Migration, Labour and Precarity in the Informal Sector in India

ABSTRACT:
India is at the crossroads of paradoxical development. On the one hand, it is one of the fast-growing economies; on the other hand, the country is faring poorly in the human development index. As per the National Sample Survey, 28.5 per cent of the population in India are internal migrants, of which a considerable number work mainly as casual wage employees in the informal sector. Odisha is a poor state, and many tribal and Schedule Caste from Western Odisha lack opportunities to work in the vicinity and ensure their livelihood. They are forced to migrate and work as low-paid labourers in other states in India. The primary research conducted in Odisha found that the recruitment process under debt bondage was a modern form of slavery. The labourers worked in precarious conditions, unacceptably for long hours, with no freedom of movement, and poor living conditions with no basic amenities assured in the workplace. Labourers, in general, and women workers, in particular, faced various health issues and occupational hazards. Women remained the worst sufferers of sexual harassment, rape and death.

The presence of a State for the labourers remains ‘passive governance’ as it often gets content by creating various legal provisions without adequate implementation and having a bureaucracy claiming to work for the welfare of the people, farmers and workers. In the process, the state has enabled maintaining the domination of the economic system, which is more favourable to the capitalists.