Enhancing capabilities through labour law : informal workers in India / Supriya Routh.
2014
KNS1220 .R68 2014 (Map It)
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Details
Author
Title
Enhancing capabilities through labour law : informal workers in India / Supriya Routh.
Published
Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2014.
Call Number
KNS1220 .R68 2014
Former Call Number
Ind 660 R765 2014
ISBN
9780415726054 (hardback)
0415726050 (hardback)
9781315849706 (ebk.)
1315849704 (ebk.)
0415726050 (hardback)
9781315849706 (ebk.)
1315849704 (ebk.)
Description
xviii, 283 pages ; 24 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)852218711
Summary
"In 2002 the International Labour Organization issued a report titled Decent work and the informal economy in which it outlined the need to integrate the Decent Work Agenda, which is comprised of the pillars of decent employment and income, rights at work, effective social protection, and social dialogue, in informal economic activities. Such a call by the ILO is urgent in the context of countries such as India, where approximately 92 per cent of the workers are engaged in informal economic activities, and where expansion of informal economic activities is coupled with deteriorating working conditions and living standards of informal workersThis book considers whether a human development-inspired legislative framework might be able to promote overall development of a specific category of informal workers in India. Drawing upon Amartya Sens capability approach to human development it proposes a framework of labour law based on the capability approach, which could address the concerns of informal workers. The viability of the proposed labour law framework in the context of the specific informal economic activity of waste-picking in India is examined. While examining the viability of a human development based labour law in an Indian context, the also suggests how some of the proposals put forth in the book could also be relevant for informal workers in other developing countries"-- Provided by publisher.
"In 2002 the International Labour Organization issued a report titled Decent work and the informal economy in which it stressed the need to ensure appropriate employment and income, rights at work, and effective social protection in informal economic activities. Such a call by the ILO is urgent in the context of countries such as India, where many workers are engaged in informal economic activities, and where expansion of informal economic activities is coupled with deteriorating working conditions and living standards. This book explores the informal economic activity of India as a case study to examine typical requirements in the work-lives of informal workers, and to develop a means to institutionalise the promotion of these requirements through labour law. Drawing upon Amartya Sens theoretical outlook, the book considers whether a capability approach to human development may be able to promote the recognition of a specific category of informal workers in India, integrating specific informal workers within a range of other social partners including state and non-state institutions. While examining the viability of a human development based labour law in an Indian context, the book also suggests how the proposals put forth in the book may be relevant for informal workers in other developing countries. This research monograph will be of great interest to scholars of labour law, informal work and workers, law and development, social justice, and labour studies"-- Provided by publisher.
"In 2002 the International Labour Organization issued a report titled Decent work and the informal economy in which it stressed the need to ensure appropriate employment and income, rights at work, and effective social protection in informal economic activities. Such a call by the ILO is urgent in the context of countries such as India, where many workers are engaged in informal economic activities, and where expansion of informal economic activities is coupled with deteriorating working conditions and living standards. This book explores the informal economic activity of India as a case study to examine typical requirements in the work-lives of informal workers, and to develop a means to institutionalise the promotion of these requirements through labour law. Drawing upon Amartya Sens theoretical outlook, the book considers whether a capability approach to human development may be able to promote the recognition of a specific category of informal workers in India, integrating specific informal workers within a range of other social partners including state and non-state institutions. While examining the viability of a human development based labour law in an Indian context, the book also suggests how the proposals put forth in the book may be relevant for informal workers in other developing countries. This research monograph will be of great interest to scholars of labour law, informal work and workers, law and development, social justice, and labour studies"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-274) and index.
Record Appears in
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
xi
List of abbreviations
xiii
International conventions, recommendations and declarations
xv
Legislation
xvi
List of cases
xvii
Introduction
1
1.1.
Informal economic activities, human development and decent work, and law
5
1.1.1.
Informal workers, law and policy in India
7
1.1.2.
The capability approach
9
1.1.3.
The decent work (DW) agenda and social dialogue
11
1.2.
Aims and methods
13
1.3.
Chapter outline
16
1.
Informality in India: a workers' perspective
18
1.1.
Introduction
18
1.2.
Conceptualising informality
20
1.2.1.
Dualism and the formal/informal divide
22
1.2.2.
Structuralism and the formal/informal linkages
25
1.2.3.
Informal economic activities and the convergence of the theoretical premises
29
1.2.4.
Informal employment and the ILO
30
1.2.5.
A conceptual resolution
33
1.3.
India and informal work
34
1.3.1.
Background of informal economic activities in India
34
1.3.2.
Definition and concepts relating to informality
36
1.3.3.
Informality in India
40
1.4.
Conclusion
44
2.
Constitutional rights and informal workers' struggle
46
2.1.
Introduction
46
2.2.
Constitutional protection for labour
48
2.3.
Coverage of informal economic activities (informal workers) under labour law in India
59
2.4.
Unionisation/organisation as a strategy for the realisation of constitutional labour guarantees for informal workers
69
2.4.1.
Waste picker activism in India
80
2.5.
A dignified life for informal workers through human development
84
2.6.
Conclusion
87
3.
Freedom as human development
88
3.1.
Introduction
88
3.2.
Sen's idea of human development
89
3.3.
Human development in terms of freedom
91
3.4.
The concept of freedom
94
3.4.1.
Wellbeing and agency
96
3.4.2.
Positive freedom and negative freedom
97
3.4.3.
Human rights and the concept of `freedom'
100
3.5.
Role of institutions
102
3.5.1.
Role of democracy in development as freedom
106
3.6.
Sen and Nussbaum
107
3.7.
Conclusion
110
4.
Social dialogue in promoting decent work
112
4.1.
Introduction
112
4.2.
The ILO: what it is and how it works
114
4.3.
Genesis of the decent work agenda
116
4.3.1.
The decent work agenda
122
4.3.2.
ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization and Decent Work 2008
127
4.4.
Social dialogue pillar and integrated institutions
129
4.4.1.
Integrated institutions in furthering social dialogue
131
4.4.2.
Social dialogue for unorganised informal workers
134
4.5.
Choice of framework for the analysis of work-lives of waste pickers in Kolkata: Decent Work Agenda or the capability approach framework
136
4.6.
Conclusion
144
5.
A capability approach to labour law
146
5.1.
Introduction
146
5.2.
Labour law and informal economic activities
148
5.3.
Capability approach in conceptualising labour law
153
5.4.
Capability approach and informal economic activities
159
5.5.
Claim to a new normative goal of labour law
165
5.6.
What is the basis of the normative claim (to enhancement and equality of capability)?
169
5.7.
Integrated institutions and labour law
174
5.8.
Conclusion
180
6.
Capability deprivations of waste pickers in India
181
6.1.
Introduction
181
6.2.
A profile of the city of Kolkata
182
6.3.
Left-wing politics and urban informal workers in Kolkata
185
6.3.1.
The Left Front and agricultural and rural development
187
6.3.2.
The Left Front and industrial and urban development
189
6.4.
An appraisal of institutional protection mechanisms for informal workers in West Bengal
190
6.5.
Methodology employed in the case study of the informal activity of waste picking in Kolkata, India
195
6.5.1.
Sampling and recruiting
196
6.5.2.
Data collection
197
6.5.3.
Data analysis and use
199
6.6.
A profile of informal workers in the state of West Bengal with specific reference to waste pickers
200
6.6.1.
Functionings and capabilities of waste pickers in Kolkata, India
201
6.7.
Conclusion
220
7.
Proposal for a labour law framework
221
7.1.
Introduction
221
7.2.
Role of unionisation in social dialogue
222
7.2.1.
Empowering informal workers
224
7.2.2.
Negotiating with government
226
7.2.3.
Providing social and economic benefits
228
7.3.
Waste pickers organise in Kolkata
231
7.4.
Role of integrated institutions in the social dialogue process
235
7.5.
In what ways can integrated institutions facilitate integration of waste pickers into the social dialogue process?
237
7.6.
The idea of democratic equality in the concrete context of labour law for informal workers
245
7.7.
Conclusion
247
Conclusion
249
Bibliography
254
Index
275