REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Articles

1. Understanding the Unorganized Sector. Author: Kiran Moghe.

URL: Infochangeindia.org/agenda/women-a-work/understanding-the-unorganised-
sector.html?itemid=
In this article the author with the help of statistics tried to throw light on the conditions of
women in unorganized sector. According to author unorganized workers were deprived of
their rights and did not enjoy any benefit of governmental policies. There are three types
of issues of unorganized workers that need to be addressed. One is the regulation of their
working conditions, the second is provisioning for conditions in which they are unable to
continue to work, such as old age and disability, and the third is measure to help them
overcome situations of insecurity, such as major illness and the liability of losing
employment for which they have no legal remedy.
2. Condition of Women Working In Unorganized Sector. Author: Prantika Sengupta
URL: www.legalserviceindia.com/article/1432-Condition-of-women-working-in-
unorganised-sector.html
In this article the author states that the female labor force constitutes one third of the rural
workers in India. Women workers face serious problems and constraints related to work
such as lack of continuity, insecurity, wage discrimination, unhealthy job relationship,
absence of medical and accident care etc. the exploitation of female laborers in rural
regions happens both horizontally and vertically. The author urges that it is time to
address the issues and discuss the kind of policy reform and institutional changes
required for the emancipation and empowerment of rural female labor force.
Empowerment should aim at changing the nature and direction of the power structures
which marginalize the women laborers.
3. Working and Living Conditions of Workers in Unorganized Sector A Review of
Literature. Author(s): Surbhi Kapur, Prasana Kumar Sethy
URL:
www.academia.edu/6442410/working_and_Living_Condition_of_Workers_in_Unor
ganised_Sector-A_Review_of_Literature
With the importance of unorganized sector in Indian economy the author argues that the
unorganized sector covers about half of the GDP of our country. This preponderance of
unorganized workers occupies almost 90% of the national labor force. This sector is
characterized by seasonal employment (in agricultural sector), contractual work, no social
security and welfare legislations, no right and minimum wages. Lack of skill and
education, few new openings in organized sector, unawareness of legal rights, deficient
work quality and terms of service draws the labor into the available Vortex of the
unorganized sector. Here they face problems like poor health conditions, substandard
hours, poor housing facilities, lack of safety measures, atrocities on women workers and
steps at the legal and policy level for unorganized workers is required for improving their

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 working and living conditions. In the present paper the researcher tries to make an
attempt to understand the research related to the working and living conditions of
workers in unorganized sectors and identify the gaps for further research.
4. Problem And Perspective of Unorganized Women Workers in India. Author(s): R.
Rajeshkumar & Dr. R. Rajendran. URL: www.epratrust.com
Problems and perspective of organized and unorganized women workers in this paper
main focuses on unorganized women workers in India in this connection unorganized
labor is not formerly cohesive in any recognized association and union with defined
ideology, goals and area of specialization. The unorganized sector of economy in India is
the largest sector in term of employment of the workforce. It consists of agriculture and
such related activities as forestry, livestock and fishing as well as non-agriculture. The
bill if national commission for Enterprises in the unorganized sector, 2006 presented by
the government of India women are still far behind in the actual distribution of social
status, economic value and political authority. Women contribute almost half (49.7%) of
the global total population. The actual participation of women in all spheres of human
interactions has been extremely poor. Similarly one of the two main task entrusted to our
commission is to propose umbrella legislation for workers in the unorganized sector. We
will also have to see that the legislation, and the system that will be built around it, will
assure at least a minimum protection and welfare to workers in the unorganized sector.
5. Women Workers in Agriculture: Gender Discrimination, Working Condition, and
Health Status ( C.U. Thresia, Discussion paper No. 85, Kerala Research Programme
on Local Development Centre for Development Studies Thiruvananthapuram)
Even though a number of studies are available on gender inequalities in development
planning, and its adverse impact on women, only very few studies focus on how gender
discrimination and other social inequalities are detrimental to the health of women. The
critique on inclusion of gender as a parameter in the analysis of womens health has a
history of only few decades, while the overemphasis on biomedicine as the key to
improve health status has been questioned by various scholars during the 19 th century
itself. Engels work on the condition of working class in England and Virchows
contribution to the understanding of social determinants of health were some of the
important contributions to the broadening of the concept of health and the notion of
multiple causality in the analysis of health and disease. In India, this view was accepted
by the National Movements, and the Bhore committee(1946) found that the low state of
public health and the resultant high mortality and morbidity, especially among mother
and children, was preventable. According to the report, the low health status was mainly
due to the absence of environmental hygiene, adequate nutrition, and provisions of
preventive and curative services, with cooperation from the people. However, beyond the
recognisation that health and disease are the outcome of the interaction of various socio-
economic, political, ecological and cultural factors, the actual interaction remained more
techno-centric

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BOOKS

1. Women in the Unorganized Sector of India (Rameshwari Pandya. Published by

New Century Publications)

This book deals with the problems of women in the unorganized sector of India. The
policies and programmers of the government to address these problems are also
discussed. Importantly, it includes a case study of women in the embroidery industry of
Surat city. The overall picture draw by the author in book emerges as one of the greatest
disadvantage for women workers in general and those belonging to rural as well as
SC/ST in particular.

2. Urban Unorganized Sector in India ( R. Satya Raju, Mittal Publications, New

Delhi)

In the recent years, rapid urbanizations and industrialization caused rural-urban migration
and urban unemployment in most of the third world economies like India. Therefore,
there is a need for focusing attention on these aspects to solve the problems of the surplus
labor and to improve the quality of the participants in urban unorganized sector. In this
book the author had made attempt to delve deep into the aspect of unorganized sector
employment, earnings, mobility and quality of the participants of this sector for
implementing appropriate policy measures to improve the quality of life at these urban
suppressed. Entrepreneurial background, their attitudes and preferences, creatively and
innovations in the modern business and the size and structure of the organization are
analyzed for efficient and effective resource management in India. The author
summarizes various empirical studies, suggest some policy measures for better
management of human resources and unorganized enterprises in the country.

3. Rural Women Worker in Indias Unorganized Sector ( Meenu Agarwal)

According to Indias census, its rural population accounted for 68.8% of the total
population. A large population of the rural population is either wholly or significantly
dependent on agriculture and allied activities, such as horticulture, animal husbandry, and
fisheries. Workers in the unorganized sector constitute more than 93% of the total
workforce in India. Unorganized workers are those who do not have any job security, and
are therefore extremely vulnerable to exogenous shocks. Women in Indias rural area are
clearly the overwhelming proportion of the workforce in the informal rural economy and
most of them suffer from various forms of insecurities and vulnerabilities. This book
examines the condition of rural women workers. It focuses on policies and programs of
the Indian government to ameliorate their socio-economic existence.

4. Women in Unorganized Sector: Quest for Social Justice ( Uma K. Devi, Regal
Publication)

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Womens contribution to the economy by and large remains unrecognized. Yet, their
services are vulnerable. Women are working in the unorganized sector which does not
offer fair wages and decent term of work. Nor is there any opportunity to improve their
earning potential. There are no supportive services like crches, fuel and water. Sexual
harassment is very acute in this sector. Contractors exploit young girls and women and in
many a situations are forced to succumb to their lust. In the sphere of farm family labor,
womens contribution is immense, but no effort has been made to estimate this. Although
Indian Constitution guarantees democracy and confers the right to equality to all strata,
the reality is that this guarantee of right to equality has not reached to many lower section
of society. It is these people who struggle, are impoverished, alienated and concerned
with basics for survival. The case of domestic workers is evident to the fact that despite
the guaranteed constitutional rights, their struggle for equality and survival continues. It
is disheartening to note that domestic workers has to sweep, swab, wash utensils and
clothes in every house twice a day, morning and evening. But still they continue to work
in adverse conditions. For instance, workers engaged in cleaning sewage may be killed
by the noxious fumes that are often accumulated in the drain. This happens when the
workers are not equipped with protective overalls or masks or when the mandatory tests
to ascertain the level of toxic gases in the drain are not conducted. So, it is very necessary
that social security should be given to the women workers who are working in
unorganized sectors.

5. Informal Labor, Formal Politics, and Dignified Discontent in India ( Rina

Agarwal, Cambridge University Press)

In this book the author shows careful, though methodological and conceptual thinking
while responding to and building on a large body of scholarly research. Using
considerable quantitative data and extensive interview with governmental officials and
scores of women working in the informal economy in three states (Maharashtra, West
Bengal and Tamil Nadu), the author investigates and largely dismantles the notion that
poor often illiterate workers with no formal employer can organize as workers. The
author throws up new ideas about the informal economy through its bold analysis. The
most important aspect of this book is that it shows that though informal workers are the
wretched of the earth, they are learning to raise their heads and fight for their dignity.
This book provides a tale of informal workers, strategies to organize and attain welfare
benefits from the Indian state in a context of rapid economic growth and of progressive
increase in inequalities.

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