Sunday, May 5, 2002		Books

Invisible workers
D. S. Cheema

Invisible Labour by Neelam Gupta. SEWA Bharat, New Delhi. Pages 58, Rs 50.

WORK, in essence, is the use of a person's physiological and mental processes in attainment of some goal. For millions of home based workers in a poor and developing country like India, the definition of work is, "any means of earning a livelihood", even in the most pathetic conditions. Mahatma Gandhi, wrote in Young India on October 6, 1921, "We should be ashamed of resting or having a square meal so long as there is one able-bodied man or woman without work or food"

The Constitution of India contains a number of provisions, including the Right to Freedom under which Article 19 protects the right of every citizen to practice any profession or to carry out any occupation or business. The Right to Equality is another such right. Article 14 states: "The state shall not deny to any person equalities before the law or equal protection of the laws within the Territory of India".

Invisible Labour is the result of the study commissioned by SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) Bharat on home-based workers in three major industries—papad, agarbatti and ready-made garments in the states of UP, MP, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Though the aim of the study was to highlight the problems of both male and female workers of a large unorganised sector, it has turned out to be a woman-focussed study, partly because of the dominance of this sector by female workers and partly because the study was sponsored by SEWA.

The writer has been successful in identifying the problems of workers in these industries and has recommended pragmatic solutions.

The realisation that women workers form an integral part of the process of national development has made the government give them special attention . Continuous efforts are being made by the government to give women workers a better deal in spheres of work to recognise their contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. However, what has been done remains a drop in the ocean and the workers in unorganised sector, particularly the women remain exploited and unprotected.

Out of total working population of 320 million, about 295 million i.e. 92 per cent are employed in the unorganised sector. Home work creates the problems of long hours of working without security, low wages, non-reorganisation and lack of protection. Many countries have initiated legislative measures to protect home-based workers, especially women workers. In our context, the jobs are scarce, competition stiffer and opportunities for female workers far lesser as compared to the male workers. This makes the plight of women workers still more pitiable.

The author has used survey of 50 families each in chicken zari industries, agarbatti industries and papad industries to draw certain forgone inferences. Perhaps, a more detailed survey of a more representative sample could have made visible certain unknown facts about the 'invisible ones'.