Livelihoods
Features
Invisible, exploited: Home-workers of Agra’s footwear industryAgra turns out 250,000 pairs of shoes every day. Most of them are made by invisible home-workers at the bottom of the global supply chain, who earn as little as Rs 30 a pair Agra turns out 250,000 pairs of shoes every day. Most of them are made by invisible home-workers at the bottom of the global supply chain, who earn as little as Rs 30 a pairSarojini is a home-worker at one of the 4,500 home-based units in Agra, the footwear capital of north India. For her, each new day marks a search for work to keep food on the table, a roof over her family, and her children in school. To her sub-contractor, she is known by a number. She is, quite simply, one piece in the supply chain of a footwear brand -- one of the million invisible workers in this industry. |
|
Related Articles»The potential for transformation through MGNREGS By Siraj Dutta »State, markets and civil society have failed migrant workers By Rajiv Khandelwal »Island women find freedom from four walls By Candace Rose Rardon |
Books & Reports
Captured By Cotton
|
|
Related Articles»Poor income in informal sector drives majority of sex workers into flesh trade: Survey »Pluralism and the bauls By Kalyani Chaudhuri »Give rural poor control over ecosystems to fight poverty: WRI report |
Changemakers
Fighting for Chilika
|
|
Related Articles»Chitamma: Nari shakti By Aditya Malaviya Read More |
Stories of Change
The building blocks of changeBelaku started as a small health research project in rural Karnataka. But then the women said it was all very well to tell them about nutrition and eating right, but who was going to pay for it? Thus began the livelihoods initiative, Kirana Belaku Trust started as a small health research project in rural Karnataka, in 1995. One of its founders, Dr Saraswathy Ganapathy, a paediatrician turned public health professional, recalls how bleak the project appeared then. “The women wouldn’t speak to us, or even look at us. The nutritionist came out from the first health session and wondered how to talk ‘calories’ to them.” |
|
Related Articles»Preserving the traditional weaving techniques of the Dhanghars »Bringing professionalism to craft »Women weavers of the Kumaon |
News
Orissa first off the block with National Rural Livelihoods MissionOrissa became the first state to launch the NRLM, aimed at reducing rural poverty by providing self-employment and skilled jobs to people below the poverty line Orissa became the first state in the country to launch the National Rural Livelihoods Mission on April 18, 2011. This comes even as the state faces a CBI inquiry ordered by the Ministry of Rural Development to probe alleged corruption and irregularities in the implementation of another major social sector scheme -- the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. |
|
Related Articles»Recognise hawkers' fundamental rights: SC »Pak frees 100 Indian fishermen »Rs 1,000 a year pension aid approved for informal sector workers |
Statistics
Total number of main and marginal workers by sex |
Analysis
'Land reform: More problems than solutions'Land is the most contentious problem in India today. Although land policy development is taking place, the issue is being looked at in isolation, rather than in the overall framework of human rights, says Mukul Sharma |
|
Related Articles»A bargain-basement knowledge 'mandi' By Rahul Goswami »Dance bar ahead: Keep out : Part 1: Fundamentalisms and sexuality By Maya Indira Ganesh |
Backgrounders
Livelihoods : Background & Perspective
|