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The agricultural sector in India has come to prominence as a source of employment and livelihood. It is one of the most significant informal sectors in the country, and one in which informal learning plays a major role. This article analyses the informal learning of farmers in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. In the course of this research, qualitative interviews with 34 farmers in Coimbatore were conducted and analysed with regard to informal learning. The findings show that informal learning is lifelong and chiefly takes place at home in a family and peer group context. Informal learning is facilitated by training courses specifically adapted to farmers' needs, which can help them improve their situation on their respective farms. However, not every farmer attends these courses, indicating a need to strengthen the programmes, conduct information campaigns to raise awareness, and improve accessibility, especially for farmers and agricultural labourers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation has accelerated the pace of development throughout the world. Big cities provide employment and livelihood for workers because of which workers have always migrated from rural areas to cities. However, in India, most of the migrant workers are absorbed in the low-paid and low-skilled jobs in the widespread informal sector. With the outbreak of COVID-19, lockdown was declared suddenly without any notice in India during the last week of March 2019 and most of the urban informal sector workers suddenly lost their jobs, and since they had no protection, they were pushed into poverty. Detailed analysis of such losses is of utmost importance so that perfectly appropriate remedial measures can be taken by the government. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report of 2019-20 has analysed the situation of labour market in India for four quarters from July 2019 to June 2020. Therefore, the last quarter of the data will give us the valuable information about the urban labour market during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study analyses the possible reasons behind decline in monthly earnings and labour market participation of urban people in India during the period of outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. during the period from April 2020 to June 2020, using the data of fourth quarter from each of the PLFSs of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 since they have identical seasonal conditions. We have used cross-tabulation method to find out employment and unemployment rates of people in urban areas according to gender and type of employment for the period, from July to June, for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. We have also tried to find the reasons behind the decline in income of workers during the first three months of the pandemic period, i.e. during the fourth quarter of 2019-20, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017-18 and that of 2018-19 using the Mincerian wage equation. Our empirical results have shown that urban workers in India have lost jobs and suffered from significant decline in income during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic period in almost all types of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, E-waste is experiencing an unprecedented growth in the recent years. This growth will be fueled further by the COVID-19 pandemic owing to the new work culture where people are becoming more dependent on their electronic products than ever before. However, governance of E-waste, particularly in the Global South, has been a complex phenomenon. Considering this, the current study attempted to assess the design, adoption, and implementation of E-waste policies in India—a major electronics manufacturing hub with a massive consumer electronics market. Taking hints from theoretical concepts such as policy transfer, policy convergence, and policy effectiveness, the study addressed the primary research question: why India adopts E-waste policy approaches that seem inadequate and ineffective in its local contexts and attempts to identify alternative approaches. Through expert interviews and policy document analysis, it was observed that E-waste policy approaches in India are largely influenced by the European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. All the experts interviewed recognized absence of the informal sector in India's policy efforts of both 2011 and 2016 as a significant lacuna in the country's E-waste policy responses. In this paper, the author argues that there should be policy change towards a healthy collaboration between the informal and formal sector where best-of-the-two-worlds could be wisely used for sustainable E-waste governance in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian economy is categorized as one of the fastest growing advancing economies. Much of the growth has been attributed to the industrialization process post-independence especially after economic reforms of 1990s. However, the formal industrial sector has been unable to absorb the growing labor force and thus majority of labor force have been forced to derive and find self-employment options in the informal sector. The current study is an attempt to analyze the Indian industry in light of this formal and informal bifurcation. Using the stochastic frontier analysis, the production functions are validated and technical efficiency (TE) is predicted. The study reveals that the formal industrial sector in India is relatively efficient. However, the informal sector, apart from absorbing higher number of labor force, is performing better than dictated by hitherto classic theoretic predictions. The study also analyzes the factors influencing the TE of the formal and informal sectors. The study concludes that the formal and informal sectors mutually reinforce the industrial growth in India, have positive linkages and contribute efficaciously to economic outcomes like output and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical experience suggests that a sustained rise in per capita incomes and improvement in employment conditions is not attainable without a structural transformation that moves surplus labour from agriculture and other informal economic activities to higher productivity activities in the non-farm economy. In this paper, I analyse India's performance from a cross-country comparative perspective, estimating the growth semi-elasticity of structural change. Using a cross-country panel regression, I estimate the effectiveness of growth in moving workers away from agricultural and informal activities as compared to other developing countries at similar levels of per capita income. I show that the performance in pulling workers out of agriculture is as expected given its level and growth of GDP per capita, but the same is not true for pulling workers out of the informal sector. I also propose the following five indicators that need to be kept track of when evaluating the growth process: the growth elasticity of employment, the growth semi-elasticity of structural change, the growth of labour productivity in the subsistence sector, the share of the organised sector in total employment and the workforce participation rate. Comparing these indicators across periods, states, regions or countries, allows us to understand which sets of policies have worked better than others to effective improvements in employment conditions. And taken together the indicators allow us to set structural change targets as well as to say whether the current pattern of growth is going to be sufficient to meet those targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the parent petrochemical industries, plastic industry is proliferating enormously over the past several years globally due to its advantages in terms of weight, robustness, expense, versatility, and durability. Due to the diversified consumer base representing varied climate zones, food habits, and standards of living, the generation and growth opportunities for the plastic industry in India are particularly distinct and humongous. The present work extensively reviews the Indian plastic industry with primary focus on the evolving technologies for plastic waste valorization encompassing their level of utilization, technology readiness, and progress achieved at R&D level. The study attempts to recognize different issues related to technology, recycling, policy, research, regulation that should be given attention to formulate an improved plastic waste management strategy in the region. Though significant shares of waste plastics in the country are processed by traditional practices, state-of-the-art technologies primarily plastic to oil conversion, in road making and in cement manufacturing, are being deployed at increasing rate. Action to tackle the problem of plastic contamination in India will need to adopt a pan India strategic consensus/concurrent approach for effective waste collection and segregation with active participation of urban local bodies, fixing the role of the informal sectors, investment for reliable technology adoption with skilled manpower for operation, adoption of circular economy schemes involving plastic waste co-processing, and providing support to work on R&D for better penetration of the proven plastic valorization options along with their environmental and social implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of paying bribes on access to credit for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Bribery is variously portrayed, in the literature, as greasing the wheel (helping) or sand in the wheel (impeding) applications for credit. Studies supporting both perspectives leave the issue unresolved, encouraging further analysis, using reliable data and robust analytic methods. An examination of The World Bank Enterprise Surveys of SME data for India, using an instrumental variable probit model, provides a more definitive answer. SME bribery is detrimental to accessing credit and more so for firms that have been in business for many years and operating on a small scale. Involvement of supply and demand side forces increases the need for multiple control variables. From a supply side perspective, high corruption increases difficulties for financial institutions to control borrower risk and recover loans. Accordingly, financial institutions reduce their lending to SMEs, which mostly belong to a high-risk category. Unlike large firms, SMEs paying bribes to grease the wheel are drawn to the informal sector, avoiding attention from officials. Where SMEs pay bribes in the formal sector, it is noticed and likely to increase the probability that other parties will also demand payments. The demand side argument regards bribes as tax, increasing loan costs to SMEs. Consequently, making significant bribes decreases SMEs' profitability. Less profitable SMEs may not obtain access to credit. From a policy perspective, anti-corruption measures, in emerging and low-income economies, are vital for developing SMEs and stimulating significant welfare gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing global competition has intensified the use of informal sector workforce worldwide. This phenomenon is true with regard to India, where 92% of the workers hold precarious jobs. Our study examines the dynamics of workplace dignity in the context of Indian security guards deployed as contract labour by private suppliers, recognising that security guards' jobs were marked by easy access, low status, disrespect and precariousness. The experiences of guards serving bank ATMs were compared with those working in large reputed organisations. The former reported loss of dignity though their inherent self-worth remained partially intact, whereas the latter reclaimed dignity despite the precarious working conditions and the absence of unions. Guards from large reputed organisations evolved strategies by which they took advantage of the client's vulnerabilities, developed 'thick' relationships at work and immersed themselves in 'doing dignity work' to ensure that they are not disposable. 'Doing dignity work' was a visible device which involved actions that met or went beyond the norms laid down by the client and was used by security guards to limit the extent of their precariousness. Since the opportunity to reclaim dignity was facilitated by large reputed clients' adherence to legal regulations, we see implications of the study for the moral economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies, a large proportion of its people live in rural regions and is employed in the informal economy. Constituting a prominent role in the informal economy, the textile industry is one of the oldest and most labour-intensive in India, which is globally ranked fourth in leading garment sourcing destinations around the world. However, the Indian garment industry has a shortage of skilled labour. Vocational skills training is one of the best tools to help individuals participate in the labour market and boost productivity and working conditions, especially for disadvantaged people. However, recent economic trends and traditional curriculum methods tend to ignore the needs of these marginalised groups, and this impedes the growth and productivity of the informal sector. This article explores the extent to which a competency-based curriculum development approach can respond to the skills training needs of people (seeking to be) employed in the informal sector. The authors discuss the theoretical framework of competency-based curricula. Next, they describe the process of developing a curriculum for sewing skills training based on learners' demands. This process was part of a study they carried out in rural South India, and the resulting curriculum was subsequently piloted in four villages in South India as an intervention strategy. The authors complement the analysis and discussion of their findings from the piloted curriculum with insights from expert interviews they conducted to explore curriculum framing and teaching–learning arrangements from a pedagogical perspective. They conclude that a competency-based curriculum approach works best in the informal sector if the targeted learners are directly involved in its planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of e-waste has increased significantly in India, and the informal recycling of e-waste has adverse effects on environment and public health. In this article, the E-waste management is evaluated in accordance from the resident’s awareness perspective in Bangalore city, India. The survey data revealed that about 58% male and 42% female responded and 35% of the participants belong to age range between 18 and 25 years. About 60% of respondent’s education level was either graduate or post graduate, 27% high school to higher school, 10% higher educated (> post graduate), and 3% primary to middle. Only 30% of the respondents were confident with e-waste rules and regulation, while 39% of the respondents were of very little information. Indian e-waste management has been improving for the last few years and it continues to develop. Therefore, the findings can be valuable for better understanding the resident’s awareness for e-waste management and also need to promote the environmentally sound management of e-waste in Bangalore, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to decipher wage structure and wage differentials by gender, caste and religious groups in formal and informal sectors in India using recent 2004-05 and 2011-12 NSSO’s survey data. The study finds that the wage structure in formal and informal sectors differs a lot. The wage rates paid to workers in the informal sector are lower than that of the formal sector. The variations in wages among workers in informal sector and for casual workers in particular are negligible. The gender wage differentials are found to be more in the informal sector than in the formal sector, while caste-based wage differentials are found to be high both in formal and informal sectors of the regular labour market; it is more pronounced in the private sector of the regular formal labour market. Moreover, wage differentials between Hindus and Muslims are high in both formal and informal sectors of the regular labour market; the religion-based wage differential is observed at higher education levels. In addition to this, the average daily wages paid to women and STs in informal sector are found to be lower than the National Floor Level Minimum Wage rate. Thus, there is a need for proper implementation of minimum wage policy in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies of the post-liberalisation Indian metropolis have largely followed a theoretical framework from contemporary urban sociology in the West, drawn from David Harvey, Manuel Castells and Saskia Sassen, among others. These studies show the contemporary city being shaped by global transnational capital-which accumulates wealth through dispossession-resulting in a clearing of the poor and marginal from central urban areas to the periphery, and replacing them with middle- and upper-class newcomers. Concomitantly, new jobs in these cities have shifted from industrial manufacturing to post-industrial services for large transnational firms connected through international networks of global capital. These theories suggest that in the neoliberal city the welfare state has receded, surrendering its role of protecting working-class housing and employment to the interests of transnational capital. We argue that by identifying processes that unfold in New York or Paris in New Delhi, these studies only capture a small part of the picture of urban transformation in contemporary India. In the case of New Delhi, we show how Economic Liberalisation has fundamentally restructured India's capital city, producing a new iteration of the ancient metropolis, which we call the 'Tenth Delhi'. However, the new order does not, for the most part, resemble the above-described Western-derived theories. Instead of jettisoning its poor, Delhi has become a magnet for the working classes from across India. There are now more migrants each year to Delhi than to any other Indian city. Instead of the periphery, or squatter settlements on the urban edge, the influx of migrants is found in the oldest settlements of the city, the so-called Lal Dora areas or 'Urban Villages', where new forms of rental housing have emerged. The cases of displacement and dispossession in Delhi are well documented, but little has been written about the more large-scale phenomena of 'regularisation' where hundreds of the 'Unauthorised' housing colonies that exist across the city have been formally regularised. Through a case study of one neighbourhood called Taimoor Nagar, which contains a patchwork of multiple types of spaces, populations and economic activities, this paper seeks to understand how things work at a small scale to explain a larger system, and to identify patterns that repeat across urban space in terms of spatial ordering, informal norms, economic relations and political change. We argue that capital-intensive dispossession has not been the primary form of urban transformation in post-Liberalisation New Delhi. The liberalisation of state control over spaces and types of economic activity and the expansion of democratically elected representation in this period has also been dramatically important. When most of the economy is unregulated, and most of urban space is unplanned, democratic politics mediates the relationship between urban citizens and the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal sector dominates India's economic life, so issues of skills development are particularly important. On the basis of a survey of 49 street food vendors in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Coimbatore, the authors of this article demonstrate that informal learning is a particularly significant form of vocational education and training. Vendors do not acquire skills in formal vocational education and training (VET) settings; for them, opportunities for learning on the job in family businesses or in informal employment are especially important. Unlike other studies, the authors' findings show that street food vendors have a wide range of specialist knowledge, skills and expertise required to conduct their business which they deploy profitably. These skills are not confined to preparing and selling food but also extend to areas such as price setting and marketing. All the street food vendors interviewed identified strongly with their occupation and expressed pride in it. Around half voiced a wish for further training. In this context, the authors suggest promoting non-formal learning settings geared explicitly to street food vendors' difficult working conditions. In line with a few other international innovative schemes, they term this a 'non-formal apprenticeship' approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of 2011-12, informal workers in India comprise 85.8 percent of the total labor force. This paper uses India's National Sample Survey data on Employment and Unemployment (2011-12) to test whether the large share of informal employment is due to labor market segmentation or a result of competitive choice. Results show that workers can freely enter informal employment. In contrast, there is no evidence of self-selection into formal employment. Based on this evidence, we cannot reject the labor market segmentation hypothesis for the Indian labor market. The wage gap decomposition results show that informal workers earn less than formal workers not only because they are less skilled, but also because they receive lower returns to their endowments compared to the formal workers. Thus, policies that focus on skill development may be necessary but are not sufficient to increase formal job opportunities and reduce the formal-informal wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the street food sector plays an important role in urban food security, state-led food security measures in India have failed to provide a role for poor urban street food vendors to engage in the distribution and consumption of healthy foods. Instead, state-led food security schemes, whether production, distribution, or consumption oriented, have viewed the urban poor simply as beneficiaries of subsidized grain. This case study illustrates how the street food sector, operated by poor urban vendors selling ready-to-eat, healthy millet-based porridges in Madurai, has improved access to nutritious foods and created livelihood opportunities for the urban poor. The paper provides an overview of the informal street food sector, socioeconomic conditions of vendors, gender-based division of labour, as well as the food preferences and health awareness of consumers. Analysis of the data indicates the marginalization of street food vendors under the existing policy environment in urban India. The paper discusses how the state, as a regulatory body and a service delivery agent, as well as research and development organizations can strengthen the rights and capabilities of street vendors and, in doing so, improve urban food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, ageing is rapidly becoming a major socio-economic concern. The rapidly increasing dependency ratios impose an economic burden on the family. Simultaneously, the State has failed to create an adequate social security network for the vulnerable elderly. In this situation, the labour market remains the only possible means of ensuring security for the elderly. The extent to which the labour market in India has succeeded on this front has been analysed in this study. The main source of data for the article is the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) unit level data for the 55th (1999-2000) and 66th (2009-10) Rounds. In addition, data from the 60th Round (2004) survey on "Morbidity and Health Care" has also been used. The study reveals a decline in the workforce participation rate among the elderly over the study period, particularly among the urban and rural males. This is accompanied by a high level of informalisation of the aged workforce. The decline in the workforce participation rate appears more as a deliberate withdrawal from the labour force, caused by rural prosperity and the expansion of employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector between 2004 and 2009, rather than due to forced unemployment. An examination of the occupational profile shows that in rural areas, the elderly workers are concentrated in the primary sector, whereas in urban areas, on the other hand, they are mainly engaged in services. An analysis of the occupational structure and earnings, however, reveals that the aged who continue to work are generally employed in the low-wage sectors. Further, their own wages are lower than the (low) average earnings in these occupational categories. This remains an area of concern that needs to be addressed by policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]