|
| Walmart's
Gamble and what it means for India |
| May
29th 2018, C.P. Chandrasekhar |
|
By
taking the majority stake in Flipkart, Walmart has committed
itself to bearing losses in the medium term in a desperate
gamble to thwart Amazon's rise in India. The casualty
will be the small retail business sector, which supports
a large volume of self-employed and low-paid workers. |
|
| The
So-called "Consumers' Interest" |
| May
21st 2018, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
The
argument in the wake of the Walmart-Flipkart deal, that
having large multinationals in the sphere serves consumers'
interest not only ignores the plight of local producers
but is also analytically unsound. "Consumers"
are not an entity distinct from the displaced producers
and will get affected adversely over time. |
|
| The
True Face of the Global Recovery |
| Apr
11th 2018, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
Optimistic assessments of the synchronised recovery
across the world economy ignore the factors driving
the weak upturn that make it fragile. |
|
| Technological
Change and Impoverishment |
| Mar
19th 2018, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
Socio-economic
effects of technological change depend upon the property
relations within the system they occur. While in socialism
higher labour productivity can improve the conditions
of workers, in capitalism, the same has lead to growing
relative labour reserves, and hence impoverishment. |
|
| Indian
IT hits a speedbump |
| Nov
21st 2017, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
A sharp deceleration in growth and restricted employment
expansion in the IT sector, India’s post-liberalisation
showpiece, has implications beyond the industry’s boundaries. |
|
| Strangulating
the Informal Economy |
| Oct
12th 2017, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
The current
slowdown in the economy, aggravated by the persistent
world economic crisis, has much to do with the twin
coercive instruments of demonetisation and GST wielded
by the state to strangulate the informal economy in
a bid to "formalise" it. |
|
| Sanitation
workers in India |
| Sep
9th 2017, Jayati Ghosh |
|
The deeply
entrenched casteist approach to manual scavenging is
part of public policy and explains why the practice
continues unabated and why the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
in effect relies on it. |
|
| China's
Labour Market Conundrum |
| Jul
5th 2017, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
Has
China's labour market reached a point where long years
of high growth have led to demand outstripping supply,
resulting in a sharp rise in wages? |
|
| The
GDP Elephant |
| Jun
6th 2017, Jayati Ghosh |
|
National
income is hard to estimate in India where so much activity
and employment is in the informal sector. Much of GDP
calculation is not purely "technocratic" but
relies on judgments and assumptions. As long as our
system of national accounting does not clarify the real
impact on the economy and the actual degree of deceleration
of economic activity, we will remain in the dark. |
|
| Why
Workers Lose |
| May
30th 2017, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
IMF's push to delink the decline in the share of labour
in national income from the rise of finance, neoliberalism
and globalisation leads to a set of banal prescriptions
on how to deal with a problem that is at the centre
of the crisis of capitalism today. |
|
| Recognising
Different Skills and their Uses |
| Sep
14th 2016, Jayati Ghosh |
|
Definition
of skill with reference of economic activities is more
complex, involving different kinds of skills that are
not always easily recognised, since purely technical
skills seem to get all the attention in the discussion
about skill formation. |
| |
| Care
Work as the Work of the Future |
| Aug
16th 2016, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
As
technological change threatens many different kinds
of jobs, the significance of direct face-to-face interaction
required in much care work means that it is unlikely
to be as adversely affected. What does this mean for
the future requirements of care workers? |
|
| Looking
to the US |
| Jun
9th 2015, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
In
a curious turn of events, the US economy rather than
the Asian emerging markets is now expected to lead a
global recovery. But the reason and implications are
not so clear. |
|
| One
Year of Modi Government: Social sector |
| May
27th 2015, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
Modi government's vast and sweeping cuts in essential
social spending will adversely impact the basic conditions
of living and affect the prospects of the aspirational
youth. |
|
| Will
the Recent Changes in Labour Laws Usher in 'Acche Din'
for the Working Class? |
| Apr
23rd 2015, Anamitra
Roychowdhury |
|
The
recent changes in the labour laws are overwhelmingly
in favour of the employers and detrimental to the cause
of the working class. |
|
| Skills
Mismatch and All that |
| Feb
2nd 2015, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
challenge of good quality employment generation requires
an approach which sees skill development as part of
a broader macroeconomic and development strategy. |
|
| Where's
the "Missing Middle" in Indian Industry? |
| Dec
9th 2014, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
While
the problem of missing middle is taken for granted in
the Indian industry, official data reveal that medium
sized firms actually dominate in both employment and
output.
|
|
| Recent
Changes in Labour Laws: An exploratory note |
| Nov
12th 2014, Anamitra
Roychowdhury |
|
This
article explores the possible implications of amending
the Contract Labour Act, 1970 and questions the rationale
behind amending the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
|
|
| What
Exactly is Work? |
| Oct
31st 2014, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
If
the way of recognising and measuring work in India is
changed according to the new ICLS definition, the picture
of female work participation trend would change remarkably.
|
|
| Are
Women Really Working Less in India? |
| Aug
21st 2014, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
Recent
NSS data indicate significant declines in Female work
force participation rates with a shift from paid work
to unpaid domestic activities for both rural and urban
women.
|
|
| Blaming
the "Other" |
| May
15th 2014, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
BJP's aggressive stance on migrants from Bangladesh
is economically stupid. Strategies that seek to exploit
such divisive attitudes will boomerang on all Indians.
|
|
| Workers
Dying in Qatar |
| Feb
24th 2014, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Recognising
the rights of migrant workers in Qatar is obviously
crucial; but it is equally important to recognise the
rights of workers in India.
|
|
| A
Reality Check on the Labour Market Flexibility Argument
in India |
| Feb
5th 2014, Anamitra
Roychowdhury |
|
It
is wrong to identify labour laws as the major reason
for slow growth in employment, since employment protection
laws apply only to a subset of the total organised sector. |
|
| Is
Social Discrimination in Indian Labour Markets Coming
Down? |
| Feb
4th 2014, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
Indian
labour markets are segmented by gender, caste and other
social categories. But recent evidence of the wage gaps
suggests some improvement, especially in rural areas. |
|
| The
Employment Challenge |
| Jan
22nd 2014, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
In
recent years, even in those developing countries in
Asia where productivity gains have been significant
and growth high, increasing employment has been a huge
challenge. |
|
| The
Rural Employment Guarantee under UPA-2 |
| Jan
7th 2014, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
After
the initial success in enacting the MNREGA, the central
government's enthusiasm for its own programme seems
to have diminished in its second term. |
|
| Where
have All the Women Workers Gone? |
| Nov
14th 2013, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
By
using recent Indian employment data, the authors examine
the evidence on women's work participation in rural
and urban areas and consider some possible explanations.
|
|
| India's
Informal Economy |
| Oct
29th 2013, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
India's
large informal sector's extreme backwardness makes the
quality of growth poor. Existing vague definitions also
do not help in understanding its potential.
|
|
| Do
Wage Shares Have to Fall with Globalisation? |
| Jul
23rd 2013, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
That
inequality has been on the rise during the period of
globalisation is evident from the declining shares of
labour income in GDP in many parts of the world.
|
|
| The
Employment Bottleneck |
| Jul
9th 2013, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
The
results from the NSSO's uncharacteristic survey carried
out in 2011-12 reveal that the retake on employment
in a good agricultural year has also not brought all
good news.
|
|
| What
Census 2011 Reveals about Our Growers and their Land
|
| Jun
5th 2013, Rahul
Goswami |
|
The
change in the number of cultivators and agricultural
labourers provided by Census 2011 should help us recognise
the growing impacts on food security caused by urbanisation.
|
|
| More
Farmers or Fewer? |
| May
13th 2013, Rahul
Goswami |
|
The
consequences of western Maharashtra's urbanisation on
the food security of the 14 districts that have sent
rural workers to that region are yet to be recognised.
|
|
| Economic
Crises and Women’s Work: Exploring progressive strategies
in a rapidly changing environment |
|
| Mar
11th 2013, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Analysis
of women's employment and decent work in the context
of the global economic crisis shows that gender sensitive
policy responses are more likely to be successful. |
|
| Changing
Patterns of Domestic Works |
| Nov
14th 2012, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
Domestic
work is emerging as an important activity for women
workers in several developing countries as well as recently
in urban India.
|
|
| The
Role of the Small Retailer |
| Oct
6th 2012, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
As
evidence suggests, policy of pushing organised retail
will result in substantial loss of employment and livelihood
contrary to the official claim of employment growth.
|
|
| FDI
in Retail: Benefiting neo-liberalism, harming people |
| Sep
26th 2012, Subhanil
Chowdhury |
|
The
decision of the UPA government to open up the retail
sector in the country to FDI is an example of the basic
fallacy in the 'growth fetishism' of the votaries of
neo-liberalism. While the government argues that this
move will generate investor confidence in the Indian
economy and lead the country to high growth, in reality
the problems of the common people - deprivation, poverty
and hunger - far from being ameliorated, will actually
be intensified.
|
|
| India's
Supermarket Move Shows its Tired Government has Run Out
of Ideas |
| Sep
21st 2012, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Opening
up India's retail sector to western supermarkets will
lead to exploitation of small producers and adverse
employment effects. Despite vehement opposition the
government insists on pushing through this reform, a
move that speaks of a tired regime which has run out
of ideas.
|
|
| Emerging
Dynamics of Global Production Networks and Labour Process:
A study from India |
|
| Sep
12th 2012, Praveen Jha and Amit Chakraborty |
|
| With
cheap labour and a strong supply base, India's automobile
sector has emerged successful in integrating itself
into the global production networks. Using case studies
from the National Capital Region, this paper seeks to
study the nature of changes in the organisation of production
and work in the automobile sector - both intra-firm
and inter-firm - and their impact on the changing labour
processes and issues of managerial control, skill or
working conditions. The anatomy of the recent waves
of labour unrest there has been studied to investigate
its relation with changing labour processes, and to
understand the new regime of accumulation from a political
economy perspective in terms of the dynamic interaction
of capital's strategy, technology and the agency of
labour. |
|
| Labour
Market Regulations and Economic Outcomes: Some capital
lessons and minor messages |
| Aug
8th 2012, Praveen Jha, Sakti Golder and Swayamsiddha Panda |
|
| This
paper provides a survey of the empirical evidence on
the relationship between labour market institutions
and economic outcomes. Survey of major cross-country
empirical constructs that examine linkages between labour
regulations and different aspects of economic performance
such as employment, growth, etc., shows that the empirical
basis for the advocacy of blanket labour market flexibility
is rather weak. The paper also highlights some key empirical
findings from the organised manufacturing sector in
India and postulates some capital lessons and minor
messages that emerge from such an exercise. |
|
| Engineering
Teaching and Research in IITs and its Impact on India |
| Jul
5th 2012, Milind
Sohoni |
|
The
dominant paradigm of research and development (R&D),
as it is practised in India's premier engineering institutes,
has not only been abstract and lacking in diversity,
but has also been too 'international' to incentivise
work on our own development problems. Such an inverted
incentive structure in the socio-economically important
engineering job market has been macroeconomically observable
in the faster growth in service sector as compared to
manufacturing. |
|
| The
Queen and her Guards |
| Jun
13th 2012, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
aggrandised celebration that marked the Queen's diamond
jubilee was successful in concealing the grim economic
realities of the British economy. A disquieting employment
situation, discussed in the article, raises concern
that it could just be the tip of the iceberg and that
a sweatshop scenario that was once regarded as typical
of the developing world exists in the UK as well.
|
|
| ILO
Leadership Election Must Not be Another Charade |
| May
21st 2012, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
ILO is uniquely positioned among the multilateral organisations
to play an extremely significant role in forging a global
consensus around viable alternative economic trajectories.
The election of a developing country candidate as its
new Director-General would have important consequences
that go beyond symbolism.
|
|
| The
Roaring 2000s |
| May
11th 2012, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
coincidence of the profit and the output booms during
the two post-liberalisation booms in India's organised
manufacturing sector since the early 1990s suggests
that in periods of rising demand, the organised manufacturing
sector in India has been a major beneficiary of reform
through a rise in mark up. The complaints of the leaders
of this sector are therefore not to be taken too seriously.
|
|
| Multinational
Retail Firms in India |
| Dec
12th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
actual impact of large corporate retail, and especially
multinational retail chains, in developing countries
clearly shows that many of the claims made by proponents
of such corporate retailing - in terms of employment
generation or benefits to producers and consumers -
are suspect or sometimes completely false.
|
|
| Retrogression
in Retail |
| Dec
1st 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
Permitting
FDI in retail trade, wherein a few oligopolistic buyers
will come to dominate retail trade, will lead to adverse
employment effects and an erosion of the real incomes
of small crop producers.
|
|
| Employment
Generation as an Economic Strategy for Uncertain Times |
| Nov
14th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
This
is the acceptance speech made by the author at the award
function of the ILO Decent Work Research Prize, 2010.
Discussing the growing pressures in the current global
scenario, she argues for a shift in macroeconomic strategy
towards domestic wage- and employment-led growth as
a means to sustainable growth, as well as an end in
itself.
|
|
| The
G20 and Employment Outlook |
| Oct
12th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
A
recent ILO document on employment and labour market
outlook in G20 countries points towards an economic
crisis of major magnitude in most of them. According
to the report, the two key challenges for global policy
makers at present are to ensure better utilisation of
labour resources and better quality jobs.
|
|
| The
Challenge of Ensuring Full Employment in the Twenty-first
Century |
| Oct
12th 2011, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
recent economic growth process in India and other parts
of the developing world exhibits the inability of even
high rates of output growth to generate sufficient opportunities
for 'decent work' to meet the needs of the growing labour
force. Therefore, there is a clear case for a shift
towards wage-led and domestic demand-led growth, particularly
in the economies that are large enough to sustain this
shift. |
|
| Employment
Shifts after the Global Crisis |
| Oct
4th 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
The
stagnation of employment in developed countries and
apparent recovery in developing countries after the
Great Recession of 2008-09 have renewed perceptions
of a global shift in employment to the developing world,
particularly in manufacturing activities. This article
uses the most recent available ILO data to examine the
extent to which such a shift is actually occurring. |
|
| Approaching
the 12th Plan |
| Sep
26th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Considering
India’s slow growth of employment in the recent period
because of our demographic bulge and increasing numbers
of educated youth in search of productive employment,
the need of the hour is to redesign our growth strategy
and use social policy and social expenditure to generate
more employment as employment creation is the most important
mechanism for achieving inclusive economic growth.
|
|
| Higher
Education: Dealing with higher expectations |
| Sep
7th 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
There
has been a significant increase in enrolment in higher
education in developing countries (especially Asia)
in the past decade. However, this positive change also
brings forth certain challenges, the most obvious of
which is the challenge of generating enough employment
to meet expectations of growing numbers of new graduates. |
|
| The
Urbanisation Challenge |
| Aug
10th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Addressing
the problems posed by growing ''urbanisation'' is one
of the major challenges for India at present. The country
faces a potentially deadly combination of growing population
in small urban areas with poor or possibly non-existent
facilities and inadequate good quality employment generation.
|
|
| Women's
Work in India: Has anything changed? |
| Aug
9th 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
One
of the striking features of the latest National Sample
Survey round results is the apparent decline in female
employment in 2009-10 compared to 2004-05. The other
depressing feature that emerges from the survey is that
economic growth has still not generated a process of
employment diversification for women. |
|
| Deciphering
Employment Trends |
| Jul
26th 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
One
distinctive feature of the labour market in India is
the fact that casual work in the construction sector
has been the main source of employment during a period
when India transited to its much-celebrated high-growth
trajectory. |
|
| The
Latest Employment Trends from the NSSO |
| Jul
14th 2011, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
The
results of the latest NSSO large survey on employment
and unemployment provide crucial evidence on the pattern
of inadequate job creation in this phase of high economic
growth. |
|
| Is
the MNREGS Affecting Rural Wages? |
| Feb
4th 2011, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Despite
numerous problems with the implementation of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the
Scheme has borne some positive results. Ironically,
the moderate success of the Scheme in improving the
conditions and bargaining power of rural labour, including
that of women workers, has now become another source
of its criticism. |
|
| Public
Works and Wages in Rural India |
| Jan
11th 2011, C.
P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
Data
from the 64th Round of the National Sample Survey, which
was specifically concerned with migration and employment
conditions, allow for an examination of trends in real
wages and the impact of the MNREGS on wages and unemployment.
In this article, the authors consider the evidence of
these effects on the work conditions of rural casual
labour, especially women workers. |
|
| Migrating
for Work |
| Dec
28th 2010, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
The
NSSO 64th Round Survey, which was conducted in 2007-08,
was concerned specifically with migration. This article
examines the broad trends indicated by that survey.
It is seen that there are some important changes in
the pattern of movement for work, especially with the
significant decline in rural male migration rates. |
|
| Employment
under the New Growth Trajectory |
| Dec
22nd 2010, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
A
comparison of the results of the 55th, 61st and 64th
Rounds of the NSS permits an assessment of the trends
in employment in India during the years when India transited
to an era of high growth. It suggests that some of the
optimism generated by the results for 2004-05 may not
be warranted. |
|
| The
Crisis and Employment in Asia |
| Feb
15th 2010, C.P.
Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Despite
scepticism about its sustainability, evidence shows
that the crisis of 2008-09 has bottomed out and a recovery
is likely, driven by the fiscal stimulus offered by
governments across the world. But figures from the ILO
indicate that the impact of the stimulus on employment
appears uneven, with export dependent economies in Asia
too adversely affected. |
|
| The
Plight of Construction Workers |
| Aug
5th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Lakhs
of construction workers in Delhi face inadequate safety
provisions, poor working arrangements and dire living
conditions. But, even as the money collected as cess
for meeting the social security needs of these workers
lies unutilised, an outlandish proposal has been made
to use a part of this money in a way that will effectively
subsidise contractors and builders. |
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