Unorganised sector

This study explores the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in India, highlighting the financial, social, knowledge, marketing, infrastructural, labour, and government support constraints that hinder their entrepreneurial growth. The research identifies the need for a holistic approach to address these challenges and promote women's entrepreneurship. The study reveals that women entrepreneurs in India face significant barriers, including limited access to finance, training, and mentorship, as well as societal attitudes and stereotypes that discourage women's entrepreneurship. The research also highlights the importance of government support, policy interventions, and initiatives aimed at promoting women's empowerment and digital literacy. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, organizations, and stakeholders seeking to promote women's entrepreneurship and economic development in India. The research recommends targeted programs to support women entrepreneurs, including access to finance, training, and mentorship, as well as initiatives aimed at promoting women's empowerment and digital literacy.

The growth and competitiveness of Panipat's textile industry are impacted by a number of issues. The total cost of production for textile units rises as a result of rising energy and raw material prices. Many small and medium-sized businesses suffer from obsolete equipment and restricted access to contemporary technology. For units with limited resources, environmental regulations pertaining to waste management and pollution control also present challenges. High employee turnover and a lack of skilled labor also affect output and quality. The Panipat textile industry faces additional difficulties due to a lack of knowledge about government initiatives and fierce competition from other textile hubs. The goal of the current study was to examine the difficulties that the textile industry faces.

The paper describes about the role of unorganized sectors in India and stated that if the unorganized sector gets regulated to the typical formal sector, the share of the
unorganized sector in the Indian economy will eventually be reduced. From 2014, the overall allotment for the Labour and Employment Ministry has seen an
increasing movement. This is in consonance with the government's sequence of events of 'Make in India', skill development, push for entrepreneurship, etc. in spite of
this, some important mechanism have seen a reliable retrogression.

Handloom weaving is one of the richest and most vibrant aspects of Indian cultural heritage, and the largest unorganized economic activity and generator of non-agricultural rural employment in India. Uttar Pradesh ranks third in the country in terms of production and employment in the handloom sector and about 5.42 percent of the total numbers of handloom workers in the country are residents of Uttar Pradesh (according to the 4th census). According to the 4 th All India Handloom Census 2019-20, it is estimated that the handloom industry employs approximately 1.91 lakhs workforce directly and approximately 1.24 lakhs looms spread all over Uttar Pradesh. The handloom workers include both handloom weavers and allied workers. The total number of handloom workers is more than 1.91 lakhs, with which the number of weavers is more than 1.31 lakhs approx., and allied workers related to handloom are more than 60.18 thousand in Uttar Pradesh. The export of Handloom products during 2019-20 was 2248.33 corer and during the year 2020-21 was Rs.1644.78 corer. In this research paper, a comparative study of the socioeconomic status of the workers employed in the handloom industry in Uttar Pradesh has done. This comparative study was done on the basis of the data obtained from the third and fourth handloom census, in which it was found that the socioeconomic condition of the handloom workers have improved in the fourth census as compared to the third handloom census, but even at the present time it is not above the level of livelihood. A significant share of weaver households earn less than 5000 per month and relatively low returns from the sector is perhaps the key determinant behind the fall in average number of worker per households between the two censuses, from 5.31 in the Third census to 2.77 in the Fourth census. Got up Various schemes have been run by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to improve the socioeconomic condition of handloom workers, but most of the workers are not aware of these schemes, due to which they have been deprived of the benefits of these schemes. This study is focus on the changes in the socioeconomic conditions of workers between two handloom censuses.

The concept of economic development comprises of several factors, which include social, political, economic and other spheres of human life. The contribution of human resource to economic growth cannot be discarded in this respect. As they contribute enormously to the development process, irrespective of gender, age, and nature of job etc. people both men and women contribute to nation's development by engaging in economic activities in the process of meeting their livelihood. Like formal sector, informal sector is also an important source of income, employment and social status to the masses. Around 90% of the workforce is engaged in the informal sector. Aconcern of women in an informal sector in the country is that they often face gender discrimination which is almost inexistent in formal sector. The corona virus pandemic has heavily been disruptive on the economy as well as loss of human lives. Almost all the sectors have been adversely affected in terms of income, employment and basic necessities. It affected all sectors irrespective of region, nature and role. As the most vulnerable and deployed in an informal sector, the women entrepreneurs and workers arealso inescapably affected.

To take a metaphor from economics laureate John Hicks, the study of the modern economy is part anatomy but in the main, physiology: There is the anatomy of economic sectors (illustratively, agriculture, industry and services), and the physiology of their growth and mutual relationships.
The story of where agriculture, industry and services stand in India, needs to be placed in the context of how the tasks before the nation were framed at the time it embarked upon a journey of economic development. All instrumentalities that could be deployed in driving change were imagined by the political leadership in a mood of confidence.
The passage of time brought adversities, and an effort to restore the economy to the promised pathways. As it is told today, this story reveals a number of narrative gaps, each stemming from lacunae in theory. Growth theory has remained a story incompletely told because of its failure to understand the economy as the resultant of its parts, constantly in change.
A focus on the aggregate, likewise, has often led to theoretical confusion because the parts have their own logic, which could work against the anticipated trajectory of the whole.
This volume seeks a closer understanding of India’s experience with planned development, looking afresh at the fundamentals of value and distribution. Development is considered in its linear and structural dimensions. Though growth targets are customarily understood in linear terms, this study argues that these are comprehensible only with an active focus on structural features.
From these theoretical foundations, this volume will go towards case studies of three sectors – agriculture, textiles and telecommunications – which answer respectively to the descriptions of primary, secondary and tertiary. The focus would be on how the growth of these sectors failed to create that broad-based distributive dynamic of expanding markets, which could multiply the possibilities of growth. The implications for thinking ahead on economic growth would then be briefly discussed.

Construction is the second largest sector by employment in India, behind agriculture. According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, in financial year 2023, employment within the real estate and construction sector in India stood at nearly 71 million (based on Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data). 2 The vast majority of these workers are in the unorganised sector, usually working on a daily wage basis with no job security and often with no measures for their physical safety. In urban environments, construction workers are often among the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens, living in slums and disproportionately belonging to marginalised communities.

This paper examines the impacts of COVID-19 on Tamil
Nadu’s economy at macro perspective during the period of first lockdown
from 31 March,2020 to 3 May,2020. The purpose of the lockdown was
to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The state government of Tamil
Nadu gradually relaxed the lockdown however, this relaxation was not
applicable to containment zones. There are extensive studies exploring
the effects of COVID-19 on the Indian economy. However, there are
limited studies to explore the regional perspective. In this context, this
study examines the COVID-19 on Tamil Nadu’s economy. This study
is based on secondary data and have been obtained from sources of
Statistical Hand Books of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Economic Appraisal,
and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. The period of the present
study was from March 2020 to March 2021.
Keywords: COVID-19, Lockdown, Income, Migrant Workers, Tamil
Nadu

We argue, based on Indian experience, that the major determinants of economic growth are not political and economic institutions. Through the laissez faire Colonial regime, and the interventionist economy of Independent India income per capita declined relative to advanced ...

The unorganised event management sector comprises a significant portion of the overall event industry in India. These are small businesses that provide event planning and management services. These firms operate without proper structure or organisation, making it difficult for them to compete with larger organised firms. However, unorganised event management firms have strengths that allow them to provide services to clients that organised firms may not be able to provide. Though, due to the lack of proper infrastructure, stiff competition and financial support, many event organisers operating in the unorganised sector face various challenges. The banks can play a vital role in supporting these event organisers by providing them with financial assistance and other services. This study investigates the effect of bank credit on the business performance of unorganised event management firms. The study covers 230 unorganised event organisers from the Salem district. The qualitative data were collected by using a well-crafted questionnaire. The study result proved that bank credit has significantly influenced the business performance of event management firms. Event organisers are satisfied with their business performance. Moreover, bank credit has substantially influenced business performance in developing a capacity to conduct multiple events simultaneously, business growth, return on investment, profitability, competitive advantage, purchase of new equipment and adoption of recent technology. The study recommended that banks should frame adequate policies to support small business firms to access bank credit without any hindrance. Hence, to

Tea industry is the dominant business in the territory/ district of Dibrugarh, Assam and it is work concentrated. Being one of the most labor-intensive industries on the planet, it employs an enormous workforce in the complete cycle of tea production, from ranch of tea brambles to the final produce. This skilled and specialized labour forms a critical piece of workforce in the tea home. The bliss and burdens of this section of laborers relies on the government assistance rehearses embraced by the concerned tea home for their prosperity. Assam being one of the leading states in the whole world for tea production has seen momentous development and advancement of tea industry in the past decades. However, things are not as bright as they seem to be and the industry itself has its fair share of hurdles as well. Issues like low tea prices, labour, less production of tea, governments negligence etc., remain some of the key hurdles towards the sustainable development and welfare of the tea industry and the workforce employed by the industry. Although the Government of India, since independence, has shown some concern regarding the industry and has enacted various Act’s and regulations regarding the same, the key hurdles mentioned above remain intact. Being one of the major generators of foreign revenue for India, the tea industry has also played a key role in the economy of Assam. Although the hurdles and issues faced by the industry remain intact there are few measures that can be taken by the government to uplift the industry and its workforce. Increasing global demand, favorable export conditions, improved supply chain and storage management etc., are the key areas that if looked upon can provide a major uplift both in the economy of Assam and its primary sector i.e. the tea industry.

Energy plays a significant role in sustaining economic activities and human development of the country. India is a world’s
sixth biggest economy and fastest growing country. The energy demand in the country has been raising in accordance with the
development human activities. In India, still around 25 per cent (304 million) of the population was living without access to
electricity and 40 per cent (500 million) of the population is living without access to clean cooking energy fuel. The lack of access to
electricity for people make struggles to break out of the cycle of poverty and for countries with low consumption of energy, the
growth rate is declined as well as difficult for them to attain the sustainable development. The objectives of the study are 1) to know
the remote un-electrified census villages and hamlets in India, 2) to examine the pattern of installation of off-grid solar photovoltaic
devices and 3) to identify the impact on the economic development of the rural people. The study is entirely focused on secondary
data. The findings of the study reveal that Rural Electrification Corporation has endorsed 12467 numbers of remote un-electrified
villages and hamlets in 24 states in India. Of which Assam (2406) is the first place in un-electrified remote villages and Odisha
(2116) is second place followed by Chhattisgarh (1621), Madhya Pradesh (972), Jharkhand (832). In the case of un-electrified
hamlets, Jammu & Kashmir (631) is the first place and Tripura (460) is the second place followed by Uttar Pradesh (356),
Karnataka (150) Haryana (149) out of 24 states. The trend of solar street lights and solar home lights are slightly fluctuating
during the study period and the trend of the solar lantern is increasing. The study found that the solar photovoltaic system is
definitely to improve the socio-economic conditions of the remote and un-electrified village peoples.

In India, Small scale industries have huge potentials of job creation and development of rural/semi-urban areas. These industries employ the skilled and unskilled labour force which has direct impact on employment and poverty alleviation. Many of the textile processes from cultivation to finished products are being undertaken in this city. There is tremendous increase in the textile companies in Lucknow due to many reasons. Out of Twenty-One Lakhs power looms in India, around Ten Lakhs were housed in Lucknow. But over a period of last decade more than 70% of the power looms units were shut down and many more are on the verge of winding up. Covid-19 had a negative impact on this industry due to migration of workers which had badly hampered the position of textile industry. This research paper attempts to ascertain the problems faced by textile sector in recent times and the impact of Covid-19 on this sector in post lockdown period. Further, it also assesses the financial distress amongst the owner's community and focuses on the impact on the overall economics of the city and common man residing there.

There are abundant indicators
that the nation has long suffered
from structural inequality and
poverty. These include the high
percentage of unpaid and underpaid workers, the low rate of
women entering the workforce,
the prevalence of child labour, the
extreme division between organised workers and unorganised
workers who lack social security,
health insurance, and pensions,
high unemployment rates, and the
government's failure to enforce
the four labour codes. With all
these, India has a long way to
go to achieve "decent work and
social justice for all". Otherwise,
the above labour issues should be
addressed by adopting the newly
adopted ILO living wage system.

The unorganized sector in India is in essence the backbone of the Indian economy. This sector supposedly supports almost 93% of our workforce out of which 79% belong to the poorer economic section of the population. Although the outward nature of work has changed, it is important to understand whether the caste structure has completely been eliminated in the new models of work. Long hours of work and the physical strain of standing for days together carrying heavy equipment for work, etc, have raised serious concerns about their health. The health conditions of most of these workers continue to be abysmal despite the government’s efforts and commitment to bring in legislations to improve their living conditions. Most of them suffer from various chronic diseases. It should be the duty of the government to also implement the schemes for the unorganised sector and make healthcare affordable and accessible as health is one of the basic human right. The present study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between caste and the chosen profession and to explore the occupational health scenario of the ubiquitous but invisible is tri-wallahs of Chennai.

The unorganized sector in India is in essence the backbone of the Indian economy. This sector supposedly supports almost 93% of our workforce out of which 79% belong to the poorer economic section of the population. Although the outward nature of work has changed, it is important to understand whether the caste structure has completely been eliminated in the new models of work. Long hours of work and the physical strain of standing for days together carrying heavy equipment for work, etc, have raised serious concerns about their health. The health conditions of most of these workers continue to be abysmal despite the government’s efforts and commitment to bring in legislations to improve their living conditions. Most of them suffer from various chronic diseases. It should be the duty of the government to also implement the schemes for the unorganised sector and make healthcare affordable and accessible as health is one of the basic human right. The present study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between caste and the chosen profession and to explore the occupational health scenario of the ubiquitous but invisible istriwallahs of Chennai.

Unorganized sector have a crucial role in the Indian economy. As per the data of National Statistical Commission (2012), with more than 90 percent of workforce in unorganised sector, they dominate in number or workers and enterprises. This vast section of the enterprise has inbuilt vulnerabilities not in terms of only sustainability, but their own life move around the full circle of uncertainity of social security. The author has written this paper keeping in view his association with the organisations working with unorgansied sectors workers, especially construction workers in Delhi. The paper critically examines the social security provisions made available in India.

The power loom industry of Mau is ancient, and a very limited study is existing in Indian literature on the occupational health status of these workers, which are exposed to various occupational hazards. This study aims to assess the morbidity profile and associated risk factor among Powerloom weavers in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. A sample of 300 workers selected from the identified power loom industries from six blocks of Mau district. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire and morbidity were asses using operational definition. Bivariate and Multivariate statistical analysis. Most of them belonged to the above age 30 (88%). The study found a prevalence of selected morbidities of impaired vision (48.7%), Anxiety (63.7%), Injury (25.7%), and pain in the lower back (56%). Anxiety, Lower back pain, and impaired vision were associated with the workplace environment. Similarly, Injury, low back pain, and low vision were significantly related to work duration. The present study shows the high prevalence of low back pain, impaired vision and injury among the weavers, along with anxiety, which indicates a need for periodic medical examination to rule out occupational hazards. HIgHlIgHtS m Limited studies in India among occupational hazards among Powerloom weavers. m Present study describes self-reported morbidities patterns among Powerloom workers. m High prevalence of Low vision, low back pain, stress, and injury. m Possible solutions for decreasing the problem would be augmented ventilation and lighting, periodic medical checkups , adequate rest time, and job rotation.

The COVID-19 virus that first appeared in Indonesia in March 2020 resulted in large scale lockdowns and consequential social and economic repercussions. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the pandemic on workers in the Indonesian construction sector. The first objective is to characterise the impact of the COVID preventative measures on their access to work, work hours, and income levels. This was followed by a study on the implementation of COVID-19 health and safety protocols at project sites. A survey conducted in November and December 2020 in the province of West Java indicated that contrary to job losses and wage cuts report in the literature for other regions, construction companies have resisted cutting the wages of the most vulnerable informal workers and only marginally cut wages and allowances of Impact of COVID-19 on construction workers their higher paid permanent workers. Compliance to COVID-19 health and safety protocols at project sites were reported to be high and in line with the compliance rates described in many other countries where the industry was allowed to operate. The only area of concern was the risk posed by cramped workers accommodation and the habit of workers socialising in common areas.

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 novel coronavirus is creating a global crisis. There is a global ambience of uncertainty and anxiety. In addition, nations have imposed strict and restrictive public health measures including lockdowns. In this heightened time of vulnerability, public cooperation to preventive measures depends on trust and confidence in the health system. Trust is the optimistic acceptance of the vulnerability in the belief that the health system has best intentions. On the other hand, confidence is assessed based on previous experiences with the health system. Trust and confidence in the health system motivate people to accept the public health interventions and cooperate with them. Building trust and confidence therefore becomes an ethical imperative. This article analyses the COVID-19 pandemic in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the state's response to this pandemic. Further, it applies the Trust-Confidence-Cooperation framework of risk management to analyse the influence of public trust and confidence on the Tamil Nadu health system in the context of the preventive strategies adopted by the state. Finally, the article proposes a six-pronged strategy to build trust and confidence in health system functions to improve cooperation to pandemic containment measures.

The concept of globalization appeared in the Indian subcontinent in 1991. With the onset of liberalization, privatization and globalization a new chapter has been opened up in the Indian economy and her billion plus population. The Hugli district is one of the most renowned names in the handloom industry of West Bengal and a good percentage of people are engaged in this heritage industry. The study is conducted in five handloom clusters of the district, namely – Dhaniakhali - Somaspur, Begumpur, Haripal, Rajbolhat and Balagar. The main objectives of this paper were to investigate the effects of globalization on the rural handloom weaver community, in terms of their economic and social conditions. At the same time the article intends to analyse the changes in the over all production scenario of the handloom industry in the district due to modernization. It can be said that the handloom industry of the Hugli district is suffering from some inherent problems like low productivity, lack...

In India, the ‘unlock’ period has allowed some domestic workers to return to work; this comes amidst government advisories of greater risk of contagion generally. Drawing on ethnographic work with women domestic workers in the city of Delhi, the article delineates how formalities of social distancing and mask-wearing have begun to inflect personalised labour relationships in ways that entrench existing hierarchies enabled by caste practices. This can be evidenced from a doubling of the idea of contagion – a culturally polluted person rendered even more pestilential because of contagion, but whose service/s are, nonetheless, needed to disinfect the space of the employer’s home. With no data set available for assessing whether caste has been a variable in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, anthropology will have to take up the responsibility of demonstrating that the latter is indeed a social phenomenon.

NPS is South Asia's first defined contribution pension scheme that provides various facilities, such as personal retirement account, scheme choices, professional fund management institutes, and account transfer option to the organised as well as the unorganised sector of the country. The study seeks to explore the factors influencing investment in NPS and to examine the perception of NPS subscribers in the organised as well as the unorganised sector, in terms of socioeconomic factors. Exploratory factor analysis, t-test, and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that the unorganised sector respondents are more in favour of NPS than those in the organised sector. It was also observed that gender, age, and monthly income have a significant relation with factors of NPS in both the sectors, but education qualification does not show any significant relation with NPS factors in the organised sector. The paper has implications for the government, fund managers, and pension policy makers.

The unorganized manufacturing sector has been considered as the main engine of growth for manufacturing in India. Given the paucity of studies concerning the urban unorganized manufacturing sector (UUMS) in the NorthEast India, this paper aims to examine its growth performance along with an overview of composition of its workforce. The data has been obtained from three rounds of NSSO data viz., 62 nd , 67 th and 73 rd round. The UUMS holds a significant position across the NorthEast , given the substantial no. of enterprises and workforce engaged in the sector. While the growth of enterprises has been led by OAMEs, the establishments have pushed the employment growth. Although, employment of females has seen a less significant position in UUMS, contractual employment has been largely driven by female part time workers. Given its dynamic nature, the UUMS has a greater scope in making valuable contributions for the development of North-East's economy.

Drawing on results from a panel of 2778 workers interviewed during and after the 68-day hard lockdown imposed in India, the following study examines the livelihood impact of the pandemic and the extent of subsequent recovery or lack thereof. Focussing specifically on workers located in the informal economy, the study is a useful addition to the burgeoning body of work on the economic impacts of Covid-19 by providing an insight into the employment and earnings recovery of those located at the margins. These findings are spliced across socioeconomic groups to showcase the differential impact of the pandemic on different demographics within the informal sector. Our results show that six months after the hard lockdown, one out five persons were still out of work. Conditioned on being employed prior to the lockdown and having lost work during the lockdown, we find that urban respondents, women, workers above 60 and graduates were significantly less likely to recover from the shock. A similar exercise carried out for women workers showed that middle aged women, never married women and women who were not-literate or educated up until primary and middle school were significantly more likely to recover from job loss. Older women, those located in urban areas and Muslim women were on the other hand significantly less likely to recover from the job loss. Earnings on the whole were half of what they used to be prior to the pandemic. Some better off workers shifted to more precarious types of employment. Given the fall in earnings, poorer worker households were forced to borrow and the amount of loan taken was multiple times their average monthly income. In the context of loss in employment and reverse migration, the survey results show a substantial unmet demand for work under the MGNREGA programme even after the lockdown was lifted. We conclude that despite a partial recovery in the subsequent period, the pandemic-induced lockdown has undermined the material conditions for subsistence for a large segment within the informal economy. Moreover, any attempts made to reimagine what a social protection programme for the informal economy should look like must take into account the segments most susceptible to an economic shock on their livelihoods.

Decentralized powerloom sector in Indi has always occupied a prominent place in the economic spheres of India. Present study pertains to the decentralized powerloom sector in India and its various dimensions. The data obtained from various reliable sources such as ministry of textiles, fibre2fashion, powerloom development and export promotion council and RBI reports were subjected to time series analysis and regression analysis. The results indicated there is an upward trend towards growth in terms of employment generation and production. The results pointed towards the decentralized sectors' enormous potential to generate employment to both skilled and unskilled human resource in the country. The regression analysis showed a positive relation between the sector and GDP. In the light of the potentiality of the sector, suggestions have been put forth for harnessing the potential of the sector and make aid the country to be the most preferred source for clothing needs of the world.

The Tamil Nadu Covid Pulse Survey (TNCPS), a rapid response panel survey designed to take place at regular intervals of four months over the course of one year, assessed the impact of the global pandemic and the subsequent lockdown measures on a sample of approximately 13,000 households in Tamil Nadu. The TNCPS showed that a whopping 53% of the sample households faced job loss when a sudden nationwide lockdown was imposed in March 2020. This was coupled with a reduction in income and an increase in food insecurity at the household level. While the pandemic weakened in Tamil Nadu by the end of 2020 and fewer households reported job loss (17%), the subsequent second wave created irreparable damage to the economy. This paper uses data from the TNCPS undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Tamil Nadu, to illustrate the differences in the economic impact faced by the sampled households between the first and second waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper also emphasises the need for governments to adopt data-driven practices in their disaster management strategies.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the Socio-economic status of Koraga tribal people of Udupi district, Karnataka State. In Karnataka Koraga tribal Peoples are identified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). The data or information was recorded through direct interview schedule. Total 250 subjects were studied in the district. This paper reveals that the tribal people are lagging behind the mainstream population with respect to social, political, economical, and technological standings and still going on with unfashionable lifestyle and beliefs.

COVID-19 indiscriminately impacted all the segments of the global society. Due to the unstructured job market, women in the informal sector were at high risk to experience the adverse effects of the pandemic. This paper aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on women domestic workers and their families. Semi structured interviews conducted with fifty-four women domestic workers in three districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan were analyzed in five themes: disruption caused by lockdown, loss of livelihood, economic hardships, social support mechanism, and challenges faced during the pandemic. The study underlines that the pandemic left severe impacts on access to basic services, employment, food security at household level and pattern of expenditures. The plummeting economic activities led to sudden drops in earnings that forced families to sell their assets and incur debts. Respondents lamented over the social support system and considered it a necessary but not sufficient conditi...

Pandemic and online learning have added to barriers to education. Lack of digital access, difficulty in communication with teachers and lack of peer support create major hurdles in learning for a large proportion of the student population. New entry barriers to better jobs, level and quality of higher education, will add to existing social barriers of gender, caste and nepotism. This will perpetuate a vicious cycle of low education and low incomes. In this paper, we investigate whether there is a threshold of level of education for better jobs in India? We find that higher secondary education is a threshold required for entry into good jobs. We observe increasing returns to private investments in higher levels of education and higher returns to education in the formal sector jobs compared to the informal sector. Will deficits in education during the pandemic reduce investments in education? We study these issues mainly using secondary data from the National Sample Office (NSO). The purpose of this short paper is to build research hypotheses regarding the relation between investment in education and employment, which we highlight in the conclusion.

In India, the ‘unlock’ period has allowed some domestic workers to return to work; this comes amidst government advisories of greater risk of contagion generally. Drawing on ethnographic work with women domestic workers in the city of Delhi, the article delineates how formalities of social distancing and mask-wearing have begun to inflect personalised labour relationships in ways that entrench existing hierarchies enabled by caste practices. This can be evidenced from a doubling of the idea of contagion – a culturally polluted person rendered even more pestilential because of contagion, but whose service/s are, nonetheless, needed to disinfect the space of the employer’s home. With no data set available for assessing whether caste has been a variable in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, anthropology will have to take up the responsibility of demonstrating that the latter is indeed a social phenomenon.

Chapter 1 Covid-19 in India: Pandemic or a 'panic'demic? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Background and Justification Informal labour economy in Maharashtra 1.3 Objective 1.4 Research Question Sub-questions Chapter 2 Analytical framework and Methodology 2.1 Analytical Framework Social protection: definitions and approaches Labour regimes Citizenship-based and Employment-based entitlements The notion of public action and responses to the crisis Governmentality and biopolitics 2.2 Methodology Primary data sources Secondary data sources Additional sources Ethical issues and challenges Chapter 3 A Health Emergency to the Migrant Crisis 3.1 Pre-existing migrant labour regimes: precarity, vulnerability, invisibility and deprivation Insecure income and precarious livelihoods Vulnerability to exploitation Invisibility in policy Deprivation of citizenship-based entitlements 3.2 Lockdown measures: effects on and lives of migrant workers Impact on livelihoods Access to basic necessities Lack of appropriate information Transport bottlenecks iv Uncertainty and anxiety Chapter 4 Shock, awe, and law and order: The state's crisis response strategy 4.1 Central government's decision making: setting the tone for crisis response 4.2 Lack of coordination between the centre and the states 4.3 Too little, too late: Maharashtra state government's response to the crisis Healthcare Housing Food security Employment and cash transfers Transport and quarantine of the migrants Fragmented State response Chapter 5 Collaborative and Adversarial Public action by Non-state Actors 5.1 Collaborative Public Action Direct support 5.2 Adversarial public action Pressure for State support Holding a mirror: information collection and knowledge dissemination Long term strategies State responsibility Chapter 6 Conclusion Summary of Findings Recommendations Need for universalization of the social protection benefits Need for Decentralized, pro-people decision making Review of Pandemic response strategy What remains to be explored? Final remarks Appendices 43 References 49

Unorganised sector has a significant place' in the labour market of most developing economies. Pre dominance of poverty among women is associated with a concentration of women in the informal sectors like handlooms, handicrafts, weaving, fisheries, construction, agriculture and domestic help, putting them outside the traditional covers. Women in unorganised sector have to work up to their old age for their better survival. Women has to work to support their family in spite of the Marital status. Working and living condition are inseparable for the women working in the unorganised sector. Improvements in working condition are very much required for the women workers of the unorganized sector. The present study is broadly based on a primary survey of about 200 individuals/ women working in the unorganised sector, at Pollachi Taluk. I.

Conventional growth theory suggests a simple positive relationship between output and employment growth. However, an empirical analysis of the last decade suggests that employment growth may or may not be accompanied by output growth, depending upon the growth in productivity. Accordingly, this paper classifies the organised and unorganised non-agricultural sectors and identifies the sub-sectors that have been employment-generating (both productive as well as productivity declining), jobless and job-losing, depending upon their rates of growth of employment and gross value added. The use of varying definitions of organised and unorganised sectors, especially in case of the service sector, by different data sources is a serious issue that plagues such kind of analysis. This paper highlights all these issues along with the jobless growth phenomenon experienced during the past decade in order to assess their policy implications.

Introduction: Maharashtra State, covering the western and central parts of the country, is blessed with a 720km long coastal line of the Arabian Sea. The Sahyadri range of the Western Ghats forms the natural backbone of the State, with the Satpura range in the north and Bhamragadh-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges in the east forming its natural boundaries. The State is surrounded by Gujarat in the Northwest, Madhya Pradesh in the North, Chhattisgarh in the East, Telangana in the Southeast, Karnataka in the South and Goa in the Southwest. As per the Census 2011, the State has a population of 11.24 crore, accounting for 9.3% of the total population of the country and ranks second nationally. Its geographical area is 3.08 lakh sq.km. The State is highly urbanized at 45.2%. Many leading corporates and financial institutions have established their headquarters in Mumbai, which is the capital of the State and also the commercial capital of the country. The

In recent years, numerous researches have been conducted on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from various perspectives. From a survey on FDI literatures of infrastructure, construction, and service sectors perspective, there are some studies based on the FDI in retailing in single and multi brand made by scholars. However, the perception of unemployed youth on impact of FDI in retailing about employment opportunities in India is yet to be explored. This article is therefore timely and fills the gap in FDI in retailing literature. In a nutshell, the existing organized retailers show a turnover in the range of $15 billion to $18 billion, leading to the creation of about one million direct and indirect jobs. This implies that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) retailers need to generate $60 billion of turnover in India; it contributes about 14% to India's gross domestic product (GDP) and is growing at the rate of 15%. The retail sector would guess that in three years it would be a Herculean achievement if FDI leads to the creation of even 0.3 to 0.4 million net additional jobs. In India the pay scales for organized retail shopping mall employees are getting nearly a monthly salary of Rs.5,750 to Rs.6,250 compared to others unorganized retail shopping mall employees, they get a monthly salary of Rs.4,000 to Rs.4,500. It is very interesting to note that the multi-brand retail FDI policy in other countries like China approved 100% limit that reflects employment opportunities rose from 28 million to 54 million from 1992 to 2001. Based on the above backdrop, an attempt has been made in this paper to study the impact of FDI in retailing with the perception of unemployed youth on employment opportunities in India. Design/Methodology/Approach: Primary data using convenient sampling through questionnaire and interview method as well as secondary data from wide range of literature and various journal publications had been utilized. Frequency distribution, percentage analysis and one way ANOVA were used to test the objectives of the study. In order to test the reliability of the scale, the researcher applied Cronbach's Alpha (CFA) to measure the internal consistency of the variables. Findings: The findings of the study on impact of FDI in retailing emphasized that the educated youth will get more good and decent employment opportunities in India. Originality/Value: Impact of FDI in retailing: An empirical analysis on perception of unemployed youth on employment opportunities in India is the original work of the authors.

Novel coronavirus, i.e., COVID-19 affected the human lifestyle to a great extent worldwide. Economy, health, and employment are among the severely affected sectors of India, which suffered in many aspects. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to calculate and analyze the impact of COVID-19 in several states of India, through which the recovery process can be planned and initialized. The proposed method analyzes the overall impact of coronavirus by considering several significant attributes from different sectors, viz., death rate, COVID-positive cases, testing, GDP rate, inflation rate, etc. The experiments were conducted on the real and authentic dataset obtained from Indian govt. websites. Each state is assigned a grade based on the score calculated using statistical analysis which represents the impact of COVID-19. The proposed method presents a hypothesis which can be really useful for planning and implementing the rehabilitation and recovery from COVID-19 in India.

Construction is one of the important industries employing a large number of people on its workforce. A wide range of activities are involved in it. Due to the advent of industrialization and recent developments, this industry is taking a pivotal role for construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and so forth. The workers engaged in this industry are victims of different occupational disorders and psychosocial stresses. In India, they belong to the organized and unorganized sectors. However, data in respect to occupational health and psychosocial stress are scanty in our country. It is true that a sizable number of the workforce is from the unorganized sectors -the working hours are more than the stipulated hours of work -the work place is not proper -the working conditions are non-congenial in most of the cases and involve risk factors. Their wages are also not adequate, making it diffi cult for them to run their families. The hazards include handling of different materials required for construction, and exposure to harsh environmental conditions like sun, rain, and so on. On account of this, in adverse conditions, it results in accidents and adverse health conditions cause psychosocial strain and the like. They are victims of headache, backache, joint pains, skin diseases, lung disorders like silicosis, other muscular skeletal disorders, and so on. The repetitive nature of the work causes boredom and the disproportionate earning compared to the requirements puts them under psychological stress and strain and other abnormal behavioral disorders. The Government of India has realized the importance of this industry and has promulgated an Act in 1996. The state government are being asked to adhere to this, although only a few states have partially enforced it. In this article, attempts have been made to review some of the important available articles for giving a broad idea of the problem and for furtherance of research in this fi eld.

The problems of work force in India is a growing concern as they are the major work providers and constitute about 92% of the strong Indian worker population. They live and work in difficult situation without being adequately covered by social security Acts. The present study represents work force of such category in Balasore district of Odisha. With a sample of 300 unorganized workers belonging to the categories of construction, loading unloading, fishery, brick, stone crushing and agriculture were interviewed to reveal their problems of multidimensional in nature along with demographic status. Their job satisfaction was found to be influenced by about 10 socio-economic variables and they view their job is unsecured, less remunerative along with bad working conditions leading to lead a miserable living. Sample workers are found to be devoid of minimum facilities like payment in illness, old age security, over time payment and medical support at the time of health hazards. Their reaction about the present job is very negative reflecting the degree of frustration, unhappiness and loss of aspiration in life. The unfortunate outcomes of the study show the development of tendency of laziness, migration and not to work with full of complains and searching after the ways of easy living..

The traditional business model of small retail convenience stores in India is increasingly under threat due to the entry of large supermarket chains and online retailers. This study, using a qualitative methodology and the Technology-Organization-Environment framework as the theoretical basis, investigated the digitalization of small retail stores. Our study found low levels of adoption of digital technologies for managing supply-side and customerside processes and a heavy dependence on cash and credit-based low value transactions. Inefficient processes, poor physical infrastructure, inadequate access to and poor reliability of digital technologies, and the costs are limiting the digitalization by small retail stores. Expressed ambiguity and inherent contradictions regarding the benefits of transparency, perceived sense of control, tax implications and mistrust in the external regulations in digital context denote the small retailers' incapacity to comprehend the changes and resources required to meet the challenges.

The economy of Assam is growing significantly over the post reform period without generating sufficient employment opportunities for its increased labour force. The share of agriculture in domestic product of the state is in a downward trend and employment tends to shift away from farm sector to non-farming sectors. However, owing to inadequate training and skills, many rural youths of the state are not able to cope themselves with the emerging employment opportunities generated in the growing service and industrial sectors of the state. So, the estimation of the employment intensity of the growth in the state at aggregate and sectoral level seems to be highly essential for understanding employment absorptive capacity of this thriving economy.

Iran has experienced four development plans after 1979. In other words, during last 20 years Iran has been spending huge resources, energy, time, capital, etc. for achieving expected goals. Human development is a concept which is more talked and less considered empirically. Since the final goal and the end of all the plans is improving the level of people's life and fulfilling them, it seems, therefore, the impact of plans and policies from this point of view. As human development seems to be capable for examining the changes of living level.The material and spiritual changes of life as the epitomes of development is, doubtlessly, impossible without the evolution of human. In other words, human being is the base of development. Education and health are the most effective elements in the evolution of human and the promotion of its quality. Education and health are significant stimulants to develop the social evolution which potentially creates equal opportunities for the individ...

Background: COVID-19-driven pandemic has caused panic, fear, and stress among all strata of society. The study aimed to assess stress and the factors that influence it in a representative population in the state of Tamil Nadu (TN)—a state in the southern India where the levels of stress have not been measured yet. Methods: From April 13 to April 25, 2020, we conducted an online survey among the TN population using the snowball sampling technique, collecting basic demographic data. COVID-19-perceived stress was collected through COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). Binomial regression analysis was used to identify the extent of the relationship between CPDI and sociodemographic factors by estimating the odds of having significant stress. P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 2,317 valid responses were received. Of the respondents, 830 (35.82%) were males, 1,084 (46.79%) were below 25 years of age, and 2,297 (99.14%) were native residents of TN. The mean(±S...

First it was the lockdown that followed the revocation of
Article 370 due to which we had to leave Kashmir. Now it
is the lockdown due to Corona, but we have decided to stay
put. This lockdown is a challenge not only. for the labourers
in Kashmir but for all the labourers of India, yet lockdowns
are not new to us.
-Ram, a daily wage labourer from Bihar.

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the lockdown imposed, has had profound social and economic consequences and thereby implications on psychological health. This study aims to understand the effects of the pandemic and the lockdown on the prevalence, spectrum, and outcome of patients presenting with deliberate self-harm (DSH) to the emergency department (ED). Methodology: This was a retrospective, observational study done in the ED of a tertiary care hospital in South India on DSH victims presenting from January to August 2020, spanning the pre-lockdown, lockdown, and unlock phases of the pandemic, and compared with data from a similar period in 2018. Results: Our study population included 507 DSH victims (prevalence: 1.2%) from January to August 2020. The percentage of DSH cases showed a slight increase among the pre-lockdown (203/17,234: 1.18%), the lockdown (179/14,687: 1.22%), and the unlock phases (125/9,977: 1.25%). There was a female preponderance (286/507: 56.4%), and the mean age was 33.2 years. Of the 507 patients, 369 (72.8%) were admitted and 19 (3.7%) died. The lockdown period in 2020 showed a 40.9% absolute decrease in the number of DSH victims presenting to the ED as compared to an equivalent period in 2018. The proportion of patients taking plant poisons was significantly lower [odds ratio (OR) 0.38, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.18-0.81, p = 0.012] and that of corrosive ingestion was significantly higher (OR 2.94, 95% CI 1.57-5.48, p = 0.001) in the lockdown phase as compared to a lockdown-control phase of 2018. Conclusion: There was a reduction in the absolute number of patients presenting with DSH to the ED during January-August 2020, and more so during the lockdown phase (March 24-June 30), as compared to a similar period in 2018. There was no significant difference in the hospital outcome of DSH patients between the two periods.