Informal workers in India

Informal workers comprise a majority of the workforce in India. This holds even for the non-farm sector of the Indian economy. ‘Informal’ workers here include small own account producers, ‘casually employed’ wage workers, as well as wage workers engaged on an informal basis by enterprises in the organized segment of the economy. Informal workers on the average earn lower wages, experience greater precarity such as discontinuity and disruptions in work and highly variable earnings, work under hazardous conditions, are exposed to higher market risk, have nil or inadequate social protection and face diverse decent work deficits.

The Indian economy has displayed considerable dynamism over the past three decades, with an acceleration of growth, the emergence of a high-value services sector that is in parts globally
competitive, and deepening sophistication in its manufacturing. Yet the informal segment of the economy remains significant, settled in its low-level equilibrium. Beneath this ‘resilience’, there is considerable churn. New forms of enterprises (such as platform based mobility, delivery and service provision) and financing (venture and early-stage capital) have emerged; workers’ struggles are redefining the workers’ movement in response to shifts in the economy and changing workplace arrangements; the struggles of workers and small producers induce policy shifts with respect to regulation and social protection; small producers seek solutions to raise productivity and incomes; government policies redirect fiscal, credit and infrastructure flows and redesign regulations and trade conditions in favor of specific sectors, scale and enterprises. Additionally, there are global shifts, including climate change, changes in the nature of global supply chains and evolution of technology.

There is need to understand how these tendencies contribute to or take away from ‘formalising’ the informal. We interpret the transition towards the formal as any change in conditions that contributes to greater agency and dignity to the informal worker, increases productivity together with incomes/wages, raises efficiency and market power for small producers, reduces risk and precarity, improves working conditions and reduces exposure to hazards, provides social security for workers or sustains the natural resource base for small producers.

Many of these changes stem from purposive action by workers, governments and enterprises. Of specific interest here are:

• Struggles of informal workers and small producers: The past three decades have witnessed several important instances wherein workers/small producers have mobilized and organized, have struggled and influenced public imagination, state action, as well as the structure and forms of economic activity. These include the struggles of construction
  workers, street vendors, fishworkers, saltpan workers, those in automobile ancillary units and small-medium garment factories, anganwaadi workers, and more. How have these
  struggles contributed to greater agency and dignity for informal workers, to solidarity and mutual help, to reduction in risk and opening of opportunities, to more supportive policy?
• Government regulations, worker welfare and social protection policies: The past 30 years have seen the introduction of Government policies which are highly varied in intent and
  outcome. These include the recently adopted labor codes and related changes in policies by state governments, the Building and other construction workers Cess Act, the Mahatma
  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, an intended expansion of workers under the Employees Provident Fund through the Employment Linked Incentive Scheme 2024, the protection of access to forests under the Forest Rights Act, and related changes in forest governance, the Rajasthan platform based gig workers Act, The Karnataka state gig workers insurance scheme, the banning of rat hole mining by the National Green Tribunal, the maternity benefit amendment Act 2016. These are but a few of legislative, policy and other interventions which have the potential to influence the predicament of informal workers. What has been the impact of these policies in addressing ‘decent work’ deficits for informal workers and in effectively increasing social security? What is the political economy that determines this policy environment and mediates its impact on informal workers?
• Industrial policy, as representing government interventions that purposively seek to shift the economic structure to deliver on desired social outcomes. India has considerable experience with policies that seek to support specific economic/industrial sectors, regions and enterprises of specific size/age. The overwhelming reliance on horizontal economic polices has given way in several large and dominant economies to sector specific policies. This shift is reflected in India as well in the recent past, with specific changes in its trade policy measures, targeted capital subsidies and credit flow, land allocation and infrastructure development, price support and input subsidies and more. This includes policies and related action by state agencies at each of the three levels – central (federal), state and local body. What are the elements of an effective industrial policy that will generate higher growth in output, productivity and wages and reduce risk and precarity in sectors with large numbers of informal workers? Which policies will create an ecosystem of enterprises that sustains such growth and generates strong positive spillovers?

This is a call for proposals from SEWA/New Political Economy Initiative (IITB) to conduct research on any of the above three distinct, though interrelated themes. The research needs to be aimed at India’s experience in the past 25 years. On Industrial Policy, this call invites studies that focus on a specific or a cluster of related economic sectors.

Proposals with a field research element will be preferred. Where relevant, the proposals must include a budget for the field research component.

There is provision for financial support for approved research projects. Researchers will be paid an honorarium ranging from Rs 1.8 to 2.4 lakhs, and the exact figure will be determined based on the proposal and the researcher’s resume. Expenses on field visits for research will be reimbursed within a reasonable limit and based on actuals.

Researchers with a Masters degree with at least three years research experience or a PhDa are eligible to apply.

The deadline for receiving proposals is January 15th , 2025. The proposals will be reviewed and approvals communicated by January 31st . For approved proposals, researchers will need to present a detailed proposal including a field visit plan within 15 days of the approval decision. An advanced draft report needs to be presented at a Conference scheduled for early May, 2025. The report needs to be finalized by end June 2025.

Please fill the attached form To apply: https://forms.gle/V7AMbLaPpRgyFmW26

For any further queries, please write to: Comm@sewa.org