145;There is less poverty now146;

8226; What did you see after 25 years?

Labour had become footloose. Because of buses and other forms of public transport which had been introduced they could get out. They would go to the city on working trips. They were employed in brick kilns, building industry for specific duration and then thrown out when the job was done.

8226; What do you see now?

There is a stronger divide. It is not that the poor have become poorer. There is somewhat less poverty. Earlier you had to crawl on hands and feet into unventilated huts. Now they live in kucha houses and you walk erect into the house. They had no possessions earlier. Now they sleep on a cot, have more clothes, crockery and food. In the Sixties they went hungry for weeks and would even eat the earth. Now, some may go hungry, but it could be for a couple of days and is an exception. Now you have labour in circulation. People from the village go out in search of jobs somewhere else, while others come in.

8226; Where do they come from?

From the rural hinterland. They come to work in the harvest season for mango picking and sugarcane cutting. There is a kind of brutality, a harshness to employment in the countryside.

8226; What are the specific changes that you have seen with regard to women8217;s labour?

In South Gujarat, the custom is for women to get the same wages as men unlike in other parts of India. There has been a slight improvement in material comfort. Its reflected in the way they dress. Earlier as women belonging to the lowest segment of rural economy, they would tie the sari between the legs, to facilitate employment. But the younger generation wears it the high caste way. It is also an assertion of social equality.

Yet, there has been a decline in the quality of education in the village schools. It is so poor that even after four to five years they cannot write. Because of low wages, the parents cannot invest in the future of their children. They need the labour power of the children for household income. Then there is also the labour process itself. The wages are paid on a piece rate instead of a time rate. So in stone quarries and brick kilns you see children doing little things that will increase the productivity of the parents. This works as an incentive for parents to absorb them into the labour process. It is only the lower castes that send their children to the village school.

8226; What do you see the future of India8217;s labour force?

Employers, policy makers and middle classes must increase the purchasing power of the labouring poor which would create enormous markets and benefit all .Basically the development model of India is to rely on cheap and unskilled labour.There is no investment in the training of labour in the informal sector by the State or the employer. Training is done on the job. I think it is an unwise strategy. This is not how you can sustain the level of growth which we have witnessed in India the last 10-20 years. It is a growth pattern which benefits only a rather small section of society and it comes at a cost.

It is a wrong model of development. What is building up in rural and urban economy is enormous resentment and anger. For these people have no representation and no voice. . It has not shown itself in a massive outburst of unrest yet. But it will not take very long for that to happen. From the point of view of political stability and social stability, it is a very dangerous road to travel.