IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2017-57.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India

Author

Listed:
  • Rina Agarwala

Abstract

This paper brings labour back into the literature on legal empowerment against poverty. Employing a historical lens, I outline three waves of legal movements. Each wave is distinguished by its timing, the state-level target, and the actors involved. In all three waves, legal empowerment was won, not bestowed. Labour played a significant role, fighting in each subsequent wave for an expanded identity to address exclusions. These findings reveal the false dichotomy used to distinguish workers from citizens and class from identity-based interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Rina Agarwala, 2017. "Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-57
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-57.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nitya Rao, 2011. "Respect, Status and Domestic Work: Female Migrants at Home and Work," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 23(5), pages 758-773, December.
    2. Peattie, Lisa, 1987. "An idea in good currency and how it grew: The informal sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(7), pages 851-860, July.
    3. Przeworski, Adam & Wallerstein, Michael, 1982. "The Structure of Class Conflict in Democratic Capitalist Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 215-238, June.
    4. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    5. Amrita Chhachhi & Jan Breman & Marcel Linden, 2014. "Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 920-940, September.
    6. Ghose, Ajit K., 2016. "India Employment Report 2016: Challenges and the Imperative of Manufacturing-Led Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199472574.
    7. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226731445 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rina Agarwala, 2017. "Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India," WIDER Working Paper Series 057, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Cunningham, Wendy V & Maloney, William F, 2001. "Heterogeneity among Mexico's Microenterprises: An Application of Factor and Cluster Analysis," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 131-156, October.
    3. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    4. Lay, Jann & Wiebelt, Manfred, 2001. "Towards a dual education system - a labour market perspective on poverty reduction in Bolivia," Kiel Working Papers 1073, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Nitya Rao & Nivedita Narain & Shuvajit Chakraborty & Arundhita Bhanjdeo & Ayesha Pattnaik, 2020. "Destinations Matter: Social Policy and Migrant Workers in the Times of Covid," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(5), pages 1639-1661, December.
    6. Levenson, Alec R. & Maloney, William F., 1998. "The informal sector, firm dynamics, and institutional participation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1988, The World Bank.
    7. Jain, Varinder, 2020. "Vulnerability Exposure in Informal Manufacturing Sector A Reflection on Conceptual and Analytical Issues," MPRA Paper 103158, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Devesh Roy & Sunil Saroj & Mamata Pradhan, 2022. "Nature of employment and outcomes for urban labor: evidence from the latest labor force surveys in India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 165-221, June.
    9. Takao FUKUCHI, 1998. "A Simulation Analysis Of The Urban Informal Sector," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 36(3), pages 225-256, September.
    10. Kate Meagher, 2021. "Informality and the Infrastructures of Inclusion: An Introduction," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(4), pages 729-755, July.
    11. Clement, Christine, 2015. "The formal-informal economy dualism in a retrospective of economic thought since the 1940s," Violette Reihe: Schriftenreihe des Promotionsschwerpunkts "Globalisierung und Beschäftigung" 43/2015, University of Hohenheim, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Evangelisches Studienwerk.
    12. Balwant Singh Mehta & Ishwar Chandra Awasthi, 2022. "Dynamics of Urban Labour Market and Informality," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(1), pages 19-37, March.
    13. Marty Chen, 2005. "Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Slonimczyk, Fabian, 2011. "The effect of taxation on informal employment: evidence from the Russian flat tax reform," MPRA Paper 35404, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Victor Tanaka, 2010. "The ‘informal sector’ and the political economy of development," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 295-317, October.
    16. Michelle Gilmartin & David Learmouth & J Kim Swales & Peter McGregor & Karen Turner, 2013. "Regional Policy Spillovers: The National Impact of Demand-Side Policy in an Interregional Model of the UK Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 814-834, April.
    17. Arguello, Ricardo & Jimenez, Dora, 2015. "Dutch Disease, Informality, and Employment Intensity in Colombia," Conference papers 332597, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    18. Jean-Louis Arcand & Linguère M'Baye, 2013. "Braving the waves: the role of time and risk preferences in illegal migration from Senegal," CERDI Working papers halshs-00855937, HAL.
    19. Hajer Habib, 2023. "Remittances and Labor Supply: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1870-1899, June.
    20. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Ghosh, Arnab & Banerjee, Dibyendu, 2018. "Can public subsidy on education necessarily improve wage inequality?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 165-177.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-57. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.