, but due to unfavorable circumstances, all these industrial units were proved as sick units at the final stage. The Jammu and Kashmir Small Scale Industrial Corporation (SICOP) as a full government undertaking established under company’s Act of 1956 is one among the oldest undertakings in the state. SICOP has contributed drastically in generating the basic infrastructure for the SSI units. The Corporation has developed nine industrial estates which is spread over an area of 4617 kanals of land which have been provided with facilities like power supply, water supply, roads, drains, etc. The overall turnover of the corporation has not showed its best performance both in terms of marketing and others and showed some disturbing trends in Jammu and Kashmir. Although the number of SSI units in the State has gone up, there are some cases of sickness of units. Some of them being non-functional and untraceable. As per the Reserve Bank of India, the number of sick units in the State is 3151 which constitutes 16.06 per cent of the total of 19621 SSI units financed by Banks and financial Institutes so far. For rehabilitation of sick units, the State Govt. has accepted to provide soft loan to the extent of 30 per cent..

Effects of Macro Economic Policies on labour Market in General and Employment Creation in Particular in Indian Economy

Dhiraj Kr. Bandyopadhyay, Assistant Professor, University of Calcutta, West Bengal

The main objective of our present study is to examine how far “Growth-Employment Balance” is that straightforward what government policy makers claimed. The trade-off is not as straightforward as that, there is a threshold level of both unemployment and inflation. If the unemployment and inflation is below that level, then we can only make that trade-off, but if it isn’t, then we can’t. High level of both involuntary and under employment as well as retail inflation hurts poor people – agricultural labourer, industrial workers and common man and lower real interest rate hurts the said class of people as depositors, of which hundreds of millions, the most. A great debate has been going on for a long time in India between monetary policy authorities used to defend the position on prioritising inflation over economic growth, saying that when the “inflation threshold limit is crossed, it becomes difficult to make a trade-

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off ” and government economic policy makers used to defend the position on prioritising economic growth over inflation, saying that reducing fiscal deficit, lowering interest rate and encouraging large scale capital inflow at a time when lower level of domestic financial savings due to low real interest rate, private investment could be an engine of high economic growth in an economy very high level of unemployment and underemployment. So, it is our endeavours to verify the reality of government policy makers’ position.

There has been considerable research work in India related to the impact of growth of GDP on employment specifically in the labour market in general and organized as well as unorganised manufacturing sector in particular. We have observed that the Indian growth story has so far been one of jobless growth is now widely known. In spite of a marked acceleration in growth of the GDP in the post-liberalization period, employment growth has been falling in the last three decades. By using various rounds of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data, it has been estimated that average annual employment growth was about 2.4 per cent in the 1970s. This trend continued in the 1980s, but declined thereon in the 1990s. However, between 1999–2000 and 2004–05, there was a spectacular increase in employment growth to 2.8 per cent, which is really hard to explain. But, the most recent rounds of data provided by the NSSO show a sharp deceleration in the growth rate of employment in recent years. The compound annual growth rate of employment from 2004–05 to 2011–12 fell to a mere 0.5 per cent from the earlier 2.8 per cent. As a matter of fact, from 2004–05 to 2009–10, in which GDP grew at unprecedented rates, employment collapsed to virtually zero. India’s poor performance in creating jobs in the manufacturing sector and higher salaries paid to non-workers (supervisory categories) compared to workers have been one of those disappointing features of post-reform economic development. We argue that from the macroeconomic point of view, this can create an effective demand problem in the economy, which, in turn, could affect growth prospects in output and employment.

A Study of Gender Inequality in Education and labour Market and its Impact on Economic Growth in West Asia

Sana Samreen, Assistant Professor , Dept. of West Asian Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, UP

Since ages, Saudi Arabia is widely known to have enjoyed a blessed and bountiful period due to the abundance of oil reserves and a powerful position in the OPEC cartel. The facts confirm this as, Saudi Arabia has derived close to 90 per cent of its revenues by exporting oil over the years. But, looking at the current regime, it can be registered that this growth took a turn that too for the worse since oil prices began to decline. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has seen sudden spikes as well as remarkable fall in oil prices and is known to have endured some very challenging times over the past few years. One such challenge came in the form of a budget deficit of a staggering $ 98 billion in the year 2015 resulting in a fall in public expenditure afterwards. Having focused upon the economic turmoil that Saudi Arabia is currently facing,


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this paper throws light upon the effect of this slump in Saudi economy not just on the Saudi nationals, but also on their vast migrant population. Currently, Saudi Arabia is undergoing a very ambitious plan named as Vision 2030 which can be a major transformation in their economy if successful. This plan aims at weaning the Saudi economy off its oil addiction and also to help Saudi Arabia in staying competitive in a current low-oil-price world. However, this paper throws light upon one of the most overlooked aspects of this challenge which is the makeup of the Kingdom’s talent pool and focusing on other domestic labor market realities.This paper tries to emphasize that reforms in those areas will prove to be a key factor in whether Saudi Arabia can achieve its long-term economic goals of which education is the starting point. Labor laws need to be mended to reduce the distortions in current Saudi labor market. Recent data shows that the total Saudi workforce comprises of 47.5 per cent of non-Saudi males and 6.7 per cent of non-Saudi females, which exceeds the number of Saudi nationals in the workforce. Thus, this paper recommends some major reforms that are needed to address the issues like low labor participation by Saudi nationals, high demographic dividend , unemployment, technical skills lacking among Saudi nationals, disparity of wages between domestic and foreign workforce and low presence of women in the workforce. Thus, this paper is an attempt not just to put forth the labor market challenges that Saudi Arabia is facing currently but also to prove that the crucial economic transformation the country needs urgently is possible only by addressing these challenges, otherwise the plans like Vision 2030 will become just a shaming embodiment.

‘Make in India’: Contextualizing it Within the Obtained Socio-economic Reality

Nyima Tenzing, Lecturer, ICFAI University Sikkim, Gangtok, Sikkim

‘Make in India’ is largely build-up on National Manufacturing Policy 2012 (NMP 2012) to promote India as a manufacturing hub. NMP 2012 has a target of increasing manufacturing contribution from 16 per cent to 25 per cent of GDP by 2022 and in the process generating 100 million new employment. Interestingly ‘Make in India’ aspires to achieve the targets set in NMP 2012 but stops short of owning up the targets explicitly anywhere. Moreover, it aspires to be larger than NMP 2012 by focussing on sectors other than manufacturing, like hospitality. Analysing the economic history of most of the developed as well as newly developed economies one cannot but be enamoured by the role of industrialisation. The Industry certainly seemed to be the necessary condition for development and in large many instances, a sufficient condition too. But like all history it is safely in the past and hoping for history to repeat itself by simply reproducing the broad causes would perhaps be naïve. But doing so without any semblance of contextualising it within the obtained realities is downright foolhardy. The real challenge is to address the paucity of meaningful jobs in the economy. Industrialisation in general and manufacturing, in particular, has a very respectable track record in the history of modern

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economic growth. The setting that is obtained in India is different in more than one way. Manufacturing has never been an engine of growth, neither in the remote nor in the recent past. The first growth spurt in the mid-1980s is now generally believed to have come about on the back of a robust tertiary boom; if anything, manufacturing gave it a fillip. Similarly, the recent growth acceleration in the post-reform era is also anything but manufacturing led. This is not to say that manufacturing had no role to play. Manufacturing strengthens the growth momentum that tertiary sector engendered. So the view that manufacturing can be an engine of growth on its own is hitherto empirically unsubstantiated. However, it is found to complement and strengthen the growth spurt initiated by other sectors, albeit under some given conditions. But even if manufacturing is agreed to have growth promoting potential, it is far from clear whether it would do so in harmony with the extant labour market reality. The employment intensity and employment buoyancy of manufacturing have historically been skimpy and in all probability, it would continue to be so in the days ahead so long as manufacturing as usual perpetuates. Moreover, a more fundamental question to ask is how would the manufacturing engendered growth be shared in the economy? It is pertinent to raise a red flag related to the tendency of lopsided concentration of the gains from industrialisation in general and manufacturing in particular among the agents of production processes. The systemic bias in favour of agents other than labour in distributive issues would, in all probability, be emboldened and perpetuated with a manufacturing driven growth. In other words, the ‘model of accumulation’ needs to be subjected to a thorough thinking through. Growth that enables few at the cost of disabling many is neither adorable nor affordable.

Impact of FDI Inflows on Employment

Tahir Hussain, University Professor, TM Bhagalpur University, Bihar

Ranjan Sinha, Research Officer, TM Bhagalpur University, Bihar

There was a strong emphasis on the import substitution, industrialization export promotion while liberalization was at its rudimentary stage. Thereafter F.D.I. was encouraged in accordance with the policy of LPG after reform period 1991. Secondary norms were also not liberal as tax uniformity was not in place. Under these circumstances ‘Make in India’ was launched on 1st July 2017. Goods and Service Tax (G.S.T.) was introduced throughout the nation including UTs so that these could be uniformity in the tax policy as well as the maximum social advantage to the people of India. Thus, drawing from all these contemporaneous changes the following study has been undertaken to study F.D.I. in India. Furthermore, the time frame that the study wishes to analyze is between 2000-01 to 2014-15.

The author is of the opinion that FDI can positively affect the employment generation which is interlinked with the overall economic growth and structural change. India’s labour market is still not flexible because of the existence of certain laws that prevent entry of labour in the organized sector. No doubt certain legal flexibility can help but the quantitative concept


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is not as important as the qualitative concept. The quality labour supply is most important for manufacturing sector growth. Programmes like ‘Make in India’ require a massive dose of FDI for jobs creation, growth and development. The flow of FDI has created large employment opportunities in the service sector as compared to manufacturing sectors. However, in sectors like automobiles, durable goods, electronics, etc., FDI has contributed significantly to generate employment. On the other hand, in fast growing economies like China, FDI has given much a required boot to the manufacturing sector and foreign trade. China is the manufacturing hub of the world now. It is concluded that India’s pace of growth on account of FDI has to be compatible with its growing population through Make in India.

The political set-up of India is democratic in nature and governments get changed and administrative system shakes resultantly. The political instability of any country is the major problem in the progress of FDI inflow. If the top-most priority is being given to economic issues in the economic planning then the objectives of economic growth can be achieved more effectively. India should go for a strong policy implementation through single window operation for all the matters related to investment to achieve the required 8 to 10 per cent growth in the economy.

The fact that India is most investment friendly country should be spread world-wide, and the required policies and legislation be put in place. India should improve our foreign ties with neighbouring and other countries for trade promotion to improve the economic prospect of the country. Tax rationalization and honest business environment must be created to attract FDI and to reduce the unemployment level and upgrade its quality of living.

Employment Effect of Trade Facilitation in India: Theoretical Discussions and Empirical Illustrations

Mamta Kumari, PhD Student, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar

Nalin Bharti, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar

International trade is one of the essential components of growth. Since long time, it is considered that increased trade enhances growth and reduces poverty and inequality. One of the important measures for increasing trade is trade facilitation, which is the harmonization, simplification and standardization of the international trade procedures. So, it will not be wrong to say that trade facilitation will definitely have indirect impact on growth, poverty, inequality and other economic outcomes through enhancing trade. But, whether trade facilitation will have positive or negative impact on unemployment depends on several conditions like, labour market conditions and mobility, flexibility of labour supply, nature of trade goods (capital intensive or labour intensive), structure of trade, etc.

The study has taken into consideration four trade facilitation measures like, time and cost to export, time and cost to import. This is it’s kind of first study to deal with country specific employment effect of trade facilitation. The paper attempts to look into the relationship

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between trade facilitation and unemployment through three channels- GDP, trade and government revenue as supported by theoretical literature.

While looking at current status of trade facilitation measures in India, the figures from World Development Indicators, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Trade Facilitation Indicators and Global Enabling Trade Index depict that India lag far behind the global best practices in trade facilitation measures. Therefore, there is greater need and scope to improve its performance. As far as unemployment situation in India is concerned, the unemployment rate is more or less stagnant during last one decade. However, the problem is that economic growth is not getting transferred to the employment scenario. Overall India’s current status in trade facilitation reforms as well as in unemployment condition is not satisfactory.

In order to study the unemployment effect of trade facilitation, firstly Trade Facilitation Index (TFI) has been constructed using all the trade facilitation measures that have been taken into consideration. Secondly, individual impact of trade facilitation measures on unemployment has been examined and it is found that time and cost to import affected unemployment significantly and have expected positive sign, but time and cost to export do not. It signifies that with increase in time and cost to import, unemployment will increase and vice versa. However, time and cost to export do not have effect on unemployment. Thirdly, the paper attempts at looking into the impact of trade facilitation on unemployment through three mediators- growth, trade and government revenue individually as well as collectively. In the study total GDP, total export, import, and final government expenditure have been used as proxies for GDP, trade and government revenue respectively. The results show that trade facilitation measures do not have significant effect on unemployment in India when mediators are used individually. But, when all mediators are used collectively, expected positive and significant impact of trade facilitation on unemployment has been found. That means as all the trade facilitation measures, time and cost to import and time and cost to export will increase, unemployment will also be increased and vice versa. The results also indicate that impact of trade facilitation on unemployment depends on how growth, trade and government revenue affect unemployment. Overall, the study shows that trade facilitation can contribute to improved employment condition in India.

Theme 3

Technological change and employmenT

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KEYNOTE PAPER

Technology and Employment Twelve Stylized Facts for the Digital Age

Mario Pianta, Professor, Roma Tre University and Urbino University, Italy

The question of the employment impact of technology is as old as political economy. Every few years a wave of international concern arises on the ways the evolution of technologies – today those of the digital economy – affects the quantity and quality of labour in each country, its compensation and the prospects for growth and wellbeing. In this paper current trends, conceptual issues, methodological approaches and research results are combined in twelve stylized facts on the relationship between technology and employment. They identify in an effective way the key issues, help us understand a complex phenomenon, and may stimulate an urgent policy debate on the challenges our societies face in a variety of fields. The twelve stylised facts are the following ones.

1. Technology is shaped by social relations; 2. Technology saves human labour; technological unemployment is a serious concern; 3. In the digital age the nature and boundaries of work are changing; 4. Different technological strategies have contrasting employment effects; 5. Industries differ in their employment dynamics and role of technology; 6. We can see the employment impact of technology at the firm, industry and macroeconomic levels; 7. Technological change is a disequilibrium process; demand and structural change matter; 8. Business cycles affect technological change and its employment impact; 9. The impact of technology is different across occupations and skills; 10. Labour market conditions are relevant, but employment outcomes are not determined in labour markets alone; 9. In emerging countries employment outcomes are jointly affected by technology and catching up; 10. Technology is an engine of inequality; profits benefit more than wages, wage disparities increase. They have important policy implications in several areas of public action.

An important implication of these stylized facts is the need for policies addressing the trajectories of innovation and the distribution of the productivity gains resulting from technological change. Over the past decades, innovation has mainly benefited capital in the form of higher profits, in a context of increasing pressure on firms from investors demanding high financial returns. Conversely, technological change has often hit workers with job losses associated to labour saving new processes, with new forms of low wage precarious work, with stagnant real wages. New policies are required for for shaping technological change in the interest of society; for reducing its negative employment effects; for making sure that the gains from innovation and productivity go to labour in the forms of higher wages, lower working hours and improved working conditions.

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THEMATIC SESSION

Technological Change, Automation and Employment: A Short Review of Theory and Evidence

K.V. Ramaswamy, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Maharashtra

The paper presents a selective survey of recent literature in the area of technological change, automation and employment. The broad objective is to convey analytical ideas and the empirical evidence that have informed the studies in this area of great importance to economists and labor economists in particular. Throughout this paper, our focus is on employment. Automation occurs when a machine does work that might previously have been done by a person. The term refers to both physical work and mental or cognitive work that might be replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). How robots and automation affect the availability of jobs for labor force? There are very few emerging studies that address the issue with detailed data on robots usage and employment in different sectors of the economy. These studies are related to but quite distinct from studies of the impact of IT and computers on the labor market. This is simply because robots are programmable, flexible (have ‘arms and hands’) and are powered by AI to do multitasks. They can directly replace tasks performed earlier by workers. Based on our review of available studies and empirical evidence the following statements can be made: (1) Increasing automation and robots adoption do not seem to cause loss of employment in the aggregate (2) Low skilled workers in routine jobs are more likely to suffer job losses. (3) There will be demand for new types of skilled workers or new specialization within occupations. Prospective automation intensifies the degree of uncertainty in labor markets across countries.

Technological Change and Employment: Creative Destruction

Dev Nathan, Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi

The paper looks at different notions of technology and the appearance of anxiety caused by technological change particularly in times of change in core technology, as is the current period. The effects of automation on job destruction, changing requirements from workers, the flexibility of working and the development of digital Taylorism are dealt with. This is followed by considering the development of Internet-based platforms, such as Amazon, Uber, AirBnB and Ola,in e-commerce and transport service, all of which have created new kinds of jobs and challenge established notions of the nature of work.

In dealing with the consequences of technological change a lot of attention is given to the destruction of jobs and of old types of livelihoods, while the simultaneous or sequential creation of new jobs and livelihoods is not given as much attention. This paper is based on the

Theme 3: Technological Change and Employment

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understanding that the process of technological change is one of creative destruction, and not just one of unmitigated destruction alone. Of course, the losers and gainers are often not the same persons, which is a feature of technological change that must always be kept in mind in fashioning policies to deal with technological change.

We then turn to the question of whether the new technologies and the development of automation mean the end of outsourcing in GVCs. This discussion is important since it sets the context for discussing technological changes in India. After a brief discussion of some factors affecting firm-level adoption of technological changes in India, the paper takes up a number of important technological transformations that are currently underway in India. Different aspects of the interaction of gender relations with technological change are brought together, The paper ends by taking note of the employment effects of these technological transformations in India.

Public Employment Service in India: Technology based Solutions to Institutional Challenges

Vinoj Abraham, Assistant Professor, C.D.S, Kerala

S.K. Sasikumar, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida

A major problem faced by labour markets across the globe is ‘friction’ within the market. Perhaps the most important form of such ‘friction’ is the ‘searching and matching’ to be done in the labour market, which entails substantial costs to both the employer and the employee. Impeded by information asymmetry, both the market agents encounter search costs. Often, due to these search costs, the labour market turns out to be monopsonistic. The firms need to incur additional expenses of attracting and retaining workers over and above the wages to be paid to workers. Workers in such markets end up receiving wages that are lower than their value of marginal product (Ehrenberg and Smith, 2006). Labour market intermediaries, in such conditions play a crucial role in reducing the search and match costs of both employers and employees.

Traditionally, when such frictions entail high search costs, labour markets tend to acquire informal institutional norms that reduce the market transactions or introduce labour market intermediaries that would shift the costs of searching to the poor bargaining partner in the exchange. In the Indian labour history discourse on labour contractors/labour intermediaries, these agents had acquired particular notoriety for the role they played in recruiting workers for the colonial masters in the plantations, military and government services. In 1959,the Indian parliament adopted the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act (CNV Act 1959) after ratifying the ILO Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No.88). This Act provided the normative framework for the establishment and operation of the National Employment Service (NES) which became the key labour market intermediary for long.

However, reports show that the performance of the conventional employment exchanges has been lacklustre at the national level because of the poor response of these exchanges to

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the changing needs of the labour market. .Additionally, monitoring and evaluation of the CNV Act was weak due to poor organizational strengths.

It is in this context that the NES was revamped in 2014 and the National Career Services was launched. The NCS has dramatically widened the scope and reach of employment services by leveraging new technologies. Its central focus is the NCS web-based portal (www.ncs.gov.in). Through its operations, the NCS aims to create employment search options at the national level through its web portal. At present, the employment exchanges at the state level are populating the NCS portal with their database. The portal also allows independent registration directly on its website. It also takes up registration of both candidates and service providers for skill development, training and counselling. Thus the NCS, aims to resolve the mismatches in the labour market through search facilities, providing LMI, and also aims to enhance the skills of prospective candidates. This paper provides some preliminary evidences on the structure, functions and performance of NCS as a solution to the institutional rigidities that had accumulated in the past. Further, it poses the challenges that NCS face in achieving its goals given the Indian labour market conditions.

Technology and labour Market: Insights from Indian Manufacturing Sector

Rajarshi Majumder, Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Burdwan, West Bengal

Any change in technology basically changes the Capital-Labour ratio in the production process and therefore changes the magnitude, scale, and composition of employment. The impact on labour market, therefore, depends on the type of technological changes and its effect on the production process – both in terms of expanse and intensity. This leads to an enormous expansion of production and increases employment. However, technological change may also lead to handing over many of the repetitive jobs to machines and thereby decreasing demand for low-skill workers. Simultaneously, it may be accompanied by an increase in demand for high-skilled workers to manufacture, program and control these machines. These changes will alter the skill composition of the workforce and may worsen wage-gap between skilled and unskilled workers.

In this paper, we seek to explore the issue of technological change and its impact on Indian Labour Market from three angles. First is the issue of technological change and employment trends. Towards that, we concentrate on the formal manufacturing sector and identify Advanced Technology Industries in the Indian context by UNIDO. Thereafter, we use SFPFA to measure Rate of Technological Progress during 2000-2010 period in this sector, separately for each of the major states and major industry groups. The second set of data on technical progress can be derived from looking at the trends in Fixed Capital-Output Ratio. Sectors/regions can be classified on the basis of Rate of TP obtained from SFPFA and trends in K/O ratio to have High, Moderate or Low technological change over a given period. Thereafter we examine whether Labour-Output Ratio has increased or decreased in states/


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sectors showing higher technological progress. Second is the issue of technological progress and wage disparity. Thence we take help of the NSSO surveys on employment to examine the wage disparity within states/sectors and its link with technological progress. Specifically we examine whether states/sectors showing higher rates of technological progress have witnessed increasing wage disparity within. The third is the issue of technological change and skill demand. This can be examined by looking at the changes in skill composition of new workers over time, for the states/sectors separately.

Results indicate that during 1999-2011, advanced technology sectors witnessed a negative growth rate of employment. We find a mixed impact of technological change on the employment situation. At the industry level, sectors that have shown high levels of technological change have also witnessed moderately high level of employment expansion, though employment growth has been highest in the low technological change sectors. But at the regional level, states, where technological change has been high, are also the ones with lowest growth of workers. There are thus separate factors at work at spatial and industry level and it would require further detailed analysis to understand the link between technological change and employment in the contest of Indian manufacturing sector. While skill composition of workers has improved substantially, high TP sectors and regions have shown a relatively higher growth of better educated/skilled workers compared to the low TP sectors and regions. Wage inequality has increased in both the high TP sectors and regions and has come down in the moderate and low TP sectors and regions. It is thus clear that the sectors/states showing a relatively higher rate of technological progress have witnessed a slower growth of employment, changes in skill composition of workers biased towards the upper ends and rising wage inequality. It is thus realised that an adequate policy based intervention is required towards a facilitation or response to the concurrent condition.

Technology, Productivity and Employment: An Empirical Analysis of Indian Industries

Suresh Chand Aggarwal, Former Professor and Head, Dept. of Business Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi

Since 2000, the new technology in the form of ICT has proliferated all over the World including India and has changed the nature and demands of Work. ICT has also been created and adopted by the Indian industry, especially the manufacturing and service sector industries. The other industries which include Agriculture, Mining, Electricity and Construction have a very limited exposure to ICT. The current study finds many important results on the relationship between new technology and employment. It is found that generally the ICT-producing industries, at aggregate and disaggregate level of manufacturing and service industries, experienced a faster growth in value added, employment, and labour productivity as compared to both ICT-using and non-ICT industries.

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The results confirm the role ICT may play in accelerating the growth of labour productivity and employment. Moreover, like ICT-producing industries; the ICT-using industries also show evidence of a higher gain in the growth of value added and employment in the manufacturing sector. In the services sector, this evidence is confirmed for growth in value added but not for employment. The study also finds a link between technology and growth in the use of highly skilled persons in manufacturing and the service sector industries. It is also observed that the growth in employment of highly skilled persons is higher not only from medium and low skilled persons within both ICT-producing and ICT-using industries but also higher than the growth of those in non-ICT industries.

Since technology in the form of ICT has helped in the accelerated growth in VA, Emp and LP in the Indian manufacturing as well as the service industries, it is evident that the Indian industry and its firms must pay more attention to the investment in the new technology and substantially increase their investment expenditure on R&D and firms should increase their readiness to adopt new technology to harness its potential economic and social benefits. It is all the more relevant and important in view of the dismal record of the Indian firms of investment in R&D. The entire Indian industry in 2015 just spent the same amount as one Chinese company Huawei ($ 6.5 billion), and the total R&D expenditure by the Indian government is almost same as by one single US company- Microsoft ($12 billion in 2015). There are only 26 Indian companies among the top 2500 global R&D spenders in 2015 (Mint, 25th Sept 2017, p.17). One of the most problematic factors for doing business in India as per Global Competitiveness Report (2017) is ‘inadequately educated workforce’. So unless India spends adequate amount to spread and improve education, and the Indian industry starts realizing the gains of producing and adopting the new technology and spreads it to all the sectors, India’s LP would remain low, GDP growth would not accelerate to the dream level of 10% per annum, and the international competitiveness of its exports would keep on suffering.

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labour Displacement Potential of Technology Adoption: Firm-level Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industry

Sandeep Kumar Kujur, Assistant Professor, Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad

For developing countries like India where service sector has been the main driver of its economic growth, sustaining high growth rates in the long-run requires better performance from the manufacturing sector. This would offer new opportunities to move towards higher value added and increased employment with higher labor productivity, thus raising the overall welfare of the economy. The manufacturing industry in India contributes around 14-16% to the GDP since 1980s. In 2013, their contribution to GDP was about 15%, which is much lower compared to that in other developing countries. Though, the share of manufacturing in GDP is low, the decadal growth of the manufacturing has been increasing. The annual growth rate of aggregate manufacturing industry in India during 1981-82 to 1990-91 was about 7.63%. The average growth of manufacturing declined in the first decade of economic liberalization to 6.22% per annum. The annual growth rate surged again in the second decade of liberalization to 8.27%. Despite increasing growth rate, the employment growth in India’s manufacturing sector has been disappointing. The employment growth in the post-liberalization period from 1991 to 1995 was 0.25% , which has increased marginally to 0.50% during 1996-2000. However, during 2001-2005, the employment growth in the manufacturing sector reduced to -3.21% before it increased again to 2.18% during 2006-2011. This puzzle of jobless growth (high production growth rate accompanied by low employment growth) has been a major area of debate amongst academic and policy makers.

The researchers attributed this phenomenon of jobless growth to various factors, but are not limited to, rigidities in labor market, trade liberalization, and growth in real wages, and technological change. It is forecasted that with the manufacturing automation, the loss in jobs may happen more in the future. However, no attempt has been made thus far to understand the contribution of technological change in decline in manufacturing employment in India. This study to our mind is a maiden attempt to empirically examine the sources of declining labour employment in India’s manufacturing industry. The declining labour employment in India’s manufacturing industry is analysed in two parts, using firm-level data provided by Prowess from 1987 to 2017. First, the study applies the Log Mean Divisia Index approach to understand the role of activity effect, structural change effect and technological change effect on declining labour employment in aggregate manufacturing industry from 1987 to 2017. The similar exercise is also carried out for capital-intensive and labour-intensive manufacturing industries and their various subsectors. Secondly, the study uses firm-level panel data from 1987 through 2017 to econometrically estimate the effects of different types of technology, such as, traditional production technology, and advanced production technologies (viz, energy

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efficient technology, material efficient technology, service providing technology, information and communication technology, and pollution control technology) on the change in labour intensity in the aggregate manufacturing industry in India. The similar empirical investigations are being done for capital-intensive and labour-intensive manufacturing industries, and their different sub-sectors. The study helps us trace the role of technology vis-à-vis the contribution of the scale effect and structural effect in the changing environment of labour employment in India’s manufacturing industry. The emerging evidence on the effects of different types of technology on labour employment helps us understand which are of these specific types of technologies are employment creating or employment destructing. This could very well serve to identify appropriate policy measures to promote and generate employment in the aggregate manufacturing industry and it various sub-sectors in India. This may also help us understand the emerging dynamics of manufacturing automation in the emerging economies context.

Are Electronic Welfare Payments Solving the Problem of Massive Rural Unemployment? Evidence from Three Districts of Barak Valley Region of Assam

Rajshree Bedamatta, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Harish Chandra, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

India’s most ambitious rural employment programme – the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – is over more than a decade old now. What started as a flagship social security programme for those in need of and demanding work in the rural areas is seen to have dwindling in support at the grassroots level. In the most recent times, conflicting reports have emerged on two counts. One shows that the programme in spite of putting a legal entitlements framework in place has not been able to make much dent in poverty. Non-revision of minimum wage payments, delay in wage payments, massive corruption have been cited as some of the reasons for its non-performance. Another form of reporting led by the Digital India programme of the present government shows that the electronic payment system initiated under the MGNREGA has resulted in direct benefits to the beneficiaries under the scheme, thereby fulfilling the primary objective of timely wage payments and the secondary objective of financial inclusion.

This paper takes a critical view of the digital welfare payment system that has been pushed as one of the hallmarks of the MGNREGA programme today without paying much heed to the more serious issues of planning at the panchayat level, revision of minimum wages, and massive corruption in spite of the electronic system in place. The discussion is based on primary data collected from 300 households across 30 Gram Panchayats in three districts of


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Barak Valley Region of Assam based on a household level survey carried out during September-October 2017. This region constitutes the three districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj that rank very low in the human development indicators and are characterized by massive rural unemployment induced out-migration. Among this group of districts, Karimganj also bears the double burden of being one of the worst floods affected.

One of the most disconcerting observations that we came across as part of this study was the degree and depth of stress that the households faced with regard to meeting daily consumption expenditures due to lack of employment opportunities. Possession of a job card was highly sought after in spite of the fact that the jobs were not forthcoming. While households possessing job cards was found to be very high, those reporting having found employment in the MGNREGA programmes over the period of last two financial years was very low. We corroborated this with the Monitoring Information System database of the MGNREGA and there were massive mismatches. The number of days of employment generated did not match with the response rate from our sample households. There are evidences of massive job card renting at the village level.

Most households that responded having job card entitlements also had bank accounts opened for the specific purpose of receiving wage payments, thereby meeting Government of India’s objective of financial inclusion. However the block and village level functionaries have created a system in which bank transfers are made to personal accounts, yet the money is siphoned off on the moral premise that households do not have a ‘right’ on the welfare payments as they have ‘not worked’ for it. Thus electronic welfare payments system that had been forwarded as an effective tool of keeping corruption at bay has in fact created a complex form of moral degeneration in village economies that were hitherto relatively free of such menace. However this paper argues that there is a very high demand for jobs among the rural households through the employment guarantee programme and effective social auditing and accountability with active involvement of civil society and the state governments can revive the MGNREGA.

Technological Change, Skill Supply and Wage Distribution: Comparison of High Technology and low

Technology Industries in India

Hansa Jain, Associate Professor, Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Gujarat

During the past two decades, rapid technological change on account of post-reforms exposure to foreign markets, technological inflows supported by an increase in graduates has altered the employment and production pattern all over the world. The intrusion of information and communication technologies has made the production process more skill-biased and

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knowledge intensive. India has also experienced this change during the past two decades. The supply of skilled workers not only enables the firms to easily adjust to new technologies, they also encourage the firms to invest in research and development activities and increase their knowledge stock and become more productive. The reallocation of workers from production to non-production tasks is reflected in terms of skill premium earned by educated workers, resulting in wage gaps between skilled and unskilled workers.

In India, graduates share a very small proportion of the total working age population. Hence skill is concentrated among few workers who are likely to get a premium on their skill. This study examines this fact by taking the case of Indian manufacturing industries. The study tries to determine the supply of educated workers during the past decades, and their distribution in the high technology industries. The study further tries to determine wage disparity in selected high technology and low technology industries and explains the factors responsible for wage differences.

The study is mainly based upon the secondary data collected from Annual Survey of Industries. The nominal values are deflated for price changes. In order to determine the changes in employment and productivity scenario in manufacturing industries, trends are recorded since 2000-01 for NVA per unit, capital intensity, skill intensity, capital productivity and labour productivity. After determining the distribution of skilled workers according to technology intensity of manufacturing industries, the employment and productivity indicators are further compared separately for high technology and low technology industries. Wage disparity between- and within- skilled and unskilled workers is calculated for both high technology and low technology industries. Wage disparity is further obtained individually for the manufacturing industries under high technology and low technology categories respectively. Panel data on high technology and low technology industries from 2000-01 to 2014-15 are pooled for regression analysis. The variations in wage disparity are explained by capital intensity, capital productivity, skill intensity, square of skill intensity and technology individually for high technology and low technology industries as well as for all the industries.

The study finds that with the advancement of technology, the importance of skill in manufacturing industries has increased. The concentration of skill is more in high technology industries as compared to low technology industries. Consequently, there exists wage disparity between- and within- skilled and unskilled workers. Skilled workers are able to earn skill premium, which varies according to the level of technology intensity of the industries. Accordingly, the wage disparity varies. The results show that capital intensity and capital productivity positively affect wage disparity, while skill intensity positively affects wage disparity in the beginning and reverses the trend afterward. The study also finds the impact of unobserved heterogeneities which differentiates the workers in terms of abilities despite having similar skills. Technology is not found to have a significant impact on wage disparity.


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Employment Polarization in Germany: Role of Technology, Trade and Human Capital

Ipsita Roy, Post-doctoral Fellow, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Davide Consoli, Ramony Cajal Research Fellow, CSIC-UPV (INGENIO), Valencia, Spain

The paper proposes an empirical analysis of the structural changes in employment pattern in West Germany during 1979-2012 and assesses the extent to which traditional forces such as technology and trade, and institutional factors such as regional education structure explain employment polarization across employment agency districts. We start with the consideration that the effect of technology on occupational groups, and hence skill requirements, is not uniform across the skill distribution as traditionally considered in the canonical model of “skill-biased technical change” (Levy and Murnane 1992, Katz and Murphy 1992). Given that an occupation consists of several tasks that a worker performs on the job, technology may affect differently the demand for certain types of tasks and the way in which skills are assigned to these tasks (Acemolgu and Autor 2012), rather than on the entire vector of occupational tasks.

To accommodate the limitations, we implement the task-based approach (Autor, Levy and Murnane 2003), looking closely at changes in task composition within occupations due to adoption of ICT and increased scope of international trade in West Germany during the last three decades; and whether the findings are consistent with those of U.S. based studies (Autor and Dorn 2013). In so doing, we focus on employment districts in order to exploit regional variations in the extent to which trade and technology overlap in explaining shifts in employment pattern. Finally, we take into account institutional settings to understand if such changes are amplified or hampered by local institutions, in the form of provision of apprenticeship training and vocational education.

For the empirical analysis, the study draws information from four main databases: the Qualification and Career Survey (QCS) data from BIBB/IAB for 1979-2012, the Sample of Integrated Labor Market Biographies Regional file for 1975-2010 (SIAB-R), the BIBB vocational education reports for 1977-2012, and sector-level import data from OECD. Occupational skill requirements are defined as ‘tasks’ that workers are required to perform at the workplace, and individual task-scores are constructed using QCS following Spitz-Oener (2006). Individual task-scores are then aggregated on the occupational level (KldB88-2digit) by calculating the average task-measures of all workers with the same occupation. Finally, regional task-measures are calculated as the share of routine-intensive occupation in total employment in each employment district in West Germany in each period.

Results confirm that regional employment districts with a high initial share of routine occupation at the start of each period experienced greater adoption of computer and information technology and a larger decline in routine occupations in subsequent periods. These

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two findings confirm Autor-Dorn-Hanson (2013) results for the U.S. labor markets in case of West Germany, that relative demand for routine-intensive jobs has indeed gone down since the 1980s in the wake of rising ICT usage in local employment districts. Concerning the effect of trade, contemporaneous change in import exposure with respect to goods and services is found to reduce overall employment in routine-intensive occupations; however, the magnitude is significantly smaller as compared to technology. Looking at whether this indeed has been the case, we find that regions with a greater share of routine jobs experienced a greater growth of high-skilled abstract jobs in the subsequent periods; while the overlap between initial regional routine employment and subsequent growth of low-skilled service occupations is surprisingly weak. This indicates that unlike in the U.S. where employment growth in low-skilled service occupations has been the greatest, in Germany, there is a greater trend towards occupational upgrading and larger growth in managerial and professional occupations. No effect of apprenticeship is however observed on the growth of high-skilled employment, indicating that employment effects of increased apprenticeship are mostly limited to changes in employment in routine occupations and to some extent in non-routine service occupations. In summary, the findings provide an explorative overview of the changes in employment structure in Germany and the underlying causes, while at the same time suggesting that investment in education and advanced vocational training enable upward mobility of routine workers.

A Methodological Prescription For Forecasting the Job Growth for the labor Market in India: Using Multiple Sources

of Data and Machine learning Techniques

Tutan Ahmed, Consultant, World Bank, New Delhi

Policy-makers, training providers and students from the skilling ecosystem face a major challenge when it comes to the knowledge about existing jobs in the labor market. In fact, India suffers from inadequate availability of timely and reliable data on employment. This has made it difficult for policy-makers and other stakeholders to assess the extent of jobs being generated. As a result, both labor market-related policy-making and analysis are conducted in a data vacuum. NITI Aayog has recently set up a task force to deal with employment data discrepancies and come up with reliable solutions to make data on job creation available. The other key challenge, particularly in the domain of skill development, is to understand the aspirations of people for various skill development programs of the Government of India.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is making a concerted effort to develop a model for job/skill requirement forecasting and aspiration mapping at the district level to address the problem of data discrepancy in the job market. This exercise is entirely based on different datasets available for the labor market, job advertisement, and district administration


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data. This model is likely to be more cost-effective as compared to the traditional survey method. Also, this model would be easily replicable across districts. The government, multilateral organizations, private training providers, and students are the targeted beneficiaries of the end product of this exercise.

UNDP intends to create a real-time job forecasting model (and subsequently a skill requirement forecasting model) based on data available in Nagpur district as a pilot project. This model intends to provide geographically disaggregated details of job and skill requirement forecasting and to facilitate geographically disaggregated decision making. For job and skill requirement forecasting, the model uses various job advertisement data from online job portals and news media, investment data from Government and Private sector, and district administration data on employment and establishment. NSS is providing the necessary framework for the data analysis. Significant provision is allowed for capturing local labor market knowledge in this exercise.

The Effect of Access to Information and Communication Technology on Household labor Income: Evidence

from One laptop Per Child in Uruguay

Jaoquin Marandino, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina

Phanindra V Wunnava, Dept. of Economics, Middebury College and IZA

This paper examines the effect of the One Laptop per Child program in Uruguay [Plan Ceibal] on household labor income. Since 2007, the Uruguayan government has delivered one laptop to every child and every teacher in public primary schools. This program has considerably increased access to information technology within households as evidenced by parents’ utilization of said technology. Households in the Dept. of Florida received laptops in 2007, while those in the Dept. of Canelones received them in 2009. Therefore, using data from Household Surveys from the National Institute of Statistics in Uruguay, a difference-in-difference model is estimated to capture the effect of the plan of giving laptops on labor income. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant positive effect of the plan on household labor income for households below median income, specifically, those at the 10th and 20th quantiles. Such findings suggest that the program has greater potential when targeted to low-income households, where parents possess less computer skills.

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The Web of Recruitment: Emerging Hiring Technologies and Methods in India’s Urban labour Market

Bhim Reddy, Fellow, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Tarini Shipurkar, Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Shantanu Kant Dubey, Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

Situating within the larger scope of scholarship on changing technologies and its relation with work and work relations, this paper seeks to explore contemporary technological infrastructure that caters to the process of recruitment and nature of emerging work arrangements.

The bulk of expansion in formal sector employment in India has been characterised by informal and flexible employment (Ghose, 2016). Further, the nature of jobs created in the latest phase of economic globalisation is driven by sudden spurts in demand for, and redundancy of, particular skill sets. These flexible work arrangements in the labour market also demand a higher frequency of transactions in recruitment/hiring.

In this background, the paper explores the emerging technological infrastructure of recruitment and how it facilitates the mobility of people between jobs. It further analyses technological diversity and how it caters to duality in the labour market and the standards of work. It also seeks to explore the contradictions in the philosophies of the free-market and the emerging technological platforms/solutions that capitalise on promoting social networks and exclusive (‘premium’) services that limit, in principle, free flow of information and competitiveness (Ex: LinkedIn: ‘Finding the right job begins with your connections’; ‘80% of people find jobs through people they know’).

Towards this objective, we critically analyse different modes of recruitment vis-a-vis the nature of jobs and type of job contracts and the use of technology by the job seekers, recruiter-intermediaries and employers. We elaborate on the technological solutions and tools that are evolving and gaining popularity.

In recruitment, to find the ‘right candidate’ and inversely for the right candidate to find the ‘right job’, requires a matching of the method used to disseminate information (by the employer) and the access to information (for the job seeker). The rise of the internet as a source of information for jobs - with the emergence of job portals and career websites - has led to the bridging of this gap in an effective and inexpensive manner, with information being accessible to both the seeker and employer at the click of a button. This also implies that both job seekers and employers are collecting and assessing the information provided in this public domain at all given times.

Interviews with HR managers reveal a growing use of social networking sites in addition to (if not in place of) job portals to find suitable candidates - this is especially true for more


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specialized positions. LinkedIn, in particular, has emerged as one of the leading social networking sites used for a more effective and targeted search for suitable candidates. The digital footprint of the job seeker is also exploited by HR professionals, who use data mining techniques to sift and find the one with the most potential. As a corollary to these processes, candidates (fresher or lateral) tend to be particular about their conducts on the social networking platforms in the hope of better branding (Gershon, 2017) and professionalism.

However, where the need of hiring is in bulk in low-end jobs and the attrition rate is high, job portals (which are now increasingly considered as ‘traditional’ platforms) are used to mobilise potential job seekers. Thus, a process of segmentation is underway in the technological web of recruitment that corresponds to the segmentation in the world of work.

Productivity, Employment and Wages in Organised Manufacturing: A Comparative Study of Orissa and India

D P Priyadarshi Joshi, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad, Telangana

Priyabrata Sahoo, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad, Telangana

The economic growth of Orissa has been a catalyst for several researchers dealing with structural changes and sustainability of growth in India. The growth rates were quite low in the pre-reforms period for Orissa while it jumped up in the post-reform era. During 1972-73 to 1981-82, Orissa’s economy was characterised by a slow primary sector growth. In the second phase from 1982-83 to 2001-02, the secondary sector gained pace; while in the third phase from 2002-03 to 2011-12, primary and tertiary sectors were the prime contributor to Orissa’s spectacular rise. In the post-reform period, manufacturing has been a major contributor to Orissa’s growth but recently there has been a slump in its growth. Manufacturing, because of its intrinsic characteristics, is known as the engine of growth. Thus, it is very important to locate productivity and employment, the two aspects of growth, of the manufacturing sector. The specific objectives of the paper are to study, first, the trend and growth of productivity in Orissa and India; second, the trend and composition of employment and labour cost; third, the relation between productivity growth and increase in wages and non-wage benefits. The paper consists of six sections including of Introduction and conclusions. Section 2 describes the data, variables and methodology used in the study. Section 3 deals with the first objective while Section 4 and Section 5 answers the other two objectives respectively.

Annual Survey of Industries is the main data source for the study. The variables used in this study are Net Value Added, Total Person Engaged, Fixed Capital Stock (Estimated through Perpetual Inventory Accumulation Method), Total emoluments and Profits. Translog production function is used to estimate the total factor productivity growth in the organised manufacturing sector in India and Orissa. The Translog production functions are quadratic in logarithms of the inputs. The Translog production function is a flexible functional form not much restricted by the a priori assumptions about technology. It does not assume Hicks Neutrality and constant rate of technological change, and also it allows variable elasticity of substitution of the inputs.

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It was found that the TFP growth in the organized manufacturing in Orissa was comparatively higher than that of India in the post-reform period. Though there is an increase in the gap between capital-labour ratio of Orissa and India, the trend in labour productivity has been almost same. The production function estimates also show bias towards capital-using technology in Orissa in the recent period. So the labour productivity trend suggests an inefficiency in the capital use. The employment in the manufacturing sector of Orissa and India are following the same trend. One can observe a striking difference in the quality of employment generated. The share of contract workers in Orissa is higher than that of India. But the share of wages in the total emoluments in India is declining much faster than Orissa. So the employment conditions in Orissa’s organized manufacturing sector. The divergence between total emolument per employees and labour productivity has been increasing throughout the period.

Estimating the labour Productivity in Indian Manufacturing Sector: A Special Focus on Technological Change

Abdul Jamal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, The New College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Arumugam Sankaran, Assistant Professor, Dept. Economics, Pondicherry University, Puducherry

Muhammed Rafeeque, Ph.D. Research Scholar, The New College, Tamil Nadu

The Industrial sector is generally accepted as the vibrant and leading sector in an economy that enables economic development by utilizing the deposited resources, fulfilling the needs of the society, augmenting international trade and laying an effective path to reach the sustainable development. Labour productivity, one of the determinants of industrial development is defined in different ways. Labour productivity, which symbolizes the total volume of output produced per unit of labour during a given period of time is one of the key economic indicators that is positively correlated with the socio-economic development of both developed and developing countries. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization labour productivity is the ability to transform inputs into output. While describing the importance of labor productivity, International Labour Organization underlined that the labour productivity is an important reference statistics for wage setting; countries with higher productivity are generally characterized by higher wages as well. It is widely acknowledged that the increase in labour productivity significantly influences the production process and reduces the cost of production. This is crucial as the cost of production is an important determinant of competitiveness of a country in the global market.

Countries all over the world are continuously making efforts to use modern technologies in their production process. In the case of India, even though a number of transformation was taking place in the industrial arena, a substantial change was experienced in 1991 with the introduction of New Industrial Policy. With this policy preface, Indian Government took efforts to attain the stabilization, initiated the structural adjustment reforms, more or less removed the


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total licensing restrictions, downsized the number of industries in the hands of governments, unleashed the rules and regulations of MRTP and FERA, and opened up the door for free flow of physical capital, human capital, business models and technology from international markets.

Mention should be made here that the technological change in Indian industrial sector is more so in the recent past particularly in the post-2000 period. Under this backdrop, the present study is an attempt to assess the trends of labour productivity in Indian manufacturing sector during 2000-01 to 2014-15 which is considered as the period of deep technological transformation in the industrial sector of the nation. In order to pursue this research, necessary data on net value added and the total number of workers employed in eighteen sub-segments of the manufacturing economy of India have been sourced from Annual Survey of Industries. In addition, the Handbook of Statistics on India Economy, National Accounts Statistics, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation were also used as data sources. The collected data have been processed by computing labour productivity and compound annual growth rates. The outcome of this study revealed that there exist inter-industry differences in terms of labour productivity during the study period. At the disaggregate level, out of these eighteen sub-groups, coke and refined petroleum industries achieved ten times improvement in labour productivity in India between 2000-01 and 2014-15.

Further, industries producing wood and related products of wood, and industries producing basic metals and fabricated metals registered five times improvement. Whereas, industries dealing with products such as tobacco products, pharmaceuticals, medicinal, chemical and botanical products, rubber and plastic industries, motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers, and other transport equipment producing industries revealed around three times improvement in labour productivity. The results of this study imply that owing to the capital intensity, forward and backward linkages, and increase in domestic demand, the industry producing coke and refined petroleum is in the acme place in terms of labour productivity. However, it is obvious from the ASI data that the total number of workers employed in this industry has increased just 1.9 fold during the study period of fifteen years. Hence, from the welfare viewpoint, increasing the labour productivity through mechanization is not a good sign in the thickly populated country like India. Thus, policy makers should try to frame suitable policies that promote labour productivity and employment simultaneously.

Technological Changes and Employment in Punjab Economy with Emphasis on Agriculture

Balwinder Singh Tiwana, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Punjabi University, Punjab

Ravita Ravita, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Punjabi University, Punjab

Manpreet Kaur, Research Scholar, Dept. of Economics, Punjabi University, Punjab

The agricultural sector of Punjab had existed as the blessing for the people living here for attaining food sufficiency and providing employment but presently the situation is different. No doubt, the mounting increase in the technology-based productivity is observed in

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agriculture, but it has reduced its labour absorption capacity resulting in the jobless growth. All these drawbacks have led to the distraction from the agricultural sector to the non-farm sector, either the industry or the services sector. The new technology is introduced in the industries to escalate the output but brought down the need for labour per unit of output. The non-farm sector of Punjab is also facing the same stigma as that of the farm sector. This paper is a modest attempt to analyse the growth in production, productivity, and employment across the sectors of Punjab economy. Over the period of time, the consequence of the process of concentration and centralisation of capital is that there is relatively more increase in the use of capital as compared to labour.

We consider only growth rate of production a quantitative indicator. What is happening qualitatively, that is not being mapped. But this is becoming a serious question in the developing economies that if the employment is not increasing with the increase (considerable) in production then what? This phase is known as jobless growth. The labour employment is declining in Punjab agriculture rapidly and is getting replaced by capital. Although there is an increase in agricultural production, the number of agricultural workers is continuously decreasing since 2000 in absolute and relative terms. The technological development is resulting in increased production but increased labour productivity is resulting in relative decreased demand for labour.

In Punjab agriculture, the increase in production is leading to unemployment. The development of agriculture during Green Revolution did not result in the industrialisation of Punjab economy. Moreover, the use of increasingly developed technology did not create much employment in the manufacturing sector. The same is happening in the service sector. The business is increasing but much enhancement of employment is not taking place. This is clearly a case of jobless growth which is resulting in many types of economic, social and political problems. This is a result of the implementation of neo-liberal policies which is in turn, a result of following the developed countries without any modifications in policies and technologies to suit India’s needs. This process is still going on which is making the situation worse. It is clear that due to automation and use of developed technology more volume of transactions in banks are possible with less number of employees. In many countries, the technology of driverless cars is being developed. Think, when these kinds of technologies will be developed what will happen to the employment situation in developing countries. So, technologies and policies could not be the same in all the countries across the world. Country-specific policies as well as technologies are required. The implementation of those policies in India, which were/are developed by advanced countries, has led to a very serious unemployment situation. So without diversion of these neo-liberal policies, we could not find the solution of such a huge unemployment, particularly among youth.


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Employment Effect of Technology Intensiveness in Organised Manufacturing Sector

Harwant Singh, Research Scholar, PSE, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

Swati Mehta, Assistant Prof, Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

One of the major problems facing the economy is the creation of millions of jobs to manage the swelling number of workers coming into the workforce every year. How it would be done still remains a mystery for a number of researchers. In India, the unemployment rate is already very high. Researchers fear that this situation could be worse in future as technology based production processes eliminate more employment opportunities than they generate. The present paper is an attempt to examine the employment scenario in the manufacturing sector in terms of technological intensity. In other words, in the present study, our objectives are: (i) to examine the long-term employment growth performance of Indian organised manufacturing sector since 1980s by division of time period into pre-reform and post-reform period, (ii) to examine the employment scenario in manufacturing sector in terms of technological intensity, (iii) to provide various causes underlying the performances of Indian organised manufacturing sector. We attempted to analyse such issues in a longer period of time (1980-81 to 2013-14) so that it could help find out the actual state of Indian manufacturing sector employment and not just its value-added growth in the manufacturing sector. The paper also found that labour structure has been changed due to high technology intensification as earlier mentioned demand for labour has been reduced and existing demand is becoming more skill-centric. Skilled labour is more demanded by industries and their share out of total emoluments has also been increased as compared to that of unskilled or semi-skilled labour.

For the Indian organised manufacturing sector, the present analysis found (i) an increase in technological intensification, (ii) lower employment elasticity, and (iii) mismatch between value added growth and employment growth during the study period. Therefore, it can be stated that Indian manufacturing sector is no longer able to generate required employment opportunities. Unless the growth in the productive employment of the organised manufacturing sector is accelerated, the competitive advantage of demographic dividend of Indian workforce would be left out. ‘Indian manufacturing policy,’ 2011 and ‘Make in India’ programme of the Government of India, (2014) attempts to place Indian organised manufacturing sector on the higher growth trajectory. These initiatives are right steps in the right direction and send the positive signal that Government is very much determined to create the conducive environment for Indian manufacturing to flourish.

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Impact of Technology on the low Paid Women Workers in Qatar

Anjali Jiothish, Visiting Scholar, Gulf Studies Centre. Qatar University, Doha

Haseena C.A., Research Scholar, Dept. of Applied Economics, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Post globalized world witnessed rapid changes in the social-Political- economic and technological situations of the people. Transnational migration of men and women for employment changed along with these changes. Unlike other changes, new inventions and innovations in the technological field made the work life as well as the family life of migrants easier and faster. Asia is the largest exporter of migrants while the region lags behind in contributing more women in the international labor market. However, countries such as Sri Lanka, and the Philippines send more women than men to the international labor market while India, Pakistan, etc. send a minimal number of women. In this context, the present paper explores the impact of different technology on the work and family life of housemaids, housekeeping and cleaning service workers from Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines in Qatar. Domestic workers and cleaning workers do not only fall into the lower strata of work hierarchy but also enjoy limited freedom in their workplace. So, the study is an attempt to explore the impact of technology in the low skilled women migrants’ life. An in-depth interview was done with 60 women housemaid/housekeeping and cleaning workers from different parts of Qatar. The sample respondents were identified with the snowball sampling method and the survey was conducted during 2015-2016. It is found that technology has a major role in shaping these women’s relationship with the employer, family and society. The paper addresses the research questions such as how technology influenced the work life of the low paid women workers, how accessibility of modern technology affected the family and social relationships, and what is the role of pre-migration skill training for low paid women workers from Sri Lanka and the Philippines?


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Is Technological Change A Potential Threat to Employment Opportunities

Minali Banerjee, Research Scholar, Manipal University, Jaipur

The impact of Technological change on employment probably serves as a reason behind the Skill Development Programmes of the Ministry of Labour and Employment of India. But lack of efficient utilization of resources by Government serves as a bottleneck in fostering employment opportunities. The main hurdle in the inclusive growth is the difference between labour skills. Some are highly skilled but some are not. This might not allow the positive externalities generated by technological advancement, to reach every sector and every person in the economy. However, there are various self-stabilizing flows of skills which while removing the bottleneck, create a path for successful inclusive growth. Thus, this paper comes out of a question, “how much Technological Advancement is affecting the growth and employment, especially of unskilled labours and how economy itself paves way for employment of all classes of labours even if the technological advancement is skilled-biased?”

Technological change is considered as creative destruction where new units replace outdated units (Schumpeter, 1942) but here, instead of production units the focus is on whether technological change replaces the unskilled by skilled. Also how unskilled labours are gradually transformed into skilled labours as a result of the Technological change is also discussed. Aggregate demand plays a key role in generating employment for unskilled and semi-skilled labours. The flow starts with the generation of demand by skilled labours due to increase in their pay which increases further investment and employment opportunities. Due to lack of skilled labours, unskilled labours are called upon and are trained to work alike skilled labours. This marks the importance of industrial investment in research and skill development. Industries should invest in research work for further innovation as technological change is positively Correlated to research and development intensity, and previous technology adoptions (Siegel, 1995). The more the training capabilities of industries, the faster the unskilled and semi-skilled labours will be trained and converted into skilled labours.

In order to make the content of the paper more comprehensible, the effects of Technological change are explained Through ‘Denuding And Stretching Effect’. A term called self scepticism is also being introduced with a new operational meaning which explains that older labours who lack the capabilities to deal with new technology hesitate in acquiring technical jobs and are also unable to compete with new highly qualified generation, thus are paid less. Less pay induces them to work less thus reducing labour force participation rate. It is also pointed out that the Technological change which is considered to be skill-biased generates employment in not only the industries in which it is taking place but in all other industries through Trickle Down Effect. Trickle-down effect explains the horizontal and vertical flow

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of employment opportunities due to technological change in related and unrelated industries. The short term and long term effects of Technological change are also highlighted and how the two contradict each other is shown. Finally, it is concluded that even though technological change supports and prosper skilled labours, an automatic system is created which helps in generating employment in all sectors and for all sections of the economy. Also, though technological change brings various transformations in Governmental workings, Government still plays a very crucial role in guiding the economy towards sustainable development.

An Econometric Analysis of A Complementarity Between Profit-wage and Capital-labour: Skill-based Technological

Change in Indian Services Sector

Narender Thakur, Assistant Professor, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, New Delhi

Vipin Negi, Associate Professor, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi

This paper econometrically tests a complementary between the profit-wage and capital-labour ratios in the Indian services sector for the period of 1999-2017. In the process of globalisation era, the foreign and private capital and technologies are expanding. The private capital accumulation and high-technology have complimented with the use of high-skilled workers by the private firms including multinational companies (MNCs) to extract higher profits in terms of surplus-value. The higher surplus-value is extracted by the private firms in Indian services sector, in terms of higher labour productivity, lower employment and lower wages. To examine a complementarity between profit-wage and capital-labour ratio, the prowess data of the Indian services sector is used from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) for the period of 1999-2017.

There are different variables used for the seven sub-sectors of Indian services sector. The employment in the six sub-sectors is compared with the seventh subsector- information technology (IT) sector as the base category, with the help of dummy variables. The sequence of dummy variables for the seven subsectors is used as follows: Financial Services (1), Communication (2), Miscellaneous (3), Hotel (4), Trade (5), Transport (6), and Information Technology (0). For econometric analysis, the panel regressions with fixed effect and random effect are estimated. The four main regressions were used. (i) The profit-wage ratio is regressed on capital-labour ratio and other control variables; the capital-labour ratio significantly and positively affected the profit-wage ratio. (ii) & (iii) The second and third regressions are estimated as the separate factors of wage and profit (dependent variables). These wages and profits regress on the capital and labour and other control variables. (iv) The fourth panel regression has also tested the productivities of capital and labour and empirically tests the highest contribution of labour in the production of Indian services sector, in comparison to the contribution of capital in the production. But the wages are lower in comparison to the labour productivity. However, the contribution is lower but profits are higher in comparison to wages, which leads to a rise in inequality in the Indian services sector. Two challenges have


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emerged in the Indian services sector: (i) Lower wage and employment have led to a deficiency of aggregate demand in the Indian economy which leads to underconsumption; (ii) Because of higher labour productivity and ICT revolution in Indian services sector, there is an over-production. In the post-global financial crisis period, there is an over-production, which is further aggravated due to lower external demand in the US and other developed countries especially.

Two specific policy implications are advocated to revamp the Indian services sector for its sustainable future: (i) there is a need to increase public investment in the Indian services sector to expand employment opportunities and wages to address the issues of deficiency of aggregate demand; (ii) there is also a need to reverse the complementary between profit-wage and capital-labour ratio to a complementary between wage-profit and labour-capital ratios, as that can lead to stable and sustainable demand and supply in Indian economy.

ICT Usage, Productivity and Wage Shares in Unorganised Manufacturing Sector in India

Mitali Gupta, Assistant Professor, SVKM’s NMIMS KPM School of Law, Maharashtra

The world economy is undergoing a fundamental structural change driven by the globalization of business on the one hand and by the revolution in information and communication technology on the other (Shepard, 1997). The New Economy is the superior economic structure that is expected to arise as an outcome of these two forces. The production systems today are undergoing a massive transformation in terms of changes in the infrastructure at the workplace as they are largely getting embedded into the framework of ICT i.e. Information and Communication Technology and leading towards the ‘New Economy’ Age. The boom of ICT which started during the late 1990s in the USA has now spread to the whole world and is not only altering the way the production process is carried out but also enhancing productivity levels of the enterprises. Though much of the work on this aspect has been conducted internationally in countries like USA, UK and African countries, there is a dearth of studies on the Southern Countries especially emerging economies like India which has basically grown on the premises of prominence of ICT enabled Services Sector much of which is characterised by Informalisation.

This paper attempts to investigate whether the same levels of growth can be expected in the Informal Manufacturing Sector as well, which constitutes a large part of the overall Manufacturing Sector in India and rapidly growing throughout the length and breadth of the country. This is more so important because non-farm enterprises in India have come as a ‘Distress’ response and as a ‘Coping’ strategy to gear the economy out of the downward spiraling of growth in the farm sector (agriculture). Thus, it becomes imperative to boost the productivity levels of such enterprises, in which ICT usage is playing a key role today.

In this context, the paper attempts to ascertain the relationship between productivity (in terms of both firm and labour) and Usage of ICT and thereby assess its impact on wage

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shares in the Informal Manufacturing Sector in India by using 67th Round of NSSO (2010-11) on Unincorporated Informal Enterprises. This is done by assessing (i) the share of enterprises by ICT Usage in general and by subcontracting activity and tracing the differences in their productivity levels (in terms of both output-GVAPE and labour-GVAPW), (ii) examining the patterns of employment in the abovementioned categories, and (iii) examining the impact of ICT usage on factor income shares. The initial round of results indicates that there are huge levels of differences between the productivity of ICT enabled and Non-ICT enabled enterprises in terms of output but to a lesser degree in case of labour productivity which would also have policy implications in the larger context.

Are They Shielded? – On The Link Between Employment Structure and Automation Related Job losses in India

Raju John, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Baselius College, Kerala

The potential role of New Automation Technologies (NATs) in future transformation of labour markets worldwide in already acknowledged in the literature. International Labour Office collates various estimates on the potential effects of NATs on job losses. 47% of jobs in the USA can be potentially automated. 56% of jobs in ASEAN bear this risk. World Bank predicts that 57% of tasks could be automated at the global level. The same study estimated the figure for India as 69%. If this happens, then it will certainly aggravate the problem of unemployment in India. This paper examines the evidence on the potential impact of NATs on employment and understand issues of job losses associated with automation in India. Further, will the majority of the workers in India be affected due to automation related job losses or will they be shielded? It will be analyzed both theoretically and empirically.

Technical barriers to automation in India can be understood only by an in-depth survey at the firm’s level. The author has not come across any recent changes in labour laws that are associated with automation. But media reports suggest that Government of India is contemplating some changes in factory act like increasing threshold limit for coverage of factories under the Factories Act, 1948. Available information suggests that existence of 360 companies who provide automation products and services are likely to generate some jobs. But quantifying the extent of job creation is difficult as it needs more information about their origin (whether they are new companies or new Dept.s of existing companies) and characteristics. Such an attempt is not made by author owing to the paucity of data. India is categorized as a slow adopter of automation, and growth of wages do not seem to be very high to induce immediate adoption of NATs and therefore immediate job losses need not be expected. Availability of automation solutions is less in 2 sectors that generate the highest quantum of employment and it is highest in a sector that currently generates the lowest quantum of employment in India. Thus the current employment structure in India along the sectoral pattern of availability of automation services seems to shield the majority of workers in India from the potential job losses due to automation. Even though these


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findings are a source of relief, the author wish to mention that the relief is only temporary. Future technological changes and innovations may reduce the barriers to automation and may make NATs ubiquitous in all spheres of economic activity. Therefore more efforts to understand the dynamics of employment, technological changes, and programmes that enable workers to be responsive to future technological changes seems to be the need of the hour.

Technology and Issue of Missing Female Agricultural labour

Nilesh Kumar, Research Scholar, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh

The issue of slowdown in the growth rate of labour force in India during the period 2004-05 to 2009-10 has been reported by many scholars (Chandrasekhar and Ghosh 2011; Rangarajan et al 2011; Kannan and Raveendran 2012) as cited by Vinoj Abraham. The main focus of these studies was the issue of missing female labour. A lot of research has been done on this issue and scholars have highlighted a range of arguments about the missing labour. Rangarajan et al, (2011) show that the decline is because women’s participation in the labour force has declined

The author, also mentions that women are still not a part of the mainstream and are playing the role of supplementing the family income. Another alternative point of view is, it was due to agricultural stagnation and slowdown of economic growth (Kannan and Raveendran 2012). Vinoj Abraham has highlighted some questions such as why does de-feminisation of labour force occur; why does female Labour Force participation rate decline, rather than increase with better economic conditions in India? There is some disagreement among scholars on this issue, for example, Vinoj Abraham suggests that “there is little evidence to support the argument that rising participation in education is empowering women to enter the labour market”. Education it seems does not necessarily empower and enhance women’s autonomy in India, but it may be helping in modernising and internalising patriarchal norms.

Data used in this paper is from India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II), 2011-2012 and IHDS 2005, and it tries to find out the answer of this question. The focus of the study is seventeen major states of India. Expenditure on technology has been constructed by the total sum of expenditure on maintaining the machines, transporting crops, diesel electricity, hiring tractor, types of equipment used, herbicides, and pesticides. Total working days of agro labour have been constructed from hired labour and unpaid family labour. Most of the statistics are derived from cross tabulation and percentage analysis.

It is very difficult to conclude with limited data on agriculture labour and technology that there is a clear relation between technology and defeminisation of labour force in agriculture. There no clear conclusion on the role of expenditure on the technology with decline in per hectare labour use because of higher per hectare average expenditure on the technology in states like Andhra Pradesh. But when it comes to decline in the per hectare average female use it shows reverse pattern, that is increase in per hectare labour use. The study needs further research on the issue with environmental, physical and social practices of enriched data set which will explore the role of technology and labour use.

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Dynamic Triad of Technology, Employment and labour Productivity? The Case of Indian Manufacturing

Bino Paul, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Mansi Awasthi, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra

We examine, during 2000-01–2013-14, the relation between technology, employment and productivity in Indian manufacturing. The unit of analysis in this study is the factory, reported in the Annual Survey of Industries database during this period. In this research, we use capital labour ratio as the proxy of technology. The core objective of this research is to understand if the changes in capital labour ratio impacts the volume of employment and labour productivity. Is an increment in capital labour ratio causing more employment or less employment? Is rise in capital labour ratio translating to higher labour productivity? While exploring these questions, we present emerging contours of the triadic dynamic relation between technology, employment and productivity.

In the emerging milieu of digitalisation and jobless growth, exploring the triad of technology, employments and productivity provides useful cues on salient aspects of emergent structural features of Indian manufacturing. While our core analysis centres on the organised manufacturing, we look into recent cross-sectional aspects of unorganised manufacturing, too. Our analytical strategy is to use descriptive and inferential statistics that capture univariate, bivariate and multivariate patterns of select variables.

While we capture the relation between aggregates, we discuss the patterns emanating from data disaggregated with respect to National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2 digit, type of organisation, and state of location. Moreover, we align our analysis with the meta content made of media contents on technology, employment, and labour productivity with an objective of seeing the convergence between what data says and sequencing of events. Quite important, we assess expansion of joblessness in Indian manufacturing in the context of technological changes.

Next, we normatively look into emerging aspects of technology-employment-productivity triad, in particular in the context of current wave of digitalisation. As the extant literature points, presumably, growth in capital formation alone may not translate into discernible increase in productivity. Or, envisaging the monotonic correspondence between technology and labour productivity arises because of propitious contexts like skill formation, organisation effectiveness, decent work, and innovation. If technological change is merely an accumulation of artefacts while not expanding employment nor increasing the productivity, this conundrum accentuates alienation of livelihoods from economic value, thus, shaping a vicious-pervasive crisis of human disengagement.

An important question that shrouds the triad of technology-productivity-employment is ‘are there paradigms of technological changes that creatively engage human’. We share a few interesting anecdotes of creative symbiosis between technology and human. Next question is, if so, this symbiosis between technology and labour be scaled up to a macro context.

workshops

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presenters

Workshop 1

Inderjeet Singh & Balbir Singh 187

Pankaj Soni 187

Dol Bahadur Thapa 187

Lakkineni Chinnea Mallaiah & Parul Verma 188

Tahir Hussain Warsi, Rajiv Kumar Sinha & Ibrar Sunny 188

Keshav Namdevrao Ghorudem & Vikrant Vijay Mudliyar 188

Dil Bahadur Gurung 189

Subrata Dutta 189

Aabid Firdausi & Rugmini Devi 189

Bharat Shah 190

Chandi Charan Mehentar 190

Sonia Viswam 190

Rathi Kanta Kumbhar & Rebati Naik 190

Dattatray Bagade 191

V. S. S. Lavanya 191

Manpreet Singh, Paramjit Nanda & Kajole Nanda 191

Anil Kumar & Nafisa 192

Satheesh Babu A & Murali N 192

Mohankumar S. & Vipin Kumar R. 193

Shalini Mathews & Anitha V. 193

Ramya R. 193

Workshop 2

Balanarayana M. 195

Shaik Asha Begum 195

Ratna Vadra & Rahul Prasad 195

A. Amarender Reddy, NamrataSingha Roy & Anugula Reddy 196

Suresh Ghumatkar 196

Santosh Jose 196

Babu Rao Marri 197

Srinivasulu Palagulla 197

Narayan Sethi & Subhadarsani Swain 197

Virender Koundal 198

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Chandan Sharma, Ajit Konwar & Parag Jyoti Mahanta 198

Randeep Kaur 198

Vandana Kumari & Deepali 199

Paramasivam P. & Arul Chellakumar J.A. 199

Cheli Yasodha A Rao 199

Anindita Sinha 200

Abul Hassan PS & Halima Sadia Rizvi 200K. Vetrivel, N.K. Rajendran & K. Kalaichandran 200

Asha Agrawal 201

Vijaykumar Kakade & Suvarna Suryvanshi 201

Workshop 3

Kamlesh Shrivastava, Padma Saxena & Sunil Sharma 202

Mahendra Rao 202

R.P. Shrivastava 202

Divakara D.D., Rupali Gupta, Varsha N. & Rangaswamy N. 203

Manish Sharma, Nishant Jasrotia, S.E.H. Rizvi, Anil Bhat & Banti Kumar 203

Anuradha Palla, Venkatachalapathi Suresh Babu & BabuLal Mahato 204

Namadev Jadhav 204

Vanita Ahlawat & Renu Bishnoi 204

Vanita Ahlawat & Sneh Lata 204

Anju Kamal & Saswat Barpanda 205

Vikram Sandhu & Heena Atwal 205

P.S.J. Sudan 205

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Workshop 1

recent Trends of Migration and Employment Adjustment of rural Artisans in punjab

Inderjeet singh, Professor, & HoD, Department of Distance Education, Punjabi University, Punjab

Balbir singh, Professor, Punjabi University

It has been founded that the large scale industrial production has not only captured the rural market of petty producers but it has uprooted them through machine made industrial products.The rural artisans were forced by emerged conditions to left their ancestral occupations because they faced the stiff competition with imported factory made products which entered into the villages through commercial castes such as bania, traders etc. The flow of factory made goods in the villages rendered many artisan producers jobless and they were shifting towards full time agriculture proletariats or migrate to the cities for the search of livelihood. In the light of these facts, the present paper will made an attempt to look into the change in livelihood means of rural artisans and alterative way for the resistance against the imperialist.

Analyze the pattern of Changing status of Workers Due to the Disability in India

pankaj soni, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, BHU, Varanasi

The study tries to bring out the loopholes and structural mismatch in policies focused on the disabled persons. This paper is divided into four main sections. First section elaborates the concept of disability with the new initiations developed by the United Nations with the rights perspective and it also looks at some theoretical aspects to measure the cost of disability. The second section discusses the present status of disabled persons using the data provided by the NSSO and Census. Using this data for disabled persons, this section draws attention on the mismatch among the principled positions and what actually is in practice at the front of policy implementation in the Indian context. The third section tries to draw an association in the labour market and the participation of disabled persons with the help of international co-ordination. The Final section of this paper contains some suggestions for policy improvement with conclusions.

A Study on the Working and Perceptions of the Beneficiaries towards MGNrEGA in East siang District of Arunachal pradesh

Dol Bahadur Thapa, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh

The paper will make an attempt to perceptions of beneficiaries towards MGNREGA and its implementation in East Siang district. The analysis is based on the primary data collected from 150 households from three blocks in East Siang district. The study reveals that most of the beneficiaries of East Siang district don’t have proper knowledge about MGNREGA programme. The job cardholders don’t get actual wage amount as per MGNREGA. Most of the respondents do not have proper knowledge about the schemes, benefits available under MGNREGA. Some of the beneficiaries do not have a bank account and their wages are not being credited to a bank account.

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Changing scenario of rural Work-force in India

Lakkineni Chinnea Mallaiah, Professor, Babasaheb Bhimrao University, LKO, Lucknow, UP

parul Verma, Research Scholar, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Univesity, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

The paper is an effort to inspect and assess the pattern of agricultural wages in rural India as well as to analyze the allocation of worker employed in agriculture sector particularly. It attempts to discover the determinants for the reallocation of rural workforce from agrarian to non agrarian sector and within the same sector as well. This extant study is macro level and data has been gathered from NSSO, published and unpublished reports, including planning commission annual report. Finding of the paper are reflective of persisting increase in real wage of agricultural and non agricultural labour, minimal budgetary allocation to agrarian sector and escalation in number of marginal farmers in India that is the major reason behind the shift of cultivators to agricultural and nonagricultural labourers in India.

Addressing Unemployment problem of Informal Labour Market through MGNrEGA: An Empirical Analysis of Bihar

Tahir hussain Warsi, Professor, TM Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, Bihar

rajiv kumar sinha, Agro Economic Research Centre for Bihar and Jharkhand, TM Bhagalpur University, Bihar

Ibrar sunny, Research Scholar, TM Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, Bihar

Through primary and secondary data from 10 villages in Bihar and their in-depth study with the help of a ‘structured household questionnaire’ and a ‘village Schedule, within the reference period of 2008-09 to 2010-11, the paper suggests that employment under MGNREGA would have had a longer term impact on rural labour households, if it facilitated skill enhancement and increased employability, thereby allowing the latter to shift to better remunerative employments. Alternatively, the creation of sustainable assets in public or private lands that adds to productivity of agriculture and livestock can help improve rural livelihoods.

performance Evaluation of Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Act as Macro Economic policy and Employment Generation: A

Case study of Tribal Dominated Talukas of the state of Goa

keshav Namdevrao Ghorudem, Principal, Annasaheb Vartak College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Maharashtra

Vikrant Vijay Mudliyar, Research Scholar, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is considered as a “Silver Bullet” for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment, by way of generating demand for productive labour force in villages. Since then it has been considered as the largest anti-poverty programme in the world. But the success of this Act depends upon its proper implementation, something that the paper seeks to understand, through the case study of tribal dominated Talukas of the state of Goa.

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Women’s Work and Time Utilisation pattern in rural Arunachal pradesh: A View from the Field

Dil Bahadur Gurung, Assistant Professor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh

Being a developing country, Indian economy is agrarian in nature, as more than 70 per cent of the population are engaged in this occupation. Rural women have been intensively involved in agriculture and its allied fields. They are the backbone of the agricultural workforce, but worldwide their hard work has mostly been unpaid. In the rural area of Arunachal Pradesh women not only work for long hours in the field but they also have to look after the household chores ranging from cooking, cleaning, to caring for children and the sick, which remains unpaid or are out of the purview of the system of national account. The paper urges policy makers, statistician and researchers to enumerate women’s activities under time use statistics in order to get the real picture of development.

Unemployment in Villages: A study of Gujarat and West Bengal

subrata Dutta, Associate Professor, Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Gujarat

The fact that rural West Bengal has been experiencing growth of distress-driven non-farm activities indicates that a section of rural labour-force is not finding employment in agriculture and is therefore looking for alternative source of livelihood. At this juncture, rural economy in both the states need to undergo a transformation so as to diffuse some employment pressure from farm sector to labour-intensive non-farm sector. In this regard, small manufacturing activities may play the lead role and, subsequently, boost the other non-farm activities in and around the rural small growth centres and bazaars. Thus, rural small manufacturing activities (both agro-based and non-agro-based) need to be promoted. These activities would not only provide greater employment opportunity but would subsequently enhance the scopes for growth of service-related activities.

Women and Informality: Narratives from the Global south

Aabid Firdausi, Student, University of Kerala, Kerala, Kerala

rugmini Devi, Student, University of Kerala, Kerala, Kerala

The notion of informality as a phenomenon peculiar to the Global South has faced considerable alterations in the age of hyper-globalisation that has seen new types of informality. Evidence shows that the share of informal employment arrangements are increasing, contrary to the assumption implicit in the mainstream theories that there will be an increased formalisation if free-market oriented policies targeting economic growth are followed. This paper seeks to analyse how gender and class interact with each other that consequently affect women’s employment, with special reference to studies from the Global South. An attempt has been made to explore the diverse tenets of informality and its interaction with the construct of gender.

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Women in the Emerging Labour Market in Urban Informal sector

Bharat shah, Retired Professor, M. P. Shah Commerce College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

In this an empirical study based on field-survey, an attempt is made to identify factors responsible for education, working hours, wages or earnings, weekly holiday and fringe benefits available. For this purpose, an in-depth field survey of women workers engaged in urban informal sector in Jamnagar and Rajkot cities of Gujarat state was undertaken. The empirical evidence from the study shows that there are different conditions prevalent regarding working hours in both the cities.

Caste-based Labour Market Discrimination in India: A Comparative Analysis of some Developed states and the Underdeveloped states

Chandi Charan Mehentar, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

The rural labour market is controlled by some elite higher caste people, who determine the wages of this area and extract labour from some caste groups. In the states like Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, people are working in the informal sector like as a casual labourers. The rural workers of developed states also faces the problems like untouchability and also they are only engaged in manual work which is not done by higher castes. The study finds that education positively impacts in reducing the discrimination, but at a broader level, we find some discrepancy on the wage in labour market.

The role of Crowd Funding, World Banks and Coorigination in the Growth of MsMEs in India – A study in Comparison

with the sMEs of the World

sonia Viswam, PhD Scholar, Central University of Karnataka, Karnataka

The potential of the World Bank in helping MSMEs are not tapped fully in India. Along with this RBI has come forward with the idea of co-origination where the NBFCs and banks share the percentage of the loan provided. These are quite innovative concepts which can alleviate the problems plaguing the MSMEs. This is an exploratory research which can lead to certain hypotheses which will again lead to a further empirical research. Based on the exploratory research the following conclusions are made. Crowdfunding may replace traditional methods of financing, moving towards collateral loans can increase the entrepreneurship in the country and collaboration of NBFCs and Commercial banks will lead to financial inclusion and will increase women entrepreneurship in the country.

Impact of MGNrEGA on poverty reduction: A study of kBk region in odisha

rathi kanta kumbhar, Assistant Professor, Sambalpur University, Odisha

rebati Naik, Guest Faculty, Bargarh Women’s College, Odisha

The paper examines how the functioning of MGNREGA reduces poverty in the backward regions of Odisha. Apart from secondary data on MGNREGA, the primary household level data is collected

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from four samples Gram Panchayats of the KBK region (undivided Kalahandi- Bolangir-Koraput) and analysed through bivariate and multivariate tabulation and the statistical relationship are checked using chi-square test. The study found that the effective implementation of the programme helped in reducing unemployment, poverty and halting out-migration. The scheme bears the significant importance to handle the human development issues like income, education and health of the rural people working under MGNREGA through wage earning, enhancing the bargaining power, halting migration.

socio-economic study of Unorganized Labour of solapur District

Dattatray Bagade, HoD Economics, Shankarrao Mohite Mahavidyalaya, Akluj, Maharashtra

The term unorganized worker has been defined under the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act (2008) as a home based worker, self- employed worker or a wage worker in the unorganized sector and includes a worker in the organized sector who is not covered by any of the Acts mentioned in Schedule-II of Act. In India, in 2015-16 total estimated population was 1258 million and 539.7 million labourforce . In Maharashtra about 54.8 % of population is living in the rural area and 45.2 % of population living in the urban area.. Total Employment is 145.1 lakh in Maharashtra. In study area of Solapur district total 2,14,750 workers are working in various fields. The paper shows that the cotton mill workers in the Solapur district have begun work as unorganized workers because of increasing unemployment in the region.

Gender and Wage Discrimination in India rural Labour Market

V. s. s. Lavanya, Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

The paper discusses the weak potential of economic growth. Indian labour market can be divided into rural labour market and urban rural markets. Labour market plays a very important role in every economy. Generally in work participation male and female labourer do their respective work. Male and female labourer have same work capacity and often the same hours to participate in the work. But female worker get lower wages as compared to the male workers. In the labour market under study, labourer has a low bargaining power and is generally illiterate. In this context, female workers get low wages, leading to decreased food security, and overall life development.

Labour Value Added Content in Exports of India: post Liberalisation period

Manpreet singh, Research Scholar, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab

paramjit Nanda, Profe4ssor & Head, Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

kajole Nanda, Research Scholar, Commerce Department, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab

Export growth is a powerful avenue to increase employment and earnings directly and indirectly. In India very less work has been done to find labour content of exports. This paper fills the gap by computing direct labour value added/ wages (skilled and unskilled) contained in exports. To achieve the objectives, World Bank Labour Content of Exports (LACEX) database has been used for 24 sectors

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for India during the period 1995-2011. The study reveals that the openness ratio has increased for 15 sectors out of the 24 sectors considered. Further, total labour value added contained in India’s exports has been continuously increasing reaching from $7706 million in 1995 to $56754 million in 2011 (i.e. increased by 636 times). The significant increase in labour value added has occurred mainly due to larger increase of skilled labour content.

An Empirical Investigation of Migration and Child Labour in Agriculture sector – A Micro level Analysis

Anil kumar, Assistant Professor, & HOD, SJM First Grade College of Arts & Commerce, Tarikere, Karnataka

Nafisa, Assistant Professor, SJM First Grade College of Arts & Commerce Tarikere, Kerala

The present study has been conducted to know the general profile, educational status, activities performed and income of the migratory child labour vis-a-vis the natives engaged in agricultural activities in Gulbarga District of Karnataka. The study is based on a sample of two villages randomly taken from three agro-climatic zones. In all the villages, 100 children working in agricultural sector were identified and all of them were the respondents of this study. The study is also attempts to assess the impact of migration on children’s in the study area.

Influence of Agricultural Labourers on Foodgrains Production in Tamil Nadu – An Analysis

satheesh Babu A, Assistant Professor, Vivekananda College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Murali N, Associate Professor & Head, Arul Anandar College, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu has historically been an agricultural state and is a leading producer of agricultural products in India. This article analyses the trend and growth of agricultural laboureres and its influence on foodgrains production in Tamil Nadu during the period between 1985-86 and 2015-16. During the three periods of the study period from 1985-86 to 2015-16, the trend value of availability of agricultural labourers (-0.113 lakhs) was found to be lesser and negative during the second period than in the first and third periods of the study. Whereas, the compound growth rate of availability of agricultural labourers (-1.4 per cent) was perceived as lesser during the second period than during the first and third periods of the study. Keeping other variables are constant, during the three periods of the study period from 1985-86 to 2015-16, the availability of agricultural labourers has greater influence on foodgrain production in period-I than period-II and period-III which implies that the most of the agricultural labourers were quit from the agricultural sector and search for other jobs which will lead to increase the query of foodgrains production for sustainable food security particularly in Tamil Nadu and generally as a whole.

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193

MGNrEGA and rural Labour Market in kerala

Mohankumar s., Associate Professor, Institute of Development Studies

Vipin kumar r., Assistant Professor, Public Policy Research Institute, Kerala

This paper analyses changes in labour market and production conditions in rural Kerala after the introduction of MGNREGA in April 2006. The study attempts to answer the following questions: (i) How does MGNREGA influence rural labour market? (ii) Which segment of the labour force seek job under MGNREGA? (iii) What are the MGNREGA induced changes in agriculture and allied sectors? The study observed that there has been a decline in the supply of and demand for labour under MGNREGA in Kerala since 2011-12. It is also found that a major share of the participants in the MGNREGS was unemployed women who have not been the direct victims of agrarian crisis. The growth rate in the monthly real wages of carpenter, mason and unskilled labour is relatively high in MGNREGA phase than the pre-MGNREGA phase in Kerala during 1999 to 2016.

Informal Employment – An Analytical study Unveiling the parable of the Traditional Marine Fishers

shalini Mathews, Research Scholar, Dept. of Economics, University of Kerala

Anitha V, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Kerala

The paper examines these above mentioned aspects in the light of traditional fisher folk of southern most district of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. The Government of Kerala has a unique and separate department for handling its fish wealth and fisherfolk. Department of Fisheries (DoF), headed by the Fisheries Minister is the foremost government agency designed for this purpose. Secondarily, a group of allied organizations are also popularized to monitor the diverse nature of fisheries and fisheries-related activities. Among the allied support organisations, Kerala State Cooperative Federation for Fisheries development Ltd (Matsyafed) plays a very important role in supporting the fisheries initiatives promulgated by the Government of Kerala. Matsyafed works in a three-tier model, where in the top tier is the state federation, middle one is the district federation and the lower one is the primary co-operative societies. The state federation mobilizes funds from organizations like National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), National Minority Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) and National Backward Classes Finance Development Corporation (NBCFDC) and channelize the funds through district federations to the primary co-operative societies at the lower level of the tier as subsidized credit to the fishermen for the purchase of means of production.

Domestic Work of Women: Need for a proper Assessment and Quantification Tool

ramya r, Assistant Professor of Economics, Sri C. Achutha Menon Government College, Thrissur, Kerala, Thrissur, Kerala

The invisible economy is mainly concentrated by woman who performs the unpaid work which mainly contributed to the emotional and physical development of every family and they are building up the human capital of every nation. Governments should take measures to assign a monetary value to the unpaid work performed by woman. Household satellite accounts and time use survey and the above

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said quantification tools help to give visibility to their work. Thus GDP is not an efficient method of calculating or measuring the level of unpaid economic activities and indicators like GPI can gives us a better picture of the economy through Household satellite accounts. GPI supplements GDP and it represents the true cost and can be used as a tool of sustainable development. GPI is a variant of ISEW (Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare) which was developed by Herman Daly and John B. Cobb (1989) and considers not only the present but also the future of every nation. The significant feature of GPI is that along with other factors the unpaid domestic activities promotes the welfare of every economy which are mainly performed by woman is also take into consideration.

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Workshop 2

Economic Conditions of Agricultural Labourers in India: A Cases study in kurnool District of Andhra pradesh

Balanarayana M., Research Associate, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Maharashtra

The study shows that the average family size and earning strength of agricultural labour households is higher than that of the 9th RLE report which argues for an increase of consumption expenditure as well as debt burden compared to India. The ratio of agricultural wage employment to total average annual employment days of adult male and female labourers is less in Kurnool district as compared to the Rural Labour Enquiry committee reports from 1964-65 to 2004-05 due to agriculture distress and usage of technology in agriculture. The consumption expenditure on non-durables is three by fourth of the total consumption expenditure of agricultural labourer households in India which is half of the total consumption expenditure in Kurnool district due to increase of consumption expenditure on durables compared to India.

Women’s Labour Market status and Economic Development

shaik Asha Begum, Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, AP

Policy and scholarly discourse offer alternative interpretations of what it means to improve women’s economic empowerment and move toward gender equality, with varying degrees of emphasis on equality of opportunities and equality of outcomes. Equality of opportunities is most often associated with formal, legal equality in access to education, health services, and employment. In contrast, equality of outcomes commonly refers to gender parity in income, wealth, assets, market-based work, and household work. The two concepts are closely related and mutually reinforcing. Giving women greater opportunities can improve their economic outcomes, while more equal outcomes can foster more balanced gender relations that in turn help to level the playing field in terms of opportunities.

Construction Labour Migration: A Case study of Ghaziabad

ratna Vadra, Assistant Professor, IMT, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

rahul prasad, Student, IMT Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

The construction sector is the largest employer in India after agricultural labour in the unorganized sector. The contribution of the construction industry to the economic and social life of the country is noteworthy. Seasonal and circular migration is an important livelihood strategy for workers in developing countries and the construction industry is one of the largest recipients of such labour. The study, through a random sample survey of 30 workers, looks at Ghaziabad, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of the National Capital Region of Delhi. Recent construction works have led to the city being described by a City Mayors Foundation survey as the second fastest-growing in the world.

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Is Parental Education Influence Sons Performance in Labour Market

A. Amarender reddy, Director, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad, Telangana

Namratasingha roy, Research Associate, ICRISAT

Anugula reddy, Assistant Professor, NUEPA

This paper try to answer intergenerational mobility of educational status by using NSSO 64th round on migration in India. Some of the questions answered in this paper are (i) are children’s education level very different from the one which their parents had? (ii) are they absorbed in better occupation? and (iii) is there any upward mobility in education and occupation or there is inertia in mobility and children are stuck to their parent’s level of achievement? The inertia is maximum for illiterate; father being illiterate increases the probability for sons to remain illiterate is 495%. The results presented in this paper provide a useful description of how sons performance is tested in terms of educational attainment, conditional on their parent education.

Informality in Teaching profession in higher Education and Conditions of ChB Teachers in Maharashtra state

suresh Ghumatkar, Assistant Professor, Balbhim Arts, Science and Commerce College, Beed, Maharashtra

The problem of informality in teaching professions has increased due to the permanent non-grant rule of the Government and its apathy to change syllabus pattern of Government schools and universities for Undergraduate Courses. This study is to see the conditions of Clock Hour Basis (CHB) teachers/ Lecturers and its impact on the teaching-learning process in higher education. Primary data is the base of analysis of problem and is collected from 80 samples. Samples have been taken from eight colleges of Beed district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra State.

Bonded Labour and Economics – Effects of Bonded Labour on the Economy

santosh Jose, Student, Christ University, Bangaluru, Karnataka

This paper aims to study how Bonded Labour affects an economy. This study is based on the state of Karnataka. There haven’t been many studies done on the study of Bonded Labour and how it affects an economy. This study draws its basis from the Capability Approach propounded by Amartya Sen. This study is qualitative and inductive in nature. The data used would be secondary, sourced from the labour department of Karnataka and organisations that deal with Bonded Labour. The study on Bonded Labour is very relevant to the field of economics. Basic theories on Labour Theory of Value and Theories on Socialism can be linked to Bonded Labour and its origin.

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Employment of rural Women Through Entrepreneurship — A study

Babu rao Marri, Assistant Professor, Dept of Economics, C.R. College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

The paper, through primary and secondary research, attempts to study women’s employment through entrepreneurship in small/ micro enterprises in rural areas, role of socio-economic and demographic factors in determining the status of women entrepreneurs and role of stress and living conditions of women entrepreneurs before and after starting the micro enterprise in rural economy. The dynamic nature of small business calls for innovative approaches to entrepreneurship education and training and improved management techniques. Dissemination of innovative approaches and new knowledge developed is also extremely important in furthering the cause of entrepreneurship.

Employment Generation programmes in India (With special reference to MGNrEGs on poverty in Andhra pradesh)

srinivasulu palagulla, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, Govt. Degree College, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

The study is proposed to estimate the impact of MGNREGS days on level of deprivation and it’s determinants in Andhra Pradesh. A purposive sampling method was employed for the selection of the study districts. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, percentages and logistic regression analyses are used to estimate the impact of MGNREGS days on levels of deprivation. It can be inferred that a state of deprivation for the selected indicators is found among households irrespective of their social status.

socio-economic Conditions of Child Labour in odisha: A Case study of rourkela City

Narayan sethi, Assistant Professor of Economics, National Institute of Tecnology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha

subhadarsani swain, Post Graduate Student, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, Odisha

The study focuses on the current socio-economic condition of those people who were child labourers in their childhood. In this study, economic indicators are income and employment status. On the other hand, level of education, health status and role in case of decision making in the society are studied as social indicators. The objective of the study is to understand the socio-economic conditions of families whose children are engaged in child labour in Rourkela. The child labourers were interviewed in their work places using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. This research study found that children who were not child workers in early stages of thie life have higher probability to enjoy better socio-economic conditions than that of children who worked as child workers in the past.

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An Assessment of socio-economic Conditions of ragpicker Children: A Case study of Jammu City of J&k state

Virender koundal, Assistant Professor, University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

The present paper attempts to study the socio-economic and working conditions of ragpicker children in Jammu city of Jammu and Kashmir state. A sample of 150 ragpicker children in the age group of 8 to 14 years is selected from different areas of Jammu district. The result reveals that majority of respondents are in the age group of 8 to 10 year, often belonging to lower social castes. Most are migrants and poverty and lack of security are the main reason for their migration from their native places.

The perspective of Informal Labour in the Formal sector—A Case study on some Government Universities of Assam

Chandan sharma, Assistant Professor, Morigaon College, Gauhati University, Morigaon, Assam

Ajit konwar, Assistant Professor, Morigaon College, Assam

parag Jyoti Mahanta, Assistant Professor, Morigaon College, Assam

In India the number of informal workers in the organized service sector is growing rapidly. In the university level the temporary appointments are growing. The increasing number of appointments of teachers and other staff member without social security measures certainly bears some socio-economic implications. Through the sample size of 20 university teachers, the study shows that the selected four universities of Assam the contractual teachers’ ratio is 21.05% which is quite high and that the salary of the contractual teacher’s was half of that of the permanent Asst. professor and 1/6th of that of Associate Professor. The contractual teachers were not entitled to social security measures like sickness benefit, CPF, GPF, NPS and group insurance.

Assets Inequalities among Different occupational Groups in rural households of Border Districts of punjab state of India

randeep kaur¸ Assistant Professor, Trai Shatabdi GGS Khalsa College Amritsar, Amritsar, Punjab

Concentration of assets is a major problem in Punjab. The distribution of assets between productive and unproductive uses has a great impact on the level of income and pattern of expenditure. Taking this into consideration, the study examined the assets inequalities among different occupational groups in rural households of border districts of Punjab state of India. To accomplish this objective, primary data has been collected from 360 rural households from three border districts of Punjab. The result shows that there is a large scale concentration in the ownership of assets among different occupational groups in rural areas of the border districts of Punjab state of India.

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Informal Employment: A study of street Vendors in patna

Vandana kumari, Research Scholar, A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar

Deepali, Research Scholar, A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar

In Bihar, 2/3rd of total population depends on street vendors and the figure of street vendors is increasing indiscriminately due to limited employment opportunity, poverty, illiteracy and also rapid increasing population in Bihar. This study relies on primary survey of street vendors as well used secondary sources. For primary survey, data collected from 50 respondents of street vendors of Patna Municipal Corporation with the help of self develop interview schedule and random sampling. The evidence suggests the existence of a very strong relationship between illiteracy, caste, poverty and the work of street vendors.

Child Labour in Urban Informal sector of Tiruchirappalli City

paramasivam p., PhD Research Scholar of Economics, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

Arul Chellakumar J.A., Professor, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

The study focused on socio economic condition, causes for child labour and working status of child Labourers in Tiruchirappalli city of Tamilnadu state. This paper makes use of primary and secondary sources and primary data is collected through structured questionnaires by interview schedule. Secondary sources collected from journals and Published Reports. The study found that majority of the child Labour belonged to socially backward communities. Most of the children entered workforce due to social cause and poverty and they suffer from alcoholism and drug abuse in their family and peer groups.

Women Labour in Informal sector in India

Cheli Yasodha A rao, Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh

As per the census (2011), the workforce participation rate of women at the national level stand at 25.51 per cent compared with 53.26 per cent for men. In the rural sector, women have a workforce participation rate of 30.32 percent compared with 53.03 per cent for males. In the urban sector, it is 15.44 per cent for women and 53.76 per cent for men. The papers seeks to understand this phenomena. To improve the socio-economic conditions of women labourers, reasonable enhancement of minimum wages and identifications of nonfarm employment are necessary.

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Towards an Explanation of Inter state Disparities in Child Labour in India: A Long Term Comparative study

of high and Low Incidence states

Anindita sinha, Post Doctoral Fellow, Tripura University, Agartala, Tripura

Moving away from the micro-econometric approach that characterizes most of the studies we adopt a comparative study method, whereby we compare states that have evinced lower child labour incidence rates (specifically Kerala and Punjab) with those that reveal high child labour incidence throughout the period under consideration (specifically Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh). The specific selection of the states is guided by literature on key determinants of child labour, viz., per capita income, poverty and social development. It is our contention that analyzing the similarities and dissimilarities among these states in terms of key indicators would shed light on key factors and processes that determine child labour in India. Essentially, we build a chain of evidence that point towards the overwhelming importance of a few factors (agricultural wage and literacy rates in this case) and build an explanation towards why such factors could be of utmost importance here.

A panel Data Analysis on The Innovation, Labour productivity and Growth rate of BrICs Nations

Abul hassan ps, ICSSR Research Fellow, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

halima sadia rizvi, Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia,

This study aims to analyse the two way relationship between innovation on productivity and growth rate of BRICS nations. The links between these three are investigated with the help of suitable variables which influence the productivity and growth rate of BRICS. This study also examines the impact and usage of internet on various explanatory variables. We have estimated labour productivity and growth equation using OLS technique, panel vector auto regression and DGMM to find out the Granger causality between the variables. Present study penetrates to the impacts of innovation variable and its causal relationship between growth and labour productivity rate of BRICS countries.

performance of MGNrEGp in Tamil Nadu

k. Vetrivel, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

N.k. rajendran, Assistant Professor and Head Department of Commerce, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

k. kalaichandran, PhD Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

There are many studies available on MGNREGA’s prospects and problems, but only few have attempted to study the performance over a period, taking more than one point of time for the study. The paper has made an attempt to understand the performance of MGNREGA in Tamil Nadu. This study is completely based on secondary data. The data has been collected from the District Statistical Office, Tamil Nadu Statistical Handbook and published materials like Journals, Newspapers, Periodicals, Books etc.

Workshops

201

Changing status of Employment in India

Asha Agrawal, TGT, Delhi Administration, Delhi

Several support services have to be extended to the informal sector workers in order to enhance their productivity and well-being levels. However, it must be realized that the employment guarantee programmes are only a short-run respite, and therefore from the long run point of view the growth in itself has to be made more employment intensive. In order to ensure inclusive growth employment has to pick up substantially during the 12th five year plan. The challenge is to ensure that these drivers of growth are associated with the creation of more decent jobs that are accessible to youth, women and social groups across the country, particularly in rural areas.

Measuring human Development Index of Construction Workers

Vijaykumar kakade, Professor, Shivaji University Kolhapur, Kolhapur, Maharashtra

suvarna suryvanshi, Assistant Professor, Smt Sushil K Ghodawat Kanya College Jaysingpur

Human development index as an indicator of development was developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The study of HDI pertaining to construction workers shows that the overall HDI is low for construction workers. The components of HDI also shows disparity amongst the construction workers. The provision of minimum wages will partially help the workers to come over the poverty. But it needs to be extended in terms of better health facilities as they are prone to various risks, on and off job. The paper presents a series of action plans that could be implemented to raise the HDI of construction workers.

202

Workshop 3

Employment Growth and Women’s status: Experience from Indian organized sector

kamlesh shrivastava, Professor, Vijaya Raje Scindia Government Girls College Morar, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

padma saxena, Associate Professor, Maharani Lxmi Bai .Government College of Excellence, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

sunil sharma, Research Scholar, SOS in Economics Jiwaji University Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

The study is related to the Indian organized sector which comprises of public and private sectors. Within these sectors, a gender based employment growth is examined to explain the status of men and women in the Indian organized sector and the study is based on secondary research. The main objective of the study is to discuss the impact of new economic policy, launched in 1991, on employment generation and its gendered aspects. It discusses the employment generation in Indian organized sector for ten years from 2003 to 2012. It deals with gender issues and tries to find out the status and future of women in Indian organized sector and within its components- public sector and private sector- individually.

status of Employment and Unemployment in India: A Comparative overview of Nss and Labour Bureau Data

Mahendra rao, Budget Analyst cum Research Associate, Budget Analysis Rajasthan Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Employment and unemployment scenario is one of the important factors of an economy that shows the outcome of economic development in a country. The socio-economic structure of an economy also depends on structure, pattern and distribution of workers population, work force and the status of employment and unemployment of the country. The Census, NSS and Labour Bureau provide data on employment and unemployment in India. The present paper analyses the employment and unemployment data provided by the NSS and Labour Bureau.

Impact of FDI on Employment and Economic Growth in India

r.p. shrivastava, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, J. L. C. College, Chapra, Bihar

Foreign Direct Investments plays a crucial role for an accelerated economic growth. In India, post the 1991 economic reforms, the regulatory environment in terms of Foreign Direct Investments has been consistently eased to make it more and more investor-friendly and to supplement domestic capital, technology and skills. India has only recently begun to attract global capital and given the size of the economy, and its perceived high growth potential, it will remain an attractive investment destination as long as policy towards investment in general and FDI in particular is seen to be supportive. Hence, the Government must continue the pace of reforms to make India more and more attractive for Make in India.

Workshops

203

The role of Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Act in Empowering Women in rural karnataka

Divakara D.D., Research Scholar, Department of Economics Bangalore University Bangalore

rupali Gupta, Research Scholar Department of Econimics, Department of Economics Bangalore University Bangalore

Varsha N., Research Scholar , Department of Economics Bangalore University Bangalore

rangaswamy N., Professor, Department of Economics Bangalore University Bangalore

MGNREGA plays a significant role to meet the practical well as strategic need of women’s participation. The paper seeks to analyze the role of MGNREGA on women empowerment, find out the factors promoting women participation in the programme and make an assessment of the performance of MGNREGA in promoting women participation. The paper argues that the programme is effective in empowering rural women and can be further strengthened if the beneficiaries participate proactively, if the minimum wages are revised regularly, and better awareness mechanisms are put into place.

Marketing and Modeling of rohu Fish Monthly Arrival using ArIMA in Jammu region of J&k state

Manish sharma, Associate Professor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

Nishant Jasrotia, Student, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

s.E.h. rizvi, Professor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

Anil Bhat, Assistant Professor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

Banti kumar, PhD Scholar, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people. Since last few decades, fish has been an important food item for the inhabitants of the state. Marketing channels i.e., Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer of the Jammu district for Singhara fish was the most efficient followed by Rohu fish and local fish. Further while comparing the marketing efficiency through Shepherd Index, it has been found that the marketing channel of Kathua district was better than the Jammu district for local fish. The average annual income of retailers of Jammu district was significantly more as compared to retailers of Kathua district.

204


Enhancing rural Livelihood opportunities through promotion of Mango plantations under Mahatma Gandhi NrEGs in

Bankura District, West Bengal

Anuradha palla, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad, Telanagana

Venkatachalapathi suresh Babu, Associate Professor , National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad

BabuLal Mahato, West Bengal Civil Services (Executive) Officer, Private Secretary to Cabinet Minister, Government of West Bengal

MGNREGA aimed at enhancing the livelihood security to rural households by providing at least hundred days of demand driven guaranteed employment in a financial year to those willing to do unskilled manual labour. Among the four categories of permissible works, category – B works emphasised on enhancing natural resources base not only in public lands but also in private lands. Against this backdrop, this paper looks at mango plantations in individual fallow waste lands is one such initiative in Bankura district, West Bengal. The said program has been endeavouring towards alleviating poverty by enhancing the socio-economic conditions of the vulnerable groups. This paper tries to present an assessment by analysing the programs performance in this region.

Impact of Technology Change and Employment

Namadev Jadhav, RCUB, Vijayapura , Karnataka

Present study is an attempt to identify the awareness among farmers regarding the various machinery techniques in paddy transplantation. Further, an assessment is drawn about farmers’ perception regarding the work performance of these machineries is identified by applying Kruskal-Wallis test.

Is Technology substituting Labour in paddy Farms?

Vanita Ahlawat, Assistant Professor, G.J.US&T, Hisar, Haryana

renu Bishnoi, Research Scholar, G.J.U.S&T., Haryana

There has been an increasing trend in horticulture crops. Horticultural crop include fruits, vegetable and flowers crops. Specifically, flower cultivation is increasing due to increased per unit income of farmers than ordinary crops. Floriculture, thus, is boosting agriculture industry in India. The study incorporates primary data - greenhouse units. Further, we also interviewed the farmers to get hold of detailed narratives. We learn that marginal farmers do not have sufficient land for typical crops/ plantations but they can earn more income and greater days of employment from the production of flowers in protected cultivation. This study aims to provoke debate in this regard and further the scope of literature within the domain of agriculture.

Workshops

205

Is Floriculture in high Tech cultivation changing the picture of Farms?

Vanita Ahlawat, Assistant Professor, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar

sneh Lata, Research Scholar, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisa

Flowers cultivation is increasing stage due to increased per unit income of farmers than ordinary crops. Floriculture is the boosting industry in India. Flowering and ornamental plants are using in perfume, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. The primary data for green house were collected by the personal interview of farmer with the help of a schedule. The study presented the cost of cultivation of gerbera under poly house was higher Rs.1805406/2000 sq.m. At the same time the net return under poly house were higher by 2221974/2000sq. m. Modern and diversified farming plays a key role for improvement of the income of farming community especially marginal farmer. Marginal farmers have not sufficient land for ordinary crops but they can earn more income and employment from the production of flowers in protected cultivation.

Moderating role of Technological Changes in the relationship Between human Capital and Labour productivity

in the Indian Automobile Industry

Anju kamal, Assistant Professor, Amrita University, Kerala

saswat Barpanda, Associate Professor, Amrita University, Kerala

Technological changes coupled with investments in education and training have paved a huge role in improving productivity. Manufacturing sector is believed to be critical for the growth of the economy. This is because the sector tends to have a multiplier effect on other sectors in the economy. Finally, we propose a model as an instrument to facilitate dissemination of knowledge between researchers working on various facets of the technological changes and its impact on employment scenario in Indian manufacturing Industry.

Significance of Employee’s Environmental Training in Sustainability: An Empirical study of selected organizations in punjab

Vikram sandhu, Assistant Professor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab

heena Atwal, Assistant Professor, Punjab University, Punjab

This study analyzes whether environmental training and organizational learning positively influence the development of proactive environmental strategies and compares the two processes, which differ in the time, costs, and difficulty required to implement them. Companies in the tourism sector are currently facing a highly dynamic environment where innovativeness is a decisive factor for achieving competitiveness. We analyze whether the presence or absence of innovativeness influences the development of these two mechanisms.

206


Non-conventional Energy Growth and Economic Development in kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu – Labour perceptive

p.s.J. sudan, Ph.D Scholar, Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu

This paper explores the interrelationships between economic growth, expanding employment opportunities and the imperative of dramatically reducing C02 emissions in in Kanyakumari district. Specifically, it shows that within a structure of economic growth, the Indian economy can both expand employment opportunities for workers, peasants and the poor while reducing C02 emission. The model assumes Kanyakumari districts renewable energy development and generate major gains in employment opportunities by undertaking these clean energy investments, as opposed to maintaining the economy’s existing fossil-fuel based energy infrastructure.

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