Final report

For partial fulfillment of requirements for

"Business, Government and Society" – PGP 2014-16

Submitted by

GROUP NO. 05 – SECTION D

Ajay Kumar 1411211

Ajosh K 1411212

G Nitin 1411224

G Subramanian 1411225

Iyer Abhiram Ramgopal 1411234

Natarajan R 1411247

Rupali Kaul 1411259

ABSTRACT

With a booming population and a favourable demographic dividend to look forward to, India faces an unprecedented opportunity in its labour force to spur economic development. This report looks at the Labour force through the four vital parameters of age, urbanisation, gender and education in order to study the trends prevalent in the Indian population as well as to hypothesize reasons for the same. In order to validate the findings, 19 people working in different sectors and having very different backgrounds were interviewed to understand the changes from their perspective.

The slums of Bilekahalli were visited and depth interviews conducted with questions focused on understanding the implications of Age, urbanization, gender and education on the labour force. Apart from that, in order to understand the labour force within IIMB, a few people were interviewed who we come across daily in order to get their perspective. Finally, an interview was conducted with Prof. Unni, the Director of IRMA to get an academic perspective of the Indian Labour Force.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................................... 2

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Objectives....................................................................................................................................................... 5

METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................................................................... 5

Secondary Research.......................................................................................................................................5

Field Work and Inferences..............................................................................................................................5

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS...........................................................................................................................6

Age.................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Urbanisation....................................................................................................................................................7

Education........................................................................................................................................................ 7

Gender............................................................................................................................................................ 8

CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................................................................................... 9

REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix 1: Population Summary Statistics...........................................................................................................11

Appendix 2: Age Pyramid in india (estimates and projections)...............................................................................12

Appendix 3: Urbanization in india and china...........................................................................................................13

Appendix 4: Percentage of Usually employed peoply by type of employment in urban areas...............................14

Appendix 5: Trends in School Education in India...................................................................................................15

Appendix 6: Workforce profile in India....................................................................................................................16

Appendix 7: Mortality and fertility theory.................................................................................................................17

Appendix 8: Female Labour Force Participation in India........................................................................................18

Appendix 9: Field Work Summary..........................................................................................................................19

Interview SAMPLE I......................................................................................................................................19

Interview SAMPLE II.....................................................................................................................................19

Appendix 10: Summary Demographic Statistics from Slums in Billekahalli............................................................25

Appendix 11: Phone Call Transcript with Prof. Unni, Director of IRMA..................................................................26

Gender.......................................................................................................................................................... 26

Urbanization..................................................................................................................................................27

Education......................................................................................................................................................28

INTRODUCTION

One of the most critical resource of any country is its population – which can be analysed using standard demographics in order to assess the impact on economic growth. As population demographics and economic development are closely interlinked, a close study of the causal linkages as well as the role of the various stakeholders needs to be conducted.

India, with a population of 1.21 billion ([1], 2012 -13), according to the 2011 census with a working population of 481 million. While the population had increased 17% over the last decade, the work participation rate only grew at a marginal rate (39.8% vs 39.1%). The summary statistics for the country are shown in Appendix 1.

The growing population translates into a large demographic dividend for the country and can be taken advantage of for sustainable growth. Research ([2] Mason, September 2006) indicates 0.79 % out a total of 1.88% growth in GDP per person was a result of demographic dividends. The report looks at the trends in the population of the country at a macro-level; as well as conducting a field research in a slum at Bangalore.

OBJECTIVES:

In this project, the Indian Labour force has been analysed through various key demographic parameters. The key objectives of the project were:

1) Age: Understand the linkages between population growth, the age pyramid and economic development

2) Urbanisation: Critically analyse a) factors that impact urbanization and b) trends in Indian urbanization

3) Education: Study trends in educational requirements & skill development and implications on the labour force

4) Gender: Evaluate the major reasons that lead to gender disparity in the Indian labour force and analyse its implications

METHODOLOGY

SECONDARY RESEARCH:

The report has looked at various secondary sources in order to gain insights into vital trends that have already been highlighted. Issues like the demographic dividends, population fertility rates, trends in urbanisation and migration, gender disparities in the workforce and finally supply-demand mismatch of skills in the workforce have been studied. Empirical theories were looked at from Debraj Roy’s “Development Economics” ([3]Roy).

FIELD WORK AND INFERENCES:

In order to validate the findings and inferences obtained, targeted field work was conducted in the slums of Bangalore. A total of 19 people from diverse backgrounds vis-à-vis age, gender, educational background, occupation were interviewed in order to gain vital insights in the ground level. The details and focus of the field work have been given in Appendix 9, with the summary statistics of the slum given in Appendix 10. Apart from this, an interview was conducted with Prof. Jeemol Unni, Director of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in order to gain further insights. A transcript of the interview is given in Appendix 11.

Some observations from the field work are given in the next page.

• Mr. Narayanappa felt that urbanisation and subsequent competition has increased over the past 15 years. He used to employ around 10 people earlier (currently 4). Several people had migrated from North India and hence, his individual profits have decreased.

• There was limited transfer of skills and expertise between generations. Mr. Narayanappa and Mr. Palani felt that the current generation was not interested in handiworks and crafts, resulting in lower skill transfer.

• There was no standard mechanism to seek employment. People seek employment by ‘word of mouth’ or through contractors who approached the slum directly. Many people were not aware of the schemes/benefits provided by the Government in terms of employment.

• The people at the slum were mostly illiterate. However, they were ready to impart quality education to their children who in turn were disinterested in the same. Many people felt that there was a direct correlation between education and employment.

• Most of the interviewees were not in support of women employment. The common reasons quoted were need for safety, lack of interest amidst women.

• Mr.Chakaravarthy felt that for Government schemes to be effective, the local ward councillors and the MLA have to take initiatives to implement them effectively, which he believes they currently don’t. Most people in the slum have been part of multiple Dharnas to convey their issues and get the attention of local government authorities.

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

AGE:

The current total fertility rate (TFR) has been estimated at 2.51 births per woman ([4], n.d.). While this has been in decline over the years, it is still higher than the replacement TFR of 2.1. Thus, India can be seen to be at the starting phase of the demographic transition phenomenon. Indeed, if we look at the Age Pyramid exhibited by the country (as shown in Appendix 2), we see that even projections made by the world bank pegs India to reach the intermediate stage only by 2050.

Thus, the country has the unique opportunity to benefit from both the first demographic dividend as well as the second demographic dividend. In the first, as more youth (less than 15 years of age) enter the working force population(15-60 years of age) , the dependency ratios decline, which frees up resources and boosts economic growth. This would actively continue until the second dividend becomes feasible, when the elderly population (60+ years) increases due to improved health care and increase in life expectancy.

However, carefully promulgated policies are essential to make use of both the dividends. While an increase in the workforce population is desirable, a skill mismatch in terms of labour productivity would mean that the full effect of the dividend would not be captured. The dividend only ensures a boost in the supply side; the demand side has to also be nurtured through careful government policies facilitating skill development and motivating higher investment in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

An elderly-concentrated population would require additional resources to sustain itself after retirement. If the government subsidises these through higher pensions, higher social securities, etc. then the propensity to save assets for such a prolonged retirement reduces.

Hence, emphasis should be given encourage the working class to facilitate savings and investments that would cause a sustainable boost to the economic development.

URBANISATION:

The growth of population living in cities and the propagation of urban life to every part of the habitable world is one of the characteristics of the twentieth-century life. It is not simple to precisely define what constitutes an urban settlement. Statistical parameters such as size, density of population and occupation come in handy however in practice the criteria used are usually arbitrary ([5] Johnson). The Indian census takes 5000 as the threshold population of defining an urban centre. The other criteria are- density of more than 400 people per square km. and percentage of male non-agricultural worker above 75 percent ([6] Kundu, 2011).

Urban area since 1951 has been the engine of productivity and growth in the Indian economy. The contribution of urban sector to the GDP in 2012 had been 62-63% and is foreseen to be 75% by 2021 ([7]). As seen in Appendix 3, the growth of urbanization in India has been muted, with China having increased from 39% to 53% from 2002 to 2012, with India achieving an increase of only 3.41%. The prime reasons for this has been – inadequate growth in non-agricultural sectors, stagnation in manufacturing sector, persistence of problems related to housing and other basic amenities faced by people in Urban areas ([6] Kundu, 2011). Urbanisation in India was further slowed down due to incorporation of NREGA in 2005 as indicated by the interview with Prof. Unni.

If we consider the reasons for migration to the urban areas, we see that both rural push as well as demand pull migration existing in the country. On account of the rural push phenomenon, the unskilled and uneducated migrants form a poor strata of the urban society, working in informal sector. This has also been shown in our survey, where the attraction of marginal income from the casual work in urban areas is more lucrative than the sporadic and starvation diet provided in rural areas. Lower the education of migrant greater is the push factor, and higher the education of migrant greater is the pull factor ([8], 2010). Other parameters which determine population being pushed from rural areas are higher family size, gender (men) and income (SCs and STs fare lower than general in average income) ([8], 2010).

Touching further upon the laws of migration as enunciated by Ravenstein, we see that the “Currents of Migration” theory being upheld in the country, with the uneducated migrating only a short distance. The government can fasten the flowing of this current by improving public services, and developing larger number of small towns closer to rural areas. In case government proves steadfast in investing in small and medium towns, nation’s ICOR will increase as industries will find an alternative source of cutting down on operational and real estate cost ([8], 2010).

Finally, looking at the trends set by urbanization in India in general, we see that there has been an increase in self-employed segment, and an increase in casual employment arising from the concept of large companies contracting our work rather than hiring workers (as demonstrated in Appendix 4. . Bargaining power of regular labourers through the legalization of trade unions, and inability of companies to fire workers makes casual employment prevalent in today’s picture. And while Urbanisation has been elixir of poverty removal and the biggest off-setter of inequality in India, with over 40 percent of poor moving above the Poverty Line, and 11 percent of poor moved in the middle class ([9]), it has also led to a tremendous strain on facilities such as transport services, traffic, housing, water & electricity supply and sanitation. Large-scale migration to selected cities rather than holistic growth of urban centres is a threat to environment as it degrades of nature faster than it can recuperate.

EDUCATION:

As explained earlier, India has a unique opportunity to tap into a demographic dividend, having been estimated to have a surplus of 47 million youth in 2020, when the world would experience a shortfall of skilled manpower to the tune of 56 million ([10], 2014). We can also see that the share of primary sector towards GDP has decreased from 51% in 1950-51 to 17%, and the share of tertiary sector increased to 56% in 2012-13 ([10], 2014). The skills required in different sectors are quite different and thus sector specific skills training is of paramount importance.

Analysing the trends observed in formal school education (Appendix 5), we see that there has been an increase in the ratio of students to country’s population (SPR) from 20.5% 1993-94 to 26.6% in 2009-10. The SPR (for rural females in the age group of 5-24 years) in 1999-00 showed variation with household expenditure, with 22% difference in SPR between the rich and the poor. However during 2009-10, this disparity was brought down considerably through the Right to Education Act and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme.

Of the 459 million workers in 2009-10, self-employed accounted for 233 million, 151 million were casual workers, and 75 million were regular employees. The educational levels of these classes of workers were notably different with the percentage of illiteracy among self-employed, casual and regular workers were 44%, 30% and 8% respectively ([11], 2012). Casual workers belong mostly to the poor households, whereas regular employees predominantly feature in the rich households. The self-employed are heterogeneous in their distribution across households (classification based on expenditure).

There was a notable change in the education profile for various classes of workforce from 1999-00 to 2009-10.For the self-employed class of workers who joined the workforce in the first half of this decade had 20% illiterates whereas in the second half, the proportion of illiterates in the self-employed category decreased considerably as shown in Appendix 6. For the regular workforce, 50% of the net additions comprised of illiterates and people with primary and middle school education from 2000-01 to 2004-05. However, a remarkable change in the trend was observed from 2004-05 to 2009-10, the number of graduates and post graduates in the regular workforce showed an incremental increase of 7 million whereas the incremental numbers of both illiterate and primary & middle school workers decreased during the time period as shown.

A similar trend in education levels was visible for casual workers in terms of number of illiterates entering/leaving the workforce. The difference in numbers is attributed to the change in demand for workforce by the industry. Better opportunities were available for educated labour force as illiterates had to exit the workforce due to increased demand for skilled labourers, taking into account the sectorial shifts in the economy with services sector contributing 57% of GDP ([12], n.d.). In spite of a higher contribution by the services sector, agriculture and allied activities still employed 244 million of 460 million of Indian workforce (53% of workforce) in 2009-10 ([13], n.d.), while the corresponding figures for China was 37%.

For Indian economy to grow at 8-9 %, the secondary and tertiary sectors must grow at close to 11%, assuming the current agricultural growth rate of 4% to persist ([14], 2010). This situation necessitates the migration of workforce from agriculture to secondary and tertiary sectors where the skills required are diverse across sectors and inherently different from agricultural skills.

GENDER:

India has been a witness to high amounts of gender disparity in women’s economic participation. The labour force in India is highly skewed towards the male gender. This is especially so at higher positions and gives rise to the proverbial glass ceiling for the women. According to the “Mortality and Fertility” theory ([3]Roy) (Refer Appendix 7), female birth in a family is considered at best irrelevant and at worst unwanted by many parents in India.

This has resulted in the twin scenarios of female feticide & infanticide and treatment of females as secondary members of a family. These two reasons coupled together exacerbate the gender disparity that is apparent in the labour force. In many ways, labour force participation in India as well as gender ratios are affected by similar factors ([14] S. B.).

Based on our interviews and surveys conducted, the “discouraged worker effect” causes reduced female labour participation mostly in rural areas. An argument is also made that “income effect” – increase in household income due to increase in per capita GDP – too leads to women leaving the labour force. These biases further manifest themselves in the job environment. It is seen in many cases that women receive lower wages and even the basic necessities for example, female restrooms are many a times unavailable at the job premises.

The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has either been constant or fallen over the years. FLFPR levels went from 29.5% in 2005 to 22.5% in 2012 ([15], n.d.)(As shown in Appendix 8). Though this lopsided ratio is a blot on promoting women equality, still this has far greater implications on the Indian economy than just rendering a basic human right untenable. It is a no brainer that enabling half of the potential workforce of India to contribute in our success story will help our country in the long run. A decreased participation of women in the workforce leads to the family income to be lower and a decreased per capita income. This results in a lower standard of living of those households.

A lot of steps have been taken by the government to address this issue. It has introduced reservations for women in elected bodies at local levels to ensure that they have a greater say in the system (Article 243 D of the Indian Constitution). According to Professor Unni, there have also been specific initiatives like Mahila Samakhya Programme, to improve the self-confidence of women. Further, it has tried to eliminate the discrimination against women at the workplace by ensure the strict enforcement of the laws. A mandate is also in progress for businesses to maintain a threshold level of females in the board of directors ([16]).

CONCLUSIONS

We have seen that India stands on the cusp of opportunity, with a demographic dividend poised to be taken advantage of. Estimates of additional labour pouring into the Indian economy every decade is the highest in the world. However, Agricultural sector is not in a comfortable situation to absorb the increment in workforce without taking a hit on the average income. There has to be a mass exodus of people from rural to urban areas and inter-urban migration. This requires structured and concentrated effort from the government to adopt more inclusive policies, support to small and medium sized urban settlements to make them lucrative for production and hence employment.

At the same time, care should be taken in order to bridge the skills mismatch in the labour force. For Indian economy to grow at 8-9 %, the secondary and tertiary sector must grow at close to 11%, assuming the current agricultural growth rate of 4% to persist ([14], 2010). This situation necessitates paradigm shift of workforce from agriculture to secondary and tertiary sectors where the skills required are diverse and inherently different from agricultural skills.

So the way forward for India is to address the skills gap by improving the quality of education (not just an increased enrolment at schools) at the same time persisting with the NSDC schemes to impart skills training based on the requirement across industries so that the labour force becomes competitive to cater to the national and global demand of 2022 ([14],2010).

Another aspect of serious concern is the gender disparity in the Indian labour force. The falling rates of female participation necessitates a basic need to change the thinking in our society. The government should take the lead in promoting a cultural shift in the way in which people perceive a working female. Societies all over the world are evolving from a patriarchal model to a more inclusive structure and India needs to follow in the same footsteps. Further promoting female entrepreneurship which is at dismally low levels currently, can provide our country with the much needed growth stimulus ([17]).

REFERENCES

[1] (2012 -13). INDIAN LABOUR STATISTICS. Shimla / Chandigarh: Government of India - Ministry of Labour and Employment.

[2] Andrew Mason and Ronald Lee. (September 2006). What Is the Demographic Dividend? Finance and Development - IMF.

[3] Roy, Debraj. (n.d.). Development Economics.

[4] (n.d.). Data - Total Fertility Rates. Retrieved from The World Bank Database: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN

[5] Johnson, J. (n.d.). Urban Geography.

[6] Kundu, A. (2011). Trends and processes of Urbanization in India. Human Settlements Group, IIED.

[7] (n.d.). REPORT OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT FOR ELEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN 2007-12.

[8] K S Sridhar, Venugopal Reddy, Pavan Srinath (2010). Is it Push or Pull? Recent Evidence from Migration in India.

[9] (n.d.). Urbanization beyond Municipal Boundaries - Nurturing Metropolitan Economies and Connecting Peri-Urban Areas in India. The World Bank.

[10] (2014). Report on Education, Skill Development and Labour Force. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

[11] Jayan Jose Thomaas (2012). India's Labour Market during the 2000s - Surveying the Changes. Economics and Political Weekly.

[12] (n.d.). Value added (% of GDP). Retrieved from WThe World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.SRV.TETC.ZS/countries

[13] (n.d.). Employment by Sector:: Industries. Retrieved from data.gov.in

[14] (2010). The Skills Development Landscape in India and implementing quality skills training. FICCI.

[14] Surjit Bhalla and Ravinder Kaur (n.d.). Paper on Labour Force Participation of Women in India - Some facts. Some queries.

[15] (n.d.). Female Labour Force Participation. Retrieved from World Bank Database : http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS

[16] (n.d.). Companies Act Representation. CII.

[17] Ejaz Ghani, Willian Kerr, Stephen O'Connell (n.d.). What explains big gender disparities in India?

APPENDIX 1: POPULATION SUMMARY STATISTICS

Data taken from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population DivisionWorld Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, Volume II: Demographic Profiles

2010

Total population (thousands) ..................................1 205 625

Population density (persons per square km)...........367

Percentage of population under age 15...................30.2

Percentage of population age 15-24........................19.0

Percentage of population age 15-64........................64.8

Percentage of population aged 65+.........................5.1

2005-2010

Annual rate of population change (percentage)......1.4

Total fertility (children per woman)...........................2.66

Under-five mortality (5q0) per 1,000 live births .......64

Life expectancy at birth (years) ...............................64.9

APPENDIX 2: AGE PYRAMID IN INDIA (ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS)

Data taken from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, Volume II: Demographic Profiles

APPENDIX 3: URBANIZATION IN INDIA AND CHINA

Sourced from the National Sample Survey Organisation, 2007

1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 20070

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

%age urban population India

APPENDIX 4: PERCENTAGE OF USUALLY EMPLOYED PEOPLE BY TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT IN URBAN AREAS

Sourced from the National Sample Survey Organisation

APPENDIX 5: TRENDS IN SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA

Sourced from the National Sample Survey Organisation

APPENDIX 6: WORKFORCE PROFILE IN INDIA

Sourced from the National Sample Survey Organisation

APPENDIX 7: MORTALITY AND FERTILITY THEORY

Mortality and fertility theory: Debraj Ray, Book: Development Economics

In India one of the major expectations of parents from their children is that the child will look after them in their old age. Due to cultural factors taking support from a female is considered an anathema. Hence parents generally wish to get support from sons. This scenario has been mathematically modeled by Debraj Ray in his book Development Economics. Let ‘p’ be the overall probability of a child growing up to take care of its parents. Thus ‘p’ includes, infant/child mortality, the progeny being able bodied, possibility of becoming a wage earner, possibility of earning adequate amounts etc. Let ‘q’ be the threshold probability (that a couple finds acceptable), of receiving support from at least one child. So this gives us the following equation:

1 – (1 – p)n > q

Where ‘n’ is the total number of children that the couple has.

Now since the couple wishes to receive support from only the sons, ‘n’ in the above inequality is replaced by the total number of sons that a couple has, hence the number of females born become irrelevant to the above equation.

APPENDIX 8: FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN INDIA

Sourced from the World Bank Database and www.imf.org

APPENDIX 9: FIELD WORK SUMMARY

We interviewed 19 people working in different sectors and having very different backgrounds to understand the changes from their perspective.

Total people interviewed 19

Total people interviewed outside IIM B 15

Total people interviewed within IIM B 4

Interesting samples Mr.Chakaravarthy, union leader of the slum

We interviewed 19 people working in different sectors and having very different backgrounds to understand the changes from their perspective.

We visited the slums of Bilekahalli and conducted depth interviews with questions focused on understanding the implications of Age, urbanization, gender and education on the labour force. We chose our samples very carefully to encompass a wide variety of jobs. Apart from that, we were also very curious to understand the labour force within IIMB and interviewed a few people who we come across daily to get their perspective.

INTERVIEW SAMPLE I

We began our field research by interviewing Mr. Narayanappa and Mr. Palani at the slums of Bilekahalli. Mr. Narayanappa owns a Pottery shop, while Mr. Palani is a tailor. We then interviewed Mr. Sabeer, a painter who is currently unemployed. We continued our fieldwork by interviewing Mrs. Raji, a mobile food vendor. Mrs.Raji was very apprehensive to get her interview videotaped. We then interviewed 9 other people from varied backgrounds. Everyone were apprehensive and not ready to get interviewed. They said that they had a ‘union’ and needed their prior approval to give us a detailed interview.

We then went to the ‘union’ office of the slum and spoke to the Vice president of the union, Mr.Chakaravarthy. He was the official caretaker/representative of the slum. The slum had nearly 2000 people from diverse backgrounds.

INTERVIEW SAMPLE II

We also interviewed Mr. Anil Kumar, a Night watchman at the Airtel showroom outside IIMB. To get a perspective of the labour force within IIM B, we interviewed Mr.Anwar (from Ricoh Printers), Mr. Sashi Kumar (from ABP), Mr. Vijayabaskar (Main gate security) and Mr. Manju (Dry cleaner).

The Full details of the various participants from Interview Samples I & II are given below:

S.No Interviewee Name

Age Education Gender Occupation Income

1 Mr.Chakaravarthy 42 years

Class XII Male Independent Vegetable seller

Rs.30,000

2 Mr.Anil Kumar 30 years

Class XII Male Night watchman atAirtel Showroom

Rs.8,000

3 Mr.Palani 42 years

Class V Male Tailor Rs.10,000

4 Mr.Narayanappa 55 years

Class II Male Pottery and Crafts merchant

Rs.15,000

5 Mr.Sabeer 32 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Male Painter (Currently unemployed)

No income as of now

6 Mrs.Raji 48 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Female Mobile Food vendor (Female entrepreneur)

Rs.18,000

7 Mr.Ramesh 39 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Male Fruit Seller Rs. 13,000

8 Mr.Kumar 45 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Male Auto driver Rs. 15,000

9 Mrs. Rekha 29 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Female Sweeper Rs. 6000

10 Mr.Muthu 32 Class II Male Sewage Rs. 7500

years cleaner

11 Mrs.Banu 28 years

Class IV Female Servant maid Rs. 7500

12 Mrs.Kanaga 43 years

Class XII Female House wife No Income

13 Mr.Anbu 30 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Male Cleaner ; Currently unemployed

No income as of now

14 Mrs.Uma 24 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Female Servant maid Rs. 6500

15 Mrs.Akila 36 years

No Primary/Secondary Education

Female Flower vendor

Rs. 9500

16 Mr.Manju 43 years

Class I Male Dry Cleaner Rs. 9000

17 Mr.Anwar 38 years

Class XI Male Operator, Ricoh Print Shop

Rs. 9000

18 Mr. Vijayabaskar 28 years

B.Sc (Physics) Male IIM B Main gate Security

Rs.8500

19 Mr. Sashi kumar 27 years

B.A (History) Male Food and Beverages, ABP Foods

Rs.9500

Few Snapshots from the Field Work are presented below:

Figure 4: Mrs. Raji ; Mobile food vendor

Figure 6 : Mr.Chakaravarthy, the Vice President of the Slum

Figure 7 : Mr.Anwar, Operator at Ricoh Printers

Figure 8 : Mr.Vijayabaskar, IIM B Maingate Security

Figure 9 : Mr.Manju, Dry Cleaner

APPENDIX 10: SUMMARY DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS FROM SLUMS IN BILLEKAHALLI

The detailed statistics pertaining to the slum are as follows,

An Important Note – The following figures are approximations/ extrapolations based on the data collected from Mr.Chakaravarthy.

Total Number of People in the Slum 2300

Total Number of Households 450

Total Number of Men in the Slum 490

Total Number of Women in the Slum 455

Total Number of Male Children in the Slum 715

Total Number of Female Children in the Slum 640

Total Number of Women Entrepreneurs 30-40

Child Literacy rate Not Available with Mr.Chakaravarthy

Adult Literacy rate Not Available with Mr.Chakaravarthy

APPENDIX 11: PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROF. UNNI, DIRECTOR OF IRMA

GENDER

India has a very poor female to male labour participation ratio of 0.36. Female labour

participation has dropped from 29.5% in 2005 to 22.5% in 2012.

1. What are the major issues due to which women participation in the labour

force is low or declining?

The low female labour participation rates are due to societal and cultural

reasons as you know. As for why it's declining, well, there are two schools of

thought on this matter. One says it's an income effect. In the last so many

years, India has been having this terrific growth as a result of which per

capita incomes are rising and as a result of this, women withdraw from the

workforce. Income effect also includes social norms and beliefs such as

'women should stay at home'. So when incomes rise, women do not have to

fend for the family. The other school of thought is that it's a discouraged

worker effect. If you take the participation rate of women, you'll notice that it

fluctuates; on an average, it could be declining. If you map this with growth of

GDP, you'll see that it moves along with that. When there is growth in the

economy, more women participate. When the economy is receding, women

withdraw from the workforce. You'll notice that women participation in rural

areas is higher than that in urban areas. So when agriculture experiences a

downtrend, which is currently the case, participation rate seems to decline.

One may then argue that now that there is a boom in the economy, why the

rate is going down then. The answer is, well, urban participation rate for

women is actually going up but the rural rate is what fluctuates.

2. What specific initiatives has the Govt. undertaken to ensure gender inclusivity

in rural India?

One specific initiative that I can think of is Mahila Samakhya Programme,

which wasn't a scheme as such. It was started for whatever reason. However,

it has been continued in various forms by various governments with support

from NGOs, sabhas. It has definitely had some impact, not in terms of

empowering them to start their own enterprise or something like that, but

definitely in terms of inclusivity, encouraging them to venture out in groups

and things like that. Some governments have tried to help create micro-

enterprises for women, sometimes it has worked, sometimes it has not.

3. What do you think is the role of private corporations, in urban and rural India,

to improve this situation? Has enough been done by corporations in this

regard?

In the older version of corporate social responsibility, some private

enterprises did do quite a lot of philanthropic work on this front. However, the

new version of CSR sort of mandates companies to spend towards Swachch

Bharat Abhiyan. This will definitely impact what was being done earlier

towards CSR in other areas.

4. What is the role of society in improving the situation? Is our society still

regressive in thinking about women emancipation?

There have been strands of regressiveness in the society. Things like riots take

us backwards; then there's Khap panchayats. But these weren't so prominent

(twenty years ago) that we could hear about them. I think the media has

become very proactive. Nevertheless, there has been regressiveness. I attribute

this to two things besides the (patriarchal) mentality itself - firstly, there are

regions in the country where people don't have girl children - girl children are

not allowed. The other thing is the tremendous amount of male migration due

to rural poverty. The kind of development that we've had comes at a cost.

URBANIZATION

In India, people migrate from being in agricultural labour to being in industrial labour.

Initially, when industrialisation started in India, agricultural sector had surplus labour. So

migration of labour didn't pose any threat to marginal product/efficiency. However,

today, we see substantial increase in urbanisation.

1. Do you feel that this has started to impact and lead to decline in food

production, and hence increase in average income received by farmers?

Do you feel this is threatening the increase of industrial sector?

No. Food production has got to do with input prices for food, cropping pattern

moving towards cash crops. It has its own internal logic. Urbanization has

nothing to do with this. In fact it is the other way round. Since food production

(and agriculture as a whole too) has declined, urbanization has increased.

Urbanisation in India is not an urban pull migration, where agricultural labourers seeing

good opportunities in urban areas migrate from rural areas. It is movement because of

“rural push”.

1. What can the Government do to keep urbanization rate at a sustainable level?

MNREGA has reduced urbanization in a big way. As for sustainability, it

depends on the kind of urbanization. If an entire village moves to half a

kilometre of land in a city, it's not going to be sustainable. With movement of

people, the area under urbanization has also actually increased. So this is a

sustainable trend.

EDUCATION

Are the schemes of the Government like the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” empowering

the labor force? What is your opinion about the effectiveness of such government

driven programs and initiatives?

In terms of enrolment, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is effective. However, if you ask me

whether it has actually had some impact, it is still unclear.

What are a few aspects you would like to change with respect to Indian education

system to cater to a strong rural labor force?

First and foremost, put (relatively) qualified teachers in schools and somehow

incentivise them in some fashion that they regularly go to school to teach. In rural

areas, parents don't send their children to schools because they don't trust that

school education would make them better off since there aren't many 'good' teachers.

If there are good teachers, the situation will definitely improve. If the supply side of

education improves, the demand for education will automatically increase.