The Empty Promise of Freedom of Association: A Study of Anti‐Union Practices ...SLDIndia
The Empty Promise of Freedom of Association: A Study of Anti‐Union Practices in Haryana
Gurgaon was supposed to be the model city that would emerge on the outskirts of Delhi to provide all of India with an example of what the future of business and development in India should look like. The rapid growth and development of Gurgaon was initially praised and applauded as it seemed that Gurgaon was creating jobs, developing industry, and attracting significant foreign business investment from major companies like Citibank, Motorola, IBM, Oberoi, Trident and Westin.
However, the rapid rise and development of Gurgaon also created issues including inadequate sanitation services, lack of adequate water supply, and a lack of oversight to protect the interests of the poor migrant workers who were lured to Gurgaon by promises of jobs and economic opportunity. The development of the city has been described as “a private sector gone berserk because it was blindsided by greed, successive governments that abdicated responsibility, and apathy on part of the landed gentry.”
Due to the fact that the development of Gurgaon was largely left to the industrialists and private corporations, there has been minimal oversight or regulation of business and manufacturing practices. In fact, the All India Trade Union Congress claims that the significant foreign industrial investment was the result of an implicit agreement between investors and the government of Haryana that union activity would be suppressed.
This has led to an environment in which human rights violations are rampant and the government is complicit in allowing business and manufacturing to continue abusing workers.
Struggle within the Struggle: Voices of women garment workersSLDIndia
Struggle within the Struggle: Voices of women garment workers
Sexual harassment at the workplace is by now well understood as a form of gender discrimination at work, and a violation of the basic principles of equality and dignity ensured by our Constitution. On 23 April 2013, sixteen years after the landmark Vishaka judgment of 1997, the Parliament of India enacted The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, which was subsequently notified by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 9 December 2013. In recent years, sexual harassment at the workplace has increasingly come to be recognised as a cause of concern, as it violates basic principles of gender equality and labour rights in the framework of these being inalienable human rights of all workers alike.
Though not yet covered by any specific international instrument, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Committee of Experts considers ‘sexual harassment’ to fall within the scope of the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111), and the Committee on the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has also qualified it as a form of discrimination on the basis of sex, and as a form of violence against women.
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon (H...SLDIndia
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon (Hindi)
In the light of on‐going structural changes in India and consequently changing contours of the rural economy, the nature and pattern of migration has been changing over time. During the last two decades, there has been a general change in the destination of migration from rural‐rural to rural‐urban. However, the intensity of migration is generally reported to be low in India due to the conventional approach of defining migration.
Planning for the poor in the destination cities is conspicuous by its absence. As the mind‐set of the urban planners is to treat migrants as outsiders and a burden on the existing civic infrastructure, they get excluded from most urban planning processes and mechanisms, compounding the problems that they are already plagued with.
Inter‐State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 was promulgated for the purpose of regulation of the service condition of the migrant workers, but in status today, it is an ineffective piece of legislation. In today’s scenario, there is an urgent need to revisit the debate on legislation for the welfare of migrant workers.
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in GurgaonSLDIndia
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon
In the light of on‐going structural changes in India and consequently changing contours of the rural economy, the nature and pattern of migration has been changing over time. During the last two decades, there has been a general change in the destination of migration from rural‐rural to rural‐urban. However, the intensity of migration is generally reported to be low in India due to the conventional approach of defining migration.
Planning for the poor in the destination cities is conspicuous by its absence. As the mind‐set of the urban planners is to treat migrants as outsiders and a burden on the existing civic infrastructure, they get excluded from most urban planning processes and mechanisms, compounding the problems that they are already plagued with.
Inter‐State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 was promulgated for the purpose of regulation of the service condition of the migrant workers, but in status today, it is an ineffective piece of legislation. In today’s scenario, there is an urgent need to revisit the debate on legislation for the welfare of migrant workers.
Migration Report of Jharkhand
Migration and urbanization are two important inter-related phenomena of economic development. If channelized properly, it has the potential of societal transformation. Otherwise, it can be not only counter-productive for the societal harmony but also disastrous for the long term economic development. The historical experiences have proved that process of migration is unstoppable in modern times. The migrant workers are key force behind rising contribution of urban conglomerations to India’s GDP. Migrants are indispensable but mostly invisible key actors in cities’ development. Rural migrants in urban spaces are socially mobile, culturally flexible and economically aspiring people. Migrants are an important component of social dynamism and material development of the society. They can also be tools of cultural amalgamation and innovation. Yet, they are most vulnerable to economic exploitation and social stereotyping.
The contribution of migrants to the GDP of the country goes unnoticed. It is estimated that the migrants contribute no less than 10% to the country’s GDP.1 Many other positive as well as potential impact through the migration process remains unrecognized. According to Census 2001, in India, internal migrants account for as large as 309 million, which was about 28% of the then total population. More recent numbers, as revealed by NSSO (2007-08), show that there are about 326 million internal migrants in India, i.e. nearly 30% of the total population. Almost 70% of all the migrants are women, the fact often forgotten and lost in the data on migration.
Assembly Line of Broken Fingers:A Roadmap to Combating Occupational Health an...SLDIndia
Assembly Line of Broken Fingers:A Roadmap to Combating Occupational Health and Safety Hazards in the Manesar Auto Industrial Belt
In April of 2013, a factory building in Bangladesh collapsed and killed at least 1,100 workers. In the wake of this catastrophe, the United Nations set up a committee to ensure families of the dead or injured workers were compensated. The committee estimated that the cost of doing so would be $40 million.
As of last year, however, it had raised only $15 million, indicating the shameful reluctance of factory owners and foreign retailers to help those devastated by their greed. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated instance. It is axiomatic that every year tens of thousands of lives are shattered throughout the world due to preventable occupational hazards.
A prime example of this unfortunate truth is the Manesar Auto Industrial Belt near New Delhi, India. Between the years of 2000 and 2004 alone, the Indian auto component industry grew from USD 3.9 Billion to USD 6.7 Billion. There was also estimated to be approximately 160 global auto giants with international purchasing offices in India by the year 2010
March 2015
Health & Safety Group: Final Portfolio
Rajesh is a Quality Controller in the Production Department of a garment factory in Gurgaon, India. He works over twelve hours per day, every single day. Management tells employees to work overtime, often regardless of whether production targets are met, despite consistently refusing to pay workers the double-time wages they are entitled to. If workers rightfully object, they are told “not to come back to work tomorrow.”
Rajesh’s situation is not uncommon. The coercive strategies leveraged by Rajesh’s management are emblematic of garment worker oppression in the factories of Gurgaon. While forced overtime negatively impacts all aspects of workers’ lives in- and outside of their factories, these practices have particularly appalling effects on workplace health and safety.
BARRIERS TO JUSTICE: Workers’ struggle in GurgaonSLDIndia
BARRIERS TO JUSTICE: Workers’ struggle in Gurgaon
In Gurgaon, workers face apathetic, biased, and dysfunctional justice systems. Barriers to justice for workers in Gurgaon are legendary, demonstrate institutionalized anti-worker and pro-business practices, and flourish in a culture of impunity.
The Empty Promise of Freedom of Association: A Study of Anti‐Union Practices ...SLDIndia
The Empty Promise of Freedom of Association: A Study of Anti‐Union Practices in Haryana
Gurgaon was supposed to be the model city that would emerge on the outskirts of Delhi to provide all of India with an example of what the future of business and development in India should look like. The rapid growth and development of Gurgaon was initially praised and applauded as it seemed that Gurgaon was creating jobs, developing industry, and attracting significant foreign business investment from major companies like Citibank, Motorola, IBM, Oberoi, Trident and Westin.
However, the rapid rise and development of Gurgaon also created issues including inadequate sanitation services, lack of adequate water supply, and a lack of oversight to protect the interests of the poor migrant workers who were lured to Gurgaon by promises of jobs and economic opportunity. The development of the city has been described as “a private sector gone berserk because it was blindsided by greed, successive governments that abdicated responsibility, and apathy on part of the landed gentry.”
Due to the fact that the development of Gurgaon was largely left to the industrialists and private corporations, there has been minimal oversight or regulation of business and manufacturing practices. In fact, the All India Trade Union Congress claims that the significant foreign industrial investment was the result of an implicit agreement between investors and the government of Haryana that union activity would be suppressed.
This has led to an environment in which human rights violations are rampant and the government is complicit in allowing business and manufacturing to continue abusing workers.
Struggle within the Struggle: Voices of women garment workersSLDIndia
Struggle within the Struggle: Voices of women garment workers
Sexual harassment at the workplace is by now well understood as a form of gender discrimination at work, and a violation of the basic principles of equality and dignity ensured by our Constitution. On 23 April 2013, sixteen years after the landmark Vishaka judgment of 1997, the Parliament of India enacted The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, which was subsequently notified by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 9 December 2013. In recent years, sexual harassment at the workplace has increasingly come to be recognised as a cause of concern, as it violates basic principles of gender equality and labour rights in the framework of these being inalienable human rights of all workers alike.
Though not yet covered by any specific international instrument, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Committee of Experts considers ‘sexual harassment’ to fall within the scope of the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111), and the Committee on the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has also qualified it as a form of discrimination on the basis of sex, and as a form of violence against women.
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon (H...SLDIndia
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon (Hindi)
In the light of on‐going structural changes in India and consequently changing contours of the rural economy, the nature and pattern of migration has been changing over time. During the last two decades, there has been a general change in the destination of migration from rural‐rural to rural‐urban. However, the intensity of migration is generally reported to be low in India due to the conventional approach of defining migration.
Planning for the poor in the destination cities is conspicuous by its absence. As the mind‐set of the urban planners is to treat migrants as outsiders and a burden on the existing civic infrastructure, they get excluded from most urban planning processes and mechanisms, compounding the problems that they are already plagued with.
Inter‐State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 was promulgated for the purpose of regulation of the service condition of the migrant workers, but in status today, it is an ineffective piece of legislation. In today’s scenario, there is an urgent need to revisit the debate on legislation for the welfare of migrant workers.
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in GurgaonSLDIndia
Exploring Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Study of Inter-State Migrants in Gurgaon
In the light of on‐going structural changes in India and consequently changing contours of the rural economy, the nature and pattern of migration has been changing over time. During the last two decades, there has been a general change in the destination of migration from rural‐rural to rural‐urban. However, the intensity of migration is generally reported to be low in India due to the conventional approach of defining migration.
Planning for the poor in the destination cities is conspicuous by its absence. As the mind‐set of the urban planners is to treat migrants as outsiders and a burden on the existing civic infrastructure, they get excluded from most urban planning processes and mechanisms, compounding the problems that they are already plagued with.
Inter‐State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 was promulgated for the purpose of regulation of the service condition of the migrant workers, but in status today, it is an ineffective piece of legislation. In today’s scenario, there is an urgent need to revisit the debate on legislation for the welfare of migrant workers.
Migration Report of Jharkhand
Migration and urbanization are two important inter-related phenomena of economic development. If channelized properly, it has the potential of societal transformation. Otherwise, it can be not only counter-productive for the societal harmony but also disastrous for the long term economic development. The historical experiences have proved that process of migration is unstoppable in modern times. The migrant workers are key force behind rising contribution of urban conglomerations to India’s GDP. Migrants are indispensable but mostly invisible key actors in cities’ development. Rural migrants in urban spaces are socially mobile, culturally flexible and economically aspiring people. Migrants are an important component of social dynamism and material development of the society. They can also be tools of cultural amalgamation and innovation. Yet, they are most vulnerable to economic exploitation and social stereotyping.
The contribution of migrants to the GDP of the country goes unnoticed. It is estimated that the migrants contribute no less than 10% to the country’s GDP.1 Many other positive as well as potential impact through the migration process remains unrecognized. According to Census 2001, in India, internal migrants account for as large as 309 million, which was about 28% of the then total population. More recent numbers, as revealed by NSSO (2007-08), show that there are about 326 million internal migrants in India, i.e. nearly 30% of the total population. Almost 70% of all the migrants are women, the fact often forgotten and lost in the data on migration.
Assembly Line of Broken Fingers:A Roadmap to Combating Occupational Health an...SLDIndia
Assembly Line of Broken Fingers:A Roadmap to Combating Occupational Health and Safety Hazards in the Manesar Auto Industrial Belt
In April of 2013, a factory building in Bangladesh collapsed and killed at least 1,100 workers. In the wake of this catastrophe, the United Nations set up a committee to ensure families of the dead or injured workers were compensated. The committee estimated that the cost of doing so would be $40 million.
As of last year, however, it had raised only $15 million, indicating the shameful reluctance of factory owners and foreign retailers to help those devastated by their greed. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated instance. It is axiomatic that every year tens of thousands of lives are shattered throughout the world due to preventable occupational hazards.
A prime example of this unfortunate truth is the Manesar Auto Industrial Belt near New Delhi, India. Between the years of 2000 and 2004 alone, the Indian auto component industry grew from USD 3.9 Billion to USD 6.7 Billion. There was also estimated to be approximately 160 global auto giants with international purchasing offices in India by the year 2010
March 2015
Health & Safety Group: Final Portfolio
Rajesh is a Quality Controller in the Production Department of a garment factory in Gurgaon, India. He works over twelve hours per day, every single day. Management tells employees to work overtime, often regardless of whether production targets are met, despite consistently refusing to pay workers the double-time wages they are entitled to. If workers rightfully object, they are told “not to come back to work tomorrow.”
Rajesh’s situation is not uncommon. The coercive strategies leveraged by Rajesh’s management are emblematic of garment worker oppression in the factories of Gurgaon. While forced overtime negatively impacts all aspects of workers’ lives in- and outside of their factories, these practices have particularly appalling effects on workplace health and safety.
BARRIERS TO JUSTICE: Workers’ struggle in GurgaonSLDIndia
BARRIERS TO JUSTICE: Workers’ struggle in Gurgaon
In Gurgaon, workers face apathetic, biased, and dysfunctional justice systems. Barriers to justice for workers in Gurgaon are legendary, demonstrate institutionalized anti-worker and pro-business practices, and flourish in a culture of impunity.
Wage Structures in the Indian Garment Industry September 2013SLDIndia
A Study of Subcontracting in the Garment Industry in Gurgaon
It is common knowledge that labour intensive industries engage in subcontracting or outsourcing of production, though in varying degrees, depending on the nature of the industry. From our interaction with workers in the garment industry, it has been learned that in the last half a decade, the subcontracting in the garment industry in Gurgaon has been maturing as a common practice. Subcontractors have become an integral part of the export oriented garment industry in Gurgaon and they contribute significantly to sustain the business cycle the Indian suppliers face by providing the extra shop floor space required to produce more during the peak seasons, and by absolving the Tier 1 companies from the legal liability of keeping a regular workforce and by assisting the Tier 1 companies to adhere to the lean manufacturing principles. Subcontracting is taking place in the garment industry in a discreet manner (the agencies or entities which are getting the subcontracted work are not registered as factories, or micro/small/medium enterprise, or contractor/ subcontractor under any of the Laws) and thus making this invisible in the eyes of law.
A Study of the Contract Labour System in the Garment Industry in Gurgaon
Haryana State is one of the fastest growing states in India. The GDP was Rs 2, 162,870 million in 2009-2010 and Rs 2,577,930 million in 2010-2011, an increase of 19% in a single year. This reflects an increasing trend of economic growth in Haryana over the last decade despite the global downturn and its impact on the export/foreign investment-oriented industries that now characterise the economy of the state. In keeping with the neo liberal economic policies introduced in India during the early 1990s, the state has attracted investment through various incentives to the industrial sectors, embarking on the industrialisation of an economy that had traditionally been based on agriculture. Industry in Haryana is highly dependent on a migrant workforce that has flooded in to the state along with its phenomenal economic growth.
Gurgaon How the Other Half Lives; SLD ReportSLDIndia
Gurgaon: How the Other Half Lives A Report on Labour and Development in Gurgaon
This report is made possible by three organisations: the Society for Labour & Development (SLD) and the Indian Social Institute (ISI), both in Delhi, and Mazdoor Ekta Manch in Gurgaon. The need for this study was identified in the course of the founding of Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM) - “Workers’ Unity Platform”.
Mazdoor Ekta Manch has been organising in Gurgaon since 2008, with the support of the Society for Labour & Development. In the process of supporting the establishment of MEM, SLD recognized that very little documentation was available about the social and living conditions of the working class population, and the impact on that population of the policies of the government and private authorities and agencies around them. Indeed, the Haryana government does not have any useful data on the working class in their State. SLD and ISI decided to collaborate on a research project to better understand the invisible Gurgaon, where the majority of the population lives and works every day.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a study on the contract labour system in the garment industry in Gurgaon, India. It notes that Gurgaon has become a major hub for the export-oriented garment industry, relying heavily on migrant workers from poorer states. While the garment sector has contributed to economic growth, the migrant working class has been exploited. The use of contract labour in factories has increased and fails to provide legally mandated wages and benefits. The study aims to investigate the conditions of contract workers and institutionalized illegal practices related to the contract labour system in Gurgaon's garment industry.
A report on the subcontracting in the garment industry in gurgaon, SLD - Feb...SLDIndia
WAGE STRUCTURES IN THE INDIAN GARMENT INDUSTRY
The Indian economy adopted a liberalised economic policy regime after 1990--91, in an attempt to ensure greater integration of the domestic economy with global competitive markets. This was motivated by the policy assumption that opening up of domestic markets would enhance the competitive efficiency of domestic business enterprises on account of transfer of technology, knowledge and skill sets from abroad. A large set of literature has shown that despite the modernisation of domestic enterprises over the past two decades, the Indian manufacturing sector has failed to propel itself on a high growth trajectory (Unni and Rani, 2004). Contrary to the policy belief, severe competition in the global export markets have led domestic firms to resort to cost cutting labour market strategies that have led to the widespread prevalence of oppressive labour relations across the Indian manufacturing sector (Vijay, 2009).
In a bid to remain globally competitive, firms have targeted reduction of labour costs as a tool to ensure a reduction in production costs. This is evident in firms denying payment of minimum wages, social security, or fringe benefits to its workforce and increasingly resorting to informal employment contracts that ensure flexibility to businesses in terms of labour costs. Persistent minimum wage violations or
Understanding the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon city in Haryana State o...SLDIndia
Understanding the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon city in Haryana State of the National Capital Region (NCR) in India
Society for Labour and Development
http://www.sldindia.org/
India's Healthcare in a Globalised World: Healthcare Workers’ and Patients’ V...SLDIndia
India's Healthcare in a Globalised World: Healthcare Workers’ and Patients’ Views of Delhi’s Public Health Services
Society for Labour and Development
http://www.sldindia.org/
Death and Ensuing violence at the Grand Arch Project of IREO Private Limited ...SLDIndia
The document is a report on the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon, Haryana, India conducted by the Society for Labour and Development (SLD). It utilized both publicly available data and original field research including interviews with migrant workers, their families, healthcare providers and SLD field staff from January to March 2012. The report aims to inform private and public healthcare services about the health needs of migrants and provide recommendations to help meet those needs. It finds that migrants are a diverse group with variable health needs affected by their reasons for migration, legal status, and other socioeconomic factors.
United Nations World Oceans Day 2024; June 8th " Awaken new dephts".Christina Parmionova
The program will expand our perspectives and appreciation for our blue planet, build new foundations for our relationship to the ocean, and ignite a wave of action toward necessary change.
Contributi dei parlamentari del PD - Contributi L. 3/2019Partito democratico
DI SEGUITO SONO PUBBLICATI, AI SENSI DELL'ART. 11 DELLA LEGGE N. 3/2019, GLI IMPORTI RICEVUTI DALL'ENTRATA IN VIGORE DELLA SUDDETTA NORMA (31/01/2019) E FINO AL MESE SOLARE ANTECEDENTE QUELLO DELLA PUBBLICAZIONE SUL PRESENTE SITO
RFP for Reno's Community Assistance CenterThis Is Reno
Property appraisals completed in May for downtown Reno’s Community Assistance and Triage Centers (CAC) reveal that repairing the buildings to bring them back into service would cost an estimated $10.1 million—nearly four times the amount previously reported by city staff.
Wage Structures in the Indian Garment Industry September 2013SLDIndia
A Study of Subcontracting in the Garment Industry in Gurgaon
It is common knowledge that labour intensive industries engage in subcontracting or outsourcing of production, though in varying degrees, depending on the nature of the industry. From our interaction with workers in the garment industry, it has been learned that in the last half a decade, the subcontracting in the garment industry in Gurgaon has been maturing as a common practice. Subcontractors have become an integral part of the export oriented garment industry in Gurgaon and they contribute significantly to sustain the business cycle the Indian suppliers face by providing the extra shop floor space required to produce more during the peak seasons, and by absolving the Tier 1 companies from the legal liability of keeping a regular workforce and by assisting the Tier 1 companies to adhere to the lean manufacturing principles. Subcontracting is taking place in the garment industry in a discreet manner (the agencies or entities which are getting the subcontracted work are not registered as factories, or micro/small/medium enterprise, or contractor/ subcontractor under any of the Laws) and thus making this invisible in the eyes of law.
A Study of the Contract Labour System in the Garment Industry in Gurgaon
Haryana State is one of the fastest growing states in India. The GDP was Rs 2, 162,870 million in 2009-2010 and Rs 2,577,930 million in 2010-2011, an increase of 19% in a single year. This reflects an increasing trend of economic growth in Haryana over the last decade despite the global downturn and its impact on the export/foreign investment-oriented industries that now characterise the economy of the state. In keeping with the neo liberal economic policies introduced in India during the early 1990s, the state has attracted investment through various incentives to the industrial sectors, embarking on the industrialisation of an economy that had traditionally been based on agriculture. Industry in Haryana is highly dependent on a migrant workforce that has flooded in to the state along with its phenomenal economic growth.
Gurgaon How the Other Half Lives; SLD ReportSLDIndia
Gurgaon: How the Other Half Lives A Report on Labour and Development in Gurgaon
This report is made possible by three organisations: the Society for Labour & Development (SLD) and the Indian Social Institute (ISI), both in Delhi, and Mazdoor Ekta Manch in Gurgaon. The need for this study was identified in the course of the founding of Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM) - “Workers’ Unity Platform”.
Mazdoor Ekta Manch has been organising in Gurgaon since 2008, with the support of the Society for Labour & Development. In the process of supporting the establishment of MEM, SLD recognized that very little documentation was available about the social and living conditions of the working class population, and the impact on that population of the policies of the government and private authorities and agencies around them. Indeed, the Haryana government does not have any useful data on the working class in their State. SLD and ISI decided to collaborate on a research project to better understand the invisible Gurgaon, where the majority of the population lives and works every day.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a study on the contract labour system in the garment industry in Gurgaon, India. It notes that Gurgaon has become a major hub for the export-oriented garment industry, relying heavily on migrant workers from poorer states. While the garment sector has contributed to economic growth, the migrant working class has been exploited. The use of contract labour in factories has increased and fails to provide legally mandated wages and benefits. The study aims to investigate the conditions of contract workers and institutionalized illegal practices related to the contract labour system in Gurgaon's garment industry.
A report on the subcontracting in the garment industry in gurgaon, SLD - Feb...SLDIndia
WAGE STRUCTURES IN THE INDIAN GARMENT INDUSTRY
The Indian economy adopted a liberalised economic policy regime after 1990--91, in an attempt to ensure greater integration of the domestic economy with global competitive markets. This was motivated by the policy assumption that opening up of domestic markets would enhance the competitive efficiency of domestic business enterprises on account of transfer of technology, knowledge and skill sets from abroad. A large set of literature has shown that despite the modernisation of domestic enterprises over the past two decades, the Indian manufacturing sector has failed to propel itself on a high growth trajectory (Unni and Rani, 2004). Contrary to the policy belief, severe competition in the global export markets have led domestic firms to resort to cost cutting labour market strategies that have led to the widespread prevalence of oppressive labour relations across the Indian manufacturing sector (Vijay, 2009).
In a bid to remain globally competitive, firms have targeted reduction of labour costs as a tool to ensure a reduction in production costs. This is evident in firms denying payment of minimum wages, social security, or fringe benefits to its workforce and increasingly resorting to informal employment contracts that ensure flexibility to businesses in terms of labour costs. Persistent minimum wage violations or
Understanding the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon city in Haryana State o...SLDIndia
Understanding the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon city in Haryana State of the National Capital Region (NCR) in India
Society for Labour and Development
http://www.sldindia.org/
India's Healthcare in a Globalised World: Healthcare Workers’ and Patients’ V...SLDIndia
India's Healthcare in a Globalised World: Healthcare Workers’ and Patients’ Views of Delhi’s Public Health Services
Society for Labour and Development
http://www.sldindia.org/
Death and Ensuing violence at the Grand Arch Project of IREO Private Limited ...SLDIndia
The document is a report on the health needs of migrants in Gurgaon, Haryana, India conducted by the Society for Labour and Development (SLD). It utilized both publicly available data and original field research including interviews with migrant workers, their families, healthcare providers and SLD field staff from January to March 2012. The report aims to inform private and public healthcare services about the health needs of migrants and provide recommendations to help meet those needs. It finds that migrants are a diverse group with variable health needs affected by their reasons for migration, legal status, and other socioeconomic factors.
United Nations World Oceans Day 2024; June 8th " Awaken new dephts".Christina Parmionova
The program will expand our perspectives and appreciation for our blue planet, build new foundations for our relationship to the ocean, and ignite a wave of action toward necessary change.
Contributi dei parlamentari del PD - Contributi L. 3/2019Partito democratico
DI SEGUITO SONO PUBBLICATI, AI SENSI DELL'ART. 11 DELLA LEGGE N. 3/2019, GLI IMPORTI RICEVUTI DALL'ENTRATA IN VIGORE DELLA SUDDETTA NORMA (31/01/2019) E FINO AL MESE SOLARE ANTECEDENTE QUELLO DELLA PUBBLICAZIONE SUL PRESENTE SITO
RFP for Reno's Community Assistance CenterThis Is Reno
Property appraisals completed in May for downtown Reno’s Community Assistance and Triage Centers (CAC) reveal that repairing the buildings to bring them back into service would cost an estimated $10.1 million—nearly four times the amount previously reported by city staff.
Combined Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Vessel List.Christina Parmionova
The best available, up-to-date information on all fishing and related vessels that appear on the illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing vessel lists published by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and related organisations. The aim of the site is to improve the effectiveness of the original IUU lists as a tool for a wide variety of stakeholders to better understand and combat illegal fishing and broader fisheries crime.
To date, the following regional organisations maintain or share lists of vessels that have been found to carry out or support IUU fishing within their own or adjacent convention areas and/or species of competence:
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)
General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM)
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)
North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC)
North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)
South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO)
South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO)
Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA)
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
The Combined IUU Fishing Vessel List merges all these sources into one list that provides a single reference point to identify whether a vessel is currently IUU listed. Vessels that have been IUU listed in the past and subsequently delisted (for example because of a change in ownership, or because the vessel is no longer in service) are also retained on the site, so that the site contains a full historic record of IUU listed fishing vessels.
Unlike the IUU lists published on individual RFMO websites, which may update vessel details infrequently or not at all, the Combined IUU Fishing Vessel List is kept up to date with the best available information regarding changes to vessel identity, flag state, ownership, location, and operations.
This report explores the significance of border towns and spaces for strengthening responses to young people on the move. In particular it explores the linkages of young people to local service centres with the aim of further developing service, protection, and support strategies for migrant children in border areas across the region. The report is based on a small-scale fieldwork study in the border towns of Chipata and Katete in Zambia conducted in July 2023. Border towns and spaces provide a rich source of information about issues related to the informal or irregular movement of young people across borders, including smuggling and trafficking. They can help build a picture of the nature and scope of the type of movement young migrants undertake and also the forms of protection available to them. Border towns and spaces also provide a lens through which we can better understand the vulnerabilities of young people on the move and, critically, the strategies they use to navigate challenges and access support.
The findings in this report highlight some of the key factors shaping the experiences and vulnerabilities of young people on the move – particularly their proximity to border spaces and how this affects the risks that they face. The report describes strategies that young people on the move employ to remain below the radar of visibility to state and non-state actors due to fear of arrest, detention, and deportation while also trying to keep themselves safe and access support in border towns. These strategies of (in)visibility provide a way to protect themselves yet at the same time also heighten some of the risks young people face as their vulnerabilities are not always recognised by those who could offer support.
In this report we show that the realities and challenges of life and migration in this region and in Zambia need to be better understood for support to be strengthened and tuned to meet the specific needs of young people on the move. This includes understanding the role of state and non-state stakeholders, the impact of laws and policies and, critically, the experiences of the young people themselves. We provide recommendations for immediate action, recommendations for programming to support young people on the move in the two towns that would reduce risk for young people in this area, and recommendations for longer term policy advocacy.
karnataka housing board schemes . all schemesnarinav14
The Karnataka government, along with the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), offers various housing schemes to cater to the diverse needs of citizens across the state. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the major housing schemes available in the Karnataka housing board for both urban and rural areas in 2024.
UN WOD 2024 will take us on a journey of discovery through the ocean's vastness, tapping into the wisdom and expertise of global policy-makers, scientists, managers, thought leaders, and artists to awaken new depths of understanding, compassion, collaboration and commitment for the ocean and all it sustains. The program will expand our perspectives and appreciation for our blue planet, build new foundations for our relationship to the ocean, and ignite a wave of action toward necessary change.
Bharat Mata - History of Indian culture.pdfBharat Mata
Bharat Mata Channel is an initiative towards keeping the culture of this country alive. Our effort is to spread the knowledge of Indian history, culture, religion and Vedas to the masses.
Jennifer Schaus and Associates hosts a complimentary webinar series on The FAR in 2024. Join the webinars on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, eastern.
Recordings are on YouTube and the company website.
https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferschaus/videos
2024: The FAR - Federal Acquisition Regulations, Part 40
In Search for Work: India to Middle East to the United States
1. In Search for Work: India to Middle East to the United States
It is fair to say that international migration of Indians, especially working class
Indians, is necessitated by the policies adopted by the Indian government in this
neo-liberal era. Most of such migrant workers are vulnerable to untold
exploitation by their employers in foreign countries. They often work like
slaves to fulfill their commitments to families and society. Earlier workers
migrated mostly to the Middle East and other developed Asian countries.
In a country like India, with high unemployment and poverty, remittances of
Indian workers working abroad play a very important role. The Indian economy
benefits greatly from the foreign exchange sent home by the Non-Resident
Indians – in fact, remittances are second to Foreign Direct Investment in terms
of revenue.
Only recently, Indian skilled working class people have started going to the US.
Along with the change in destination has come a greater hope for prosperity
from working in one of the richest countries.
In Brief: Cheated by Signal, Fighting for Justice
In late May and early June of 2006, Signal International, a giant ship building
company in Pascagoula imported 590 skilled blue-collar workers from India,
on H-2B visa. The workers are from different parts of India. More than half is
from Kerala and the rest belong to Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Punjab and Delhi. And they belong to the aspiring Indian middle class, ready to
undergo any kind of hardship just to live a middle class life.
The recruiters promised green cards to the workers. Based on the promises
made to the applicants by the recruiters and Signal International, the workers
and their families gathered their life savings and borrowed staggering sums of
money from family members, friends, banks and money lenders often at higher
interest rates, in order to make the payments. Many mortgaged or sold their
homes, their jewelry and hard-earned assets. The workers were expecting to
build a better life for themselves and their families. All of that ended like a
daydream when the workers arrived in the US and were forced to work and live
under deplorable conditions.
On March 10, 2008, hundred workers decided to leave the Signal labour camps
and organized themselves as Indian Workers Congress. They launched a 29 day
hunger strike, demanding justice and sought the intervention of the Indian
Government to pressurize the US government to grant them humanity and
2. justice. Though they could draw extensive support from organizations and
general public in US, the Indian Embassy turned its back to the victims of
international labour trafficking. The Indian Government has been more ready to
open dialogue with countries other than the US on labour migration issues.
Once the destination of migrants became US, the Indian government has
avoided the negotiation table and these migrants are paying for that, materially
and mentally.
Back in India: Families Network of Solidarity & Shared Suffering
The family members of the Indian Workers Congress started organizing in
India with the help of allies. They launched a one day solidarity hunger strike
in Cochin, Kerala. The supporters of the families and the workers met with
concerned ministries and other authorities in India. They succeeded in building
up a solidarity group in India.
Two ally members visited the families in Kerala in order to make the family
network strong and to give them necessary support. They traveled extensively
in Kerala from north to south and had different experiences with different
families. Often, families treated them as friends with whom they could share
their sufferings.
Myths of Prosperity, Costs of Reality
The societies, in which the workers’ family members live, now see them as
families of an “American” worker prospering in the United States. They are
under social and family pressure to fulfill certain status-related expectations
and they feel ashamed to speak of the fraud they have faced or reveal their
sufferings and deprivation. Their sons, brothers and husbands migrated to the
US expecting to provide them a better life. But things did not work out as was
expected and their living standard dramatically dropped even from the time
when the workers used to migrate to the Middle East. In some cases, the close
family members of the workers have not even informed, other family members
of their hardship.
In order to live up to the expectation of others and maintain the myth of middle
class comforts, some families started borrowing to maintain a fictional living
standard. (It is relatively easier for them to get loans when they say that their
family member is in America).
3. The society, churches and other institutions demand more from them, now that
they are supposed to be “richer”. Children are expected to be sent to better and
more expensive schools. Most of the families who sold their houses to arrange
money for visa and travel are now expected to buy or build a new and better
one. But, they hardly pay the rent, let alone buy.
When they fall ill, the neighbours and friends expect them to go to expensive
private hospitals – ironically, however, they are struggling to arrange even bus
fare to go to public hospitals.
Along with societal pressures, the families and the workers face painful
personal loss and loneliness. Some of the workers migrated to the US shortly
after their marriage. They sold their wives’ jewellery to pay for their US dream.
At the time of migration, they were dreaming of getting green cards for the
family and taking them along. Once they realized Signal’s treachery, that
dream was lost and their wives are undergoing severe mental pressure of
separation, deprivation etc. Some of the workers became fathers while they
were away and have still not seen their new born. The wives miss them terribly
and in some cases face depression.
The workers’ old parents also find themselves caught in this horrendous
situation. They have been hoping for a peaceful old age when their children
would look after them. Instead, in some families, old parents have gone back to
work to pay back the debt and the mounting interest their sons owe
moneylenders and banks. During a visit to one workers’ family, the old father
of the worker had gone in search of a job. The only thing we would do was
console them and give them the confidence to confront the adversities. These
families are going through the worst time in their life. Parents get sick when
they think of their son and get hospitalized frequently. When the family can
barely meet daily expenses, illness and hospitalization adds to the economic
burden and stress.
The supporters visited one family that lives in an unfinished house. The
construction of the house had been started two years back but still not
completed because of financial problems. The same family has three girl
children exceeding the ‘age limit’ for marriage – a social problem in the society
they are in. The mother in that family started crying while talking to us. She
had suppressed her emotions so much that she burst into tears and grief when
they met us. What we could do was to console her by saying that there are ways
for the workers to overcome this terrible situation and for that they need their
families’ help.
4. Personal is Political
Most of the families are not politically active in Kerala, which is otherwise a
highly politicized state with a strong Left tradition. As a result, they are often
unable to locate their personal tragedies within the larger framework of neo-
liberal capitalist policies and within the working class traditions of resistance.
Their grief remains private, isolating them from social and political support.
Their dreams are defined by social and economic status and any loss to that
status affects their respect for themselves. Unfortunately, they suffer more as
they lack the support system offered by the progressive political movements in
Kerala.
The allies in India have worked with the family members to form a platform
from where they can raise their demands as stakeholders in the development
process of the state. After all, their remittances are significantly responsible for
Kerala’s economic strength.
The bi-national organizing and solidarity effort has built a bridge between
workers and families and between resistances at both ends. The family
members are gradually getting politicized and convinced of the importance of
getting organized and demanding the ‘sleeping government’ to intervene in the
issue.