Informal Labour

Yesterday, City Law School hosted an exhibition and discussion by Professor Deepanshu Mohan of OP Jindal University on the work he has done over the last years documenting the work of low-wage, migrant workers in various parts of India. A wide ranging thought-provoking multi-disciplinary work, rendering visible people who are invisible. The ILO uses the wider term ‘informality’ to mean an economy and its workers who are – in law or practice- not covered, or insufficiently covered, by formal arrangements. Professor Mohan’s talk raised many questions. What is the relationship between informality and formality? What are the ways in which invisibility is created? Which aspects of the working relationship are affected and how? Will technology affect any of this? I hope to explore some of these questions later this year. I am also reminded of the seminar I gave during Covid for Oxfam India and the vast challenges across South Asia, from which we can learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcTQveRVz3k&t=2841s