Econ Digest 2020-21

M.O.P. VAISHNAV COLLEGE FOR WOMEN (AUTONOMOUS) (COLLEGE AFFILIATED TO UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS. & RE-ACCREDITED AT \"A++\" GRADE BY NAAC) Department of Economics ECODINGEST volume 1 (2020-21) ISSUES OF LABOUR

FOREWORD In Economics, factors of production, resources, or inputs are what is used in the production process to produce output—that is, finished goods and services. The utilized amounts of the various inputs determine the quantity of output according to the relationship called the Production function. There are three basic resources or factors of production: land, labour and capital. We sometimes add a fourth - Organisation - that yields profit. This issue of Econ Digest (formerly known as Arth) focuses on Labour. Labour gained more prominence during the lockdown as many migrant workers faced immense hardship- both due to loss of livelihood and physical troubles having to make their way homewards on foot. The articles in focus have adequately captured the travails and emotions while suggesting doable solutions. I appreciate the members on the Editorial team and wish them the very best. Dr. Lalitha Balakrishnan Principal & Chief Editor EDITORIAL TEAM Staff Editors Student Editors Ms. Kiran Varma Krithika R Ms. Seema Thomas Poorni. S Ms. Sruthi Kesh Student Designers Ms. Bhavana Sarah John Disha Chaturvedi T.S.Pavithra Nehaa Pradeep

CONTENTS THE INEVITABLE ROBOT 01 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH OF 40 REVOLUTION INFORMAL WORKERS: CASE OF MENTAL HEALTH ORGANISING LABOUR IN 44GENDER EQUALITY IN LABOUR, 05UNCONVENTIONAL JOBS MARKET STILL A LUXURY? NO! - AN ICELAND MODEL DO OLD WORLD JOB PORTALS STILL LABOUR AND POLLUTION 48 09HOLD THE SAME RELEVANCE? US SLAVERY: HOW WOULD IT FAIR 52BATTLE AGAINST INDIA’S BIGGEST 13ECONOMICALLY? ECONOMIC ISSUE- UNEMPLOYMENT OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF THE PLIGHT OF AN AGE OLD 56 HANDICRAFT INDUSTRY 17RURAL-URBAN LABOUR MIGRATION BREAD OR LIFE - WHAT DO YOU 21 LABOUR LAWS AND THEIR 59 TRADE? EFFECTIVENESS 62 66 “I LOVE GBV” APPAREL BY H&M - THE DYNAMICS AND COMPLICATIONS INVOLVED IN 25DESIGNER GIAMBATTISTA VALLI OR GOVERNMENT JOBS BOOK REVIEW: BOYS WITHOUT GENDER BASED VIOLENCE? NAMES ANALYSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 29IPEC ON INDIAN CHILD LABOUR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME - LABOUR ISSUES IN THE GIG 69 ECONOMY 73 32LABOUR’S ARMOUR IN FORESIGHT OF AN AI ERA DIRTY HANDS TO DIAMOND RING- NOT DOMESTIC ‘HELP’ BUT DOMESTIC ‘WORK’ 36[MOVIE REVIEW-BLOOD DIAMOND]

CONTENTS MGNREGA - A PANACEA FOR 77 PANDEMIC AND THE TANKING 108 REVERSE MIGRATION TOURISM SECTOR UNVEILING THE CAUSES BEHIND 81 112THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES SUBCONTRACTED LABOUR: A LENS THE IMPACT OF #METOO INTO NEO-SLAVERY MOVEMENT AND CURRENT FUN CORNER WORKPLACE ECOSYSTEMS 85 117WINNING POSTERS- \"MIGRATION CRISIS 2020\" FROM INTRA-MURAL 2021 NEED FOR A CONDUCIVE WORLD LABOUR TRIVIA 119 89WORKSPACE ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE INFORMAL WORKERS - THE 92 GRAPHSTIMATE 120 VICTIMS OF HORNETS' NEST CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN THE 95 GUESS THE ECONOMISTS 124 INDIAN LABOUR MARKET GENDER PAY GAP- NOT JUST A 98 THE LABOURS OF HERCULES 128 WOMEN’S ISSUE THE PLIGHT OF MIGRANTS IN A 101 LABOUR LAWS AND REFORMS 129 PANDEMIC ECONOMY INFORMAL SECTOR- THE 104 WALL OF MEMES 133 UNDERDOGS OF INDIAN ECONOMY

1 Source: Medium THE INEVITABLE Amid a pandemic, when the world’s largest ROBOT economies have been crashing and unemployment rates have skyrocketed, the potential uses of REVOLUTION Artificial Intelligence have just begun gaining due recognition. While the development of AI would lead By Shravya Sukumar to a more sustainably developed technological environment and economic system, there is also a I BA Economics flipside to the coin. Being such a large country, India has the labour as well as the investment potential to become the world’s AI capital in the near future. Two of the key problems pertaining to the Indian economy in its current state include accessibility to basic services like health and education, and creating futuristic jobs for the ever-increasing population. In the RAISE summit 2020, Mr. Chandrasekaran stressed on the importance of using AI-based tools and solutions to solve these problems, making India an example to other developing countries in the same.

As hard as it has become to 2 perform even the basic productive activities, the pandemic has forced In the long run, AI can be used to people to venture into, and provide easy access to skill discover the real scope of AI. development programs. It will help Companies are looking to switch to equip future generations to face more automated modes of the changing demands of the job production to remain unaffected markets and enable them to adapt by any future shocks as well as accordingly. AI would ensure easy support an increase in cost and embedding of learning into daily time efficiency. Investors and activities. For example, a Canadian venture capitalists are seeing the start-up Axonify has pioneered the commercial aspects of investing in concept of microlearning. It the research and development of comprises employee involvement in such software. In the short run, learning and performance the development and adoption of improvement activities that are AI into the production methods will matched to their individual needs result in massive job loss. A report by an AI algorithm for three to from the World Economic Forum five minutes per shift. predicted that by 2025, machines will take over and do half of the AI will match workers and labour work tasks. This would compromise requirements in an extremely the jobs of over 97 million people, efficient and accurate manner. Start- most of whom are involved in ups like SkyHive and Kalido have manual labour such as created AI-driven platforms that manufacturing, administration, or connect workers to new opportunities data processing . The within and outside their current manufacturing and service sectors organizations based on their in most countries ideally have individual skill sets, career goals, and massive scope for employment. retraining needs.AI will match workers and labour requirements in However, excessive use of AI, or an extremely efficient and accurate rather 'The Robot Revolution' as manner. Start-ups like SkyHive and we call it, will reduce employment Kalido have created AI-driven opportunities and the scope of platforms that connect workers to the job market to a large extent. new opportunities within and outside their current organizations based on It would increase the already their individual skill sets, career high rates of unemployment goals, and retraining needs caused by the pandemic and plunge thousands back into poverty.

3 Essentially, they are using AI analysis to approve credit and to try and predict the type of services the consumer market will require next. Source: International Federation of Robotics Japan is a global leader in robot production and industrial use, with As per the graph, Korea has the the fourth-highest robot density highest robot density in the world. globally. They have integrated AI They have begun using AI to improve into just about every field- right from efficiency and accuracy of their the robot chefs and waiters in Public Employment service platforms, restaurants to the usage of AI-based allowing users to find jobs that match algorithms in decision making and their skill sets. public organisations. Recently, Japan has been researching the usage of AI To prepare for a robot-powered in the drug discovery market and to labour force, Korean universities are try and predict the number of Covid- inculcating the required soft skills and 19 cases in given areas based on a set technological abilities in their of variable factors. students. Singapore and Germany are considered to be the world’s most Hopefully, the rest of the world will ready cities to face the AI disruption. catch up to these levels of AI is expected to double economic advancement a few years down the growth rates in Singapore by the year lane. AI will generate more jobs than 2035.Singapore is using AI to make it will take. However, said jobs will online public service interfaces more also be of higher quality, meaning user-friendly and their armed forces they will require only skilled are investigating unmanned AI labourers. Unskilled labourers who systems to go to war, pre-empting its constitute a majority of the labour deficiency. AI is revolutionising workforce in most underdeveloped Germany’s financial sector. or developing economies will be at a disadvantage.

Hence, the development of AI and its 4 complete integration into the growing economies will ultimately lead to the Bibliography: formation of a much more efficient 1.Mark Caine. (Oct 2020). “Here's and futuristic system and a skilled labour force that will be able to alter How AI Can Train Workers for the itself according to the ever-changing Jobs of the Future”, World Economic market requirements. The flip side will Forum be the loss of jobs for unskilled labourers in the short run. In the end, 2.Erika P. (Oct 2020).“Robot it all comes down to survival of the Revolution: Machines to Do 50% Of fittest. Labourers will need to adapt Work Tasks By 2025”.Science Times to the functionalities of AI to sustain in their respective line of profession. 3.International Monetary Fund Blog. AI is the inevitable end game; it is up (June 2018). “Chart of the Week: to the labour force to use it to their Japan's Robots”Yoonyoung Choo. own reward. (February 2020). “How is Korea preparing for the jobs of the future and what can we learn from them?”. World Bank Blogs. 4.Priya Dialani. (October 2020). “Top 10 AI government projects in the world”. Analytics Insight DID YOU KNOW? May Day is one of the most important holidays in communist countries such as China, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union countries.

5 Source: fairtube.info ORGANISING As the world labour market undergoes perennial innovation, and as technology creates unconventional job opportunities, organizing such LABOUR IN contemporary jobs markets can be challenging. In this case study, we will examine one such UNCONVENTIONAL unconventional platform and how the community as a whole organized themselves in a state of dire situation. Case in point- YOUTUBE.Firstly, to JOBS MARKET – understand the whole conflict, we must understand A CASE ON what YouTube is and its operations. YouTube is a video sharing service that allows users to watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of YOUTUBE their own (Tech Terms, October 7, 2009). YouTube, unlike a conventional market, provides a platform for the major components – producers, employees By R.M. Jaya Preethi and consumers, to communicate and to undertake business operations. On YouTube, a content creator II B.A.Economics (or a producer) can create a channel and post video materials for consumers or viewers to watch (or consume)

6 Content creators are predominantly called YouTubers. YouTubers earn money from those videos for as many views they receive and advertisers are allowed to promote alongside. YouTube, as a mediator takes a commission, and provides the rest to the youtuber. More than 500 hours of content are now being uploaded to YouTube every minute ( Tubefilter , May 7, 2019) . There Source: Tubefilter are more than 31 million YouTube channels in total. As a platform provider, YouTube also provides Just like any type of job market, certain conditions to access their YouTube has also been scrutinized platform, such as entry for their trade practices and lack requirements, an algorithmic of transparency. It had arrangement for the YouTubers to undergone several scandals and follow and to strictly follow their thus it was important for terms and conditions. YouTube YouTubers to create a union. To uses viewer's data and search name a few conflicts on YouTube, history to suggest videos of their it changed its algorithm in a way likings. Since YouTube is a platform that YouTubers will get paid with cut-throat competition, according to their watch time YouTubers have to vehemently rather than quality. This means follow the algorithm provided by that the videos were monetized the platform, to increase views according to their runtime and the and monetize their videos. quality of the video is not considered as a tool. Another conflict arose among the community when the viewers and YouTubers noticed the flaws in YouTube's algorithmic dynamic flaws. The automated system that recommended relevant videos to the viewers were updated without any notice to the YouTubers. Source: Joerg Sprave

7 This led to frequent algorithm In March 2019, Jörg Sprave and changes which affected the small several other YouTubers like Felix YouTubers. When YouTube Rewind Kjellberg, popularly known as 2018 (the year end review of all PewDiePie joined hands and started trends that took over the digital the ‘Youtuber's Union’ (YTU). They platforms) was released on December gathered evidence and data 6, 2018, it was evident that the regarding the Adpocalypse, and company has poor understanding and came to negotiate with YouTube. But alliance with its major creators. But before that they sought support from the major issue that led to the a German trade union IG metall, and organizing of labour, was the started the ‘Fairtube Campaign’. phenomenon called ‘Adpocalypse’. There had been several phases of On their campaign website, they increasing intensity of this stated six demands which had to be Adpocalypse. But it originated at a addressed by YouTube, if failed to point when certain YouTubers were do the same, they manifested to caught in scandals due to making proceed with a lawsuit and continue allegedly anti-semantic and disturbing to put public pressure. The videos. representatives of all three organizations had several meetings This led to major companies like to sort out the conflict. The demands Nestle, Walmart and Starbucks to of YTU-IG metall were not entirely cancel their advertising deals with met by YouTube but YTU-IG metall YouTube, resulting in a loss of USD were able to bring the company 750 million for the company. under public scrutiny, thus letting the YouTubers gain more institutional power and the freedom to question the executives. In an effort to appeal to their audience Although the YTU had a better and their advertising partners, chance against YouTube, it was also YouTube imposed strict monetization majorly criticized for being laws, and took down several videos dominated by northern men. Even which alludes to disturbing content. after, YTU, YouTube was criticized This drastic effort by the company for several administrative flaws. affected small YouTubers, who decided to negotiate with the company.

8 Still today, YTU has managed to be Bibliography: an effective union for YouTubers. On studying the Adpocalypse and 1.“YouTube”.(October 2009).Tech the subsequent formation of YTU-IG metall coalition, we could draw Terms three conclusions. They are : 2.James Hale.(May 2019). “More The organizing of YouTubers results in an advantage for the Than 500 Hours Of Content Are union. Since all the members of such unions have fan following, Now Being Uploaded To YouTube they could be able to approach a wider audience and thus put Every Minute”.Tubefilter pressure on the company to meet their needs. 3.“Ever wonder how YouTube Since the majority of YouTubers also use other platforms (primarily works?”. YouTube. for branding) such as Twitch, TikTok and Twitter, they could 4.Valentin Niebler and Annemarie convey their message to a wider audience in an easier way. Kern.(September Since the workers of the platform 2020).“Organising Youtube - A are widespread and diverse, following traditional methods of novel case of platform worker organizing might not be viable in the long run. As the job platform organising”.Friedrich - Ebert- undergoes innovation, the innovation in organizing labour in Stiftung. such unconventional platforms has also become important. 5.Techquickie.“How do YouTubers make money”.YouTube.. 6.Vlogbrothers.“The Adpocalypse: What it Means”. YouTube. 7.Nigahiga. “Why I haven't been posting”. YouTube. 8.Julia Alexander.(April 2019). “The Golden Age of YouTube is over”. The Verge. 9.Kaitlyn Tiffany.(July 2019). “Can YouTubers really unionize?”. Vox. 10.YTU-IG Metall.(March 2020). “We’re talking to YouTube again”. FairTube. 11.Piper Thomson. (June 2019). “Understanding YouTube Demonetization and the Adpocalypse”.Learning Hub. 12.Bijan Stephen.(August 2019). “YouTube says it won’t negotiate with the YouTubers Union”.The Verge.

9 Source: Employment Exchange Statistics 2018 DO OLD WORLD There was a time when corridors of interview rooms JOB PORTALS were crowded with 75 applicants slogging for 4 STILL HOLD THE available positions and that too for three long hours. Long stretches of queues at the employment SAME exchanges was a norm and also the most sought RELEVANCE? after centres for unemployed youth to get jobs. In fact since 1945, after the Second World War, By Dhriti. R. Rathod exchanges have played a significant role in helping them to get jobs in government and private sectors III B.A. Economics through the district level offices. Every developed country has set up a public employment exchange as a means to combat unemployment, help people find work and especially, assist the youth in starting Self-Employment Ventures through Vocational Guidance activities. They collect, furnish information on the prospective employers, current vacancies and job seekers, henceforth, facilitating them to find a suitable job and for the industries to find suitable manpower.

Currently, there are 997 10 exchanges in the country and their Another key factor for the underperformance is that they administrative and financial control cater only to government or public sector jobs, unlike the better lies with the respective State/U.T. performing states’ exchanges which cater mostly to private governments. The statistical sector jobs. Union minister of state for labour and employment, reports of the Director-General of Santosh Kumar Gangwar, stated that states like Arunachal Employment & Training, New Delhi, Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland recorded zero placements through shows that the State of Gujarat the employment exchanges between 2015 and 2018 May. The tops the list in providing overall ineffectiveness of exchanges coupled with the employment through labour regional imbalances in their performances is the major reason exchanges followed by behind this. Needless to say, the district employment exchanges Maharashtra. These states have that played a pivotal role in recruitment to government jobs adopted more modern techniques are losing their relevance in most of the states. such as outreach programmes and The Ministry of Labor and Employment job fairs to catalyze employment (GoI) launched a Mission Mode Project called National Career Service (NCS) in statistics. But in most of the other July 2015 for establishing quick and efficient career-related services across states, there is a declining trend in the country. This project, being India's largest employment platform for the number of people being placed bringing people and opportunities together, envisages setting up of through exchanges year on year. Model Career Centers (MCCs) in collaboration with various States/UTs In some states, there are relevant and Private Institutions. job opportunities but it is quite tough to coordinate. They are also not very proactive and still operate in an archaic manner. A typical case could be of Goa’s. To get placed, people still have to wait for days and get the paperwork done. They are basically out of touch with reality either due to the administrative delays or due to the dearth of prompt updates of job vacancies. In addition to that, only recently they have migrated online with the registration and other related activities.

The role of these MCCs revolves 11 around organizing job fairs, mobilizing employers, and The roping of IT service providers providing career counselling. They in labour exchanges is essential in are provided with a one-time such a scenario, but it has to come grant-in-aid by the respective along with additional funds as they state governments. don't really have the capacity to However, there are almost 1000 hold online job fairs. Furthermore, employment exchanges in the the staff at the exchanges should country, but only 170 have been be paid equivalent to the massive approved as MCCs. Moreover, task of managing requests of there are multiple challenges 25,000 job seekers (on an pertaining to the employability of average) across a state. In fact, job seekers. online platforms are also not completely seamless. Therefore, to Typically, 40-45 million job seekers a world already reeling under the are enrolled into exchanges at any shadow of a global pandemic, the given point. In the pandemic, the gap, necessarily, has to be numbers have ballooned to 60 bridged between the traditional million throughout the country. exchanges and digital platforms. Hence the employment opportunities are low. Most also The grants in aid have to be lack the IT infrastructure to run utilized for deploying the right operations and the linkage people for the right purpose. In between these platforms with the fact, a Public-Private Partnership particular state is hindered. would be beneficial in the MCC model. The government and the The rise of online job portals has corporate partner could share also contributed to the decline of funding. physical employment exchanges. In terms of holding many fairs in a Besides that, the latter would also year, or enabling timely updates of mentor and train the candidates vacancies or even having a for the near future. To sum up, the considerable amount of companies MCCs and employment exchanges participating in the job fairs, online require restructuring to make them job platforms have performed more IT ready and more prompt better than the old world job and updated with the vacancies portals. across the country.

12 Bibliography: 1.Sharad Raghavan. (Dec 2014). “The curious story of India’s employment exchanges”.Livemint 2.Rajendra Saxena. (Jun 2020). “Goa people can apply for govt, private jobs through the single portal”.Livemint. 3. Prabin Kalita. (Sept 2020).“Employment exchanges create few jobs in the northeast”. Times of India 4.Data source- Employment Exchange Statistics 2018 DID YOU KNOW? On May 4, 1886, a strike was held to condemn the long working hours (almost 15 hours) in Haymarket, Chicago which they wanted to be reduced to eight hours a day. When an unidentified person threw a bomb in the crowd, police started firing which killed 80 people and injured nearly 60. This came to be known as the Haymarket massacre. Four labour leaders were executed by hanging consequentially. It was recognised as an annual event, May Day in 1891 after a meeting held in 1889 in Paris

13 Source: Douglass North 1961 US SLAVERY: The US economy and its development today is a HOW WOULD IT reflection of the prosperity it attained by building a slave economy in the 17th and 18th century. The FAIR occupational transition that every developed ECONOMICALLY? country undergoes, i.e., movement from an agrarian to a manufacturing economy to finally engaging in By Poorni.S the service sector was possible for the US by enslaving millions of people, especially West II B.A. Economics Africans and augmenting an agricultural base with minimal or no labour costs. It is irrefutable that slavery can never be morally justified. Indubitably, slavery is one of the biggest sins that the human race has committed, but when viewed from an economic perspective, slavery is one of the building blocks of the economies of the Western World. If the Confederate Nation or the South (regions where slavery was practised extensively) was regarded as a separate country, it would have been the fourth richest nation in the world.

This article aims to answer the 14 following hypothesis- if not for the Source: British Library Civil War which helped in All in all, slavery worked out well for the economy for around 200 abolishing slavery, would the years. However, there was no sustainability in the concept of persistence of slavery had made slavery. Even with the absence of the Civil war, slavery was self- the US economy richer than it is destructive. Eventually, any economy will have to shift towards now? First, it is important to mechanization to enhance the production process. The economy understand the degree at which was reliant on slavery to such an extent that the invention of slavery was practised in order to machines furthered the demand for slaves. For example, the solve the above hypothesis. invention of the cotton gin, which was meant to replace the slaves, Slavery was the most significant ended up increasing the overall demand for cotton, thereby investment made by plantation increasing the demand for slaves as well. Moreover, a great owners during the Pre-Civil War proportion of the slave owner's capital was tied up in slave period. In the 18th century, around employment, with very less left to spend on physical capital 9.5 million slaves were imported in accumulation. the Atlantic Slave Trade. As the quantum of imports kept increasing, the slave population also increased as the plantation owners ensured breeding within the slaves and also made the status of slave heritable by birth. More than 50% of the US’s exports to the rest of the globe was cotton, which is one of the primary crops produced by the slaves. Despite being majorly industrialised, the North, which had criminalized slavery, made lesser contributions to the economy when compared to the South.

In the words of Adam Smith, the 15 “key elements in the growth process are the nature, Educated slaves, as perceived by accumulation, and employment of the owners, would be insolent and stock”, the lack of which would not cocky. Such harsh discrimination of have ensured long term economic African slaves also created a state development. The year-round of inequality, which has always cultivation and harvest that the proved to be a hindrance to slaves were engaged in had also development. The ramifications of led to soil exhaustion. Most slavery are felt by the US economy importantly, the poor working and to this day. If not post Civil War, living conditions of the slaves led slavery would have been abolished to the degradation of the quality eventually as it would not sustain of labour. As the Schultz theory of in today’s welfare-oriented world. Human Capital suggests, when humans are treated as a unit of However, housing segregation, capital, continuous investment in race-based labour discrimination, health and education is essential to systemic racial oppression towards tap into the growth potential of an blacks are still some of the socio- economy. economic issues that deter the US’s economic development. From the However, enslaving people meant 18th century slavery to the Civil snatching away their privilege to Rights Movement to today’s live like a human and revolutionary Black Lives Matter commoditizing them. Slaves were movement, the Africans- treated maliciously by their Americans have come a long way owners. in their pursuit of equality in the society. Yet, the upward economic They were forced to stay in dingy mobility of the community has been sheds, lashed when their daily a herculean task till now, thanks to targets were not met, sexually a history of enslaving them! abused, shot or sometimes even hung to death and the bitterest pill out of all was the fact that it was legal to treat slaves this way. In fear of retorting against them, the idea of literacy was stripped from the slaves. It was not ‘imperative’ for the slaves to be educated since they were equated to farm animals.

16 As established before, the Bibliography: existence of slavery for the two centuries that it prevailed had 1.Carina Schauland. (2011). “The quite a positive impact on the US economy. However, it is fair to say Effect of the Plantation’s Size and that its persistence beyond the Civil War would have been its Capital Utilization on the economically disastrous. The whole concept of slavery would have Viability of Slavery as an Economic been proved unsustainable over time, not to mention, given rising to System”. Tilburg University. an inhumane, unproductive system.. 2.Conrad, A.H. & Meyer, J.R. (1958).“The Economics of Slavery in the Ante Bellum South”. The Journal of Political Economy. 3. Greg Timmons.(2020).“How Slavery became the Economic Engine of the South”.History. 4.Adam Smith.(1776). “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”. Vol. II. Penguin Classics. DID YOU KNOW? Why is May 1 not a big deal in the United States? For years, the United States has intentionally whitewashed May Day from its culture and consciousness. In 1894, after the Pullman Strike in Chicago, President Grover Cleveland declared the first Monday in September a national holiday to celebrate Labor Day.

17 Source: UNDP 2002 OVERCOMING THE Labour migration from rural to urban areas, in CHALLENGES OF general, has always been represented either as a RURAL-URBAN burden on urban governments and native populations or as an opportunity for the employers LABOUR to cruelly exploit the migrants with brutally heavy MIGRATION loads of work by paying them wages which are abnormally low. Though the depiction is almost true By Swathi Suresh (especially if we are discussing the Indian labour migration situation), that is not how it is supposed to II B.A. Economics be. We can and should definitely do better than our current performance. In India, the rural-urban migration rates are low when compared to other developing countries due to the sub-standard labour welfare the migrants are provided with. Rural-urban migration is not always about opportunity-grabbing and labour exploitation. Making labour migration good-enough sure has its challenges, but setting the status quo straight is not like boiling the ocean.

18 Migration decisions to urban areas Source: Chinese Mini-Census; IFLS; NSS from rural areas is filled with fear and doubt due to its unregulated, No matter how menial the migrant unsafe and informal nature. Every single step taken by a migrant labourers’ jobs are, regulating worker since the day he decides to make the move into a city till the their migration and employment by day he quits his job to get back to his village remains unrecorded. A consistent efforts such as (1) local resort would have better and detailed entries of the two-day digitalisation and documentation of recreational stays that the privileged plan in order to have all hiring, remuneration and the necessary information handy, just in case of any complication. resignation processes; (2) There still isn’t any notable change in the realm of migrant labour inspections to ensure that no welfare, notwithstanding reports of innumerable injustices towards human right (right to work in just them. and safe conditions, right against Source: The Hindu Business Line exploitation, right to equality, to name a few) is being violated; (3) providing the workers with enough social protection; (4) innovations like insurance for migrant labourers to make their lives secure are basic yet profound ways to remove the tarnishes over the country’s internal migration image.

One of the biggest complaints of 19 rural-urban labour migration is that migrant labourers take up all the Urban natives complain that the opportunities available in the influx of migrant labourers results market, leaving natives of the city in congestion of the cities and unemployed. The employers find it emergence of slums which in turn profitable to employ cheap labour give rise to high levels of crime from rural areas rather than rates and wider social disparity. employing workers who belong to Improving the infrastructure of the city itself whose labour is not destination cities to prevent these as inexpensive. This results in problems is usually looked upon as violence between the raged a burden on the urban residents who are unemployed and governments’ budgets. Rather it the desperate migrant workers should be seen as an opportunity who readily take up any work for to make these cities better places less than minimum wages. It is very to live in. clear that the excess flow of migrant labour into a city proves to This will not just benefit the be awful for both sides. migrants, but better infrastructure for a city means better quality of Therefore, these cities need just living for every resident. This idea the right number of migrant of enhanced infrastructure almost labourers who would fill in the never finds its way to realisation. places available only after the Although it is true that an employment of the native workers overwhelming turnout in the of the city. number of migrants will cause unmanageable stress on the social Since we do not have any magic infrastructure, the right number of incantation in order to find and labour entries with a good amount work along that grey area, the of planning helps a city develop. only way to overcome this hurdle is by regulating wages in such There are a few other issues related fashion that there is no income to rural-urban labour migration such inequality across labours from as loss of workers in rural areas, rural and urban areas. That way, decrease in consumption due to the employers wouldn’t have to increased amounts of remittances, fish for cheap rural labour. enmity between migrants and natives due to cultural differences.

20 Solving these problems requires Bibliography: consistent documentation and regulation of inflows into a city. By 1.Kaivan Munshi and Mark doing so, the cities can make optimum use of the productive Rosenzweig. (2006), “Networks agents arriving from rural areas. Rural-urban migrants help the and Misallocation: Insurance, destination cities close the urban skill gaps, promote urbanisation Migration, and the Rural-Urban and social infrastructure, bring in a variety of new services, push for Wage Gap”. American integrated development and become more culturally diverse. Economic Review. 2.Kunal Keshri & Ram B. Bhagat . (2013). “Socioeconomic Determinants of Temporary Labour migration in India”. Asian Population Studies. 3.World Economic Forum in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2017). “Migration and its Impact on Cities”.World Economic Forum. 4.United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).(2002). 5.Chinese mini-census.(2006). 6.National Sample Survey (NSS). (2004). 7.Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS).(2007) DID YOU KNOW? 58% of all children in child labour and 62% of all children in hazardous work are boys. Boys appear to face a greater risk of child labour than girls, but this may also be a reflection of an under-reporting of girls’ work, particularly in domestic child labour.

21 Source: bigrentz.com BREAD OR LIFE - What would you answer if you were asked to WHAT DO YOU choose between the two - bread and life? Of course, life. Well, then how would you be able to live TRADE? or sustain without food. So, isn't food more crucial then, but the very need for food is non-existent if it By Krithika R is traded with life. The whole situation sounds absurd. Doesn't it?This is exactly the question that III B.A.Economics glooms over the labour in the informal sector. They deal with making the most bizarre and inhuman choice almost every day wherein they are forced to work in a field that they know is hazardous and might kill them slowly and even worse, painfully. They are forced to trade life in return for food, for the gut rules. The workers who do this tough trade are generally employed in the fields of construction, mining, weaving, tobacco processing, etc.

Congested workplaces, restricted 22 work area, poor illumination, high .In a study published by Industrial Health, around 85% of workers noise levels (80–90 dB) and (male and female) reported headaches in power loom weaving, extreme environmental conditions mainly because of the noisy environment and cramped space, of high temperatures and humidity, 63% of workers reported injury due to unguarded machinery. In regular exposure to hazardous the handloom industry, around 53% of the males and 36% of the substances, risk of fatal accidents females reported respiratory problems. Similar strikingly high and injuries, poor physical and figures were found by the study in other industries too. mental health, lack of access to The graph below shows the effects clean water and sanitation, poor of work conditions, strenuous hours and the physical lifestyle choices (chewing tobacco, impediments that become the cause for major musculoskeletal smoking, liquor) are a few disorders and it can be observed that back problems are very much characteristics of the informal common in the given industries. Apart from health complications, sector. Added to this is the social accidents in the chemical industries is also a problem that cannot be stigma with a tinge of government ignored.. negligence which worsens the lives Source: Industrial Health of the workers, pushing their faith to the brink. Accidents and carelessness in chemical industries is another big concern that is most of the time underestimated and fatalities become the consequence. Occupational threats to health vary from industry to industry. The most common issues in the construction sector are musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory problems, injuries, skin diseases. Similar issues prevail in the tobacco processing, mining, textile and other industries too. The Indian Council of Medical Research reported that the prevalence rates of silicosis in Bihar mines are 34.1%, of pneumoconiosis in coal mines is up to 45%, and of byssinosis in textile workers is 8.4%.

23 . The wounds of the Bhopal Gas Source: india.com Tragedy still remain fresh in the ‘heart’ of the Indian Economy. The India has come a long way from leakage of Methyl Isocyanate from the Union Carbide India Ltd. one of the worst industrial (UCIL) had turned the city into a graveyard. The gas leak killed disasters but how far is the more than 15,000 people and affected over 6,00,000 workers. question to be pondered The stillbirth rate and the neonatal upon.Lack of legislation is not the mortality rate increased by up to 300% and 200% respectively. The problem here, it is the actual impact of the accident could never be measured accurately by implementation and their any study as the impact passed from generation to generation effectiveness that needs focus. creating never-ending victims. The Fatal Accidents Act 1855, The accident not only killed the labourers but also the residents Personal Injuries (Compensation near the site. The economic impact of the same could never be Insurance) Act 1963, Factories Act completely ascertained. Hence, the lives of the survivors and their 1948, Employees’ State Insurance kids are even hard to imagine. Act 1948 are a few of the laws It cannot be even surmised the hardships the survivors and what that are in place to protect the their successors go through with health-related disorders, lack of interests of the workers. health facilities, and a failed system that delayed justice for Negligence, bureaucracy, decades. The latest news of a gas leak was reported in May 2020 in corruption, power politics hamper Visakhapatnam at LG Polymers chemical plant. Around 11 deaths their effective functioning. were reported with more than 1000 exposed to the gas. Also, the redressal of grievance is a long process in the country which ultimately discourages the workers to seek legal support. Exploitation by the corporates is rampant too. Hence, justice seems like a luxury.

The existing laws need to be 24 enforced strictly with no compromise and the workers need Bibliography: to be educated, about their rights, 1. Shivali, Suri & Das, Ranjan. (2016). minimum wages, laws that protect “Occupational health profile of them and the threats relevant. The workers employed in the workers need to be strictly manufacturing sector of India”. provided with protective gears, The National medical journal of equipment to protect them from India. 29. dust and harmful chemicals at such 2.Nag A, Vyas H, Nag P. 2016. sites. Labour unions should focus “Occupational health scenario of more on the workers rather than Indian informal sector”. Industrial the politics and fight for the rights Health. of their workers. More than 3.Mandal A. K. (2009). “Strategies anything, bringing the workers in and policies deteriorate such sectors under the radar of occupational health situation in control will help solve the problem India: A review based on social to a large extent. The only answer determinant framework”. Indian to the question asked earlier, journal of occupational and bread or life; would be a life where environmental medicine, 13(3), 113– occupational health risks are 120. minimum and protection is a 4.Saha R. K. (2018). “Occupational priority, where it is a life with Health in India”. Annals of global bread and not either one. health, 84(3), 330–333. 5.“What was Bhopal Gas Tragedy”. Business Standard. DID YOU KNOW? On an average, 2 out of 3 Indians are below the age of 35, if it continues then India needs to create over 1.3 million jobs per month for the next coming 15 years.

25 Source: MediaPhoto.org “I LOVE GBV” H&M is a fast-fashion company that requires APPAREL BY H&M workers from factories to set unrealistic production targets to meet rapid global consumer demand. The - DESIGNER major factories that are subcontractors to this GIAMBATTISTA company are mostly set up in Cambodia, VALLI OR GENDER Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In BASED VIOLENCE? these countries, up to 80 - 95 per cent are women workers in the production field as line tailors and By Disha Chaturvedi helpers whereas the majority of males are seen to be working as supervisors and managers. They hire a II B.A.Economics bulk of women in this field because they seem to be submissive and disciplined. We can therefore notice how women are appointed disproportionately in these workplaces through patterns of abuse that suppresses many of their voices and the urge to reach out and seek justice.

26 Daily wage contractors employed Source: New York Times through manpower, migrant women, single women and women from A woman of 25 years was marginalized communities are extremely vulnerable to physical and constantly harassed, was asked to verbal abuse including sexual advances from higher authorities. go out with his manager and was Physical and mental harm for not meeting production targets in the told that if she refused to listen, form of throwing bundles of books or clothing at women, beating, pushing she would have to suffer and public humiliation is experienced by multiple women. They are consequences. She refused and frightened to speak up because the kind of threats and retaliation that went on to file a police complaint they might receive at the workplace is horrifying. The wages of these women but unfortunately, they dismissed workers are so awfully low that they aren’t able to meet nutritional her case to be very simple and requirements for themselves and their families. The pressure to work pointless to intervene. They overtime to meet the targets is intense but they have no choice as their complained to the manager and wages are already low and are not allowed to leave the workplace she ended up getting fired from before completing the target or else they are threatened with being fired her job through no fault of her from their jobs. They end up compromising on their lunch breaks, own. This is the horrible plight of restroom breaks and drinking water. women working in these garment Source: change.org industries.The terrible infrastructure also causes poor air circulation exposing them to high heat, chemical substances and causing mass fainting among workers. Infrastructure in all of the supplier factories that work for these fast fashion companies is poor. In 2013, a factory known as the ‘Rana Plaza’ in Bangladesh collapsed and killed around 1000 factory workers.

There were cracks in the building 27 and even after an engineer advised them that the state of the By the time they come back, they building is dangerous, the line are reinstated and are provided managers still went against his completely renewed contracts advice and forced the workers to therefore stealing them of their finish their targets. Similarly, a seniority. Talking about seniority, textile factory in Karachi, Pakistan the majority of the female workers also suffered from a fire in 2012 are fired so that they do not have that took the lives of around 260 to be given any benefits related to people. They are overloaded with the same. This apparently will save work and given fewer wages. This them labour costs. The Global causes a calorie deficit that leads labour structure means that there to low energy and passing out. may be workers from different Many who faint also die because backgrounds. In Cambodia, the of heart attacks and other manager may only speak Chinese breathing diseases. and on the other hand, the textile workers may speak a different The Cambodian National Social language. Security Fund found that there were 1,603 cases of mass fainting These language barriers create that included H&M suppliers with tension and frustration further 98% of them being women.The aggravating the situation into female workers on a contract basis verbal harassment towards female receive more threats of not workers.Some of the solutions that renewing their contracts if they were suggested included setting take sick leave or do not meet realistic production targets, targets. concrete data on the deaths and the abuse the workers suffer from They are fired from their jobs if the factories and its managers, they don’t meet certain awareness regarding the violence requirements and are not able to that women have to go through, find jobs elsewhere as they ensure proper payment of stable become blacklisted. In Cambodia, wages and increase job openings when women are pregnant, they at the managerial and supervisory are asked to take maternity leave level for women. but it is not paid for. The worst part is that the fashion brand is pretty much helpless as they hire Tier 1 companies and these companies outsource the work to the subcontractors where these women work.

28 H&M, therefore, is not legally obliged Bibliography: to offer a better workplace. But at the same time just because they escape 1. Global Labour Justice.(May 2018). these legal loopholes doesn’t mean they become complacent and ignorant “Gender-Based Violence in the towards their moral and social responsibility. The business, the H&M Garment Supply economy is built upon its people and to exploit them would be the same as Chain”.Workers voices from the pretending as if ethics in a firm never existed. Therefore, any right-minded Global Supply Chain: A report to company would try to bring out policies that work for the betterment the ILO. of its people. 2.Mehreen Tariq Ghani. (July 2020). “Inside the Ugliness of the Fast Fashion Industry - Maverick Youth Medium”. Medium. DID YOU KNOW? On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. Tens of thousands more, both skilled and unskilled, joined them on May 3 and May 4.

29 Source: UNICEF ANALYSING THE Ever since its establishment in 1919, the International EFFECTIVENESS Labour Organisation(ILO) has been an important agent that ensures labour protection and welfare OF IPEC ON across the globe. Through its tripartite structure, it INDIAN CHILD guarantees“accessible, productive, and sustainable work”. In 1992, the International Program for the LABOUR Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) was created by ILO and has been in effect till this day. It is under By T.S.Pavithra operation in 88 countries as of today and India is one among them. The main goal of IPEC is to II B.A.Economics promote a worldwide movement against child labour, to build enough productive capacity in a nation’s economy through its legally permissible workforce and for theoverall annihilation of worldwide child labour.

30 Data Source: Census According to Census 2011, 4% of What has IPEC’s role been in order the child population in India is under to improve the status of child main or marginal employment. The labourers in India? IPEC launched working child population is the INDUS Child Labour Project in concentrated in a number of states, 2004 which was jointly funded by especially in Uttar Pradesh, the GOI and US Department of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, etc, with Labour. The INDUS Project 55% of child employment activities identified target beneficiaries from occurring here. The demand for 5 states, namely, Madhya Pradesh, child workers is higher in urban Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar areas and has grown by more than Pradesh, and Delhi. Its strategy 50% since 2001. It is still practised was to withdraw children from heavily in industries such as hazardous work and provide them diamond mining, cosmetics, with transitional schooling, pre- fireworks, sericulture, etc. The vocational education, and social Government of India (GOI) has support to prevent relapse. The made efforts concerning the project has grown successful in prohibition of child labour practice attaining its goals to a large and alleviation of the state of child extent. It was considered ‘timely’ labourers. Right to Education, 2009 and ‘well-conceived’ as it was a and the Child Labour Prohibition holistic and integrated approach and Regulation Act (amended), towards eliminating Child Labour. 2016 in line with ILO conventions It used the concept of and UN Sustainable Development convergence between multiple Goals’ are some of the legislation levels of administration to address against it. However, child labour is underlying and root causes of child still a persisting issue in India. labour.

31 The social mobilisation was the most In the first decade of the 21st successful outcome of the project as century, the incidence of child it was able to mobilise parents and labour reduced which was due to other project stakeholders at the the joint efforts of several community level. Finally, the development policies of our programme ensured constant government as well the ILO’s response to stakeholder concerns and involvement. This reduction was new opportunities. Was the INDUS probably possible due to the project successful in accomplishing its tripartite structure of ILO which objectives? The impact study effectively involves the employers, conducted by ILO found government, and trade unions. ILO discrepancies in some areas and still has a long journey to fare to suggested the following in order to fulfil its aim of worldwide annihilation rectify the deviations in the project- of child labour, yet, it is fair to say initiating immediate strategies to that it has been impactful with all of improve the comprehensiveness and its actions. credibility of the monitoring data, strengthening the pre-vocational Bibliography: education and providing free school 1. GOI. Ministry of Labour and uniforms to children under existing Employment. (2015) (last government schemes. updated).IPEC. 2.Dr. Lakshmidhar Mishra. Apart from the INDUS project, several (2009). “Impact of INDUS Indian states have developed Child Labour Project Program collaborative projects with international on on Policy and Programmes governments. Andhra Pradesh for Elimination of Child Labour collaborated with UK’s Department of in India”.GOI International Development using 3.ILO. (2004). “Independent innovative models to address child Evaluation of the InFocus labour. Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)”. The Karnataka government 4.ILO.“Mission and Impact” collaborated with the Italian 5. ILO.(2018). “MAP16 Project government where importance was activities in India” given to raising awareness and skill and vocational education induction to raise their levels of income and standard of living.

32 Source: Futurism UNIVERSAL BASIC At the wake of a transformed economy, which sees a future where around 400-800 million jobs could be lost due to automation (by the year 2030), it is an INCOME - irrefutable fact that the changing world’s labour LABOUR’S needs a sense of security to be productive participants of a dynamic economy. This has been ARMOUR IN the major reason for Universal Basic Income’s popularity in recent times, being one of the ideas propagated by tech moguls like Mark Zuckerberg FORESIGHT OF AN and Elon Musk. The idea had first been mentioned in the sixteenth century by Sir Thomas More’s in his AI ERA work “Utopia”. It had been a topic of discussion ever since, as it continued being mentioned by several By Anuradha Jaishankar, economic and political philosophers throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Its relevance amidst the rise of AI has earned UBI several supporters, I B.A.Economics with multiple business moguls, a democratic candidate for presidency in the US and Pope Francis being vocal advocates.

33 Source: Harvard University Universal Basic Income is The program has seen substantial theoretically a program by the government that would provide success, making Telengana a each citizen, above the age of 18, a guaranteed pay delivered model for other states in India to periodically without a working requirement. UBI would guarantee follow. It has been able to help every citizen a standard sum regardless of their income, gender farmers buy inputs for production or social position in order to maintain a democratic element, as without hindrances and has all taxpayers deserve to receive its benefits. The program’s objective therefore helped improve farmer’s is to remove excessive government influence and bureaucratic productive capacity. UBI’s impact inefficiencies in the usage of welfare funds given to people. The on labour performance has been program is yet to be fully implemented as of now, but some widely criticized by several countries have implemented it on a small scale. Brazil, Finland, South assailants, who claim that a Korea and Canada are a few countries that have tried it on a guaranteed sum from the small scale. In India, Telangana has implemented a scheme for government would make workers farmers , called the Rythu Bandhu scheme , which provides Rs 8000 lazy. Although this might be true per year for each farmer for two crops, regardless of their earnings. for some workers, the experiments conducted reveal the opposite for a majority of workers. Students and young people from poor backgrounds usually are financially pressured to terminate their education in order to support their families. In such cases, a guaranteed sum from the government would help students complete their education and even develop skills, leading to a specialized workforce.

Even students from middle-income 34 backgrounds get to access several When the basic needs of workers are met, the workers can focus on opportunities educationally, needs that were previously ignored. When a worker does so, equipping themselves for a he or she would be focusing on specialisation. This would prove to competitive job market. It is improve the workforce available, especially at the face of a important to note that UBI receives changing economy which would let machines take over jobs that were support mainly from countries that previously occupied by humans. UBI has also proven to be an have high unemployment rates and effective stimulus in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic slow development.In most cases, effects of the pandemic have been devastating in most countries welfare schemes focus on the across the globe, especially in countries with a large proportion family unit and provide a sum for a of the population under poverty. family to collectively use. UBI This guaranteed sum would uplift families and improve consumption however, has a focus on expenditure, which is essential for an economic recovery. It has individuality, hence allowing for always been true that when machines take over jobs, it would the individual development of each provide humans the scope to pay more attention to tasks that economically active citizen. require human skills and in turn improve labour specialisation. Experiments in the village of Omitara in Namibia had actually This trend has been integral to the found that with UBI, households economic boom that the global had resources to set up a small economy has witnessed since the business, and even increased the wake of the industrial revolution. purchasing power of households, which in turn led to the growth of these small businesses.UBI has also been seen as a source of empowerment to women as it would reduce their dependence on the males of the household. Excessive pressure on labour would force workers to forego leisure due to their financial position. It has been found that UBI would promote a considerably higher level of leisure among workers, which in turn would positively affect their performance at work.

35 The juncture, in which unskilled 2. Tim Vlandas. (June 2019). \"The workers find themselves in today while competing with AI, could Politics of the Basic Income lead to a path that could make further labour specialisation a Guarantee: Analysing Individual necessity to move forward. This trajectory would also see a growth Support in Europe\". Basic Income in the economy as workers would utilise a higher production Studies, vol. 14, no. 1 DOI capacity. An assured sum like the one UBI provides is crucial to make 3.Sodha, Sonia. (February 2017). this transition an effective and smooth path towards the future. “Is Finland’s basic universal Bibliography: income a solution to automation, 1.Veronika Hudáková. (February 2015). “The Impact of a Basic fewer jobs and lower wages?”. Income on Labour Supply and Work Performance”.Wageningen The Guardian. University of Life Sciences and Research Centre 4.Anonymous. (March 2018).“Telangana proposes Rs 5L insurance cover, Rs 12,000 crore support scheme for farmers”. The Economic Times. 5. Michael D Tanner. (May 2015). \"The Pros and Cons of a Guaranteed National Income\". Cato Institute. DID YOU KNOW? Labor Day began as a demonstration for workers rights but is modernly seen as an opportunity to celebrate the last day of summer.

DIRTY HANDS TO 36 DIAMOND RING [MOVIE REVIEW- Source: MoviesAnywhere.com BLOOD DIAMOND] By S.V.Shruthi Shri I B.A.Economics The 2006 movie which made a box office of $ 171.7million starring Leonardo Di Caprio is made in the backdrop of an African country Sierra Leone which used to be peaceful at one time but is now filled with a turmoil of bonded labour and war over diamonds. It is common knowledge that black people are tormented by the white but this film opens up a new world in which the Africans themselves pitted against each other for the greed of money. The movie portrays how capitalism in the rest of the world has affected the underdeveloped countries. The audience is filled with guilt as they look into the plight of the black laborers who are thrashed and put into concentration camps for the sake of the princess cut diamond that sits on their finger. It addresses a global issue and is nerve-wracking as we wait for events to unfold.

37 Source:Hands for Africa Solomon Vandy played by Honsou, is Although a decade old and despite a Mende fisherman who discovers a not being filmed in Sierra Leone pink diamond which is extremely itself the director has done a great valuable and hides it. He is soon job in bringing out the realities. The abducted and made to work in mines ending is natural- on a of Africa. His family is torn during mountainside and you will these tumultuous times. Women are understand it once you see the raped and children are taken away. movie. It ends with a note of As a Civil War breaks out, children saving lives and putting an end to are made to hold guns and the entire the parallel economy which is the scenic landscape is a sore sight. The main block of human development rarity of the diamond and the with its shadow side. It is a must- demand for it adds to the thriller.Mr watch movie indeed, for now, you Di Caprio plays Danny Archer who is will begin to wonder as a consumer a Rhodesian born seasoned and as a businesswoman/man if smuggler and a mastermind in you are one if everything we buy running the ‘’black economy’’. He is ethically sourced or are promises to help Vandy in return for labourers spilling their blood for the diamond and gets redemption in our blip of materialistic joy. the end with the help of an American journalist Maddy Bowen played by Jennifer Connelly who tries to throw light into the horrors of Sierra Leone with its dying labour, women and children on the streets sitting on the garbage and the brutal firings.

Sierra Leone, a tropical West 38 African country with its hills and white sand beaches gained “Children aged between 5 and 16 independence from the United were used in hard labour, for ten Kingdom in 1961, saw unchecked hours a day, \" According to the corruption and economic collapse, paper posted by the Danish Trade with gasoline being extremely Union Agency, after many years, scarce, the Government being the outdated monthly minimum unable to pay its teachers and the wage was finally increased in 2015 education system hitting rock from Le21,000 (US$3.7) to bottom. By the 1980s there was an Le500,000 (US$63). This is without entire generation of youth who inflation adjustment. The catch is had no jobs leading to poor human that the application of formal resources and increasing poverty. wages, including minimum wage, are not applied in the informal Despite having abundance in natural economy that shadows close to resources both in terms of food, nine out of ten workers. The minerals and precious metal employment distribution is such including diamond and gold, it came that men are over-represented in to nothing but a call of a curse that trade and restaurants. ransacked the entire country. Private investors took over the Employment in the manufacturing control of these resources and sector covers just 2.8% and is diamonds were illicitly traded and dominated by informal small and smuggled with revenue going medium-sized enterprises using directly into their pockets at the simple technologies. Employment in expense of the civilians. Sierra Leone has experienced some structural changes during In 2003, BBC News reported that the last two decades. during the 10-year civil war in Sierra Leone, children were used Employment in the agricultural as combatants and child labourers sector dropped from 71% to 58%. The in the diamond mines of Koidu in industry basically did not change the north-eastern district of Kono. staying at 6% while the service sector increased: from 23% to 36%. It has 42% of its population below the age of 14 years, a youthful nation. In 2010, more than half a million children were out of school working in the mines and the numbers have only increased today.

The Government has tried to 39 improve the image of it from war- torn to that of a country of a Although it looks like the worst is potential investment. The Ebola overlooking back on the nightmarish outbreak in 2014-2016, combined Civil War. The country has a long way with falling global commodities to go in terms of achieving human prices, caused a significant development, it being in the lowest contraction of economic activity in category with a rank of 184 out of 189 all areas in Sierra Leone, followed and giving its labour a sense of by the current COVID crisis whose security and a feeling of dignity. effects on the economy still remains unknown. The labour laws Bibliography: there date back to the 1860s and hence are obsolete. A total of 35 1. Rahul Sharma. (March 2018). of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) conventions “Child labour in the diamond are ratified. The conventions cover principles and rights at work. industry”. Alchetron. The movie portrays the 2.Labour Market Profile Sierra repercussions of the crimes committed by Europe and US in the Leone. (2020). “Ulandssekretariatet name of revolution and development leaving behind an -Danish Trade Union Development entire generation with slavery and apartheid making the lands of Agency”. Analytical Unit Africa a place of constant tumult. It shows how there was no choice 3.Central Intelligence. “Government but to either be the oppressor or a victim. Fact Book, Africa:: Sierra Leone”. The World Factbook 4.United Nations Development Programme.(2019). “Human Development Report 2019” DID YOU KNOW? Labor Day began in Toronto, Canada in 1872 but quickly made its way to the United States.

40 sourcee: Urban Update OCCUPATIONAL According to the Economic Survey 2018-2019, HEALTH OF almost 93% of India’s workforce is employed in INFORMAL the informal sector. The flower vendor on your street corner, the vegetable vendor who pushes WORKERS: CASE his cart, the construction worker you see on your OF MENTAL way to college and many other such labourers fall HEALTH into the unorganised sector. We all have read and talked of the physical hardships they face, the By Keerthana Shankar lack of protective equipment provided, the measly wage system and the fact that they cannot I B.A. Economics afford to change their job and earn a livelihood someplace else. But what we have not considered is their mental health and well-being. After all, if the statistics provided by the National Statistical Commission is anything to go by, the informal economy contributes to about 50% of the GDP and if we are to progress as a country, the needs of these workers should also be taken care of.

Mental health has been a topic more 41 people have started taking notice of and talking about. From the strain of source: change.org long work hours to the strain of finishing your homework, the anxiety Seema is pessimistic about life and experienced by the public during the suppresses her fears in order to earn pandemic has made people realise the a living. Construction workers have importance of mental well-being and poor working conditions and poorer the need to be positive and in a good amenities. Despite the two historic mental space. Now, if paying a visit to legislations, The Building and Other the psychiatrist is still considered Construction Workers Act 1996 and something of a taboo amongst the the Building and Other Construction educated folk, imagine how problems Workers Cess Act 1996, which tried such as depression, anxiety, panic to transform the lives of construction attacks, PTSD etc., are treated by the workers, there is no significant illiterate. Are they even aware such improvement to their lives. problems exist? Even if they do, can they afford to treat it? Most “My name is Ramu. I am a manual importantly, is the Government doing scavenger. I live in the city of Delhi anything to assist them? and clean sewages for a living. I Let me present the stories of hate my job. I hate the way the construction workers, manual people on the streets look at me. I scavengers and migrant workers want to wipe the repugnance off during Covid-19. their faces when they throw their money at me when I finish my job. I “My name is Seema and I am a want to scream that I am also a construction worker. I live in a human being, just like them. The only makeshift tent near the construction reason I do it is because tomorrow, site with no latrine or kitchen facilities. my children should not end up with I have a long and tiring day ahead. But the same job. I indulge in alcohol and I really hope I am not asked to work on marijuana to reduce my sufferings. the top most floors. I witnessed an accident a couple of years back and ever since I am acrophobic and experience vertigo. But that is how life is in these places.”

42 I have a counterpart in the village. The issue of migrant workers has Her name is Rani. She has been plagued the Government ever cleaning human excreta for 15 since the Partition. Data from the years. She was forced into the job National Sample Survey in 2007– because of her caste. The stench of 2008 revealed that about 28.3% the latrines suffocates her. Her of the workforces in India were wage includes one paltry roti a migrants. If not registered, they day. She is revolted by herself and are particularly vulnerable and her way of life. She trudges on only excluded from welfare schemes. for her kids.” It is a pretty complicated issue but there has not much done from the Government’s side. The physical hardships of Ramu’s and The above mentioned stories Rani’s jobs are obvious. But the might involve fictional characters continuous degradation and stigma of but their struggles are extremely untouchability take a toll on their real. When one comes to know mental health. While there are about the ugly truth, one’s Government provisions which help conscience is stirred and an them set up shops, nobody is willing obvious question comes to mind. to buy from them because of their What is the Government doing? previous jobs. Despite the The Government passes bills but Employment of Manual Scavengers does not execute them. In fact, and Construction of Dry Latrines the source of the data quoted in (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and the this very article, which has been Prohibition of Employment as Manual collected by Government Scavengers and their Rehabilitation organisations, is not known. When Act, 2013, manual scavenging they cannot be entrusted to continues to be a foul, inhuman and collect data in a reliable manner, deeply casteist practice prevalent in expecting them to reform the several Indian states. The Socio- sector is delusional. Economic Caste Census of 2011 counted over 1.82 lakh families that had at least one member employed in manual scavenging.

43 Mental health is a real problem. Bibliography: According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2018, the suicide 1. Tata Steel Aashiyana. (2018). “A rate amongst daily wage workers is Day in the life of a Construction 22.4%. But in a society where people Worker” think madness is the only mental illness, it is very difficult for the 2. Rakhi Bose.(n.d). “Who cleans problems of these labourers to be your shit?”. News 18 addressed. The psychology of employers, which is to undermine 3. Prasanna Mohanty. (2019). physical labour, discriminate against “Labour reforms: No one knows the them, behave rudely and rashly size of India's informal workforce, when they ask for better pay is not a not even the govt”. Business new issue. This mindset has been Today. prevalent for ages. Education is indeed important. But just because 4. The Wire. (2018). “A Day In The someone did not have access to it Life Of Manual Scavenger Ajay does not mean they are dirt. Pal” The issues of caste, race, gender 5. Singh O P. (2020). “Mental and religion still cast their evil eye upon society. To realise that all health of migrant labourers in humans are made of the same blood, bone and flesh, to treat them COVID-19 pandemic and as equals no matter what and to realise that mental health requires lockdown: Challenges ahead”. care and attention is the little things we can do to make society a better Indian J Psychiatry place. 6. Livemint. . (2012). “A day in the life of a manual scavenger” DID YOU KNOW? A slave market is noted as operating in Calcutta, between 1772 and 1833,as noted in Hansard and the Company Court House permitted slave ownership to be registered, for a fee of Rs. 4.25 or Rs.4 and 4 annas

44 Source: observer. com GENDER All over the world women are facing gender EQUALITY IN inequality issues in almost all the fields and aspects LABOUR, STILL of society. Many countries have acknowledged the A LUXURY? NO! issue and have taken steps to reduce gender - AN ICELAND inequality. The best example of a country that has reduced inequality to a great extent and is ranked MODEL the first in the World Economic Forum's gender gap index report for 11 consecutive years since 2009 is By V. Pragnya Iceland. Iceland is ranked No.1 for closing the gender gap up to 87%. In 2020, Iceland had only a I B.A.Economics 12.2% gap. It is said that pay gap parity will be reached by 2068 if inequality between women and men continues to decrease at the same rate, according to the WEF Report. How is Iceland able to achieve this whereas other countries are failing to close this gender gap and few countries have even failed to acknowledge the gender inequality issue?

45 Source: World Economic Forum Well, the answer for this goes back This historical event has led Iceland to the year 1975 when the women in to reach this position at a very fast Iceland decided to call for a strike pace and to implement gender and marched across streets to equality in their lives. This ideology demand equal pay as they were can be seen in the inspiring feminist paid 60% less than their male laws that the Government and its counterparts. On Friday, October judicial system has enforced in the 24, 1975, women left their formal country. Listed below are a few laws and informal work to \"demonstrate and policies that the governments of the indispensable work of women Iceland have enforced. for Iceland's economy and society\". This historical day was called \"The The Act on Equal Status and Equal long Friday\" as the whole of Rights of Women and Men was Iceland was shut down for a day. established in 2000 and was In the year following the strike, amended in 2008 by emphasizing the Iceland set up the Gender Equality goal of equality through all spheres of Council and passed the Gender society. It aims to fight gender Equality Act, which prohibited discrimination, gaps in wages, and to gender discrimination in the make binding decisions in cases workplace and schools. The strike concerning gender-based violence. was repeated in 2005, 2010, and The law draws out a roadmap to 2016. achieve gender equality.

Article 15 of this law states that no public 46 company board or government council or committee may have less than 40% From the economic point of view, gender equality. The law also states that the equal wage for equal work will any company with more than 25 boost the GDP. If this law is employees must have a gender equality implemented, the income per program in place, which will review goals capita and the income tax every three years. These laws will make received by the government will sure that labour participation always increase. remains stable with an equal amount of workers from both genders. Stability and Iceland has the best equal participation in the labour market is maternity/paternity policy in the positively correlated to economic world. The official law, created in development. 2000, is known as the Icelandic Act on Maternity/Paternity and Article 23 of the same law mandates that Parental Leave. The government gender equality must be taught covers parental leave for birth, throughout all levels of the educational adoption, and foster care for all system, which aims to prepare both sexes employees including self-employed to play an equal role in society, including in Iceland, paying 80% of earned work and family life. salary to new parents. Now is the time for a drumroll. Iceland is Parents split the time of 12 months the first country in the world to mandate leave equally to ensure children 'Equal pay for equal work' irrespective of grow up with equal care from both gender, sexuality or ethnicity. “On parents, and workplaces are January 1st, 2018, companies and balanced. This law provides institutions employing 25 or more workers, women with increased labour on an annual basis, will be required to market security and enables them obtain equal pay certification of their to combine work and family life equal pay system…… it aims to reduce and reduces the opportunity cost gender-based pay discrimination and of childbearing. It also reduces the promote greater equality in wages time spent by women on unpaid between women and men, equality of work as the male also will share an economic standing which will result, equal load in taking care of the among other things, eventually, in more domestic chores. equal pension payments for women and men”, says the Government of Iceland. Implementing a law like this is an inspiration for many countries and it is an honour to all the women from the past and present who have voiced out for this issue.