Paper short abstract:

How is the informal sector in India transforming the lives of poor in India?

Paper long abstract:

The impact of the informal economy on rural households in India has challenged the notions of the role of the formal welfare state in the lives of the poor in India. With the informal sector e,playing almost 90% of Indian workers, the distinction of formal and informal sector has become problematic. The informal sector has become a very salient aspect of many poor in India who depend upon it for not only livelihoods, but also entitlements and benefits from their family members including subjective notions of wellbeing, dingity, and autonomy for themselves and their families. In this paper, I will discuss ethnographies of the Gond autonomy and self-sufficiency through labouring in central India due to increasing integration with the informal economy. The Gonds are predominantly a tribal population but also are dependent on farming. These communities are experiencing a threat to their traditional forms of forest dependent livelihoods and as a result, resort to the market to meet their needs without any state assistance. Various case studies will be discussed to show how instead of discussing formal and informal labour, what is more important is to know what matters to people and why. It will show how the formal sector is not only inaccessible to the Gonds as informal labourers but is also not reliable and present when it's needed the most unlike the informal sector which is always available and is preferred as ther are no ambiguities and delays in getting paid for work done.