Enhancing capabilities through labour law : informal workers in India Supriya Routh

"In 2002 the International Labour Organization issued a report titled Decent work and the informal economy in which it outlined the need to integrate the Decent Work Agenda, which is comprised of the pillars of decent employment and income, rights at work, effective social protection, and social dialogue, in informal economic activities. Such a call by the ILO is urgent in the context of countries such as India, where approximately 92 per cent of the workers are engaged in informal economic activities, and where expansion of informal economic activities is coupled with deteriorating working conditions and living standards of informal workersThis book considers whether a human development-inspired legislative framework might be able to promote overall development of a specific category of informal workers in India. Drawing upon Amartya Sens capability approach to human development it proposes a framework of labour law based on the capability approach, which could address the concerns of informal workers. The viability of the proposed labour law framework in the context of the specific informal economic activity of waste-picking in India is examined. While examining the viability of a human development based labour law in an Indian context, the also suggests how some of the proposals put forth in the book could also be relevant for informal workers in other developing countries"-- "In 2002 the International Labour Organization issued a report titled Decent work and the informal economy in which it stressed the need to ensure appropriate employment and income, rights at work, and effective social protection in informal economic activities. Such a call by the ILO is urgent in the context of countries such as India, where many workers are engaged in informal economic activities, and where expansion of informal economic activities is coupled with deteriorating working conditions and living standards. This book explores the informal economic activity of India as a case study to examine typical requirements in the work-lives of informal workers, and to develop a means to institutionalise the promotion of these requirements through labour law. Drawing upon Amartya Sens theoretical outlook, the book considers whether a capability approach to human development may be able to promote the recognition of a specific category of informal workers in India, integrating specific informal workers within a range of other social partners including state and non-state institutions. While examining the viability of a human development based labour law in an Indian context, the book also suggests how the proposals put forth in the book may be relevant for informal workers in other developing countries. This research monograph will be of great interest to scholars of labour law, informal work and workers, law and development, social justice, and labour studies"--