An extract from an interview with Mahatma Gandhi.

The post-199os economic boom in China is largely associated with an increasing rural-urban divide and a decline in formal wage employment in the urban sector. The case of workers in the Shenzhen special economic zone in south China is representative of this trend. When agriculture was deprioritised there was an exodus to the cities. The “peasant workers” in Shenzhen are forced to pay taxes and fees in their native villages but are not officially accepted as urban workers and cannot enjoy the urban-based facilities that the latter do.

This article analyses the impact of the 2008-09 global economic meltdown on workers in the unorganised sector of the gem polishing and construction industries in Rajasthan. Based on a primary survey, it was found that in the initial phase of the crisis, workers trimmed their spending on their social life. This was followed by a reduction in expenditure on health and education. As the crisis persisted, they were left with little alternative but to cut down expenditure even on essentials like food, shelter, clothing, etc.

On examining the dynamics of the processes of change in the status of labour and employment in the rapidly globalising state of Gujarat in India, this study shows that the rapid growth in the state has not been shared by labour. This has resulted in the state slipping in poverty reduction, human development and in hunger removal. This study also argues that an unfair deal to labour need not be a part of neo-liberal economic reforms and that providing a just share to labour can contribute towards promoting labour-intensive and equitable growth in the state.

There is a debate in India about the possible extension of minimum wages to all wage-earners. This study provides some benchmark figures on the effects of either making the national minimum wage floor compulsory or extending the coverage of state-level minimum wages. Using the 2004-05 Employment- Unemployment Survey along with the Consumer Expenditure Survey, it estimates that the extension of minimum wages at existing levels could improve the earnings of 73 to 76 million low-paid salaried and casual workers.

Even as state governments invest in social welfare measures, they are forced into constant competition with one another to attract private investments, offering a good “investment climate” that includes access to a low cost workforce and a physical infrastructure geared towards capital accumulation. The need to provision welfare within an accumulation regime premised on global competition, fiscal austerity and marketisation, and a simultaneous need to reduce labour costs and to ensure social security, to exclude and include labour appears paradoxical.

Darjeeling tea makes its mark world over, but back home it brews suspicion between planters and workers finds Down To Earth.