Gurgaon How the Other Half Lives; SLD Report

Gurgaon: How the Other Half Lives

A Report on Labour and Development in Gurgaon

The Indian Social Institute

and

Society for Labour & Development

New Delhi November 2009

Gurgaon: How the Other Half Lives 2

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Executive Summary

The Other Side of Gurgaon

Gurgaon: Development for Whom?

The Invisible Working Class: Identity and Living Conditions

Salient Issues and Recommendations

Appendix: The Invisible Working Class: Working Conditions

About the Collaborators


Acknowledgements

This report is made possible by three organisations: the Society for Labour & Development and the Indian Social Institute, both in Delhi, and Mazdoor Ekta Manch in Gurgaon. The inception of the research took place at the founding of Mazdoor Ekta Manch in February 2008, when the former director of the Indian Social Institute, Jimmy Dhabi, and a researcher then at the ISI Alka Srivastava, attended the founding event, at the invitation of the Society for Labour & Development. Both SLD and ISI recognized the need for research in the area of urban workers’ living and working conditions. ISI helped the SLD to formulate the research project. Following that, members of Mazdoor Ekta Manch made the research possible by providing access to workers in Gurgaon.

The efforts of many people from all three organizations have gone into this report. Researchers include Alka Srivastava, Habibullah Ansari, CP Vinod, and P. Saleena. Madhuri Paliwal at ISI did the organization and entry of the survey data. Several other researchers have played various roles along the way – in field data analysis, secondary research, and drafting the report. We would like to thank Ashim Roy, who gave critical input to earlier drafts, the team of field surveyors who interviewed respondents and filled out the survey forms, Padam Kumar who helped in the initial stages of the project, Rais Khan who conducted interviews with various stakeholders, and the entire SLD staff and Board for their support and encouragement. The workers of Gurgaon must be thanked for opening their hearts and homes to the researchers and giving of their precious free time to respond to the surveys. The project has been funded largely by ISI and SLD. During the period of work on the project, ISI underwent a leadership change. The commitment of the Governing Board of ISI in continuing with the project is greatly appreciated. We also thank Fr. Christopher Lakra, the current Executive Director of ISI, for his involvement in finalisation of the report. Rakesh Singh, Coordinator of the Women’s Unit, translated the Executive Summary into Hindi; and Roshni, researcher at the Women’s Unit, has contributed to the editing and coordination of the final activities from ISI. We also wish to thank Jobs with Justice for their support of SLD and of Mazdoor Ekta Manch. Anannya Bhattacharjee Secretary, Governing Board Society for Labour and Development


Preface Gurgaon in Haryana is among the fastest growing industrial hubs in India and one of the world's largest built-up urbanized zones. For lakhs of migrant workers in Gurgaon, however, daily life is simply a struggle to survive. Amidst the growing prosperity of this satellite town to the south of Delhi, which presents the face of ‘shining India’, there is a deep divide between the haves and the have-nots. As in other regions of the country with great wealth disparities, much of Gurgaon’s elite embraces its capitalist success in booming office towers and sprawling shopping malls while choosing to pretend that they do not see how “the other half” live. Tens of lakhs are shut off from the boom, living completely outside the affluence it has brought. Behind the factory walls and in the side streets of the burgeoning Gurgaon, thousands of workers keep the rat-race going, producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes. Haryana was one of the Indian states where the impact of the Green Revolution (industrialisation of agricultural production) was most severe. On the background of those agricultural changes, industrialisation in Gurgaon began in the early 1980s with the opening of the Maruti automobile plant. In the most recent decade Gurgaon has become an industrial hub characterised by the automobile industry, by the textile sector, by call centres, and increasingly by biotech, agro and pharmaceutical industries.

The state and private development companies, such as DLF, enforce the political and infrastructural frame-work for rapid development. Additional to the already existing industrial zones, new Special Economic Zones are in the making, allegedly comprising 200,000 future jobs. The investment flowing towards the industries in Gurgaon has resulted in the Dubai-isation of the area, with real estate and land prices rocketing and speculative capital mushrooming in forms of architectural arrogance. On the other hand, the appalling living and working conditions of tens of thousands of migrant workers in Gurgaon are a constant source of embarrassment to those who wish to present only the glowing face of industrial development in Haryana.

This study undertaken by Indian Social Institute (ISI) and Society for Labour Development (SLD) has focused on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of various facets of the social, civic and economic conditions of workers’ lives in Gurgaon. It also reports on working conditions in the factories and examines the government structures and policies, and the relationships of government and private agencies, that are responsible for such living and working conditions.

The data reveal that migrant workers coming from different states, religions and castes create a very diverse population in Gurgaon. The relatively young age of the workers points to the impending dangers of thwarted ambitions and hopes. The majority of these workers live in slums that are severely lacking in essential services such as decent housing, sanitation, and access to clean, safe water. Living on the industrial periphery, they are pushed to the very margins of society, existing in the smallest sliver of space humanly tolerable. The meagre income of the workers and their inability to have decent stable family lives create a situation of huge frustration, with illegalities and criminal elements that fill the vacuum created by lack of governmental provisions.

This study will help in understanding the problems that arise from the ruthless top-down priorities of the ruling elite that are carried out without regard for the majority of the citizens, and which create a growing under-class. I am grateful to Society for Labour & Development and to the Women’s Unit of Indian Social Institute for carrying out this study and for producing very useful recommendations to address the problems that have been identified. I hope that this work will help the government, civic authorities, trade unions and other civil society actors to take a critical look at the industrial development process and make urgent socio-economic interventions for the benefit of India’s workers.

Fr. Christopher Lakra Executive Director Indian Social Institute


Executive Summary This report is made possible by three organisations: the Society for Labour & Development (SLD) and the Indian Social Institute (ISI), both in Delhi, and Mazdoor Ekta Manch in Gurgaon. The need for this study was identified in the course of the founding of Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM) - “Workers’ Unity Platform”.

Mazdoor Ekta Manch has been organising in Gurgaon since 2008, with the support of the Society for Labour & Development. In the process of supporting the establishment of MEM, SLD recognized that very little documentation was available about the social and living conditions of the working class population, and the impact on that population of the policies of the government and private authorities and agencies around them. Indeed, the Haryana government does not have any useful data on the working class in their State. SLD and ISI decided to collaborate on a research project to better understand the invisible Gurgaon, where the majority of the population lives and works every day.

Development for Whom? The district of Gurgaon in the State of Haryana, also part of the National Capital Region (which is centred on Delhi), has rapidly grown and transformed to become one the world’s largest urbanised industrial hubs. The dramatic change over the past two decades from what Gurgaon was to what it is today, has been intentionally planned by the central and state governments. The changes in Haryana and Gurgaon can be viewed in three perspectives. First is the deliberate shift from an inequitable agrarian economy to one that is single-mindedly focused on manufacturing and service industries. The second is the regional top-down context within which the policies have developed; facilitated by the concept of the “National Capital Region”. The third is the aggressive implementation of export-oriented policies and activities facilitated by the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the entry of foreign direct investment.

The National Capital Region Board oversees overall development in the NCR, which includes Delhi, and portions of the states of UP, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is responsible for overall urban development in Haryana, while the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) focuses on industrial and infrastructural growth through private capital. Both institutions are supposedly required to develop the area in a way that protects the interests of common people and local residents. According to the HUDA website “The main objective of any organisation should be Public Service & Welfare. HUDA is committed to these high ideals.” Although HUDA is rhetorically committed to the public, the nature of that public appears to be not the common citizen but rather entrepreneurs, businesses, and investors. The same is true of HSIIDC. In this development process, the issue of land is paramount. Land acquisition for developing new global townships and industrial parks is a very lucrative business and has brought powerful players to the Gurgaon region. Local communities and governments are barely consulted in the decisions regarding land management and ownership that are taken at higher levels. The NCR area’s development has been conceived and implemented with limited vision and goals. This report shows that the NCR development approach focuses on industrial and social infrastructure for the benefit of owners and managers of capital, with little regard for the majority, who comprise tens of lakhs of workers. Industrial development, in itself, is not the problem, nor is infrastructure development. But the ruthless top-down priorities of the ruling elite, without regard for the majority of the citizens, creates an enormous and growing under-class; a development that is not sustainable. Putting aside for the moment the issue of justice, this model of development needs to be examined in its own terms. It is questionable whether progress and prosperity can prevail in the midst of medieval-like


brutal contradictions that simmer barely below the surface in Gurgaon. The many contradictions between visible and

highly promoted “Shining Gurgaon” and invisible and shameful “Sweatshop Gurgaon” set the stage for an explosive situation that does not accord with sound development logic.

The Working Class in Gurgaon

Gurgaon’s industrial development has drawn lakhs of migrant workers from poorer states in India, such as Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Workers also come from Nepal and Bangladesh. The migrant workers are the economic refugees created by the Indian government’s national development logic defined by neo-liberal policies, policies that are followed faithfully at regional and state levels. Neither government report nor any other research data are available about this population of migrant workers, a population that remains neglected, invisible, and hidden in the shadows of illegality. Living in those shadows keeps lakhs of migrant workers at the mercy of the unknown forces that impinge upon them. These economic refugees are predominantly young workers, disproportionately representing religious and caste minorities, and their youth foretells the dangers of thwarted ambitions and hopes. Their limited education further limits their integration into the new industrial economy based on the mechanisms of global capital. Instead, they constitute a vast pool of cheap labour, becoming fodder for the labour

intensive factories that manufacture export products for the global market. The living conditions of these workers demonstrate the utter bankruptcy of the NCR approach. This report reveals sub-human living conditions in one of the most “modern” urban areas of India. Aside from the fact that such development violates all morality, no logic can explain the value of creating such a huge underclass which perceives itself as living like chuhe (“rats” in their own language). A situation where children cannot be educated and illnesses cannot be treated can lead only to illiteracy, epidemics, child labour, and crime. No number of national highways and gated communities - both of which are much in evidence in Gurgaon - can effectively segregate the urban under-classes from those who are affluent. The demands of the labour market are considerable and growing, and migrant workers are able to find jobs without much difficulty. With reasonable ease, they also find the illegal sub-human housing that has developed to take advantage of their presence. The migrant workers come from different states, religions and castes, and tend to be knit along the lines of personal relationships from “home”. They crowd into shared rooms and, although identifying as


migrants, many are actually long time local residents of the NCR region. The majority of the migrant workers possess no legal identification as being residents of Haryana. Not only do they remain uncounted by the census; but it is clear that the Haryana government accords them little recognition and has no plans to address the needs of this huge underclass. Their lack of identification stops them from opening bank accounts, while illegalities and criminal elements fill the vacuum left by lack of governmental provision. It takes little imagination to see that the government is laying the groundwork for an explosive situation, less than 20 kms away from the Parliamentary centre of India. The workers earn a meagre income and cannot afford to bring their families to live with them. Their dangerous unhygienic housing conditions are like a time bomb waiting to explode into a public health crisis. Private healthcare institutions are unaffordable to the poor and tens of lakhs of workers have nowhere to go to seek medical care.

The shocking labour conditions of the workers match their awful living conditions, and the Gurgaon Labour Department appears to be ill-equipped to handle the scale of violations of labour law and international codes of conduct. Verbal abuse and corporal punishment in the most modern manufacturing sectors are a shocking revelation. No proper grievance mechanisms exist in the workplaces, and failing industrial dispute resolution mechanisms frustrate any effort made to get minimal legal attention. This, in what is considered one of the most modern industrial export zones in the world. Factory owners routinely violate basic labour laws, and the Gurgaon Labour Department fails in its responsibilities to ensure compliance with the law. While Provident Fund and Employee State Insurance violations carry strict penalties and punishment by law; the Gurgaon government is not able to make employers follow the directives and policies of the national government, within a mere twenty kilometers of the national seat of government.

Recommendations

@ Organise a multi-stakeholders’ hearing on the living and working conditions of industrial workers in Gurgaon.

@ Hold a dialogue with Haryana development agencies, company

management and government, to address the welfare of this huge workforce.

@ Form a multi-stakeholder Gurgaon Development Monitoring

Commission, including workers’ representatives, to ensure humane living and working conditions for the working class of Gurgaon.


The Other Side of Gurgaon

Introduction In today’s global economy, governments of developing countries like India are drawn to a model of development that relies on export-oriented production and services for the global market and clients. Concentrated industrial hubs around major metropolitan areas are being intentionally created to facilitate such production and export. Gurgaon in the northern state of Haryana in India is among the fastest growing industrial hubs in India and one of the world's largest built-up urbanised zones. Its industries are dominated by manufacturing and services for the global market and for India’s elite. Given its scale and prominence in India and the global economy, it is a surprisingly little-studied area. The Haryana government has aggressively reached out to industry and foreign investment and is home to some of the top multinational companies. In addition,

various large informal sectors have come into existence – rickshaw, construction, domestic work, and so on. The population has grown exponentially with the in-migration of people from poorer states, providing the area with a steady supply of cheap labour. Gurgaon is part of the National Capital Region and is referred to as the Millennium City, or “the Singapore of India”. While Gurgaon is seen as a ‘shining’ star of development and progress by the mainstream, with high-rise buildings, luxury apartments, glitzy malls, and numerous venues for fine dining and entertainment, the truth is that, this is only one part of Gurgaon, one that the government and industry disproportionately promote. The other part of Gurgaon constitutes industrial areas where tens of lakhs of workers live and work – areas that are largely kept invisible. Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM), a platform of workers, has been organising in Gurgaon with the support of the Society for Labour and Development (SLD). In


the process of supporting the establishment of MEM, SLD realised that very little documentation is available about the living and social conditions of the working class population and the government and private authorities and agencies around them. Indeed, even the Haryana government does not have useful data on the working class. SLD and ISI decided to collaborate on a research project to better understand the invisible Gurgaon where the other half lives and works every day.

Goal of the Study The goal of this study is to qualitatively and quantitatively understand social and civic issues in workers’ lives: such as transportation, housing, sanitation, water, electricity, health, education,

banking, ration cards, and other legal identification. The study also reports on the working conditions in the factories, through an intensive study of one

hundred workers in five major companies supplying to European, British and American brands. It examines the government structures and policies, and the relationships of government, private, and public-private agencies that are responsible for these living and working conditions. It uncovers the motivations behind the government’s development plans and studies and the impact of its approaches on the common working people of Gurgaon. Accessing the Invisible Majority The report demonstrates the extreme invisibility of industrial workers in Gurgaon. They number in the tens of lakhs but are officially uncounted. Their forced invisibility creates an underground economy and helps to perpetuate with impunity, illegal and exploitative practices by those in positions of power vis-à-vis workers – in matters of housing, civic amenities, access to government agencies, legal identification, employment, and so on. Workers are afraid and suspicious because they live and work in areas where they encounter daily threats and betrayals. It would be close to impossible for an organisation unknown to the workers to conduct a survey with integrity under these circumstances. The presence of Mazdoor Ekta Manch and the fact that it is trusted by the workers, helped enormously. The survey could not have been done without their help. Since the workers have very little voice in society, a trust needs to be established. Once trust is established they are eager to express their dismal conditions. Interviews took much longer than anticipated. Workers were interviewed near the factories when they finish work and come out to go home, as well as in their homes. The interviews had to be done without the knowledge of factory management or landlords, and often at odd hours of the day like early mornings and late nights, because the workers have very little time off from work.

Surveying the Working Class The report shows that the number of migrant workers in the Gurgaon region cannot be established with any certainty. However, with Mazdoor Ekta Manch’s


estimates and knowledge of the local areas, a sample size of 1000 workers was arrived at. A survey questionnaire for workers with detailed questions was prepared, tested on some of the workers, and further refined. The questions consisted of the following sections:

@ Identity of the workers including their social and economic background, education, issues around migration and so on

@ Living conditions of workers including housing, sanitation, access and quality of healthcare, facilities for children’s education, access to banking, transportation

@ Relation with government and other external agencies such as the election commission, the police, landlords, etc.

A group of five young men were engaged in conducting the surveys with 1000 workers. 600 questionnaires were completed in Udyog Vihar, 300 in Khandsa, and 100 in Manesar. The five surveyors were trained and supervised by the SLD. They were initially introduced to the workers through Mazdoor Ekta Manch and after that the surveyors were free to interview among the workers. The data from the completed surveys were entered by the ISI. During the period of this research project, another survey was conducted to document the working

conditions of 100 workers in five of the top exporting companies supplying garments to American and European brands. This piece of the research was conducted in Gurgaon by the Society for Labour and Development with Mazdoor Ekta Manch, and was partly supported by the India Committee in the Netherlands. The working conditions report is based on a separate questionnaire exclusively focused on factory working conditions.

Government and Private Stakeholders The collaborators of this study also wanted to understand the perspectives of government agencies and private stakeholders in the region. SLD identified and developed interview guides for government and private stakeholders – such as the labour department, ESI clinics, hospitals, schools, banks, and the police. In addition, landlords, panchayat leaders, shop keepers, transportation companies and drivers, labour contractors, and an imam and a priest were also interviewed. Development agencies of the government were interviewed to get their perspectives on the region and on the situation of migrant workers. Interviews were also conducted with members of Mazdoor Ekta Manch. All of these interviews were conducted by SLD.

Structure of the Report

Gurgaon: Development for Whom? gives the background to the industrial development of Gurgaon in the context of development of the National Capital Region, describing the magnitude of change, growth, policies and politics that have led to the existing character of development. The Invisible Working Class: Identity and Living Conditions analyses the data from structured interviews surveying 1000 workers, describing who they are and the civic and social conditions of their lives. The Invisible Working Class: Conditions of Work reports on the working conditions of low-wage workers in Gurgaon, based on a further in-depth survey of 100 workers at five different companies in Gurgaon. Salient Issues and Recommendations highlights the critical issues that emerge for the working class of Gurgaon, and provides recommendations for amelioration and improvement.


Gurgaon: Development for Whom?

The city of Gurgaon, located within the north India state of Haryana, is in the southern part of the state, about 32 kms southwest of New Delhi, the national capital of India. Haryana has borders with Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab. It came into existence in 1996 as a result of the separation of the Punjab into two states, each with Chandigarh as its capital. Chandigarh, like Delhi, is administered as a union territory. Over the past twenty years, Gurgaon has rapidly transformed and developed to become one the world’s largest urbanised industrial hubs. The dramatic change from what Gurgaon was to what it is today has been intentionally planned by the central and state governments. This chapter examines this rapid development, which then provides the context for the growth and development of the contemporary working class in Gurgaon.

The changes in Haryana and Gurgaon in particular can be seen in three perspectives. One is the deliberate move from an inequitable agrarian economy to one that is single-mindedly focused on manufacturing and service industries. The second is the context within which this development has taken place; that is, a regional approach facilitated by the concept of the “National Capital Region” (NCR). And the third is the aggressive implementation of an export-oriented approach, facilitated by the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the entry of foreign direct investment.

The Industrialization of Haryana According to the census of 1981, about 78 percent of the population of Haryana lived in rural areas, and


agriculture was the major source of livelihood.1 Haryana - along with Punjab, Rajasthan, and western Uttar Pradesh - was part of the green revolution that took place in north India. Although Haryana had been deficit in food grains when it came into existence as a separate state, it gradually became a surplus-producing state. Indeed, it came to be known as one of the major agrarian states in the country, producing well more than its share of the food requirements of the nation. The agrarian development in Haryana was marked by great social inequalities. Distribution of land was extremely uneven, with the major share of land concentrated in only a few hands. The introduction of new agricultural technology including exploitation of sub-soil water, increased use of chemical fertilizers, and extension of areas under high-yielding variety seeds further widened the gap between small and large-scale farmers. The state, which had been known as a success story in the green revolution, is now in agricultural crisis, and peasant indebtedness is an important dimension of this crisis. Occasional crop failures in the era of globalisation add to the problems. According to a survey conducted by the Haryana Krishak Samaj, as many as 72 peasants committed suicide in three villages in Haryana due to crop failure and poverty. According to current government sources, there is no scope for further expansion of agriculture in the state. At present, about 86% of the land area is arable, and of that 96% is already cultivated, with 75% of the area being irrigated through tube wells and canals. Though agriculture continues to occupy a significant position in the state economy, the share of this sector in the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has steadily declined. Figures show a growth of only 1% from 2006-2007 to 2007-20082. The composition of GSDP at constant 1999-2000 prices reveals that the share of the primary sector (which includes agriculture and allied sectors) had declined by 10 % from 32.1 % in 1999-2000 to 22.1% in 2006 -07.

1 Ghanghas.D.P.1984, “Rural Development in Haryana: A Study of Growing Inter-Sectoral and Intra-sectoral disparity” Social Scientist,Vol.12.May.P.no.43-50. 2 Economic Survey of Haryana, 2008-2009.

The declining growth of the primary sector in the state is being replaced by the rapid expansion of secondary (transportation, manufacturing) and tertiary (services) sectors. According to the Economic Survey of Haryana 2008-09, the share of the secondary sector increased from 28.5 % in 1999-2000 to 29.7% in 2007-08. The GSDP grew, as a result of the secondary sector, over 10% from 2006-07 to 2007-08. The share of the tertiary sector in the GSDP at constant 1999-2000 prices increased from 39.5 % in 1999-2000 to 49 % in 2007-08. This shift in Haryana from an agrarian economy to an industrial and service economy can be understood from a number of different perspectives. The Haryana Government claims that a series of policy initiatives by the state government has enabled this rapid industrialization. The industrial policy of Haryana stresses the development of industrial estates, special economic zones, industrial model townships, and theme parks. Well-developed district-wide roads, a burgeoning communications network, and widespread electrification have all contributed to make Gurgaon a destination for high-tech and high-value capital. The State Economic Survey of 2008-2009 states: “The State economy has recorded the excellent growth of 9.3 percent in real terms during 2007-08 in spite of the low performance in Agriculture sector. The excellent growth during the year is mainly attributed to the encouraging growth rates recorded in Trade, Communication, Construction, Transport, Real Estate, Ownership of Dwellings, Legal & Business Services, Manufacturing and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sectors. During this period, Trade sector has recorded an increase of 16.1 percent, Communication sector 15.9 percent, Construction and Transport sectors each 11.2 percent, Real Estate, Ownership of Dwellings, Legal & Business Services sector 10.7 percent, Manufacturing sector 9.6% and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector 9.3 %.”

Urbanisation in a Regional Context The urbanisation of Gurgaon is closely linked to the policies defined through the National Capital Region (NCR) approach. NCR is the name given to the metropolitan area that encompasses the entire


National Capital Territory of Delhi as well as major urban centres in the immediate neighbouring regions

of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The concept of the NCR was introduced in 1962 as part

National Capital Region (NCR)

Source: NCR Planning Board

of the Delhi Master Plan, which proposed the development of Ring Towns around the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The NCR has since become one of the world’s largest urban agglomerations. A regional approach was adopted for the NCR plan to facilitate the dispersion of development, as opposed to having development focusing only on the city of Delhi. Under the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, a statutory board was constituted by the government to regulate the development of the region. The NCR Planning Board consists of the

Union Minister of Works and Housing as its Chairman, the Administrator of the Union territory of Delhi, the Chief Ministers of the States of Haryana. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and 11 other members to be nominated by the Central Government in consultation with the participating States and the Union territory of Delhi. Haryana contributes the largest area to the NCR, bounding Delhi on the west, north and south; the development of Haryana and Gurgaon is closely tied to the fact that one-third of the state is located within the National Capital Region. The two districts in Haryana within the NCR are Gurgaon and Faridabad.


Haryana as well as Gurgaon with their close proximity to Delhi provide access to a vast market, and that has catalysed the overall development of the region and the state. Haryana is served by 14 tracks of railway lines, and 10 national highways. Gurgaon is also only 10 kms away from Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is nominally in Delhi, and the Haryana and Delhi governments have jointly constructed the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to increase accessibility. Other highly valued facilities accessible to Gurgaon include the foreign embassies and globally recognised educational and medical institutions in Delhi. The shift from agriculture to industrial manufacturing has led to dramatic changes in the configuration of the rural and urban population of the Gurgaon region. Census figures from 2001 show that Haryana had the highest urban population growth among India’s major states. A report carried by the Times of India, concerning urban growth in Haryana in relation to the stresses of such growth, stated as follows: “The addition of population in urban areas, during 1991-2001, was a little more than half of the total urban population of the state in 1991, explaining accelerated urban growth. This has, no doubt, challenged planners, who now have to meet the increased demand for urban services like housing, water, electricity supply, sewerage and green area… there was an increase of 2,059,395 persons in the urban population, during 1991-2001, that is, decennial growth rate was 50.79 per cent compared to 20.63

per cent growth of the rural population, during this decade. …….. total urban population of the top densest cities in 2001 is more than the urban population of the entire state in 1991.”3 According to the 2001 Census, about 33% of Haryana’s population lived in slums, and this was not due only to population growth in and around Gurgaon. Most cities of Haryana around NCR such as Rewari, Rohtak, Hisar, Sonepet, Panipet, Karnal and Bhiwani had over 30% of the population residing in slums.4

Globalisation and Investment A changed economic regime in India came into being decisively in the early 1990s, bringing in central government policies founded in a comprehensive political and economic outlook that is commonly characterized as being “neo-liberal” - that is, a relaxation of governmental controls over capital, allied with general favouring of business endeavours and private economic development. These changes were further accelerated when, in November 2003, the central government opened up the possibility of 100% foreign directed investment (FDI) in sectors beyond industrial manufacturing, allowing it on a case-by-case basis in housing development, commercial premises, hotel ventures, roads, bridges, and mass transportation systems.

3 Times of India, October 15, 2001. 4 The Indian Express dated 6th Dec 2007.


The changes at the national level as regards the new governmental macro-economic policies were echoed in related industrial policies of the state of Haryana. These policies emphasized political and economic reforms to facilitate rapid and substantial economic growth and integration with the global economy. The state government held out the promise that this liberalization would lead to more competition within the state, and would help to drive up exports, usher in foreign investment, and create more new jobs. The government saw the shift in the state’s economy from agriculture to the industrial manufacturing and service sectors as a positive sign towards the growth of the region. The two districts of Haryana that were to contribute most to this transformation were Gurgaon and Faridabad. Two distinct phases are evident in the industrial development of Gurgaon. The first phase was the emergence of Gurgaon as a national centre of industrial production. During this phase, in the early 1980’s, some well known companies were sited in Gurgaon, such as Maruti Udyog Limited (established in collaboration with Suzuki Motors of Japan). This venture brought Gurgaon international attention and triggered rapid industrialization, which gained further momentum with the establishment of factories for Hero Honda, Honda Motors of Japan, Suzuki Motor Cycle, and ancilliary entities supplying parts for the automobile companies. Today, the automobile industry of Gurgaon produces passenger cars, motor cycles, scooters, and their components, amounting to Rs 28000 crores annually. The second phase, in the early 1990’s, began with the central government’s liberalization of capital policies, pushing for the inflow of huge amounts of foreign directed investment (FDI) and the emergence of export-oriented ventures. One of the most important industries, showing tremendous growth in the NCR in this period, has been readymade garments and home furnishings. An exclusive zone, was developed for a cluster of high-fashion readymade garment and home furnishing manufacturing units in the industrial areas of Udyog Vihar and Khandsa, industrial parks that had been built in Manesar. Among the big global suppliers that were established there were names including Orient Craft, Jyothi Apparels, Modelama, Richa, Gaurav, and Sarita Handa.

Another industry that has grown in recent years is that of Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services. Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (HARTRON), a government enterprise established in 1983, was responsible for the early development of the electronics sector in the state. A software technology park covering an area of 14000 sq. feet was built, and IT companies such as Hughes Software, Tata Consultancy Services, Alcatel, HCL, Siemens, GE Capital, and Silicon Graphics established their units in this area of Gurgaon. According to data cited in the official website of Gurgaon, recent total exports from the district in the IT and IT-enabled services amounted to Rs.9000 crores. Gurgaon’s growth along these lines has come about through insistent industrial policies, seamlessly adopted by the state government over several years. According to the Industrial Policy document of 2005, the current industrial policies were a continuation of earlier policies. The policy document stated that:

“IP 1992 announced in tandem with the economic reforms brought out by the Central Government was an incentive centric approach to attract investment. IP 1997 adopted an infrastructure led approach to industrial development. IP 1999 aimed at promoting industrial growth in the context of overall economic value addition with emphasis on infrastructure development through private initiative”. In the Industrial Policy of 2005, the Haryana Investment Promotion Board, under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister of the state, was authorized to recommend additional customized incentive packages and concessions to those new projects that would bring in investment of Rs.30 crores and above. The government had introduced many other incentives in the name of competition it faced from neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. This approach drove the state government into a highly advantageous position relative to the growing competitive environment in India, and helped corporate groups to reap maximum benefits. The state has so far received foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs. 12,500 crore, of which Rs. 9,000 crore has followed the implementation of the Industrial Policy of 2005. In short, pursuing investment had been the main goal of Haryana’s industrial policies.


Another example of such incentives was that an investment of Rs 100 crores and above or any project employing more than 500 persons that is set up in backward areas in the state, would be assisted for a period of seven years at the rate of 50% of the tax paid on the sale of goods, in the form of an Interest Free Loan (IFL). For food processing industries, such IFLs were valued at 75% of the tax paid. For exporting units, subsidies were given up to 1% of the FOB value (Freight On Board). Additionally, food processing industries that are categorised as seasonal, except for wheat and rice (typically coming from Punjab), would be exempt from payment of electricity charges in lean periods. Charges for change of land use for food processing units would be 50% of normal rates in state-declared backward areas; alcohol production would be exempt from excise duty. Special priority would be given for the release of electric connection to export units, IT industries, and other FDI projects. These were also eligible for preferential allotment of land, uninterrupted power supply, and relaxation in various regulations.5 Through these mechanisms, prominent manufacturing units came into being, involved in producing readymade garments, home furnishings, shoes, cars, motors-cycles, automobile parts, telecommunication equipment, electrical and light engineering goods, software development, sporting goods, rubber products, pharmaceuticals, food items, pesticides, insecticides, etc. 6 The Haryana government, in its statement of Industrial Policy 2005, proposed also to develop social infrastructure to support the overall growth. This was to make it “a World Class Education City” and “a Medicity”, housing state of the art healthcare institutes and super-speciality hospitals.

5 Haryana Industrial Policy 2005 6 http://gurgaon.nic.in/ (official website of Gurgaon District)

Needless to say, this approach to growth has been heartily welcomed by real estate developers in Gurgaon, who make huge profits from selling or leasing the glitzy buildings to which the real estate business owes its momentum. While Gurgaon is touted as “the emerging corporate centre of India”, there has been a 25–30% annual increase in the value of Gurgaon properties over the past several years. The real estate company DLF has been in the vanguard of Gurgaon’s industrial development. Gurgaon is now set to become a separate “Special Economic Zone” (SEZ) within India, with the approval of 52 SEZs, the highest in any district in the country. As per estimates, nearly 34 percent of Gurgaon’s agricultural land will be covered by these SEZs. Notably, Reliance Industries Ltd is setting up India’s largest SEZ in Gurgaon. SEZs are subject to economic laws and regulations that are different from those prevailing elsewhere in the nation. These special rules are aimed at facilitating FDI for export-oriented production. The large influx of big corporations into the SEZs has implications for labour laws and tax relaxation. For example, according to the SEZ Act of 2005, firms under the SEZ are eligible for an extended income tax rebate for 15 years. Firms and developers have also been exempted from excise and custom duties. Besides the promotion of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), the government is also proposing “Free Enterprise Zones” (in official language) to promote industry without them needing to seek permission for changes of land use. The setting up of these zones would help in development of semi-urban areas in the economically backward regions of the state. The Haryana government boasts of initiatives aimed at infrastructure development and the creation of an industry-friendly atmosphere. Chapter 5 of the Haryana Special Economic Zone Bill talks explicitly of exemption “from payment of any tax, duty, fees, or any other levies under any existing state law”. The entry of multinationals and an export-oriented approach have defined the state government’s policies for land use and infrastructure development. For example, it has led to the government acquiring and even seizing land, including reserved forest land, which it then turns over to real estate developers who go on to make record profits, converting the land into


new industrial and urban centres, without

consideration for local needs and governments.

Amita Singh notes that -

the “process of acquiring land from villages has been going on for a long time, but as administrators from three development offices in Gurgaon reveal, earlier they were being acquired for laying a railway line, a road, an electric line, or an industry that in many ways compensated villages for the loss of land through the ethical argument of capacity development. In the present times, globalization pushes multinationals into the market, as a result of which the government acquires land and passes it to the developer, who finally becomes the major beneficiary.”7 An interesting datum is the decline in the number of so-called “uninhabited villages.” From 1991 to 2001, the number of inhabited villages increased from 688 to 700 because of there being a 45% increase in population. But the number of uninhabited villages - which were actually the grazing grounds for cattle- and sheep-rearing by the rural inhabitants - fell, from 42 in 1991 to 26 in 2001.8 This grazing land was taken over by the real estate and construction businesses. Ironically, as Singh points out, this urbanisation process proceeded while deliberately

7 Singh, Amita, “Deliberate Democracy and Electoral Fallacy: The Logic of Coexistence”, Workshop on Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Launch Conference for The Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance, 2004. 8 Amita Singh, op cit.

continuing to keep the panchayat (local government) system in place, in order to gain politically from its nominal presence. But in reality, the new urban voters outnumber what remains of the rural communities that had been living in these village areas, who have lost not only their land and occupations, but also effective access to their familiar community governance systems. However, the Economic Survey of Haryana 2008-2009 extols the virtues of the new systems of land use that have been created, and points to this as a model for development: “The growth and development of industries in Haryana has been primarily facilitated with the development of integrated Industrial Model Townships (IMTs) and Parks. The HSIIDC, which has been declared as the nodal agency for development of industrial infrastructure, is currently in the process of development of IMTs at Rohtak and Faridabad whereas steps have been initiated by the Government for acquisition of more than 15000 acres of land for development of industrial infrastructure at various locations including expansion of IMT Manesar, Kharkhoda, Jagadhari, Barhi and Bawal.”9

9 Economic Survey of Haryana 2008-2009.


Political Processes of Exclusion The rapid shift in Haryana from agriculture to industrialisation and creation of one of the largest export-oriented hubs in the world has taken place as the result of intentional and targeted policy changes. Given that Haryana was an inequitable region already prior to industrialization, top-down industrial development has exacerbated old inequalities and created new ones. The process has been driven by the needs of private capital and the entry of multinational companies, giving rise to parallel unofficial extra-governmental decision-making channels. These changes were facilitated by policies of the central and state governments, and without the participation or inclusion of local government. The city of Gurgaon is part of the Gurgaon Division, one of the four geographically-based revenuedivisions in the state of Haryana. Gurgaon Division is headed by a Divisional Commissioner, and is divided into three Sub-Divisions, each of which is headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM). At the same time, Gurgaon is one of Haryana’s twenty districts. The district is also a geographically-based entity, part of the system of local governance known as the Panchayat Raj, a system that came into being some decades ago during the British Administration, and was subsequently given constitutional status by an amendment to the Indian Constitution in 1993. A Deputy Divisional Commissioner serves as the administrative head of the District, which in turn is composed of nine local Community Development Blocks.

The Gurgaon Division has 734 villages, which are administered through the three-tier administrative organization of the Panchayat Raj system; that is, the Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level and Zilla Parishad at the district level. Each panchayat is a body of elected representatives of the villagers, that acts as a conduit between them and local government. The Haryana Panchayat Raj Act was passed in 1994, and with that the three-tier administrative set up came into existence. The intent which motivated the institutionalization of the Panchayati Raj was to transfer power to the local institutions from state level political leaders and bureaucracy. However, Gurgaon’s trajectory of growth and decision-making shows that the role of local governments has been undermined in the Gurgaon district by the processes of industrialization and city-building. Through the use of various amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act, local governments and their communities have been systematically excluded from the process of city building. In fact, the Haryana Industrial Policy 2005 document openly states:

“As far as possible a seamless integration of State and National agenda will be the focus of the State Government.” Thus, Gurgaon exists in a nexus of multiple overlapping governing agencies. Though the district of Gurgaon comes under Haryana administration, it also enjoys a special status as part of the National Capital Region. Its proximity to the Delhi-Haryana border further complicates the governing structures. In 1977, the Haryana State Legislature enacted the Haryana Urban Development Authority Act, which instituted the Haryana Urban Development Authority

Revenue Divisions

Division District � Blocks � Tehsils � Villages Divisional Commissioner � Sub-Divisional Magistrate � Deputy Commissioner of District

Three Tier Local Government

Zila Parishad / District -� Panchayat Samiti / Block -� Panchayat / Village


(HUDA) in order to plan the development of urban areas in the state. It is worth noting that HUDA was founded as long ago as that to consolidate and streamline the development process. According to

the HUDA website “the main objective of any organisation should be Public Service & Welfare. HUDA is committed to these high ideals.”

Administrative set up of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA)

HUDA consists of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, a Chief Administrator and certain other members (not more than 12 but not less than 6).

1. Minister-in-Charge, Town & Country Planning Department Chairman

2. Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana. Vice-Chairman

3. Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Haryana, Chandigarh. Member

4. Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Government Haryana, Finance Department.

Member

5. Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Government Haryana, Town & Country Planning Department.

Member

6. Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Government Haryana, Power Department.

Member

7. Commissioner & Secretary to Government Haryana, Urban Development Department,

Member

8. Director, Town & Country Planning Department. Member

9. Chief Administrator, Haryana Urban Development Authority, Member

10. Engineer-in-Chief, PWD B & R, Haryana, Chandigarh. Member

11. Engineer-in-Chief, PWD, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Haryana, Panchkula.

Member

Under Section-8 of the Haryana Urban Development Authority Act, 1977, the Authority is competent to appoint one or more committee for the purpose of ensuring the efficient discharge of the functions of the Authority. The Chief Administrator is assisted by 5 Zonal Administrators, posted at Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Panchkula and Rohtak and one Administrator at the headquarters.


The functions of Haryana Urban Development Authority are:

1. To promote and secure development of urban areas in a systematic and planned way with the power to acquire sell and dispose off property, both movable and immovable.

2. Use this so acquired land for residential, industrial, recreational and commercial purpose

3. To make available developed land to Haryana Housing Board and other bodies for providing

houses to economically weaker sections of the society, and 4. To undertake building works.

Although HUDA is rhetorically committed to public service and welfare, in nature of it appears not to be the common citizen but rather entrepreneurs, businesses, and investors.


The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) is another development agency, established in 1967 - that is, even earlier than the creation of HUDA - to serve “as a catalyst for promoting and accelerating the pace of industrialisation in the State.” With the opening up of FDI in 2003, in order to take advantage of the liberalized policy towards private capital and FDI in infrastructure, HSIDC was converted into the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) which then began to operate as “the nodal agency for infrastructure development”. According to Industrial Policy 2005,

“The level of infrastructure in each industrial estate to be provided by the developing agency [HSIIDC] shall be encouraged in the developing industrial and related infrastructure….As far as possible, HSIIDC shall adopt a comprehensive approach to development and provide commercial, housing, labour colonies, social infrastructure, effluent disposal and solid waste management in all its industrial estates.” In the Economic Survey of Haryana 2008-2009, the HSIIDC is viewed with satisfaction as -

“. . . a pioneering institute of the State Government in the public sector, having its role as an institutional entrepreneur as well as a development-cum-financial institution for accelerating the pace of industrial growth in the State primarily in the medium and large-scale sectors. It also provides infrastructure facilities for the entrepreneurs by developing new industrial estates at strategic locations.”

In short, the HSIIDC is a one-stop shop providing not only financial but also land-acquisition and related infrastructural facilities and services for the benefit of entrepreneurs and developers. In the shift from agriculture to rapid industrialisation, local level government has come into conflict with government bodies at the state level, which are controlled or much influenced by the central government, international capital, and real estate developers. To a large extent, it seems, an unofficial but influential parallel governing mechanism has supplanted the locally elected formal governing structures.

Land acquisition for creating new townships and industrial parks has brought powerful players to the Gurgaon region, and local communities and governments have barely been consulted in the decisions taken at higher levels. Instead, quasi-governmental and private agencies are involved in making decisions, and this occurs as a matter of explicit and even self-congratulatory state policy. HUDA, as described above, is instrumental in planning and developing the urban centres in Gurgaon. Its mandate is said to be “comprehensive”, which at least might suggest input from the local panchayats. However, a city development plan known as the Master Plan has no provision for obtaining input from local level governmental institutions. As Amita Singh points out:

“The element of deliberation embedded in local institutions gets weakened right from the preparation of the Master Plan …as it is a plan for city expansion and urbanization over agricultural lands. …The problem begins when the core component of development—that is, “land”—is the scarcest commodity within the municipal limits. So this land has to be acquired from the surrounding villages. Thus, agricultural fields, land under panchayats, and village community resources such as ponds, wells, village forests, and watershed areas, which are cherished as the common property of all village inhabitants, suddenly become commodities to be sold in the market.” The top-down, industry-led and investment-driven approach to development has created strong resentment within the local communities; they have protested and shown their opposition to the land acquisition policy, and many cases have been filed in the High Court against big and small developers in


Gurgaon. Strong objections were voiced also in interviews with local government officials that were conducted for this study. One local Panchayat leader who was interviewed asserted that the state bureaucracy was incompetent and “100% corrupt”. He said: “The government and HSIIDC have taken land worth crores of rupees. This had greatly harmed the economic conditions of local people.” It is alleged that there is a “land mafia” comprised of an alliance of real estate developers, powerful politicians, and businesses that make land grabs using loopholes in the legal and administrative system. There had been strong criticism of agreements made by HSIIDC with big industrial groups. The Land Acquisition Act of 1984 has been criticized as a revised version of the Colonial Act of 1894. The 1984 Act authorizes the government to acquire land for public purposes like building roads, hospitals etc. However, the government has misused provisions of the Act. For example, the government acquired more than 1500 acres of land in Jhajjar District at rates much lower than the market rates. Later, this land

was not used for public purposes but was transferred to the Reliance group at the same low price. Not only that, but the agreement signed in 2006 between Reliance Ventures Ltd. (RVL) and HSIIDC made no mention of generating employment for the people of Haryana, especially for the families that had been displaced.10 In another case, the government acquired over 1700 acres of land from farmers at Rs. 300 crores and offered this land to Reliance for Rs. 360 crores to create a SEZ (Special Economic Zone), while it was estimated that the land was actually

10 Chaudhry.D.R.2007, “Haryana at crossroads-problems and prospects” National Book Trust, New Delhi

worth 5000 crores. This has been described as a corporate land grab.11 Farmers have had to bear the brunt of such land acquisition. Farmers from five villages near Gurgaon opposed the transfer by HSIIDC to Reliance Industries of 1395 acres of land for setting up a Special Economic Zone in that region. They organized protests and the Panchayat later condemned Chief Minister Hooda and his government for their use of police force to suppress the people’s resistance. The issue remains unsettled to this day.

It is also important to note that the development approach of the Haryana government has brought demoralizing and corrupting pressures to bear on the local panchayats. Panchayats, which are meant to be guardians of the village’s common areas, are supposed to hold face-to-face accountability forums within their communities. However reports of the Planning Commission show that other players have usurped the role of the panchayats, or in some cases co-opted the panchayat leaders into their skewed development goals. The report further states that, when government ministries undertake to carry out internationally funded projects, they tend to implement them directly, sometimes partnering with unrepresentative NGOs and with private interests, by-passing any involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

11 “Special Economic Zones: Are They Good for the Country?”, Ram Krishna Ranjan, CCS Working Paper No. 156, 2006, Centre for Civil Society.


Illegality and Invisibility in Gurgaon

Gurgaon’s development has drawn lakhs of migrant workers from the poorer states in India such as Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Workers also come from the neighboring poor states of Nepal and Bangladesh. No reliable government data nor any other research data are available about this population. According to official figures on the Gurgaon District website, the employment generated in the current industrial sector exceeds 2,00,000. This absurdly low figure demonstrates the invisibility of migrant workers when compared to a statement made by the Gurgaon Police Commissioner in October 2008 that was cited in the Hindustan Times. It was reported as follows:

“Gurgaon now has 5 lakh dwelling units and nearly 30 lakh residents. He insists that there are nearly 10 lakh “unaccounted” migrants in the city. . . . The census (2001) figures and voters lists do not reflect the actual population of Gurgaon. We recently carried out a survey on our own and were shocked to discover that Gurgaon has a population touching 30 lakhs."12 In an interview, the Assistant Electoral District Officer estimated that the population in the region was rising by 10% every year as a result of migration, but he said this was only a conservative estimate. The simple truth is, the actual population of Gurgaon District and the portion of the population made up of migrant workers is not known. Given the ignorance about their numbers, it is not surprising to find that there is very little provision by the government for the needs of these lakhs of workers. A local Panchayat leader when interviewed stated that only 20% of the migrant workers’ needs were being met by the Haryana government. As detailed in the next chapter, this includes provision for the most elementary civic needs. Such neglect is in sharp contrast to the provisions and facilitation given to the developers and industrialists whose very existence in Gurgaon depends on there being those lakhs of workers. The migrant population of Gurgaon remains neglected, invisible, and hidden in the shadows of illegality. 12 Gurgaonscoop, October 3, 2008.

Migrant workers very rarely have any kind of legally accepted identification, and for all practical purposes are officially invisible and unregistered. The majority of workers that we interviewed did not even have voter identification cards. The district electoral officer who was interviewed admitted that migrants were rarely on the voters list; and that white collar workers tend to be the ones who get voter IDs. Yet, a voter ID is a critically important document, not only for electoral purposes but because it is considered to be legal evidence of residence in the locality. The officer stated that workers were not able to obtain voter IDs because they did not have other identification on which to base the voter ID. This is a vicious circle for workers, and is contrary to the spirit of the Election Commission which has claimed that even a homeless person had the right to have a voter ID. Based on field interviews, it seems that the general perception within official bureaucracies is that workers are lazy and apathetic, and that the local officials provide them many opportunities that are not used by the workers. However, Mazdoor Ekta Manch launched a voter ID campaign in 2009 and discovered that there are genuine obstacles that deter workers from being able to get a voter ID, such as lack of proof of residence because landlords do not give rent agreements, lack of bank accounts because banks refuse to open an account for someone who lacks proof of residence, and so on. Other problems were that the workers do many hours of overtime, and are unable to access services during government office hours. Also, workers tend to fear any kind of government authority as they equate them with prior experiences of discrimination and violence. In addition, most workers are not literate enough to understand dealing with official forms and processes. In any case, for those workers who filled out forms correctly and on time, when inspectors were sent to workers’ residences for verification, the workers were at the factory and the local landlord would deny that they lived there, and thus the process proved futile. Being apprehended in some kind of “illegality” in which they might be found at fault is a big deterrence to lakhs of migrant workers who will not approach official authorities out of a general fear of the possible consequences. Interviews were conducted with the Station House Officer and a sub-inspector at the local police station. They stated that, despite tens of lakhs of workers in the region, the police hardly hear of any


complaints brought to them by migrant workers. On the rare occasions that they did get complaints, these often concerned non-payment of salary by the employer, which turns out to be a matter beyond their jurisdiction. However, Mazdoor Ekta Manch interviews revealed that workers almost never lodge complaints with the police because they fear approaching them at all. The fact that workers sometimes attempt to go to the police when their salaries are not paid, shows the workers’ desperation. According to a panchayat leader in Manesar, the number of migrants living there was three times greater than the native population. He complained that migrants from Bihar, Bengal, and other states had converted their village into a slum, and he blamed the migrants for the undercurrent of tensions between locals and migrants. That tension is compounded by the fact that employers prefer to employ migrant as against local labour, since the former are more vulnerable and easier exploited. Haryana’se employment statistics showed that unemployment rates among of local people had almost doubled from1985 to 2002. According to the field interviews, emergent tension between the local population and migrant workers is palpable.

The police claimed that instances of discrimination or violence on the part of locals towards migrants were rare. Again, however, this shows migrant workers avoiding contact with the police. Interestingly, the police stated that sometimes local people lodged complaints against migrants, claiming that the latter beat their wives and got drunk thereby creating an unpleasant situation. This type of allegation perhaps indicates that local residents were more inclined to contact the police. And also, perhaps, it indicates prejudices on the part of locals, including police, towards migrants. The fears of migrant workers are not unfounded. In fact, the impunity with which the local police might behave seems to be common knowledge among migrants. It was illustrated in an interview with one auto-rickshaw owner, not a migrant, who stated that the police sometimes harass the drivers by commandeering their vehicle for personal rides, not even offering reimbursement for the fuel that was spent. When the driver protests, the police threaten to serve him with a violation ticket.

Interviews with Mazdoor Ekta Manch members also revealed that migrant workers were often harassed by local thugs for “protection money”, and were subject to harassment by local shopkeepers for buying household items from one shop versus another. An interview with a tea-stall shopkeeper revealed that he had to pay Rs 500 per month to the local police to make sure that the stall was not destroyed. He indicated that the amount he paid was quite modest for the area and that all shopkeepers had to pay some protection money. Ironically, the official Haryana stand presented to those whom it targets, as expressed in the Economic Suevey of Haryana 2008-09, is that in Haryana there prevails . . . an excellent law and order situation, cordial labour relations, quality infrastructure facilities, simplified rules and procedures and a cosmopolitan ambience [making] Haryana a preferred destination for investment by local and multinational companies.” A senior staff person at the HSIIDC who was interviewed expressed her views about the working class population. She described the workers as “irresponsible”, “undisciplined’, “uncultured” and “dirty”, and stated that HSIIDC was not directly concerned with migrant workers. Whether the staff’s perceptions were shared by others at HSIIDC was not known, but the fact that a senior staff person would express such views is disturbing, as is the claim that HSIIDC was not concerned with migrant workers. The latter claim, however, is all too true, affirming the findings reported above about the HSIIDC’s prioritization of industry and investment over common people. As for HUDA, it was specifically created for the development of urban areas and its function supposedly includes the provision of housing for economically weaker sections of the population. The HUDA official who was interviewed admitted that housing and related amenities were insufficient for workers. But his explanation was that HUDA tried to develop plans for housing workers but the rapidly increasing population of migrant workers outpaced their plans. This defensive statement nevertheless contradicted his claim that HUDA in general had managed civic amenities well in the region. The extent to which this is not the case is document in the next chapter.


Summary Haryana’s development over the decades since its inception has been unequal and largely caste-dominated. Agrarian development in the earlier phases valued the prosperity of large landowning farmers over equality and justice for smaller farmers and agricultural labourers, and this approach prepared the way for inequality and exploitation in contemporary times. Even as the government shifted its priorities from agrarian development to full-blown industrial development, its mode of operation continued to be based as it had been, on generating prosperity for a chosen limited sector of society, with disregard for the majority. The contemporary National Capital Region approach, accompanied by export-driven fervour and the single-minded pursuit of private capital and foreign investment, now manifests the historic social and economic inequalities of Haryana. The NCR in its operations has created a centralised governmental structure in the region to facilitate regional development, without having to attend to structures of local government, such as the Panchayat Raj Institutions. This combination of foreign capital, national capital, landowning elite, and a top-heavy

structure decisively sets the scene for growing inequalities and monstrous poverty. As capital’s mobility across national borders has been lubricated by de-regulation and corporate interests, local communities have been disinherited from their land and resources and inter-state migration of economic refugees has filled the growing demand for cheap labour in the NCR’s export-oriented, FDI-driven accelerated industrial growth. The cheap migrant labour living in the shadows of exploitation and illegality and the growing mass of unemployed local once-rural poor are separated by National Highway 8 from a growing but very much thinner layer of the Indian elite. The gated communities of Gurgaon are kept apart by black concrete from the inhumane and illegal slums in which “the other half” live. Industrial development, in itself, is not the problem in Gurgaon, nor is infrastructure development. The problem emerges from the ruthless top-down priorities of the controlling elite, with no regard for the majority of their fellow citizens. Such development is not sustainable for the region’s growth and prosperity. It is a shameful and explosive situation, with a growing under-class that is almost certainly going to come to a boil.


The Invisible Working Class Identity and Living Conditions

Gurgaon workers live and work along the corridor from Udyog Vihar by the Delhi-Haryana border to Khandsa into Manesar and beyond to southern Haryana. The NH-8 highway cuts through Gurgaon, splitting it in two halves: one side celebrating a posh Gurgaon with its modern, showy buildings, and the other side hiding the shameful existence of the invisible majority of workers who live in conditions that few yet know about.

The industrial workers of Gurgaon live in the shadows, invisible, unregistered, and unserved. They

sometimes describe their existence as that of chuhe (“rats”), poignantly expressing their sense of worthlessness amidst exploitation, ugliness, and fear.

Identity of the Working Class Breakdown by Home State The industrial workers of Gurgaon, who are drawn from poorer states, provide a constant pool of cheap labour for Gurgaon’s NCR-led and investment-driven development. Almost all of the 1,000 workers who were interviewed for this study -- 98.9% -- weremigrants, as opposed to being locals from

Haryana and Delhi. As noted in the previous chapter, their employers prefer to hire migrants rather than local workers because the former’s vulnerability makes them more readily exploitable. The predominant states from which the workers had migrated were Bihar (52.4%) and Uttar Pradesh


(41.2%). Others were from Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa and Punjab and as far afield as Nepal.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percentage of workers

Bihar

Uttar Pradesh

MadhyaPradesh

Haryana &Delhi

Breakdown by Religion These migrant workers are vulnerable due not only to their migrant status but also because they belong in significant numbers to minority and oppressed social groups defined by religion and/or caste. Of the thousand workers interviewed, 67% were Hindus and 33% were Muslims. This proportion of Muslims seems high, given that Muslims comprise only 13.4% of the population of India. They form a much

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Percentage of Workers

Hindu

Muslim

larger percentage of the migrant workers from Bihar and UP than in other states, which was not surprising as the Muslim population in these states is higher. Breakdown by Caste

Over 60% of the worker population belonged to backward castes. This was also significant given that about 40% of India’s population belong to backward castes.

0

10

20

30

40

50


HC

OBC

MBC

SC

ST

The Dalit population within the sample of workers (that is, members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) was 7.2%, most of them Hindus. However, these Dalit figures could be an under-estimation, as it was based on the workers’ self-classification and some people choose not to identify themselves as being Dalit. Breakdown by Age The population of respondents was very young, with the majority of workers 25 years or younger; 41% were 21-25 years old, and less than 20% were more than 32 years old. 14.7% of the workers were found to be 16-20 years old. The youth and inexperience of these workers also makes them more fearful and unsure about protesting injustices.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45


Below 16years

16-20 years

21-25 years

26-32 years

33-40 years

41-50 years

51-60 years


Reasons for migrant workers to visit their home villages

Reasons

No. of Workers


On Deepawali 16 1.6

Any family function 13 1.3 Marriage Occasion 246 24.6

On Eid 18 1.8

On festivals 278 27.8 In emergencies 191 19.1

In harvest season 50 5.0

After earning 65 6.5 To see the family 111 11.1

At time of children's admission 1 .01

During flood time 11 1.1 Total 1000 100.0


Reason for Migrating The fact that migration is not essentially voluntary but rather an economic compulsion is demonstrated by the fact that most of these workers (89.4%) migrated to Gurgaon in order to earn a living.

0

20

40

60

80

100


To earnmoney

AlreadyStaying inGurgaon/Delhi

Children'sEducation

Length of Residence in Gurgaon The invisibility of migrant workers contributes to their continuing alienation from Gurgaon, even after living there for many years. Although workers identify as migrants and are perceived as such by the locals, in reality many have been living in the area for several years. Interviews with workers showed their frequent use of the phrase “pardes” (foreign land) when they spoke about Gurgaon and Delhi. About one-fourth of the workers had been here for more than 8 years; and 16.2% had been residing here for the last 5-8 years. Fewer than 4% reported that they had been in the NCR for less than one year.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


Less than oneyear

1-2 years

2-3 years

3-5 years

5-8 years

8-10 years

Above 10 Notwithstanding the length of their stay away from “home”, the workers’ ties with their home were very

strong . 97% reported that they visited their village at least once a year. Occasions for returning home were very typically celebrations: 31% went to attend a major religious festival, such as Deepawali and Eid, and 25% to attend weddings. Emergencies (e.g. medical, death, unemployment) also drew workers to their villages (19%). Some go simply “to be with the family” (12%). For the most part, the agricultural work in their villages is done by other family members, but 5% did go back during the harvest season.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


More thanonce in a year

Once in a year

Once in twoyears

Once in threeyears

Once in fiveyears

Educational Status Over 70% of the workers had had at least a few years of schooling. However, more than one quarter were barely literate at most, and fewer than 10% had gone beyond the common school-leaving 10th Standard.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


Illiterate

Able to readand write

Upto 5thStandard

Upto 8thStandard

Upto 10thStandard

Upto 12thStandard

Graduate

Postgraduateand above


Interestingly, almost half the workers reported that they had had some sort of technical training, although the specific type of training was not asked and not reported. Many of the workers were skilled and experienced in their field of work, which is corroborated by our interviews with members of Mazdoor Ekta Manch, where workers in the garment industry attributed their skills to their family tradition of tailoring. More than 20% of the workers interviewed had been engaged in their current field of work for more than ten years, and two-thirds had more than three years experience. To a considerable extent, of course, their years of work experience correlates both with their early school-leaving and the youth of most of those who were interviewed.

Total work experience

0

5

10

15

20

25

Percentage ofworkers

Less thanone year

1-2 years

2-3 years

3-5 years

5-8 years

8-10 years

Above 10years


Living Conditions of the Working Class Context and Constraints Very few of the workers - only 4% - lived with their family in Gurgaon. Most had left their families “at home” to come to Gurgaon for work. It was clear from the results of this and other surveys that workers wanted to be with their families, but needed to work in the city to help support their loved ones and could not afford to have their family with them. The most common phenomenon was that workers tried to save what little they could from their earnings and sent it to their family in the village to assist with the family’s living expenses. Over 40% of the workers had a family size of 4-5; and 15% had families with six members. More than 20% had a significantly larger family size, with nine or more members.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Percent of workers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

More than 9

A large majority of the workers (88%) earn between Rs. 3000-5000 per month, while two-thirds of these earn not more than Rs 4000. Few reported earnings less than Rs 3000, and less than 10% earned more than Rs 5000. Only 1% of the workers reported other earning sources besides their factory job.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percent of workers

less than2000

2001to 3000

3001 to 4000

4001 to 5000

5001 to 6000

6001 to 7000

Housing Workers in Gurgaon live in different types of housing. 76.4% of the workers who were surveyed live in 3-4 storey buildings that have rows of small rooms inside, while most of the others live either in rented space in chawls (slums), or in one-storey barracks (a row of small rooms facing an open space or corridor. Only 66% of the workers reported that they had enough daylight where they lived and that their rooms were properly ventilated. 32% of the workers had to suffice with some kind of open space nearby.

0

102030

405060

7080


Multi-storeyColony

Barrack Type

Rented in aChaw l (slum)

IndependentRoom

Any other orOwn House

Our visits with Mazdoor Ekta Manch members revealed rooms approximately 10 x10 ft in size being shared by 4-8 people, usually all men. 63% of the workers in our survey paid less than Rs.500 per month as rent, and a further 29% paid rent in the range of Rs.500-1000 per month. Given the small amounts of rent paid, it is assumed that at least 92% of the workers shared their tiny rooms with other workers. Only 8% paid between Rs.1000-2000 or


more as rent, indicating that they might be living on their own or with their own families. Monthly rent

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Less than 500

501 to 1000

1001 to 2000

More than2001

It does not appear to be difficult finding where to live. 96.7% workers stated that they found a place to rent with the help of neighbours or friends. This indicates that in the absence of legal housing in compliance

with government standards, an informal housing economy has sprung up to take advantage of the lack of proper housing. Such unofficial and illegal housing makes workers further vulnerable to eviction, poor services, and abuse. 9% of the workers reported that they faced harassment from their landlords. Problems included a variety of unsatisfactory issues about provision of water, high rent for the amenities received, guests not being allowed to visit, and being abused being when landlord was drunk. One landlord who was interviewed stated that the rent that he charged was not sufficient to keep the buildings clean. He went on to state: “These people don’t know how to live. They don’t care if they live among dirt and filth. It is our responsibility to keep hygienic conditions. However, it is more the responsibility of the tenants to keep the place clean because they are the ones who are living in these houses.


The workers almost always do not have a formal rent agreement or any other proof of tenancy, which in turn causes immense difficulties when proof of residence is required, as in case of any sort of contact with local authorities. One landlord on being interviewed stated that it was not possible to provide the tenant with proof of residence because workers did not have any prior identification that the landlord could use to judge the veracity of the worker’s statement. However, Mazdoor Ekta Manch interviews show that even workers with current ID were not able to get residence proof from their landlords.

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5


After latepayment wehave to payfine

No watersupply

Arbitrary rentincrease

Guests notallowed

Sanitation was one of the biggest living problems

facing workers in Gurgaon. Open and overflowing water and sewage drains were very common. 84% of the workers reported the presence of open drains in their living areas. 74% workers stated that these drains were always overflowing. 90% workers reported that their drains flooded in the rainy season. They reported that life was particularly difficult during rainy season with open drains.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%


Open drains

Floodingduring rainyseason

Overflow ingdrainage

No drains

No proper wayfor drainage

Toilets were mostly not available. If they existed their poor quality was an enormous source of stress. Only 77% workers had toilet facilities available where they


lived. A local panchayat leader stated that residents who did not have toilet facilities had to go to the fields to relieve themselves, and that this led to the spread of communicable diseases. A mere 5% had separate bathrooms – that is, not one that was shared with scores of other people. In addition, insufficient running water (taps) or none at all adds to the constant filth and the dangerously

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%


Sun light andVentilation

Open spacelike Balconyetc.

RunningWater

SeparateKitchen

SeparateBathroom

Toilet unhygienic conditions. Only 52% had any running water. And only 4% of workers had a separate kitchen. Most cooked in the same place where they sat and slept.

During visits with members of Mazdoor Ekta Manch, housing areas were always found to be foul-smelling as a result of inadequate toilet facilities and poor drains. Gandha Nale (“dirty drain”) was the landmark for a housing colony where more than 10,000 workers lived. Lack of sufficient electricity was another major problem in this area. 6% of the workers stated that electricity was not available at all in their residence, while 56% had electricity less than fulltime: 10% stated that they could utilize electricity for only 1-6 hours a day, 23% reported availability for 6-12 hours, and 23% for 12-18 hours in a day.

Electricity Availability

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


Not available

Full timeavailability

Partialavailability


The modality of payment for electricity was not uniform for the workers who had an electricity connection; 73% paid a lump sum amount each month to their landlord and 27% paid according to the units used. Lump sum has been a more frequent practice and is clearly disadvantageous for the workers, who were not sure of how much electricity they actually used. Transportation Only 27% stated that they have proper roads in their housing areas. Quality of roads and transportation are significant issues because only 20% of the workers have their home within 1 km of their workplace, 70% are 1-4 km from their workplace, and nearly 10% of the workers lived beyond that, with some as much as 12 km from their place of work. Interviews with MEM members revealed that the quality and cost of transportation is a major concern The most common mode of transport to work is by shared auto-rickshaw, where the minimum fee has been Rs. 5 for up to 8 kms. Companies located in Manesar provide buses for their workers who live in Udyog Vihar, a distance of more than 25 kilometers. However, the buses are insufficient in number, causing not only severely uncomfortable crowding inside, but also dangerous crushes and occasionally violent pushing and fights among workers trying to get on to the bus so as to get to work on time.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Less than 1km

1 to 4 km

4 to 8 km

8 to 12 km

12 to 20 km

Above 20 km

At home

A local panchayat leader confirmed the lack of public transportation. He stated that express buses in the area do not stop at convenient locations for workers, and the workers are ultimately dependent on auto-

rickshaws. At least 2000 auto-rickshaws run daily in the area. There are approximately 250 autorickshaw owners, each of whom has 5-15 autos in use. An auto normally accommodates 7-8 persons but could end up carrying as many as 15 passengers. The contractor managing the auto-rickshaw takes a fixed amount of Rs 500 from the driver who rents it for the day. On interviewing an owner who said he had 13 auto-rickshaws, we learned that 90-100 additional autos are launched every month on the main Gurgaon road. Consumer Facilities Available While the factory might be far from where the worker lives, markets and shops for daily needs are more easily accessible. 93% reported that there were grocery shops nearby, and 71% workers stated that there were vegetable markets in the area. It is obvious that the huge numbers of migrant workers attract many small businesses near where they live, to provide for their everyday requirements. For example in a neighborhood area of about 2 square km, we found 50-60 provision shops.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%


Open place toplay like parketc.

Market (KiranaStore)

VegetableMarket

School

Health Centre/doctor's clinic

On interviewing one of the provision shop keepers, we found that the actual owner lived elsewhere and had put the shopkeeper in charge locally. The shop keepers might be migrants or local people. They had to deal with late payments from workers when the worker was not paid on time, as is often the case. The shop keeper might need to wait for more than a month. However, since these workers are the main customers, shop-keepers have to allow purchases on


credit, otherwise there would be no business for them. 58% of the workers reported problems in being issued rations at the local ration shops. Most of them did not have a ration card. This corresponds with the difficulties of proving local residence due to not having a rental agreement, and also ties in with not having any voter ID. The local public sector bank manager was interviewed. According to him, most of the workers who come for services, such as for sending money home, do not have accounts with the bank. He reported that the bank has to deal with a high workload and insufficient staff, and they had no

resources for making sure that workers could open an account and access bank facilities. Moreover, the lack of proof of identity was a definite obstacle to their opening accounts. Medical Facilities 55% of the workers stated that they knew of a health centre or doctor’s clinic in their housing area. Mazdoor Ekta Manch’s experience revealed inadequate clinics and doctors, and that workers often went or were referred to uncertified private practitioners. The local panchayat leader reported that no affordable hospital existed within commuting distance.

.

The Senior District official from the largest government hospital in Gurgaon was interviewed. The hospital has only 170 beds; it has no ICU, which is badly needed. Outpatient Department numbers reach 700 per day, but the hospital has only 23 doctors and 45 nurses. There are twelve departments but the most common visits were for maternity and emergency. This shows that people have little time or energy to pay attention to health matters unless and until it is critical. The official also

pointed out that the major health problems of the workers were due to unhygienic living conditions, and poor civic facilities such as impure drinking water, and bad sanitation. Illiteracy and lack of health awareness added to these problems. Skin diseases abound. He stated that people who have the economic means go to private hospitals like Fortis, Max, and other such facilities.


The Chief Officer of one Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) clinic was interviewed. There are only three ESI clinics in all of Gurgaon, and in reality these are essentially merely dispensaries. The daily patient load is 1200-1300, with only 18 doctors, and the patients are mostly workers who have an ESI card. He stated that the ESI clinics handle illnesses such as viral infections, fever, minor injuries, and pre-natal care. They referred cases they are not able to handle to public hospitals in Delhi.

Schools 96% of the workers said they believed that there were schools available; 40% reported that the schools were “nearby”, 51% that they were “somewhat far” and 6% that they were “very far” and hence not easily accessible. A local panchayat leader when interviewed stated that schools were insufficient and that no college was available within commuting distance. He further noted that private schools were beyond the reach of migrant workers.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


Nearby

Somewhat far

Very far

Unreachable


The survey found there to be 126 locally-resident children among the families of the 1,000 workers who were covered by this study. Of these, 64 were boys and 62 were girls. Of the male children, 53% went to school, while only 37% of the female children attended school. The parents of local school-age children reported that in some cases the childen were working to help support the family. Some also said the children were not attending school because of transportation problems, others said that there were problems in getting their children admitted to schools in Gurgaon, due to a lack of necessary documents such as a ration card or voter ID. Some stated that their children were not being admitted to school because they were poor, and some reported social discrimination as the reason for their children not being admitted to schools. Interviews were conducted with the principal of a local government school in Kapas Hera. He said 99% of the students were from migrant working class families, and that the school was severely overcrowded. It had the capacity to accommodate 950 students but had to make space for 1320 students and did not have sufficient infrastructure to serve every student. The number of teachers was inadequate, furniture was not sufficient, toilet facilities were inadequate, a proper playground was non-existent, etc. The overcrowding also caused furniture breakage, sanitation problems, and discipline and homework problems. He reported that around 12-15% of the students who were enrolled at the start of the academic year, slowly drop out by the end of the year, and regretted the lack of involvement or supervision by parents. However, since the parents of the students worked long hours, schools often serve as a place for the children to be safe and get a free meal. He said that the schools provide lunch, shoes, textbooks, and money for uniforms. However, they preferred not to give cash to the parents as their poverty forced parents to use the cash for other purposes. Interestingly, he stated that migrant students scored better than local students. He further stated that most of the students came on foot from nearby areas and

hence there was no need for transportation. However, the children of migrant workers often went back to their villages for visits that tended to last too long for them to resume studies effectively, sometimes leading to their needing to be kept back in class the next year.

Conclusion The development of Gurgaon, a classical manifestation of the NCR approach to development, has resulted in one of the largest underclass populations in India, numbering in the tens of lakhs of migrant workers whose circumstances force them to live “like rats”. These migrant workers from the poorer states of North India, in particular Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, are economic refugees of a national development logic defined by the neo-liberal policies of the Indian government; a policy that is followed faithfully at regional and state levels. Predominantly young workers, disproportionately representing religious and caste minorities, demonstrate the intersection of social oppressions with economic exploitation, creating a vast pool of economic refugees. The limited education of these refugees further limits their integration into the new industrial economy based on global capital. They become fodder for the labour intensive factories manufacturing export products for the global market. Although migrant workers have been living in the area for many years, most of them do not have legal identification and hence are not counted by the census. Their meagre income, sub-legal housing, inability to have normal steady family lives, to open a bank account, to educate their children, or even to have a legal presence in the area creates a situation of huge frustration, with illegalities and criminal elements that fill the vacuum created by lack of effective governmental provisions. Their dangerous and unhygienic housing leads to major health problems, and there is little by way of public health provisions or healthcare infrastructure to handle even the “normal” crises. No number of national highways and gated communities can possibly compartmentalise such urban under-classes.


Salient Issues and Recommendations

The contrasts and contradictions between visible and promoted “Shining Gurgaon” and invisible and shameful “Sweatshop Gurgaon” are at odds with sound development logic and most surely set the stage for an explosive situation that cannot be far off.

Salient Issues An export-oriented and foreign investment-driven framework for development has resulted in Gurgaon serving markets and people far away, whose concerns lie only in the production of goods and extraction of profits from Gurgaon. The NCR approach to development, one based on a regional perspective, in itself need not be problematic. However, its implementation has been carried out with limited vision, and with goals that undermine the interests and lives of the majority of local people - both those who were previously farmers and those who are now workers - for the benefit of national and international corporate interests. Putting aside for the moment the issue of justice, this model of “development” needs to be examined in its own terms, according to which it is put forward as an exemplar of progress and to the benefit of the nation as a whole. It is questionable whether progress and prosperity could emerge from the midst of the brutal almost-medieval conditions that prevail in Gurgaon. A sizable portion of the population is made up of economic migrants who provide the cheap labour that fuels the growth of capital. The conditions under which these workers exist, with so little heed for their welfare, creates a situation not unlike a pressure cooker with the burner set on high and no cook to regulate it. And the youth of many of the workers foretells the dangers of thwarted ambitions and hopes. This study shows that the labour market in Gurgaon is still well below saturation. Migrant workers are able to find jobs without much difficulty through word-of-mouth and personal contacts. They are also able to find housing, albeit in sub-human conditions but nevertheless available without much difficulty. They have easy access to grocery shops and markets for

their daily necessities. It is clear that local landlords and small business owners with outlets adjacent to migrants’ housing areas benefit from supplying some of the migrant workers’ needs. The workers in Gurgaon come from different states, religions and castes, creating a diverse low-income population. They have migrated to Gurgaon and found housing and work by following in the footsteps and seeking advice from others from their home states and villages; in Gurgaon they maintain these personal contacts, share rooms, and together become long time local residents of. Thus, social groups based on home state, district, and religion get solidified; however, Gurgaon itself is very seldom “home”. Although many of these migrant workers have been living in the area for some years, most do not have legal identification and therefore are not counted by the census. This means that they need not be recognized to exist as far as the Haryana government is concerned. Not surprisingly, then, the government has no plans to provide the infrastructure to meet the social and welfare needs of this huge workforce. Instead, criminal elements and illegal practices fill the vacuum that is left by the lack of effective governmental regulations and oversight. It does not take much imagination to see that this lays the groundwork for an explosive situation, less than 20 kms from the seat of the Parliament of India. The meagre income of the workers, an appalling housing system, workers’ inability to have their family living with them or to enjoy the family left at home, the daily stress involved simply in getting to work, corporal punishment and verbal abuse rife in the factories, not able even to open a bank account or complain about illegal and inequitable conditions, all contribute to creating a situation of huge frustration every day. With governmental stewardship in default, irregularities and disparities abound, all of which foretell disastrous situations to come. The dangerous housing and unhygienic public health conditions are building towards major health crises, and there is very little healthcare infrastructure to handle any such


crisis; an epidemic could spread like wildfire. Similarly, the lack of proper governmental provision for education is creating future generations of illiterates who will swell the ranks of child labour in decades to come, brought on by the poverty of their families and their lack of education. These shameful living conditions exist side by side with working conditions that are a shocking revelation of both government and private malfeasance.

Violations of basic labour laws seem to be the rule rather than the exception. The Gurgaon and Haryana labour departments appear to be totally unequipped to handle the scale of violations of India’s labour law and international codes of conduct. No proper grievance mechanisms and wholly inadequate industrial dispute resolution mechanisms are nothing short of alarming. They lay the ground for unpredictable and destructive situations of violence and unrest.

Recommendations

@ Organise a multi-stake holders’ hearing on the living and working conditions

of industrial workers in Gurgaon. @ Hold a dialogue with Haryana development agencies, management and

government for the welfare of this huge workforce @ Form a multi-stake holder Gurgaon Development Monitoring Commission,

to include workers’ representatives


Appendix

The Invisible Working Class: Working Conditions

Clearly, the rapid development of industry in the NCR has created a huge demand for labour. The labour market continues to grow and jobs are available. Of all the workers who were surveyed for the report on living conditions, 43.7% stated that work was “easily available”; while 55.2% reported that “it is difficult” to get work in Gurgaon. The most frequent mode of communication for migrant workers is word-of-mouth, and 95.3% of the workers surveyed for this study reported that they searched for or obtained employment through their friends, neighbours or relatives. To that extent, it shows that work is quite

readily acquired and there is no need for recourse to professional recruiters to get a job in the Gurgaon factories. Most of the workers -- 90.8% -- were employed in the manufacturing sector, while the remainder were in services and retail. Of the manufacturing sectors, the garment workforce was dominant (66.4% of the workers), the second most, at 19.2%, were in the automobile industry, and 3.3% were at electronic equipment manufacturing units.


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


GarmentFactory

Electronicequipmentmanufacturingfactory

Automobilepart making

Any other

The report on working conditions presented below is largely based on a separate survey from that concerned with living conditions, and was specifically concerned with working conditions in the factories. This was a survey of one hundred workers from five different factories, living in three different sectors of Gurgaon. Since only one hundred workers were interviewed, the data are essentially illustrative of conditions in the factories, and do not purport to be wholly representative. However, the items discussed in this chapter are critical issues affecting the working lives and job satisfaction for low-wage factory workers, as expressed in their comments that are reported here.

Of the one hundred workers who were interviewed in this separate survey, only ten were women. Unlike industrial hubs that produce garments elsewhere, factories in Gurgaon generally have far more male workers than female workers. The reasons for this are worth examining in some future study.

Employment Proof or Appointment Letter 81 % of the workers who were interviewed reported that they had neither employment contract nor any joining letter at the time of starting work. Only 19% of workers had some sort of identity proof to show that they worked in a particular factory. Most of the workers had only gate passes given to them at the gate when they entered the factory and which are given up each time they leave the premises. Thus, when a dispute crops up between workers and management, it is difficult for the workers to prove that they have worked for the company. ‘Though we know the importance of having an appointment letter, we cannot protest if we do not have it. If we protest we have to look for work in other factories. There also the situation will not be different. So why protest and jump from the frying pan into the fire’, stated a group of workers.

Appointment letter and other identification proof

Yes19%

No81%

Yes

No


Minimum Wage and Rates of Pay On 22nd April, 2009, the Labour Department of Haryana declared the new minimum wage for a normal 8-hour working day to be Rs. 4490 for a machine operator and Rs. 3840.01 for a helper. This rate was supposed to be retroactively applied from 1st January, 2009, meaning that workers were supposed to get the amount in arrears over and above the old minimum rate, for the period from 1st January 2009 to

22nd April, 2009. None of the factories in our study paid the wage arrears to their workers, and the workers reported that it was a general practice not to pay the arrears. Not only that, but the prevailing wage that was paid continued to be less even than the old supposed minimum wage. One third of the workers who were surveyed were paid at the new minimum rate for their work. The majority of the workers did not even know about the revision of the minimum wage, let alone anything about arrears.

Percentage of workers getting minimum wage

Yes31%

No69%

Yes

No

Hours of Work and Overtime Work All the factories start work in the morning at 9 am or 9.30 am, and usually end the normal work day between 5.30 pm to 6.30pm. They give a half an hour lunch break in between. But the 8-hours of work brings workers a very meagre amount of money, so they are compelled to do overtime work. The highly ambitious forced productivity targets set by the companies also force the workers to do over time. Workers in the textile and garment factories averaged 76 hours per week, or 12.54 hours per day. Generally, they started work around 9.30am and left at 8.30 pm or 9.00 pm. Though they worked so much overtime every week, they were still not in a position to meet the daily needs for a decent life. ‘Even with 5-6 hours of overtime a day, we hardly earn enough money to survive. If the company would

pay us double rate for overtime, it would be good, and we could earn a little more’, a worker says. ‘We get paid double rate only for two hours of daily over time. After two hours we get only the single rate. Most of the companies give only the single rate. But it is not open to our choice to work for only two hours of overtime and then go home. If there is over time work, you have to do it. Nobody can refuse to do over time. Even women have to do over time at night.’ ‘There is at least three to five hours of overtime work required every day. There is no option. I started working yesterday morning. From yesterday I worked from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm, then took a break of one hour in the evening and continued doing night duty until this morning at 6.00 am. And again worked today from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm. Now I am going home. Too tired’, said another worker.


Legal Overtime Payment

Double26%

Two hours double21%

Single53%

Double

Two hours double

Single

‘There should be a mechanism to force the factory to give us double rate for overtime so that we do not have to work that hard without even getting proper sleep. The law is there, we know. But no company here follows the law’, a worker said. For overtime, per law, workers should be paid double rate. But in practice only 26% responded that they got double rate for overtime, and 53% said that they got only single rate for overtime, while 21% were paid overtime only for the first two hours. However, for all of these workers, refusing to work overtime meant losing their job. Overtime work was not only available but obligatory throughout the year. Workers were given advance notice of overtime only on Sunday; on other week days they had to work overtime without any notice. All of the workers interviewed complained that management did not inform them of the reason for over time in a friendly manner; but rather harass them, saying “urgent shipping is pending

Productivity Pressures

In all the factories interviewed, workers were given hourly production targets. Most of the time, this target was not achievable and non-achievement of target leads to abuses. Management addresses workers as ‘mother fuckers and sister fuckers’. A worker stated,

‘Not a single day passes without an abuse. You will at least get to hear an abuse if not to you but to some other worker.” Unrealistic high productivity targets also lead to forced over time work for the workers

Leave Only 48% workers said that they were able to take all the paid leave they were entitled to have in a year; the other 52% reported that it was not possible to do so. ‘Getting leave is very difficult here. The supervisor will not sign the leave application and makes you run after him’, says a worker. Workers stated that taking leave without pay was generally not possible. 37% reported that this was taken as ‘termination from service’’ and the other 63% reported that if they took such leave, they were warned and threatened with possible termination For all workers, coming late for work was equated with taking a half day’s leave.


Sick Leave Only 19% of the workers stated that they were able to take leave when they fell ill. 73% stated that it was not possible to take sick leave. Sick leave of two days or more would lead to termination from service.

‘The main problem in getting sick leave is convincing the supervisor. If he does not like you, you will never get leave. And a supervisor does not need specific reasons to dislike you. I could not get any sick leave in the last 18 months that I have been working’, said another worker.

Ability to take days off when workers fall ill

Yes19%

Not always8%

No73%

Yes

Not always

No

.

Maternity Leave All the workers reported that there was no maternity leave in their companies. 4% of the workers stated that usually management dismissed women workers when they got pregnant, 57% responded that women workers were forced to resign after becoming pregnant, and 39% said that the workers themselves decide to resign ‘Not many women are there in our factory. But factory has a policy of making women workers resign after they get pregnant. It is not only in our factory. Almost every factory in Gurgaon follows the same rule. So, a pregnant woman worker does not have the option of working’ said a male worker. ‘If your pregnancy is visible, you will not get a job in any of the companies here’, another said

Creche for Workers’ Children According to the Factories Act of 1948, it is mandatory for a factory employing more than 200 workers or more than 30 women workers, to provide a crèche facility for workers’ children. But in reality, despite there being hundreds of workers, there was no crèche facility in any of the factories covered in our study.

Child Labour All companies in Gurgaon display a board which states: “There is no worker less than 18 year old employed in this factory.” The workers reported that there was no incidence of child labour in any of the factories were they worked.


Managements' Response after Women workers getting pregnant

Dismissal4%

Resignation39%Forced

Resignation57%

Dismissal

Resignation

Forced Resignation

Social Security and other Benefits Many irregularities existed with regard to payment into the Provident Fund (PF), which is a mandatory requirement for employers, meant to serve as a worker’s savings plan for emergencies and retirement. If factories deduct PF from the worker’s wage, the factory has to contribute to PF so as to double that amount. However, although that did not always happen. 54% of the workers stated that the management deducted PF but that they were not provided with account numbers. Without knowing the account number, there is no proof of deposit nor could a worker withdraw any of the funds. 31%

stated that the management did not deduct PF from their wages. Only 15% of the workers reported that they knew the account number for the PF into which their funds were deposited. Interviews with Mazdoor Ekta Manch showed that PF irregularities were massive. Among the workers sampled, only 31% had Employees State Insurance (ESI). Contract workers did not get PF, ESI, nor any other kind of benefit from the employer. Most of the workers, including both direct employees and contract workers, got a meagre bonus of Rs 500-1000 once a year, coming at Diwali in October-November. Other than this, they did not enjoy any benefits from the company.

Employees' Provident Fund

Cutting PF and getting A/c Number

15%

Cutting PF but no A/c

Number54%

Not cutting PF

31%

Cutting PF and gettingA/c Number

Cutting PF but no A/cNumber

Not cutting PF


Contract Labour Discrimination The main workforce of the auto parts, garment and textile companies that supply various multi-national buyers, are contract labourers. The policy of mainly recruiting non-local workers has been used as a strategy to undermine any attempt at unionization among the workers. Most of the contract labourers enjoyed no other benefits except their daily wages. It has been found that sub-contracting is a primary structural attribute of globalised industry. Through this system, companies attempt to bypass labour welfare legislation, pushing the responsibility onto the labour contractor. This structure also fragments the bargaining power of labour, evading trade union representation and minimizing labour costs, to obtain flexibility for management and assure an adequate supply of labour. Companies hire on the contract system because of the ease of recruitment and firing. Gurgaon is a good example of these new labour practices.

58% of the workers surveyed reported that they were working on a contract labour basis; their companies made use of contractors to supply the labour. All of the workers, both male and female, who were working on contract were paid 15-20% less than those working on direct appointment by the company. Only 42% were employed directly by the company.

Promotion and Training 32% responded that there was no system of promotion in their companies. Some workers had been working in the factory for the last 12-18 years at the same post. 20% stated that promotion was based on experience, 26% stated that promotion depended on reference, and 22% stated that management promotes only those people who spy for them. All of the workers stated that management never imparted any kind of training to the workers in these factories

Basis of Promotion

Experience20%

Favouritism22%Referrence

26%

No Promotion

32%Experience

Favouritism

Referrence

No Promotion

Verbal Abuse and Physical Violence In all five companies, there was verbal abuse and physical violence by management and supervisors against workers. “There are cases of the owner of the factory himself beating up workers in my factory”, a worker says.

In all of these factories, men and women did the same work and earned the same low wages. 92% stated that use of demeaning language was more frequent towards women than men. “One cannot stand the way the supervisors and floor in charge talk to women. But we are helpless. We cannot do anything. If you say something against it,


the next target will be you. So we keep quiet hearing the abuse towards our sisters”, said a worker. 22% workers reported that there was also physical

violence at their companies. Workers at one factory reported that physical abuse was taking place with respect to women as well.

Management's behaviour towards workers

Only verbal abuse78%

Physical violence and verbal abuse

22% Only verbal abuse

Physical violence andverbal abuse

Status of Employment Only 46% worked on the basis of salary, while 54% worked on a piece rate basis. There are two types of piece rate work in the garment industry: one is called “full piece rate” and the other is “part rate”. Under the full piece system, a worker makes the entire garment. In this case, the rate depends on the fabric and the style. For instance, for a simple cotton half-sleeve shirt, a worker will get Rs. 15 and has to make 8-10 shirts a day. For a designer shirt in some other fabric,

a worker would get Rs.150-175. And normally, a worker is able to make four such shirts in three days. Under ‘part rate’, a worker might have to make only part of the garment: collar, cuffs, pocket, etc. For that, the normal rate is Rs. 4-5 per piece, and the normal target would be 30-35 pieces in a day Working on piece rate fetched workers less than minimum wages for an 8 hour schedule and so it necessarily leads to over time. Some of them ended up doing (in their words) “over-over time‘


Basis of wage

Salary46%Piece Rate

54%

Salary

Piece Rate

Occupational Health and Safety 77% workers stated that there was not enough light in the factory. 24% stated that there was not enough air in the work rooms. A canteen existed in all five of the factories that were covered in this study, but the canteens were open only during night shift. 89% stated that the food served in the canteen was unhygienic and stale. “Your stomach will go bad forever, if you eat regularly at the factory canteen for two weeks”, a worker added. All of the workers stated that there is no restriction on the part of management in using toilets, and in all of the factories there were separate toilets for men and women. However, 93% reported that these were not adequate for the work force in their factories. 53% workers also stated that the toilets at work were not maintained in good hygienic order, and hence they used them only in case of urgency. 70% stated that more than half the time there was no water available in the toilets. Only 43% workers reported that they were provided with clean drinking water. “I have been carrying water from home for the last 6 months after I fell ill due to unclean drinking water from the company”, said a worker. This is particularly painful because the supply of water in workers’ homes is itself poor in

quality to start with. “The drinking water we get in the factory is not good. One can see physical impurities in it”, said a worker. “The factory does not care about us getting sick and therefore they do not provide us with safe drinking water. At any given time some workers are sick because of bad drinking water’, said a worker. Generally, these workers do not work with chemicals or toxic materials. But 67% of the workers reported that they were suffering from different health problems connected to their work. These included eyesight difficulties, gastroenterological problems, back pain, sleeplessness and headache due to night shifts, urinary tract infection due to no access to clean drinking water and controlling the urge to pass urine, anaemia, etc. A local organizer of a trade union in Gurgaon reported that he does not know a single worker who was not suffering from some sort of occupation-related disease, especially among garment workers. These workers get old very early in life. All workers stated that there was no medical facility available in the factory. There were first aid boxes containing tablets and workers were instructed to take certain tablets if they had health problems. 72% workers stated that they never received the service of factory doctors when needed. The workers at one of the factories stated further that if they fell ill while at


the factory, they were instructed to take tablets and continue to work. Workers from all the other factories stated that they were sent back home if they fell ill, and were marked as absent in the register and their wage was cut. None were got paid on sick leave from the factory. “Wage is cut if we do not go to work, due to whatever reason”, one worker said. There was no Health and Safety Committee in any of these factories. 61% workers reported that there were emergency exits in their factories but 43% stated that the emergency exits were mostly locked. All workers stated that they had seen fire extinguishers hung on the walls but did not know how to use them in case of emergency. No worker knew what fire drills were.

Income and Monthly Expenditures The workers were asked to report their monthly costs for a number of items of expenditure. It was found that total monthly expenditures amounted to approximately Rs.6500. However, this could be an understatement of the amount needed, since the workers are habituated to think in terms of what they need minimally to survive, rather than what is needed for a dignified life. Their cost breakdowns show that about 41% of the Rs 6500 is spent on food, 15% goes to housing, 8% for healthcare and education, 3% was spent on transportation and another 3% on clothes and other personal necessities, 2% goes to entertainment, 18% was sent home, and 10% goes to other expenses. These include repayment of loans,phone charges, spending on festivals, on

friends’ and relatives’ weddings, and costs related to child birth. The workers’ monthly earnings on average, including overtime, was Rs. 4585.5. On average, the workers contributed to the support of 5 persons besides themselves. ‘We are not able to live a decent life with the money we earn. Living in Gurgaon is very expensive. I have to struggle hard to save 1000 or 1500 Rupees to send home. We know how to go to bed on a half-empty stomach after 13-14 hours of work’, a worker says. Saving was not even in their dreams. “We are not in a position to live a decent life today, give good education to our children, and take care of our old parents. How can we even think of saving for tomorrow,” said a worker. We are born to live and die in debt’, a worker says. As there was an average gap of Rs 1915 between the average monthly expenditure and average monthly income, and six people were supposed to live on this meagre wage, most workers are always in debt. ‘After all the exploitation by factory management and looting by landlords, local shopkeepers and other service providers, we hardly end up having Rs.1000 to send home’, says a worker. An international alliance called the Asia Floor Wage Alliance has calculated Rs.6968 as the minimum “living wage” that a garment industry worker in India should earn to support a family of four by working a normal 48 hour six-day workweek.


Freedom of Association None of these five factories has a recognized trade union, and no worker who was interviewed had tried to form a union in one of these factories. Only 4% of the workers reported that they were members of trade unions. Almost all of the companies in Gurgaon employ local goons to take care of any sort of grievance among the workers in the company, and there were cases of workers getting beaten up by them. Workers stated that they could not even complain about late payment of wages. If workers tried to form a union, they might lose their job; might have to face company goons, abusive management and sexual harassment; and in some cases even have to deal with the police on false charges of theft. We were told anecdotally that these were common tools of threat and force that the management used to suppress any kind of initiative from the workers’ side to get organized. Thus there is no question of “freedom of association”. A group of workers said: “We want to be part of a union and form unions in our company. We know that a union will make us strong and we would be able to talk to the management fearlessly, but we are scared. Scared of the brutal management. Every day workers are beaten up in our company. If the management observes anything abnormal, such as a worker talking about an injustice that is happening, they know how to bring back balance by using threat and force. Even seeing workers talking in a group is abnormal here.’’ ‘If the management has any doubts about a worker associating with any group, they will trouble the worker and terminate the worker as soon as possible. Managements in Gurgaon are normally very much intolerant towards this’. ‘Management generally discourages workers by putting out bad stories about unions. The say that unions make empty promises to workers and cheating them by associating with management through backdoors’ a group of workers said. There was no dispute settling mechanism in any of these factories. No worker could recall any kind of strike or workers’ challenge in their factories. 73% of the workers said that the management knew how to act by threats and firing when they detected any sign

of conflict. 92% of the workers responding in this study stated that they were in an agitated state of mind due to their working conditions, but they always suppressed their urge to object because of helplessness.

Employer’s Code of Conduct All workers reported that multinational buyers and social auditors visit their factories regularly to check on whether the suppliers were following established corporate codes of conduct. But the workers never have the chance to talk to the buyers freely. Management representatives accompany the auditors and buyers to make sure that workers do not complain about the working conditions and other problems existing in the factories. All the workers reported that superficial changes were made in the factories and strict instructions were given to workers prior to buyers’ visits. In all five factories, the workers were trained on what to say and what not to tell buyers one or two days before the buyers’ and auditors’ visits. A worker says “I was beaten up last year for allegedly trying to talk to buyers. After the buyers left I was called to the managers’ cubicle and asked to sign a blank sheet of paper. When I refused to do so, I was beaten up severely.” On buyers’ visits, workers were told to come to work in nice clothes (which most of them cannot afford) and to hang their identity cards around their necks. They were instructed to tell the buyers that they were paid Rs.8000-9000 without overtime, when they were actually paid Rs.3000-4500. They had to say that they did not do more than two hours of overtime a week, and that they were paid double rate. All of which contradicted the reality. Cosmetic changes were made for these visits. Muster rolls become available, doctors were shown to be available in the factory, ambulance service was available, proper lighting is turned on in the factory, safety measures were in place, such as proper fencing of machines etc, safe drinking water was made available, and toilets were made clean. Workers on contract and casual basis were told not to


come for work. Notice boards were renewed and many notices were displayed on the boards. A worker asks, ‘What is the point of inspecting after informing the factory management that you are coming; they will always have enough time to change the settings and impress the buyers’ ‘The settings and other preparations before buyers come are very funny. Everything is well arranged for that day. Buyers should come for inspection without letting the management know in advance. Only then will buyers be able to catch them red handed’. ‘What is happening in the factory on the buyers/auditors’ visit day is just a drama. We feel that we are acting in a drama that day. All of the workers were of the opinion that buyers should visit factories without informing the factory management in advance, so that they could find out the real working conditions in the factories.

Gurgaon Labour Law Enforcement In Gurgaon, labour-related enforcement resides with two Deputy Labour Commissioners, six Labour Officers, and eighteen Labour Inspectors. A Labour Officer, when interviewed, stated there is no shortage of staff to enforce labour laws. However, interviews with members of Mazdoor Ekta Manch showed otherwise. The thousands of factories in Gurgaon cannot be inspected by only 18 inspectors. Also, labour court cases stay pending for years. The Labour Officer who was interviewed also boasted of the government’s labour welfare schemes, such as Rs 10,000 to assist when a worker’s daughter gets married, Rs 2000-12000 for children’s education, and Rs 1000 for assistance with medical expenses. According to him, “workers in Gurgaon are really rich.” Again, Mazdoor Ekta Manch interviews showed that few workers knew about these schemes that supposedly were available to them. During an interview with one of the Deputy Labour Commissioners, he claimed that “factories are generally inspected twice in six months” by Labour Inspectors and Officers. However, the staff strength seemed insufficient to back this up, and the experiences of Mazdoor Ekta Manch show that

inspection and enforcement of labour laws is extremely weak. The DLC was also spoke negatively about trade unions, which he saw as inflexible and unrealistic.

Workers’ Priorities The workers in the larger living conditions survey (1,000 respondents), when asked for suggestions as to what would most improve their lives, gave money as the top priority. 37.1% stated that, more than anything, they needed to earn more money to earn a decent living and make their families happy. After that, 18% of the workers wanted a government job as the only solution to improve their life, presumably because only such jobs today are perceived to be secure and to provide employee benefits. 12.5% stated that the government should support workers in securing a decent living, and 11.4% wanted the dysfunctionality of the Provident Fund system to be fixed. A wide range of other priorities, less directly concerned with their real circumstances as workers, emerged among the remaining 22% of those who were surveyed. 7.5% wanted to be able to buy their own house for their family, and 9.5% wanted good schools for their children. The remaining few suggested a variety of more vague or distant possibilities, such as going to work in a foreign country, and having a shop or other business; some said “in the home village


Suggestions of workers

No. of workers (Out of 1000)

Percent of workers

Need money to improve our life 371 37.1

No one thinks for Labour class's future 32 3.2

Government should help Labour class 125 12.5

Want to work more 61 6.1

Insurance 14 1.4

Family should be happy 62 6.2

Want to do some business 41 4.1

Don’t know 3 0.3 Government Job 180 18

Want to buy own house 75 7.5

PF Facility should be there 114 11.4

Good schools for children 93 9.3

Buy a vehicle and rent it 67 6.7

Political parties should be abolished 2 0.2 Shop 7 0.7

Business in village 16 1.6 Want to buy agricultural land 51 5.1

Companies accommodation 10 1

Pension facility 2 0.2

Go to foreign country 35 3.5

Want to work independently 16 1.6

Transport problem 7 0.7

Go back to village 3 0.3

Ration facility should be provided 2 0.2

Ration card/Voter's card 9 0.9

Bank Account 14 1.4

Free Medicines 5 0.5


Summary Labour conditions in Gurgaon were found to be shocking. Factory owners violate basic labour laws, and the Gurgaon Labour Department is either not equipped to respond or, for whatever other reason, fails in its responsibility to ensure labour law compliance. Violations of minimum wage and overtime payment regulations, illegal termination, physical and verbal abuse, and forced labour, seem to be the rule in Gurgaon factories rather than the exception. Violations of Provident Fund and ESI regulations supposedly carry strict penalties and punishment; yet the violations are widely prevalent. It is clear that the Gurgaon government is unable to make employers

follow the government’s own directives and policies. Sexual harassment and verbal abuse of women, and general discrimination against women is common practice. Workers are given inhuman targets to complete on a daily basis, which cannot be done without forced overtime. Not surprisingly, health problems abound for most of the workers. Workers are extremely fearful of voicing their problems or attempting to act collectively, because employers threaten to fire them and indeed do so. Working in fear of losing their jobs, they are made to work long hours without consideration for their homes and families, need for rest, and physical well-being. These shameful conditions amount to nothing less than a modern-day form of serfdom in what is proclaimed to be one of the most modern urbanized industrial zones in the world.


Collaborators The Indian Social Institute is a national institute for research, training and action for socio-economic development and human rights. It was established in 1951 in response to challenges of nation-building and a new emerging social order in aftermath of independence. It has evolved its vision, mission, goals and objectives while responding to the changing socio-economic and political scenario in the country in the spirit of a learning organisation over the last fifty years. The institute advocates the cause of the poor, the marginalised, the exploited and those excluded at all levels through research, training and action for socio-economic development and human rights. It interacts and collaborates with various organisations/institutions, social and human rights activists, academia and many civil society members within and outside India. As a centre for research, training and information dissemination, the institute strives to assist social activists in conceptualisating the present situation through constant interaction and with a pedagogy of experience and action-reflection with the people and workers at grassroots level, support groups like intellectuals, journalists and policy-makers. In the recent past, the human rights approach has become a permeating aspect of its objectives, activities, programmes and future vision. Over the years, there has been a concerted effort to combine activism and academic research, taking cognizance of the tension and conflict the process brings. The effort has brought activists and academicians together to promote substantive research combined with meaningful activism, trying to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Years of experience have enabled the institute to engage in trainings, workshops and seminars as an integral part of its activities. Publications focuses on journals and books at affordable costs, especially for the non-profit sector and civil society organisations. The institute has a large staff of about 65 people from different disciplines engaged in various tasks and functions to translate the goals into concrete realities. The institute also has well-furnished and work-friendly rooms, halls, working place as well as residential facilities for participants, activists, scholars and civil society actors involved in advocacy, development and people’s rights and empowerment. is a national institute for research, training and action for socio-economic development and human rights. It was established in 1951 in response to the challenges of nation-building and the new emerging social order in the aftermath of independence. Over the years, there has been a concerted effort to combine activism and academic research, trying to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and taking cognizance of the tension and conflict the process brings. Indian Social Institute 10, Institutional Area, Lodi Road New Delhi 10003 Phone: 011-24611745, 011-24635096 Website: www.isidelhi.org.in


The Society for Labour and Development is a labour rights organisation with a focus on issues of migration, culture and equitable development. Its work includes labour organising, research, legal and policy interventions, and the articulation of excluded voices and cultural practices at local, national and trans-national levels. SLD was founded in August 2006 and is based in New Delhi. In its international work, it collaborates closely with Jobs with Justice, New Orleans Workers’ Centre for Racial Justice and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance. C-23, (rear portion), 1st Floor Hauz Khas New Delhi 110016 Phone: 011-26525806 Website: www.sld-india.org Mazdoor Ekta Manch was founded in February 2008 in Gurgaon. It is an organization of and for workers, most of them migrants living and working in the NCR, especially in Gurgaon and deeper into Haryana. Plot No. 48, 1st Floor Opposite Maruti Gate No. 2 Old Delhi-Gurgaon Road Gurgaon, Haryana Phone: 0124-4385478

Gurgaon How the Other Half Lives; SLD Report

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Transcript of Gurgaon How the Other Half Lives; SLD Report