Labour
Labour
Issue Articles
India 2020
A collection
A curated set of 35+ articles published in ‘The India Forum’ during a year which began with the demonstrations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, ended with the farmer protests against the new farm laws, but was the year of Covid-19.
The Time Is Right for an Urban Employment Guarantee Programme
Urban workers have been the most badly hit by Covid-19. An employment guarantee would provide income support & also improve urban public services. Criticisms that it is unaffordable & that it will have a negative impact on the private sector are not valid.
The Silent Takeover of Labour Rights
The three new labour codes passed by Parliament without discussion make sweeping changes to labour laws; they reduce the regulatory powers of the government; they hand over some oversight functions to third parties, and, all in all, disempower labour.
Bearing Witness to the Covid-19 Lockdown
Migrant Workers in Proof Regimes
During the lockdown, migrant workers have produced ‘proofs’ to lay claim to promised aid, display grief and gratitude, and to archive violence they faced. These fragments from the worker-as-witness throw up critical questions on practices of welfare and aid.
Confronting Precarious Work
Beyond social security for platform workers
The precarisation of labour is written into the very logic of platform business models. Ignoring this, and focusing only on social security measures to protect workers, normalises exploitative labour conditions as the 'future of work'.
A Moment for Civilizational Introspection
The devastating effects of the pandemic upon the working poor should be a recognition of the collapse of our moral centre as a nation and as a people. The elite have exiled the poor from their conscience and consciousness.
How can more women take up paid employment?
The abysmally low participation of women in paid work in India even today is very worrying. Policy interventions should look at how to encourage higher work participation, through offers of higher wages and better social security.
How many casual workers in the cities have sought to go home?
There has been no count of the number of workers returning to their home states. An analysis of NSS data tells us that the first wave of returnees is likely to be mainly urban casual workers who lost their livelihoods and lived in insecure accommodation.
When the Sewers Get Blocked
Sanitation Labour in Urban India
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has ended, but are we in "Clean India"? Sanitation systems remain inadequate and the work can be dehumanising for those who remove the blocks in sewage pipes. The job can also be dangerous and take lives. A photo essay of a day's work.
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