State Capital Nexus: Implications for Labour - Alpa Shah
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ISSN 2278-3423
Broadsheet on
Tenth Anniversary Edition
Contemporary
Politics
State Capital Nexus:
Implications for Labour
No. 15 Bilingual (English and Telugu) March 2021 Donation : Rs. 25/-
CONTENTS
Editorial: Re-visiting the Labour Question Padmini Swaminathan and
Uma Rani
ROLE OF THE INDIAN STATE
Labour and Perspectives on the Indian State Achin Chakraborty
Whither Rural India? Rajeswari S Raina and Keshab Das
Conjugated Oppression: Race, Caste, Tribe, Gender and Class
Jens Lerche and Alpa Shah
Migration and Informalisation Sumangala Damodaran
GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS: IMPACT ON LABOUR
The Labour Question - Global Value Chains M Vijaybaskar
Worker Control and Capital Accumulation in Global Supply Chains
Mark Anner
Organization of Work in E-supply Chains
Madhuri Saripalle and Vijaya Chebolu-Subramanian
Digital Innovations - Digital Piecework Uma Rani
SOCIAL REPRODUCTION AND CAPITAL ACCUMULATION: CARE WORKERS
Declining Female Labour and Crisis of Social Reproduction
Satyaki Roy
Care Work and Strategies of Accumulation Praveena Kodoth
The Birthing Precariat: Altruism in the Service of Capital
Anindita Majumdar
SOCIAL REPRODUCTION AND CAPITAL ACCUMULATION: HEALTH WORKERS
Labour Dynamics and Heterogeneity: Health Workforce in India
Ramila Bisht and Shaveta Menon
Workers in Indian Factory. (iStock Photo: track5)
ASHA- the bearer of hopes S Ramanathan and Vasudha Chakravarthy
ASHAs: ‘Volunteerism’ Subsidizes the Indian State Vrinda Marwah
WORKERS’ STRUGGLE FOR THEIR RIGHTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Organized Informality: The Politics of Recruitment in Durgapur Sreemoyee Ghosh
Losing Strength? Trade Unions and Neo-liberalism Deepita Chakravarty
Informal Workers’ Struggles in Tamil Nadu K Kalpana
Guest Editors: Padmini Swaminathan, Uma Rani
Resident Editors: A Suneetha, MA Moid, and R Srivatsan
Published by: Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, H.No. 1-2-16/11, Block-B, Street No.1,Habsiguda,Hyderabad–500 007
Editorial
The Indian State, Capital Accumulation and
Labour
What is it about the nature of capitalist
development in India that has not enabled a
structural transformation of the economy and
concomitantly of labour? Despite economic
growth since 2000, formal employment
generation has faltered, and numbers of those
Revisiting the Labour
informally employed, whether in the formal
or informal sector, have risen dramatically,
contributing to rising inequality levels.
Question: Challenges
Anthony D’Costa (2016) has characterized the
Indian economy as one of ‘compressed
capitalism’ where the process of primitive
for Labour
accumulation is still ongoing even as the
country seeks to address global competition
through import of labour-saving technology
and enclave-based production. Papers under
this theme explore the manner in which the
Indian State’s agenda of economic/industrial
‘development’ produces varieties of labour
regimes through which labour gets
incorporated into capitalist production. Such
Introduction labour lacks a clear location in the capitalist
exploration, apart from highlighting the
production process. And therefore, it is
In 2014, Amrita Chhachhi led a Forum Debate heterogeneity of labour, throws light on the
argued, that the resolution to the labour
in the journal, Development and Change, forms of structural linkage between capital
question in the contemporary period lies
where she revisited Marx’s formulation of the and labour. Some of the crucial questions
largely in state-based provision of piece-meal
labour question and in the process sketched raised include: how far is the Indian State
social assistance even as the state is fully
the contemporary relevance of the two complicit in marginalizing and
complicit in furthering the interests of capital.
important propositions that Marx espoused, disempowering labour? Is the persistence of
namely: one, the role of labour in production, Embedded within and between the two informality due to lack of successful capitalist
regimes of accumulation and social opposing positions and approaches to the development or rather an outcome of it? Have
reproduction; and two, its emancipatory labour question sketched above by Chhachhi the welfare measures put in place by the State
potential as a counter capitalist force (ibid: are several issues and themes that have to address some of these issues muted
899). In the same piece, Chhachhi also alluded formed the basis for revisiting the labour collective action while subsidizing capitalist
to the Polanyi-inspired discussions that question in the present volume, production?
emphasized and thereby questioned the methodologically and/or conceptually, from a
Achin Chakraborty in his paper alludes to
emancipatory role of labour given the region-gender-caste-class transformative lens.
“the shifting role of the Indian state from
transformations in the nature of work. In The papers in this volume have been
promoting ‘responsible trade unionism’,
addition, the fragmentation and flexibilisation organised under four heads: the Indian State,
(meaning, ‘subordination of immediate wage
of production systems have not only capital accumulation and labour; global value
gains and similar considerations to the
undermined the basis for workplace chains and labour; social reproduction and its
development of the country’) to curtailing
bargaining but have also contributed to a kind links with capital accumulation focusing on
workers’ rights and privileges on the one
of competition characterized by relocation of care workers and health workers; and finally,
hand and extending welfarist entitlements to
work to low wage sites and a ‘race to the worker’s struggle for their rights in the
its citizens on the other. The capitalistic states
bottom’ with regard to both wages and development process. This introduction
of 18th century were not burdened with
working conditions. The Polanyian literature highlights the nature and range of issues
providing welfare benefits for its surplus
in particular argues that the erstwhile model covered by the authors, while flagging
labour. The post-colonial states have not been
of industrial citizenship where social rights questions that organically emanate from these
able to structurally absorb the surplus labour
were attached to specific labour statuses is no papers that could form the subject matter of
into productive processes, and due to lack of
longer possible since much of contemporary further research.
welfare benefits from the state, they have
Advisory board: K.Lalita, Susie Tharu, Veena Shatrugna, Rama Melkote, Aisha Farooqui, Sheela Prasad, Uma Bhrugubanda, Asma Rasheed, Gogu Shyamala,
Madhumeeta Sinha, Kaneez Fathima, K.Sajaya.
Production: Ashala Srinivas, T.Sreelakshmi.
The contents of this broadsheet reflect the data, perspectives and opinions of the individual contributors and guest editors. They do not necessarily represent the
unanimous views of Anveshi as an organization or those of its members individually. Nor do they represent a consensus among the editors.
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-2
joined the informal sector as workers or self- policies meant for the small-scale industry particular manner in which the manufacturing
employed. sector are completely out of sync with ground of production for the global market is
realities. organised and the specific way in which
Considering that the informal economy is
international retailing operates, ensures very
home to 92 percent of the workforce in India, In sum, in contrast to much contemporary work
often that buying countries and consumers,
Raina and Das question the characterisation of on labour that is focused more on capturing
who otherwise cry hoarse about the need to be
this sector ‘as a problem to be resolved’ and of ‘labour status – regular, temporary, self-
ethical, somehow absolve themselves of any
its labour as ‘marginal’. Their paper deals employed, daily wage, casual, bonded, unfree,
responsibility for the damage that their
extensively with the fallout of such a etc’; these papers make explicit the nature of
demand for quality but cheap products cause
characterisation that has resulted in the state linkage of labour with the capitalist system of
to the environment and/or health of workers
not only viewing informal labour as unskilled production. The explicit articulation of this
in the producing countries.
but the informal economy as bereft of linkage enables comprehension of how far we
knowledge capable of sustaining itself, have drifted from our erstwhile agenda of Mark Anner’s paper extends the above
howsoever meagre. According to these moving towards labour emancipation through argument even more starkly. Anner, who has
authors, “[T]he painful questions about the formal legislation and collective action. conducted extensive field work in Bangladesh
nature of the developmental state and its and India, among other garment exporting
Global Value Chains and Labour
interventions that perpetuate marginalisation countries, demonstrates how financial capital
of informal work, making invisible the The papers on global value chains, carry pressurises brands to squeeze suppliers, who
dynamic relationships between labour, capital forward the above discussion of the in turn squeeze workers resulting in a
and knowledge, have to be addressed continuing and widening disjuncture between situation where “this ‘squeezing down’
politically”. capital, and the terms and conditions facilitates a ‘sucking up’ of value from the
characterizing labour deployment, most vulnerable workers at the very bottom of
Lerche and Shah’s paper deconstructs and emphasizing also the fact of the unequal and global supply chains”. In short, according to
deepens our understanding of the ‘marginal’, iniquitous relationship between global and Anner, “the bottom of supply chains
by demonstrating how “capitalism has local capital. The proliferating literature on subsidizes the top”. Of particular interest to us
expanded through social divisions”, globally Global Commodity/Value Chains and Global is the following observation by Anner: “in the
through race, and, in India through caste, tribe Production Networks has extensively case of India, 61% of suppliers said that
and gender difference. Deploying the term documented how buyers (largely located in pressure from buyers was so intense that they
‘conjugated oppression’ to explicate the the global North) exhort suppliers (largely were forced to accept orders below costs”. The
manner in which oppression is experienced, located in the global South) to adopt ‘right latter translated into payment of below living
Shah and Lerche demonstrate how migrant policies’ to participate and ‘move up’ the wages to workers (mostly females), forced but
labour, Adivasi and Dalit in particular, is used chain. This exhortation to economic unpaid overtime, apart from verbal abuse of
by capital to cheapen production by upgradation through value-addition is workers for not keeping to time in execution
undercutting local labour power, thwarting perceived to generate a win-win situation for of orders.
any possibility of labour coming together to both labour and capital. But as the papers
Equally important questions addressed by the
struggle for its rights. Worse, their migrant under this theme have demonstrated, the
above two papers on the garment industry
status denies them access to most welfare policy discussion around the GVCs obscures
include: how do the forms of incorporation
benefits that may be operational where they the class relations that underpin the processes,
into value chains undercut the transformative
work. Noting that divisions among workers namely, the relations between firms within an potential of labour, and also subsidise the
have had a long history, the authors conclude, industrial cluster, between clusters, between main production unit? This, especially since
“it is still rare to see labour organisations buyers and sellers – and the developmental in most nodes of the chain they (the labour)
tackling head-on such divisions to ensure impacts of these relations. are situated at the lower end of the production
proper representation of the most exploited
Vijaybaskar’s paper on the labour question in process, which are made invisible and kept
groups within their decision-making
global garment value chains frontally out of the purview of labour legislation?
structures”.
addresses the question of why economic While much of garment labour in supplier
Damodaran takes forward the theme of upgradation is not a sufficient condition for countries is constituted largely of poorly
migration and migrant lives by demonstrating enhancing labour welfare. He argues that “the endowed workers, new forms of work such as
the continuing and significant linkage extent of collective bargaining and the nature the gig economy, as pointed out by Uma Rani
between the village and the city in the case of of regional/national institutions that govern in her paper, usually consists of highly
rural-urban migration. Her exploration of the labour rights and entitlements” to a educated and technically skilled labour, and
lives of industrial workers in the informal considerable extent shape the way “such gains resemble that of home-based piece rate work.
economy of Delhi combined with her in value-addition get redistributed to the What is common between the two categories
observations about the industrial units that laboring classes.” Vijaybaskar also flags the of labour, however, is their invisibilization,
provide these workers with employment, issue of how the operation of the global while the gig economy workers are
howsoever precarious, at its very core garment value chain consequent to changes at algorithmically managed, evaluated and paid
questions the Indian state’s refusal to the global level not only segments labour at on a piece rate basis. For gig workers, this
recognise the tremendous role that such units the local level, but also profoundly and invisibilization of their everyday labour, goes
play in the economy and in the lives of adversely impacts the local labour market, as hand-in-hand with valorisation of their ‘hard
migrant workers. The state’s indifference is, labour of one sector gets pitted against labour work’ as an entrepreneurial class, exhortation
discernible in the manner in which industrial of another sector. In other words, the to ‘enjoy the flexibility and freedom to work’,
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-3
often exemplified in trendy workplace range and depth of the unpaid labour That is, critical activities of the economy are
cultures, such as cafés, co-working spaces or phenomenon. However, the question remains: assigned, with significant budget
within their homes. This further shifts the are we any closer towards any resolution? The appropriations, to specialized ministries or
discourse around labour by centring it around disjuncture between labour economists and departments for support and development.
individualism and denigrating the culture of feminist economists is nowhere starker than (ibid., p. 1007). Further, Chen attributed a
collective struggle by proclaiming, ‘if you on the question of unpaid work, and, on the number of positives to the adoption of the
work you will succeed’. In such a context, how link of the latter to capitalist development. sectoral approach. She argued that by working
do we address structural issues that get And yet, even as resolution to the problem of with women in the critical sectors of the
masked when such exhortations take place? unpaid/underpaid care work remains elusive, economy, the approach serves not only to link
a perusal of the papers under this theme will women to sector-specific government
Moving away from buyer-driven global
provide readers nuanced details of how programs but also, by so doing, to make their
garment chains and the gig economy to the
Capital gets continuously serviced and work in these sectors ‘visible’ to national
producer-driven automotive global chain,
subsidised by unpaid/underpaid care work, policy makers. By conceptualizing women as
Saripalle and Subramaniam, discuss the
whether within the household or outside, and an economic category (workers) rather than as
implications for labour consequent to the
whether in the global or local labour market. social categories (mothers, wives, widows) the
tectonic shift “from traditional combustion-
approach presents the case for women as
engine based automobiles to electric vehicles Satyaki Roy demonstrates how “the fall in
economic agents and legitimate clients for the
and shared mobility solutions”. The authors female Labour Force Participation Rate is
mainstream programs and policies of
sketch in detail the nature of structural change structural and manifests a crisis arising out of
government… And, perhaps most
that the automotive industry is already the conflict between regime of accumulation
importantly, by organizing women around
witnessing due to this shift with its and that of social reproduction”. According to
common structural problems, the approach
concomitant impact on traditional suppliers him, “[T]he distribution of waged and
promotes empowerment as well as narrow
down the line. As the authors say in so many unwaged work at the level of household is not
economic goals (ibid., p. 1015).
words, the possibility of these suppliers merely an optimisation problem with given
becoming redundant is real unless they are options of income and constraints at the We have reproduced Chen’s arguments to
enabled through policy support to make the individual level. It is a result of a larger demonstrate how, after almost three decades,
necessary transition. As for labour, Saripalle process manifesting a crisis of social women have indeed been inducted into
and Subramaniam, term it a ‘generational shift reproduction that the current neoliberal several important development sectors of the
in employment’ where clear and specific regime of capital accumulation inflicts economy (such as healthcare and education).
policies are required if India and Indian through diminishing employment They and their work are not just ‘visible’ but
labour is not to be left behind. opportunities on the one hand and privatising constitute the backbone of some of these
social and community provisions on the sectors. Nevertheless, while this visibility may
Social Reproduction and its links with capital
other”. Kodoth’s study of migrant domestic have improved their condition (material state),
accumulation: Care Workers and Health
workers captures how “India’s migration it has not necessarily contributed to improving
Workers
policy is complicit in accumulation strategies their position in society (in terms of
Feminists have contributed of overseas employers, the recruitment recognition as full workers, access to power
(disproportionately) more to our industry and other business interests and/or induction in large numbers in decision
understanding of social reproduction through straddling India and the Middle East” apart making bodies, such as the parliament or
their explorations of paid/unpaid work, and from documenting how “migration of workers judiciary).
how unpaid work (whether at home, in the who were also care providers in their families
The papers under the theme on healthcare
farm or in own-account units) subsidizes the disrupts care arrangements in the global
workers bring out the many different ways in
household and the economy. Chhachhi in her south”. Majumdar’s paper on surrogacy,
which the constitution and functioning of the
piece mentioned above raises an interesting situated in the context of the recent legislation
healthcare sector in India has changed with
question in the context of unpaid care work banning commercial surrogacy but valorising
deleterious consequences for the delivery of
which is worth exploring in the context of altruism, brings an altogether different
healthcare services even as the state and the
unpaid work in general. She asks: “Does [this] dimension to the discussion on care work,
private players benefit immensely from the
conceptualization of the care economy provide namely, how the labour of (surrogate) women
growth of the healthcare industry. Bisht and
us with a fuller understanding of social is devalued even as the industry, of which the
Menon trace the trajectory of the “opening up
reproduction than the 1980s wages for surrogates are an integral part, flourishes.
of public health care to private investment and
housework debate?” (ibid: 911). To put it
In 1989, Marty Chen spoke of the strategic intervention”, which is accompanied by
differently and in the context of unpaid work
significance of promoting women’s work and casualisation of paramedical workers, hiring
in general: disproportionate engagement with
earnings through a sectoral approach. Chen’s of doctors from the private sector on contract
unpaid work by one gender has thwarted
rationale for advocating a sectoral approach and introduction of public private
considerably the ‘upward’ mobility of this
stemmed from her observation that in many partnerships for health programmes and
gender in terms of not just income but also in
developing countries, a distinction is made institutions. This is despite a secular reduction
terms of access to higher education, leisure,
between mainstream development programs in financial support to the public health sector.
work outside the home etc.
(directed at generating growth) and anti- Further, their paper documents the fact that “a
Since the 1980s debate, more sophisticated poverty programs (directed at protecting the vast array of casual, contract, temporary, part
means and measures have emerged, which poor). The mainstream development programs time healthcare workers, fill the lowermost
have enhanced our understanding of the are typically developed along sectoral lines. ranks of the health services”, which are
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-4disproportionately constituted by women. the day on terms and conditions decided by resulted in most workers (and
Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) the party. “The nexus between the party in disproportionately, females) not being
constitute an important segment of these power, the entrepreneurs and the local level recognized as ‘workers’ and therefore
women healthcare workers at the grassroots state sustains an organized structural becoming ‘legitimately’ ineligible for labour
level. Ramanathan and Chakravarthy’s paper arrangement, wherein the desperation to get rights. At another level, increasingly, capital
“explores the status of ASHA in the health jobs pushes both migrants and the locals to (venture and finance), is being reorganised
system, and its impact on her, more so, during abide by any terms and conditions specified and shifting geographically and sectorally at a
Covid-19. It also explores the question of by this network… Ultimately, what actually rapid pace and away from factories.
whether her engagement has fragmented the matters is the accumulation of ‘capital’, Consequently, in such a context, work is
health and nutrition services delivery, thus, political and economic, by riding piggyback becoming largely virtual or invisible on
limiting the workplace bargaining by other on informally employed labour”. platforms where workers work for multiple
women frontline workers”. Marwah’s global actors situated in various ‘states’. What
The title of Deepita Chakravarty’s paper
ethnographic account interrogates the however remains common to labour at both
“Losing strength and/ or relevance? Trade
phenomenon of ‘volunteerism’ that unions and Neoliberalism”, and particularly the levels are the following questions that
characterises the work of ASHAs, a the context in which it is situated, namely need urgent resolution: who is the employer?
volunteerism which is responsible for their West Bengal, says it all, as it traces the What are the terms and conditions of such
liminal status in the healthcare sector. trajectory of the decline of trade unions and employment? What political space do these
“ASHAs’ liminality of status is justified using trade unionism during the rule of the CPM, workers inhabit to enable them to
a gendered discourse of service. ASHAs are which decline has continued into the present individually, or, collectively seek redressal, if
often told in meetings that they are the under the Trinamool Congress regime. What any, for their work-related grievances?
“backbone” of the health department. Not is of significance to this theme is not just the Padmini Swaminathan
only does this claim not bear out in the loss that labour has suffered due to the
Uma Rani
practices of the health department, but the manner in which unions have colluded with
‘volunteerism’ of the ASHAs makes it difficult the party in power to consolidate their control Padmini Swaminathan has been Director of
for them to claim their rights as workers”. over labour, but also the enormous damage the Madras Institute of Development Studies,
Taken together, these three papers represent a that the state has suffered in attracting Chennai, Professor at Tata Institute of Social
‘smart economics’ move on the part of the productive industrial investment. Sciences and Visiting Professor at Centre for
Indian state – a move that makes women work Social Development.
In contrast, K. Kalpana’s paper “explores how
for development rather than development emails:pads8484@gmail.com
economically disenfranchised sections of
empowering women through creation of workers have fared with respect to defending Uma Rani is Senior Economist at the Research
formal employment. their rights and entitlements”. Situated in Department in the International Labour.
Workers’ struggle for their rights in the Tamil Nadu, the paper discusses two different Organization, Geneva. amara@ilo.org
development process occupational groups bound together by their
References
reliance on subcontracted production aimed at
The particular manner in which capitalist cutting costs and absolving themselves of any Chen, M. 1989. A Sectoral Approach to
development gets organized in an economy responsibility towards their workforce. While Promoting Women’s Work: Lessons from
has been primarily seen as responsible for its the paper demonstrates how collective action India, World Development, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp.
impact on the way labour is recruited and gets can enable workers to wrest some concessions, 1007-1016
its status – permanent, regular, temporary, it also emphasizes the difficult road ahead for
Chhachhi, Amrita. 2014. Introduction: The
casual, daily-waged, etc. Labour status has the informal proletariat “when the state has
‘Labour Question’ in Contemporary
been seen not only to contribute hugely to clearly allied with capital and refuses to
Capitalism, Development and Change 45(5):
subsidising capital and the economy but also disturb or challenge production relations that
895–919.
to impact critically on how much associational incorporate labour on distinctly unfavourable
power labour can muster to demand its terms” D’Costa, A. P. 2016. Compressed Capitalism,
legitimate rights as workers under given law Globalisation and the Fate of Indian
Taken together, these papers demonstrate the
of the land. Sreemoyee Ghosh’s paper under Development, in, S. Venkateswar and S.
structural violence that capitalistic
this theme calls our attention to an important Bandyopadhyay (eds.), Globalisation and the
development continues to inflict on labour. At
dimension of labour recruitment, through Challenges of Development in Contemporary
one level, the ‘organization of informality’ by
what she terms as ‘political workers’, namely, India, Dynamics of Asian Development,
the capitalist system in collusion with the
those workers recruited by the ruling party of Chapter 2, Springer Publications, Singapore.
state, trade unions and political parties has
Acknowledgments
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Srivats and Suneetha from Anveshi for inviting us to edit the Broadsheet volume, and for giving
us a free hand in deciding on whom we chose to invite as authors. We thank our authors who without much hesitation committed to contribute to
the volume; their papers have brought in rich new insights in our understanding of the labour processes at the local and global level. We would
also like to thank Srivats and Suneetha for carefully going through and editing the papers, meticulously and professionally. It has been a delight
for us to work with both of them and Anveshi during the entire process of this publication.
Padmini Swaminathan, Uma Rani
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-5Labour and Perspectives
major political parties. Also, the organized
workers have apparently enjoyed a set of
democratic rights through a series of
on the Indian State
legislations enacted in the immediate post-
colonial era, which was not so common in
many other countries. However, it is unclear
to what extent the working class interests have
been represented in the electoral political
process in India. Besides, the signs of
weakness of organised labour are starkly
Achin Chakraborty visible in India for quite some time now. What
appears rather striking is that the Indian case
points to the possibility in which the welfarist
orientation of the state (although in a limited
way) can coexist with an emaciated organised
working class.
promoting ‘responsible trade unionism’ to
M
ost policy discourse on labour in Interestingly, an argument somewhat similar
India centres on the issue of the curtailing workers’ rights and privileges, on
to the one that connected social democracy to
alleged ‘rigidity’ of the labour the one hand; and b) extending welfarist
the strength of the working classes was heard
market1. In an earlier article (Chakraborty, entitlements to its citizens, on the other. Few
when a coalition of leftist parties came to
2015), I advanced the ‘futility thesis’ to attempts have so far been made to draw a ‘big
power in West Bengal in 1977, even though
picture’ by combining the declining
establish that, given the realities of the Indian the leading party in the coalition, i.e. CPI(M),
bargaining power of labour vis-à-vis capital
labour market, it would be wrong to claim never officially declared itself as a social
and the welfarist interventions by the Indian
that the labour market reforms would help democratic party. In the beginning of the long
state.
achieve substantial economic gains. If the rule that ended in 2011, the State government
expectations of gains are not well-founded, Strong Unions and Social Welfare: The did take a pro-worker stance in its various
one might ask, why does the state2 do what it Normative Model policy interventions. However, the
does (i.e., dilute labour laws in order to contradiction between its choice of the Marxist
A connection could be shown to exist between
‘flexibilize’ the labour market)? The rhetoric and the actual practice of catering to
the strength of the industrial working classes
commonplace answer to this political the middle class interests – perhaps due to the
and the rise of the social democratic welfare
economy question is that, in an increasingly dominance of this class in the leadership –
state regimes in the advanced industrial
globalised world, nation states are competing eventually led to erosion of support from the
capitalist countries in the inter-war and post-
to take away the hard-earned gains of the growing number of unorganised working
World War-II period. Typically, centrally
organised working classes and making poor who felt deprived of the privileges that a
coordinated industrial unions would work
various attempts to level the organised labour section of the workers and the salaried classes
through a working-class-based political party
down to the predicament of unorganised enjoyed. The fallout of the contradictions
to exert influence on the democratic political
workers. There is often a ring of inevitability between the transcendental goal of socialism
process. The party would come to power
around this argument favouring levelling and the immediate goal of holding on to
through electoral politics and would use the
down, as if it is driven by forces outside the power in a provincial state within a federal
instruments at the government’s disposal to
state’s control. With relative immobility of republic, which required a kind of class
implement welfare-oriented policies.
labour, and capital becoming internationally compromise, is a gradual drifting away from a
Apparently, the Swedish model of social
mobile, the bargaining power of labour vis-à- welfare-state orientation in its programmes
democracy that emerged in the 1930s and
vis capital tends to decline, and the state finds and policies.
which was characterised by high levels of
it easier to control it in order to send out the
public spending to promote social welfare and By contrast, in the state of Kerala, a wide
signal of ‘investment-friendliness’ to capital
full employment, is believed to fit into this spectrum of workers, including those who
(Chakraborty, et.al. 2019). And yet, somewhat
narrative (Esping-Anderson, 1990). If the belong to the informal sector of the labour
paradoxically, accompanying this drive to
argument is taken to work in the other market, enjoyed better working conditions
‘flexibilize’ organized labour is a stream of
direction as well, the ‘retreat of the state’ in and social security benefits. Successful
enactments to improve the welfare of ‘citizens’
those countries in a later period, especially implementation of a well-designed social
whether workers or not.
since the 1980s, could also be linked to the security system presupposes favourable
In the present article, setting aside the rigidity weakening of the working classes. political institutions which are expected to
issue, I pursue the political economy question shape mutually reinforcing relations between
Can a similar connection be made while
a bit more in the broader context of the governments and groups of citizens. These
explaining the changing orientation of the
connection between the political strength of Indian state towards enacting certain welfare relations can take a variety of forms
the working classes and welfare orientation of rights, especially the ones (such as the Right to depending on what sociologists call
the state. The aim is to sketch out a Education) introduced in the first decade of ‘embeddedness’ (Heller, 1996). In Kerala,
perspective on the Indian state in the context this millennium? Sections of the working class because of the existence of such systems and
of two historical policy processes: a) the in India are indeed formally organized in relations, social security is widely understood
shifting role of the Indian state from centrally coordinated unions affiliated to the as a political right and citizenship claim.
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-6Tradition and politics are less likely to go While the organised workers are losing out on leaders became unsure about the ability of
against an increased demand for social their hard-earned rights and privileges, there MGNREGA to generate further political
protection. However, in other States it might has been, rather paradoxically, an ascendance dividend and found the necessary ingredients
have degenerated into an instrument for of social welfare rights and expansion of social in the idea of direct cash transfer to tide over
patronage. In the absence of favourable programmes in the first decade of this the crisis. What the ups and downs in the fate
political institutions one can anticipate a millennium. Several acts were passed during of MGNREGA suggest is that competitive
setback in implementation of whatever act is this time, ostensibly to allow citizens to make politics of populism on the one hand and the
passed in this regard. justiciable claims on the behaviour of the state normative approaches built upon ethical
and individuals, as well as on social concerns on the other may or may not
Social Welfare v/s Trade Unions in India arrangements in general. The language of coincide all the time. When they do,
Today rights enshrined in these enactments gives all programmes and policies are likely to survive
Notwithstanding such variations across the citizens – not just the workers – the right to change of regimes.
make claims on the behaviour of the state and
Indian States observed in different periods, The ascendance of welfare rights in the
individuals. This appears as a clear shift from
developments toward welfare rights and development discourse in India can be viewed
the earlier official discourse around ‘targets’
social security in general, and workers’ rights as a ‘double movement’ a la Karl Polanyi.
and ‘beneficiaries’, a shift from a paternalistic,
in particular, have taken a different trajectory Polanyi used this concept to analyse the late
top-down approach to an apparently more
in India from the normative one we have 19th and early 20th century England where
devolved and demand-driven one. Although
sketched in the context of the Western social complete proletarianisation of the working
the normative force of the right-based
democratic regimes. India’s major political class was followed by workers’ struggle and
approach cannot be denied, mere invocation
parties early on did favour the development of unionisation, which in turn led to
of a moral argument is not enough to
politically powerful trade unions to serve as institutionalisation of social security by an
guarantee its realisation. The trajectory of
electoral vehicles for them. Elections initially accommodating state (as described with
events that culminated in such important
strengthened the national trade union respect to Sweden above). This could also be
legislations as the Right to Information Act
federations that were aligned with the Indian seen as an attempt by the state to reverse the
(RTI), 2005, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
National Congress (INC). The philosophy of effects of primitive accumulation to legitimise
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),
the pro-INC trade unions however was postcolonial capitalism (Sanyal, 2007). The
2005, Right of Children to Free and
ironically ‘responsible trade unionism’, nature of post-colonial capitalist development
Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009, and
meaning ‘subordination of immediate wage is such that primitive accumulation produces
the National Food Security Act, 2013, provides
gains and similar considerations to the a surplus population that cannot be absorbed
an important backdrop against which
development of the country’ (Mehta, 1957). In within the circuit of capital. In the 18th or 19th
attempts can be made to understand the
other words, the working-class interests were century capital was not burdened with the
complex interplay of the normative and the
expected to remain subdued under the post- responsibility of looking after the redundant
political (Chakraborty, 2019).
colonial developmental and nation-building population of surplus labour. Many of them
aspirations. The structural conditions of a The importance of politics can be seen in the would die in wars or famines, some would
frequent changes in the government’s migrate. But what has profoundly
developing country like India are never
approach to MGNREGA since the change of transformed in the intervening period is the
favorable to its working class. The persistent
regime in 2014. After the initial two years of political context in which capitalist production
organized-unorganised duality in which the
neglect in terms of financial allocation and takes place in post-colonial countries. The
organized sector manages to accommodate
delayed disbursement of funds to states, spread of normative notions of democracy and
only a small size of the workforce, the
MGNREGA was again given its pride of place rights of citizens has made it difficult for the
existence of a massive reserve army of the
on its tenth anniversary when the union postcolonial state to ignore this redundant
unemployed and underemployed, the
government declared it as a programme of surplus population who populate the informal
migratory character of urban-industrial labour
‘national pride and celebration’ and the sector either as workers or self-employed. The
– all these contribute to labour’s weakness
allocation for 2016–17 was significantly raised. welfarist interventions and other supports like
relative to capital. However, the underlying
It would be too simplistic, and even incorrect, microcredit can all be seen as attempts to
structural conditions for this crippling state of
to say that the UPA government was more create a subsistence economy outside the
affairs can be mitigated by institutions which
serious about implementation of MGNREGA circuit of capital (Sanyal, 2007).
govern the labour-capital relation (Chibber,
than the NDA-II government, even though To conclude, the postcolonial capitalist
2005). In the climate of pro-business reform
one might observe some difference of development process is structurally incapable
however, such institutions have been
significance between the two regimes’ of absorbing all the labour into what Sanyal
repeatedly undermined, the result of which
respective approaches to the programme. In calls the ‘accumulation economy’. To what
can be seen in the large-scale violence at the
the last two years of UPA-II regime, extent the surplus labour will be taken care of
Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki and at Honda
enthusiasm about direct cash benefit transfer depends on the nature of politics. The state in
Motorcycle and Scooter India several years somewhat displaced MGNREGA from its India confronts the crucial task of political
ago, and similar incidents reported elsewhere. pride of place as the allocation and number of management of the surplus labour which
They are indicative of the failure of labour person-days created – both dropped in 2011– populates the ‘need economy’. The
institutions in India in resolving conflicts 12. In 2012–13, they moved up a little bit but compulsion of political management is what
between the workers and the management remained below the 2010–11 levels. It seems explains the apparent paradox of the process
and facilitating collective bargaining to reach that faced with the dwindling popularity due of emaciation of organised labour going side
an amicable settlement. to alleged inaction and corruption, UPA-II by side with increasing recognition of the
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-7citizenship entitlements invoking the
language of rights.
Achin Chakraborty is Professor of Economics
and Director, Institute of Development Studies
Kolkata.
email: achinchak@gmail.com
Endnotes
1. Labour market rigidity refers to the lack
of flexibility the management has in
restructuring the workforce by laying off
workers. The rigidity is sought to be
removed by labour market reform through
amending labour laws.
2. State with a small ‘s’ here refers to the
general concept of the state, which is to be
distinguished from ‘State’, meaning the
provincial/sub-national political unit.
References
Chakraborty, A. (2015) ‘Reforming Labour
Markets in States: Revisiting the Futility
Thesis’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol L,
No 20, May 16.
Chakraborty, A., S. Chowdhury, S. Banerjee,
Z. Mahmood (2019) Limits of Bargaining:
Capital, Labour, and the State in
Contemporary India, New Delhi: Cambridge
University Press.
Chakraborty, A. (2019) ‘From Passive
Beneficiary to ‘Rights Claimant’: What
Difference Does it Make?’ in A. P. D’Costa and
A. Chakraborty (eds) Changing Contexts and
Shifting Roles of the Indian State, Singapore:
Springer.
Chibber, V. (2005) ‘From Class Compromise to
Class Accommodation: Labor’s Incorporation
into the Indian Political Economy’, in M.
Katzenstein and R. Ray (eds) Social
Movements and Poverty in India, Lanham,
MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Esping-Anderson, G. (1990) The Three Worlds
of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity
Press.
Heller, P. (1996) ‘Social Capital as a Product of
Class Mobilization and State Intervention:
Industrial Workers in Kerala, India’, World
Development 24(6), pp. 1055-1071.
Mehta, A. 1957. “The Mediating Role of the
Trade Union in Underdeveloped Countries”,
Economic Development and Cultural Change,
Vol. 6, October, pp16-23
Sanyal, K. (2007) Rethinking Capitalist
Development: Primitive Accumulation,
Governmentality and Post-Colonial
Capitalism. New Delhi: Routledge.
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-8Whither Rural India?
at least the Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)
and the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956
the rural (artisan and craft based) industries
The Developmental
were relegated to a subsistence status. As a
result there has neither been an incentive to
innovate nor an effort at broad-basing the
State and Labour at
hereditary skills (or, labour-using
technologies). Several of these crafts vanished
or were left to languish due to non-existent
state support in financing, marketing and
the Margins provision of ‘real services’. Typified by
informality (lacking a legitimate/recognised
status) and invisibility (unaccounted-for
contributions to the economy and lacking a
comprehensive official database) these
enterprises had no chance to ensure decent
work through reskilling, better remuneration,
Rajeswari S. Raina and Keshab Das
workplace safety and social security (Das,
2015 and 2017). It has been a formidable
challenge as over half of all micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) are located in
rural areas and about 95 per cent of these units
The Context development, this theorisation lends itself to are unregistered (or, informal)
development interventions where labour and microenterprises.
This essay explores the workings of the
knowledge as commodities can be subsidised The Gandhian vision of a self-reliant rural
developmental state in rural India with
and supplied by the state to the rural poor – economy carried forward by Reddy’s (1975)
reference to multiple informal farm and non-
mainly in the informal unorganized sectors. relentless arguments for labour-salient
farm work by addressing the prevalent
relationship between the state and informal The informal economy in India includes over technologies for rural industrialisation is
labour. There have been concerns about the 92 per cent of the active workforce and over 54 based on the premise of an equitable and
developmental state, its focus on the formal per cent of the gross value added (KAS and inclusive socio-economy. There have been
urban and industrial sectors, the massive FICCI, 2017). The question about innumerable suggestions/recommendations
support given to the growth of the service employment and the role of the state in proffered to the state: to develop a nuanced
sector – information technology, construction countries with abundant rural labour (CARL) and realistic understanding of the institutions,
and tourism, in particular. The relative has been posed (Tomich et al., 1995) mainly as rules and norms that govern the grey zones of
incapacity and even unwillingness of the state a problem that has to be resolved as the formal-informal exchanges; to enable a
in understanding and handling informal economy grows and the national development reunion between different approaches to
spaces of work has received much attention: sequence evolves. Few have questioned the innovation; to identify and test codified
these include - institutional limitations of characterisation of unorganized labour as science and technology (S&T) grounded in
centralization and consolidation, rigidities “informal” and marginal, while they local, informal learnings and to ensure
and a corrupt bureaucracy (notably absent in constitute the overwhelming majority, are the broader societal interactions for learning
the East Asian case, Amsden (2001)) a double tour de force of millions of predominantly (Raina, 2015). However, with the centralized
capture of regulatory capabilities by the state rural livelihoods, have evolved against all and technocratic decision makers at the helm
and of the state by small local capital, and odds, and have created thousands of versatile, of policy, such reconciliation between lives
local social institutions of power (as caste, relevant and resilient production systems and and industrial development remained a
class, gender) (Harriss-White, 2014); and poor exchanges. A minority of development fantasy (Das and Raina, 2020: 257). There also
or missing data and information systems for experts and their lenses seem to define this exists a major disconnect between the state’s
rural industrial and agricultural production majority as informal and/or marginal. This is initiatives in generating technology (as, for
systems (Das, 2011; Raina 2015). Here we an aberration at the very least, which has kept instance, through the rural technology
argue that there are much more intricate the pipedream alive; that through massive institutes) and “the actual access and
problems beyond these, which are embedded state intervention and the incorporation of the application of the same by rural enterprises”
in a) the persistence of a constricted and informal economy and its workforce into the (Das, 2011: 222). Suggesting a flexible and
commodified theorization of labour in formal, capital accumulation and economic inclusive approach, Kurien (1989) advocated a
development economics (Robinson, 1962), and growth would occur in developing countries symbiotic coexistence of multiple levels of
b) in the technocentric conceptualization of as it did in the West. (Nigam 2018). technology and skills across spaces that would
knowledge as artefact or embodied capital foster the farm-non-farm linkages and also
The State’s Engagement with Labour in India absorb labour at myriad stages. The
(with implied property rights) in the
innovation systems literature (Nelson, 2008). With an explicit policy emphasis on capital- institutional apathy to this recognition of
In centralized planning systems for intensive and modern industrialisation, since layers of knowledge extant in the rural
Anveshi Broadsheet - March 2021-9informal spaces has strong implications for the informal workers generate, access and use and Raina, 2020). Based on the state’s
development, even survival of multiple forms knowledge - both technological and engagement, three categories of learning and
of self-reliant livelihoods: with the declining institutional innovations. When the innovation are evident in rural India (ibid).
business, drying up of work opportunities or knowledge vested in a muga cocoon They are (i) continuous informal learning,
appalling working conditions, the labour is middleman, the silk-rearing household and open-source knowledge exchange, and
squeezed to the last drop. the yarn-making household is valued, the validation processes, in low-tech crafts and
operational skills of women in coir spinning manufacturing enterprises; (ii) frequent semi-
Work, Informal Domains and Learning
households to run a motorized ratt is formal interactions of informal workers and
It is the state’s indifference and inability to respected, the value of work is no longer a producers with organized formal science and
engage with informal unorganized work that fraction of the exchange value realized in the technology actors and the state, especially, in
we question here. We begin with a few cases product market. The value of labour, in these micro and small enterprise groups; and (iii)
of constant hands-on learning and innovation cases, is a function of the dynamic learning by the state and its S&T system
concealed in the casual nature or relationships between labour, capital and through interactions with the civil society and
everydayness of informal work. Whether silk knowledge; collective and experiential informal workers (ibid). The third category is
weaving in the Sualkuchi cluster in Assam knowledge of the environment, product evident in cases like the reform of maternal
(Anurag and Das, 2020) or coir producing components and processes, and the quality of and child healthcare and the introduction of
households in Manappuram in Kerala each of these. Each worker is free to the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA)
(Kamath, 2020), specific types of informal experiment with, learn and add value to this as workers in the public health system (Das,
work are interspersed along the production pool of informal knowledge; open-source 2020). This can be interpreted as a case where
process that make the final product possible. interactions, exchange of information and the incorporation of the informal workforce
The timeliness of cocoon collection and validation are taken for granted. Labour in into the formal or quasi-formal system has
distribution to yarn makers and weavers, the these cases encompasses informed decisions been enabled, with some standardisation. But
intense discussions and experimentation made and a repertoire of actions in short time this will not work for the majority of India’s
among households adopting and perfecting spans, in diverse and highly variable workforce, because the first and second
the motorised ratt for coir spinning, involve production contexts. Labour is not a categories of learning described above are not
specific workers and their understanding of commodity paid for ‘pieces made’ or hours of acknowledged by the state.
the material they deal with. In the Banni work as mere physical toil – full day or half
How will the state engage with informal
grasslands in Gujarat, sharing knowledge and day; it embodies humanness, has a social
labour marked by variability, local norms, and
work for the virda or the water harvesting identity and significance in the production
flexibility, contributing to agriculture,
wells (Agrawal, 2015), ensures drinking water system. It is possible to invoke the derided,
manufacturing and a range of services, like
for cattle and human beings even during a oppressed, social (Scheduled Caste/Tribe,
our cocoon collector in Sualkuchi? There
prolonged drought. Similar community Other Backward Caste, and even women)
is a major stumbling block in the state’s
institutions or norms of collective labour and identity of labour within the rural space to
engagement with the majority of its
learning (Raina and Dey, 2020) are evident in justify their moving to urban areas as a
workforce, the labour and knowledge vested
Mantrajola (Vijayanagaram) in Andhra preferred workspace of ‘castelessness (a la
with these citizens. And this obstacle or
Pradesh, where villagers share labour and Deshpande, 2013). However, the dignity of
inaction draws upon the pillars of
agronomic knowledge (practices, processual labour whether through anonymity or
development economics, born out of the ex-
understanding, responsiveness, and through enterprise has never been the concern
post theorisation of the experience of intensive
anticipation or preparedness) for millet of capital, so long as labour can be controlled
growth, technology intensity in production
cultivation in mixed cropping systems to build and manipulated. The developmental state
that legitimises formalisation, wage rigidities
secure bridges between agriculture, the where the upper caste has heavy stakes, need
and consequent long-run unemployment.
environment and nutrition (WASSAN, 2015). not concern itself with the paradox of
Unprecedented shifts in labour-capital
Vast tracts of crop-livestock systems, agro- persistent demand for reservation and quotas
relationships - accomplished in the developed
forestry and livelihoods based on collection/ in urban salaried jobs by the informal lower
west/north (and Japan) by moving labour
processing of non-timber forest products caste workforce; for the state, the supply of
mainly as formal workers (as they did with
(NTFPs) are marked by informal and diverse doles or reservations is easier to control labour
the Marshall Plan in Europe) - to the centres of
forms of collective labour with norms for as “commodity” than to accommodate labour
capital accumulation have now become central
coordination and collaboration (for instance, as citizens.
to development economics. This theorisation
Timbaktu Collective, 2018; Singh et al., 2018). Confronting the State’s Embedded of the nature of labour and labour-capital
Varied types of labour and learning vested Knowledge relationships is central to planning for
with workers about the spatial and inter- and
Contradicting the perception of informal development. Much of this theorisation
intra-seasonal diversity and variability in each
labour as unskilled, the state should build on followed the short-term Keynesian
production system are evident in these cases.
existing informal innovation and learning accommodation (Bowles and Gintis, 1986;
The above insights into labour and learning processes (Basole, 2014). Investing in Amalric and Banuri, 1994) in countries where
erase the chasm between textual and practical decentralized innovation capacities and the state planned and invested in industry-led
wisdom. The professional class that works strengthening the multiple informal human economic growth and development. Shifting
with the state to supply knowledge to the resources that the rural poor value and use are of the workforce from the traditional/
rural workforce may appear irrelevant as among the options available to the state (Das unorganised/informal rural and agricultural
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