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A dominant strand of orthodoxy argues that the problem of the informal sector could be mitigated through the capitalistic growth process. But our observations on India are different—with an expansion of the capitalistic formal sector, as the economy grows, there is a proliferation of fissured informality. Using a structuralist macro-model, we provide certain explanations for this phenomenon, which are also tested empirically using Indian subnational-state and firm-level data. Thus, we explore both the short- and long-run effects of the expansion of the formal sector on the heterogeneous informal economy. While a section of the population is pulled into the advanced informal activities, a vast segment is pushed to petty production. Accordingly, the orthodox transition narrative is questioned and alternative policy and political possibilities are introduced. JEL Classification: O11, O13, O17, P48 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a small area of the South West of Bangladesh, thousands of landless farmers cross the border with their family in order to work in the informal sector, mostly in Delhi and Bangalore: as waster pickers for the men, as maids for the women. Based on two ethnographic fieldworks in the villages of origin, this article intends to highlight the reasons leading to this migratory movement, the way this migration is organized and its consequences for the families. In a context where, in India, Bangladeshi migration is mostly felt as a threat, it also analyses the process of hypervisibility/invisibility to which these migrants are subjected to and the effects that deportability – or actual deportation – have on their life. At last, it examines how migrants experience the discrepancy between the way they see themselves and the way they are largely considered by the Indian authorities and broaden society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's status as the world's leading milk producer is significantly sustained by cow slaughter, a criminal act in most Indian states. The paper argues that jugaad, a complex Indian sociological phenomenon of corruption and innovation, is vital in enabling the illegal slaughter of cows on an industrial scale in the informal economy. Jugaad is enacted through ingenious alterations to social processes and material products in two 'grey' and informal spaces that are rendered exceptional to formal governance: (1) illicit transportation to slaughterhouses; and (2) intricate social contracts between stakeholders along this production line. Through these processes in informal spaces, the bovine body itself is transformed by way of jugaad from protected dairy cow to contraband beef cow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify a basic dualism between capitalist and noncapitalist spaces within the vast informal sector in India, and show that this dualism has been reproduced and reinforced during the past decade of high economic growth. This calls into question the idea of capitalist transition that informs much of the discourse on economic development. We provide some preliminary arguments about the nature of this dualism and the process of reproduction of the noncapitalist economic space.JEL Classifications: O14, O17, J46 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon research in the state of Bihar, India, this article argues that informal access to medicines in Northern India is a core element of the government of healthcare. Informal providers such as unlicensed village doctors and unlicensed drug sellers play a major role in access to medicines in Bihar, in the particular context of the dismantling of public procurement services. Building on recent works in the socio-anthropology of pharmaceuticals, the article shows the importance of taking into account the political economy of drugs in India, in order to understand local problems of access more fully. If informal providers occupy such an important position in the government of healthcare in India, this is partly due to the shaping of healthcare as access to drugs on health markets. Elaborating the argument from interviews with health professionals and patients, the article first shows the situation of public healthcare and public procurement in Bihar; then it presents the role of informal medicine providers; lastly, it shows how patients deal with the fact that they live in a ‘pharmaceutical world’ where access to health equates with access to medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents original research on relations between middle-class residents and informal-sector workers in Delhi, India. It shows how middle-class associations used their consumption preferences as well as relationships with local authorities to legitimize the work of street hawkers and waste workers. These findings suggest that the toleration of informality can be traced to governance regimes comprised of both state and non-state powerbrokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workers in India are becoming increasingly precarious in spite of its significant economic growth during the past two decades. The extent of informalization and casualization, used as proxies for precariousness, can be deduced from government sources and shows that the size of the informal sector not only constitutes almost 90% of the working population but also is growing. While the informal sector is not an accurate measure of precarious work, two specific characteristics of Indian precarious work are highlighted. The first deals with nonregistered establishments, unmaintained accounts, and hiring no more than 10 workers, officially defined as the “informal sector.” Individuals engaged in this sector experience precarious employment. The second group involves workers engaged in the formal sector on short-term contracts. Combined, the size of both types of precarious work has increased sharply in the postreform period beginning in the early 1990s. The supposed rigidity of labor laws is often used to explain the rise in precarious employment. However, the article finds that although the numbers of industrial disputes and wage shares have declined, the use of contract work has increased in the formal sector, and thus the labor market has been conducive to industrial expansion in spite of the absence of substantial labor law reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]