Footloose Labour: Working in India's Informal Economy (Contemporary South Asia, Series Number 2)

In a penetrating anthropological study of the working poor in India, Jan Breman examines the lives of those who, pushed out of the agrarian labour market, depend on casual work. Beginning his local-level research in two villages in south Gujarat, the author discusses the mobilisation of casual labour, which is hired and fired according to the need of the moment, and transferred for the duration of the job to destinations far away from the home area. His case-study reveals that the circulation of labour is indicative of an employment pattern which dominates both the rural and urban economy of large parts of South Asia. Elaborating on the social profile of the work migrants, the author argues that their identity is shaped by both class and caste relations and, despite action by state agencies, nothing of significance has been achieved to improve their quality of life.

In a penetrating anthropological study of the working poor in India, Jan Breman examines the lives of those who, pushed out of the agrarian labor market, depend on casual work. By considering two villages in south Gujarat, the author discusses the mobilization of casual labor, demonstrating that this is characteristic of an employment pattern that dominates the rural and urban economy of large parts of South Asia. Elaborating on the social profile of the work migrants, the author shows that little has been done to improve their quality of life, which is defined by caste and class relations.

Using data from fieldwork carried out in the 1960s, and between 1987 and 1994, examines the growing significance of non-agricultural work and income in the countryside of South Gujarat during the period from the early 1960s to 1994. Analyses the lives of those WHO, pushed out of the agrarian labour market, depend on a wide variety of temporary jobs in the countryside and cities for a living Thisstudy of the working poor in India examines the lives of those who, pushed out of the agrarian labour market, depend on casual work. Jan Breman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-273) And Index.