Journal of Indian School of Political Economy

Siddhartha Mukerji ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Political Science, Bhabasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow-226025, IN

Abstract

The global integration of digital technologies has led to a radical restructuring of business strategies whereby the private companies located in the Western hemisphere particularly US and West Europe have started taking advantage of the rapidly-growing service sector in the East. In this context, a certain level of mutual dependence has emerged between US and India in the economic realm. Taking full advantages of the rapid growth of internet and long-distance communication links, India’s IT-BPO industry has assumed a leadership role in the outsourcing business.

However, after reaching its pinnacle of growth, the Indian companies that provide outsourcing services have started facing new challenges on the political front from US. The increasing social pressures against outsourcing which has been viewed as the chief cause of unemployment in the category of high-skilled, research-based IT and software services in the recent past, has manifested in strong political dissensions and disagreements between the two major political parties in US. Outsourcing emerged as a critical issue of political campaigning in the last US Presidential elections where Republicans were being held responsible for appeasing external forces at the cost of the economic interest of local employees in the IT and software industry. This research paper is an attempt to explore the political context and the consequent policy developments in US for determining the extent of business collaborations in the outsourcing segment.

Full Text

     

Shashi Kant Pandey ¹, Siddhartha Mukerji ², Henrik Berglund ³, Sartik Bagh ⁴

Affiliations
1 Professor, Department of Political Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, IN
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, IN
3 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, SE
4 Professor, Department of Political Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, IN

Abstract

Globalisation has produced both opportunities and challenges and the precarities of migrant labour in India’s real estate sector is a case in point. The industry is one of the largest seasonal employment providers in the country. The present study investigates the position of seasonally employed construction workers in Lucknow’s (the capital city of the State of Uttar Pradesh, India) real estate industry and the outreach of policies designed for the welfare of these workers. The central research problem that it addresses is that while welfare policies for the migrant workers are an institutional response to manage socio-economic adversities emanating from real estate sector, these programs suffer from a serious lack of implementation.

Keywords

Globalisation, Migrant Workers, Welfare, Real Estate Sector, State.

Full Text