Unfreedom and Waged Work
Labour in India's Manufacturing Industry
- Sunanda Sen - Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
- Byasdeb Dasgupta - University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India
The key features of the book are as follows:
- A critical survey of the neo-liberal theories relating to wages, employment and labour flexibility.
- A three-digit classification of industry data in India to explain the recent phase of ‘job-less growth’ including casualization.
- Firm-level data to test the impact of opening up of economy on output and employment.
- A large body of primary field-survey data on work, education, age, skill, casualization and living conditions of workers, presented through reader-friendly tables and figures.
- A labour security index for different categories of workers which shows the declining levels of various forms of labour security in terms of income, work, financial status, etc.
- A critical look at the recommendations of the National Commission of Labour with its advocacy of labour market flexibility and an undermining of the role of trade unions.
The book will attract a wide readership amongst students and researchers in social sciences and social activists and policy makers within the country and overseas.
This is a book that addresses some of the most fundamental aspects of the Indian labour market as it evolves in a context of extraordinarily rapid economic growth. It is an exciting area of topical research, and this book is a contribution to it.
The book makes for a critical read of the post-reform India, and, on the neoliberal theories on wages, employment and labour flexibility. Apart from the field survey, the book takes a closer look at the recommendations of the National Commission of Labour with its own advocacy of labour flexibility, undermining the role of trade unions and the political economy of labour.
The book will be “of use to sensitise and change the mindset of corporate capital as well as the policy makers in India.”
The major lesson of the book is that labour market policies pursued by employers (explicitly or implicitly supported or even encouraged by the State) have been disastrous considering the resulting poor employment growth and rising incidence of poor quality jobs. The book is an important one for readers trying to understand the dynamics of labour market policies pursued in the new economic environment.
