Chapter Five Women Construction Labour in Ahmedabad: Work...
Transcript of Chapter Five Women Construction Labour in Ahmedabad: Work...
Chapter Five
Women Construction Labour in Ahmedabad: Work, Struggle and Migratory Patterns
Gujarat, with a population of 50 million, was recorded to have 212.47lakh workers as per
the census of 2001. Ahmedabad has a population of approximately of 5 million as of
2006; it is the largest city in Gujarat and seventh largest metropolis in India. 1 Gujarat is
the only state in India to have reported mega growth rates in agriculture during the 1990s
with significant structural transformations in its labour populations, particularly in
relation to a rise in share of the non-primary sectors.
The share of public sector employment in the organised sector declined during the
1980s and continued throughout the 1990s. In the year 1999/2000, the share of self
employed was recorded at 59 per cent in rural areas and 41 per cent in the urban areas.
The share of casual workers increased from 18.3 per cent to 24.9 per cent in urban areas
and declined only marginally from 34.8 per cent to 34.5 per cent in the rural areas from
1983 to 1999/2000. Recorded regular employment in the rural areas was 63 per cent,
while in urban areas was 34.1 per cent. This share declined significantly during the 1990s
in both the rural and the urban areas. While, overall employment picture improved, the
share of regular employment declined and share of casual employment increased in the
1990s (indicative of a high rate of casualisation of work).2 The overall share of workers
covered under the social security schemes is less than 10 per cent.3
The state recorded declining sex ratios in 2001 (at 921) from 934 in 1991. In
2001, the female work participation rate in Gujarat was recorded at 39.0 per cent in rural
areas and 13.5 per cent in urban areas. Women workers in rural areas are predominantly
employed in the primary sector and their share in secondary and tertiary sector together
accounts for less than 10 per cent. In the urban areas, they are mostly employed in the
tertiary sector. Self- employed women workers account for 60 per cent in rural areas and
44 per cent in the urban areas. Casual employment for women is recorded at 31.5 per cent
1 B, Baruah, Gender and globalization- Opportunities and constraints faced by women in the construction industry in India, Labor Studies Journal, 2008 2 Decrease in regular employment and it being replaced by self-employed also The high growth rate of poverty with the high rate of in-migrants from outside states, in urban areas is being absorbed in low paid casual jobs, for more details refer to Amitabh Kundu, 'Globalising Gujarat: Urbanisation, Employment and Poverty, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, No 35/36 (Aug 26-Sept 8) 2000 3 Indira Hirway and Darshini Mahadevia, Gujarat Human Development Report, Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute Ahmedabad, 2004
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in urban areas. Women who participate in economic activity spend on an average 17.6
hours on work per week and 39.8 hours on domestic work (unpaid work). The
corresponding figures for men are 43.63 hours and 3.19 hours respectively.4
The economy of Ahmedabad has historically been based on the cotton textile
industry. In the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, the textile industries employed roughly
around 1,25,000-1,35,000 workers, while the Textile Labour Association (Trade Union of
Textile Mill Workers) had more than 1,00,000 members. By the mid-1990s, with the
introduction of cheaper synthetic textiles into the market resulting from the liberalisation
initiated in 1991, there were only around 30,000 to 35,000 workers remaining in the
industry. Unable to sustain the strict competition most of these textile mills were shut and
thousands of workers retrenched with meagre compensation. 5 Most of the retrenched
workers (roughly around 85,000) entered the unorganised/ informal sector.6 Some
theorists argue that the informalisation of the economy is partly due to similar such shift
in the division of labour in the economy, which forced many to enter the informal sector.
Others have argued that the growing rate of in-migration to Ahmedabad from rural areas
and other states, combined to create high poverty rates and forced workers to take-up low
paid casual jobs (characteristic of informalisation and casualisation of work), which
eventually led to a greater informalisation of the broader economy.
The tendency of displacement of women workers in the informal sector by
machines has been accentuated under globalisation. This influence is evident from
statistics of the construction sector. According to the 1991 census, the estimated
workforce in India was around 285, 932,000 and the construction industry employed
around 5,543,000 of the total workforce. According to NSO Survey (1993/94), 4.17 per
cent of all male workers and 1.27 per cent of all female workers are engaged by
construction-related employment. Today, women construction workers account for more
than 98 per cent of casual labour. Evidence has emerged of mechanisation displacing
women employed in the construction industry.7 It has been estimated that economic
liberalisation and the mechanisation of the construction industries will reduce the
4 Indira Hirway and Darshini Mahadevia, Gujarat Human Development Report, Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute Ahmedabad, 2004 5 Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India, Oxford University Press, 2002 6 Amitabh Kundu and Darshini Mahadevia, Poverty and Vulnerability in a Globalising Metropolis: Ahmedabad, Manak Publications,2002 also see, Jan Breman, 'An Informalised Labour System: End of Labour Market Dualism', Economic and Political Weekly, December 29, 2001 7 Renana Jhabvala, 'Liberalisation and Women', Seminar 531, November 2003
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deployment of manual labour from one fifteenth to one fiftieth of the labour force. There
have been recorded indications in a reduction of employment by a number of 1.5 million
mostly unskilled workers.8
Many large companies engaged in the construction sector have increased the role
of mechanisation in construction processes, resulting in massive displacements of labour
from many parts of construction operations. Consequently women workers are being
completely eliminated from the main operations, in which they have been traditionally
deployed. On the other hand, the boom in the construction sector in the 1990s was
accompanied with an increase in factory production and a growth in demand for various
construction skills such as masons, tile fitters, painters, plumbers, cement finishes,
glaziers, electricians, etc. unfortunately, there are practically no women with these skills.9
Women are employed in almost all stages of the construction process, from
foundation work to masonry and beyond. They help in removing over-ground materials
once excavated, carry water, sand, jelly, cement mixture for foundation laying and
concrete pouring, carry stone, bricks and tools required at the premises. Women also help
in the erection of scaffolding by carrying centring materials, they smoothen surfaces
before concrete mixtures are poured for roofing and once a structure is laid, undertake the
curing operations. Men engage in operations such as digging, demolishing, scaffolding,
operating the mixture machine etc. At times they perform the activities that are done by
women also. Masons lay bricks; engage in concreting, levelling, and plastering. Apart
from these, the carpenters, electricians, plumbers and painters have separate roles in the
construction process. 10 While the construction industry in India is very labour-intensive,
wages only account for only around 25-40 per cent of the building costs. The wages for
unskilled work are significantly less than wages for skilled work. Skilled work Is
predominantly done by men, while women are hired as manual /unskilled labour.
This chapter maps the employment, struggles, and migratory patterns of
construction workers with particular emphasis on women workers. It will provide a
context for the field research, before outlining the findings. For the purposes of empirical
8 Renana Jhabvala and Ravi Kanbur 'Globalization and Economic Reforms as Seen from the Ground: SEW A's Experiences in India', paper presented at the 2002 Indian Economy Conference, Cornell University, New York, 19-20 April, 2002 9 Renana Jhabvala, Shalini Sinha Liberalization and the Woman Worker, Economic and Political Weekly May 25,2002 10 TheoVan der Loop, 'Industrial Dynamics and Fragmented Labour Markets: Construction Finns and Labourers in India', Department of Human Geography, University of Amsterdam, 1992
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research fourteen regtons m urban Ahmedabad were selected based on the random
sampling method. During the field work interactions on work sites were difficult to
access. In-depth interviews with the respondents took place at the residences. The data
was collected through interview methods at the place of residence of the workers barring
in two areas (Juhapura and Motera). In Juhapura, the interviews were conducted at the
naka, 11 while in Motera they were conducted on the work site. To facilitate the field
research and to gain contextual understanding of the construction industry in Ahmedabad
and its social and political complexities, two construction labour unions (Self Employed
Women's Association and Bandh kaam Mazdoor Sangathan) and an NGO (Ajeevika
Bureau) assisted in consultations and identification of the workers. These bodies provided
access to the field and eased the processes of data collection. 12
Introducing the regions for empirical research
The selection was based on random sampling. The sample size of the primary data
collected was 169, ofwhich 56 were men (33.1 per cent) and 113 women (66.8 per cent).
Gender Composition of the sample
33.1%
•Female Male 66.8%
Approximately, 50 per cent of the interviews were conducted in the regions of
Shahpur, Vatva, Gomtipur, and Juhapura, which added to 15 per cent each of the total
sample, as shown in Table 1. The remaining interviews were conducted in the areas of
Paldi, Vastrapur, Sabarmati, Guptanagar, Fatehwari, Chandlodia, Shivranjani, Vejalpur,
Vasna, Motera, and Amrawadi. In the regions of Vasna, Shivranjani, Juhapura,
Chandlodia both men and women workers were interviewed. Only men workers were
11 Place where the workers gather in the early morning hours for labour contractors to come and hire them. In Ahmedabad it is called a karianaka. Karia means construction 12 This research also includes interviews with activists working in trade unions, contractors, government officials along with construction workers.
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interviewed in Fatehwari, Shahpur, and Paldi. Only women workers were interviewed in
Amrawadi, Gomtipur, Guptanagar, Motera, Vatva, Vastrapur, and Vejalpur.
Table 1 Regions in Ahmedabad where field work was conducted (in percentage)
N arne of the region Amra wadi Chandlodia Fatehwari Gomtipur Guptanagar Juhapura Mot era Paldi Sabarmati Shahpur Shivaranjani Vasna Vastrapur Vatva Vejalpur
Female 2.7 6.2 0.0 17.7 9.7 6.2 5.3 0.0 7.1 0.0 1.8 6.2 14.2 20.4 2.7
Male 0.0 1.8 12.5 0.0 0.0 16.1 0.0 19.6 0.0 41.1 7.1 1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 1.8 4.7 4.1 11.8 6.5 9.5 3.6 6.5 4.7 13.6 3.6 4.7 9.5 14.0 2.0
------------------·---------------------------------·
50 -,------
40 30 +----· 20 10 +---0 +-------------···"·-------··--,.·--
At site Kachcha
Type of residence
-·-----·--·----·····------------------· ---·
Semi-pukka
•Female
Pukka
Male
Tent on the road Stay on top of the municipal hospital
Of the total sample, roughly 0.6 per cent of those interviewed live on the
construction site, while 25.4 per cent live in kachcha houses, 26.6 per cent stay in semi
pukka houses, 18.9 per cent stay in pukka houses, 21.9 per cent stay in tents on the road,
and 6.5 per cent stay without any residence in the open (all men interviewees), as shown
in Table 2. The majority of the women interviewed (60.2 per cent) stay in kachcha houses
and in tents on the road and maximum number of men (46.4 per cent) stay in semi-pukka
houses. Twelve per cent of the men interviewed stay in shared occupancy basis also
known as chaali 's. Maximum number of respondents (43 per cent) live injhuggi 's, while
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the remaining 5 per cent live in resettlement colonies, 31 per cent stay in unauthorised
colonies, and 7 per cent do not have any fixed residence and live in the open. Of the total
sample, the majority of the women (58 per cent) stay injhuggi and maximum number (41
per cent) stay in unauthorised colonies. On a comparative basis usually workers who stay
in the pukka-semi-pukka settlements in unauthorised colonies or resettlement colonies are
much better off (in terms of possession of household assets/ economic status) than those
staying in jhuggi 's and in tents on the road. They are also mostly second and third
generation migrants to the city.
Table 2 -Type of housing (in percentage)
Type of housing At site Kachcha Semi-pukka Pukka Tent on the road
Stay on top of the municipal hospital
Female 0.0
31.0 16.8 23.0 29.2
0.0
Male 1.8
14.3 46.4 10.7 7.1
19.6
Total 0.6
25.4 26.6 18.9 21.9
6.5
Only one respondent owned a pukka house in Vejalpur. Out of the total sample, 78
per cent did not report of any payment of rent for either jhuggi, semi- pukka or pukka
house owners. Eighty-two per cent of men and 18 per cent of the women reported paying
rent for their place of accommodation. The rent paid by men from Shahpur is in the range
of Rs 1 00-1 000 per month and that paid by women in the regions of Gomtipur ranged
from Rs 500-1200.
Only 1.8 per cent of the interviews were conducted with people living on the work
site, whereas the majority, 98.2 per cent of the total interviewed lived at a distance for the
work site, as shown in Table 3. This does not intend to generalise the location of
residence of the construction workers. Due to difficulty in reaching the workers at the site
during working hours, the majority of the interviews were scheduled with workers who
stayed at a distance from the work site.
Table 3- Location of residence (in percentage)
Location of residence At site
Distance from site
Female 1.8
98.2
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Male 1.8
98.2
Total 1.8
98.2
The majority (59 per cent) of the total respondents faced problems accessmg
water, while the remaining 41 per cent reported no such issues. The maximum number of
the respondents access water from municipality taps on the road and from residential
areas if their occupants allow. In some instances, the women construction workers in
residential areas are allowed to fill water free, but often are in tum made to perform
household chores. For example, women workers in the Vastrapurjhuggi perform cleaning
and household chores without payment for people in the bungalows and get access to
water in return. They usually go during the early morning, mostly before seven, to fill
water and work before they leave for construction work. Also in Vasna, workers pay Rs
1 00 to access water. Some respondents reported they have no permanent solution to their
water problem, changing source as per convenience, including using sources at hotels,
banks, parks, factories, the railway crossing and any other public source where payment
can be avoided. Only a hand full of respondents, those staying in pukka houses, owned
hand pumps. Overall, the majority of respondents believed that since they were migrants
and move from one part of the city to the other they have to devise ways to access water.
For the primary data collection in the regions of Chandlodia, Shivranjani, Motera,
Sabarmati, Vasna, Vastrapur, and Vejalpur, respondents live in Jhuggi's by the road.
People interviewed from Sabarmati, Shivranjani, and Chandlodia perceived of no civic
amenities such as hospitals or schools in their locality. They mostly stay in temporary
tents on the road. A similar situation was found for women interviewed from Vasna,
Vejalpur, Motera, and Vastrapur, who reported both hospitals and schools in the vicinity,
but cannot afford to send their children to school due to financial constraints. In the
regions of Amrawadi, Gomtipur, and Guptanagar, the constituency of people interviewed
were slightly better resourced. They live mostly in semi-pukka and pukka houses in
unauthorised colonies. In these three areas workers reported they availing to the facilities
such hospitals and send their children to the local school (government school).
Single migrant men live predominantly in unauthorised colonies in Fatehwari and
there were no schools or hospital facility they could afford. In Paldi, male respondents
lived in a residential colony on top of the municipal hospital and though there were
hospitals and schools in the locality, they could not afford to avail the facilities. These
men are mostly migrants from Rajasthan and leave their families back in their native
village. In Shahpur, single male migrants live in semi-pukka houses, to which they refer
to as chaali based on shared accommodation and reported no schools or hospitals in the
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vicinity. In Juhapura, men and women respondents both live in resettlement colonies with
facilities for children and hospitals in the locality.
Overall, migrant women workers from Chandlodia, Shivranjani, Motera,
Sabarmati, Vasna, Vastrapur, and Vejalpur were in the most marginalised situations with
no assets. Women workers from Gomtipur, Guptanagar and Amravadi who are mostly
from Ahmedabad (third generation migrants) were better off in terms ofhousehold assets,
location of home and type of construction materials used for their houses (semi-pukka,
pukka). Male respondents in the regions of Paldi and Fatehwari were worst off in
comparison to men staying in Shahpur and Juhapura who were slightly better placed in
terms of location of residence, type of houses and ownership of some household assets.
The majority of the respondents (56 per cent) visit private hospitals and 34 per cent visit
government hospitals and 10 per cent visit both private and government hospitals for their
treatment. Most of the respondents borrow money to get their medical treatment in private
hospitals rather than government hospitals because they believe the treatment is done
more efficiently in the former.
Of the total sample, 32 per cent of the respondents own no household assets and
46 per cent owned one of these or a combination of access to electricity, mobile phones,
bicycles, motorcycles, toilets, and televisions. Respondents who were either second or
third generation migrant settled in a resettlement colony or living in semi-pukka or pukka
house in unauthorised colonies comprises the second category. The first category
(respondents without household assets), were staying injhuggi 's.
The majority (63.3 per cent) of the total number of people interviewed possessed
ration card in their village (of which 67.9 per cent were men and 38.9 per cent were
women), while 26 per cent used ration card in the city, 35.5 per cent did not possess one
and 1.2 per cent did not know what its use or significance was, as shown in Table 4. The
proportion of workers who used the ration card in the village were the single male
migrants who had their families back in the native village whereas the proportion of
women (38. 7 per cent) who reported using the ration card in the village had no logical
explanation as majority of women migrants had cut all ties with their native village and
the percentage of second and third generation women migrants in the city used the ration
card in the city.
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Table 4- Possession of ration card (in percentage)
Possession of ration card Female Male Total Don't Know 1.8 0.0 1.2 No 37.2 32.1 35.5
Yes 38.9 0.0 26.0 Yes (in village) 22.1 67.9 37.3
Of the total sample size, only 8.3 per cent knew about government schemes, 8.3
per cent have never availed them and the majority (83.4 per cent) have never heard about
them, as shown in Table 5. Out of this, 83 per cent are women, while 5.3 per cent of the
women avail some of the government schemes, they were also the category of
respondents who had a ration card and cast their votes. There is also an intrinsic link
between awareness of these schemes by the government and education levels also
affiliation to trade unions (all these 5.3 per cent women respondents have passed primary
level of education and are affiliated to trade unions).
Table 5- Government schemes availed (in percentage)
A vail government schemes Never heard No
Yes
Female 83.0 11.5
5.3
Socio-economic background of the workers
Male 83.9 1.8
14.3
Total 83.4 8.3
8.3
This section briefly describes the household size, age distribution, educational
background, caste and religious affiliations, marital status, reproductive health and
political participation ofthe construction workers interviewed.
The maximum number of the respondents (32.5 per cent) have a household size of
4 to 5 members, as shown in Table 6. For men construction workers, the single migrants
(57.1 per cent) are the highest number. 13 About 3.5 per cent of the women (4 respondents)
are single earning members. Out of the 4 respondents, one reported that her husband left
her and 2 respondents don't live with their husbands and one is a widow. Table 6 shows
13 This is not to make a broad generalisation but was based on the nature of men workers who were interviewed (mostly single migrants).
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the breakdown of the respondents as per household size. The largest concentration among
both men and women respondents was in the 4 - 5 persons category.
Table 6- Household size (in percentage)
Household Size Female Male Total Single 0 57.1 18.9
2-3 20.3 7.1 15.9
4-5 40.7 16.1 32.5
6-7 22.1 7.1 17.1
8-9 11.5 7.1 10
Above 10 5.3 5.3 5.3
The highest number of respondents were in the range of 30-39 years (33.2 per
cent). The highest number of women (18.6 per cent) are in the age group of 35-39 and
majority of the men interviewed (64.2 per cent) are in the age group of 20-35 years, as
shown in Table 7. Usually the workers in the construction sector start work at an early
age, iri this sample for instance 10.6 per cent of the women and 12.5 per cent of the men
are in the age group of 15 to 19 years. It is believed that due to the nature of tedious
manual labour in the construction sector, the workers often retire after they tum 40.
Contrary to this, women in this sample (4.4 per cent) were found to be working above the
60 years of age. This could mean that unskilled construction labour is among the
occupations of last resort for the elderly who have no other means to support themselves.
Table 7- Age composition (in percentage)
Age 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 Above 60
Female 10.6 9.7 11.5 16.8 18.6 12.4 8.0 6.2 1.8 4.4
Male 12.5 25.0 19.6 19.6 8.9 3.6 5.4 1.8 0.0 3.6
Total 11.2 14.8 14.2 17.8 15.4 9.5 7.1 4.7 1.2 4.1
The majority (69.8 per cent) of the total sample are illiterate, 5.9 per cent have
completed primary level and 18.3 per cent have completed secondary, while 3.6 per cent
have completed higher secondary, and 1.8 per cent have completed graduation and above,
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as shown in Table 8. The majority of women (84.1 per cent) and men ( 41.1 per cent) are
illiterate. This is not by choice as most of the respondents expressed that due to conditions
of deprivation and starvation they were forced to choose between earning an income and
attaining formal education.
Table 8- Level of education (in percentage)
Level of education Illiterate Literate Primary Secondary Higher secondary Graduation and above
Female 84.1 0.9 5.3 8.0 0.9 0.9
Male 41.1 0.0 7.1
39.3 8.9 3.6
Total 69.8 0.6 5.9 18.3 3.6 1.8
The highest number ( 44 per cent) of the respondents send their children to school
whereas 40 per cent out of financial constraints were not able to send them to school. Of
those, attending school there is a high dropout ratio, usually during primary level itself.
Also 3 per cent of the respondents send their children in the originating village school and
13 per cent had no children. A lot of the interviews showed discrepancy between the
number of members in the household and the number of children. This is partly due to the
fact that most of them do not count the children in their villages to study. Most of the
workers keep their children in the villages to study in government school, and avail to
some of the benefits which are not available easily to them in urban areas. A few of them
reported they have to remove their daughters early from school to take care of the
younger siblings. In contrast to this, in Vinjal crossing, Vatva, a special case of a family
of three brothers and one sister, where the sons are not educated, as it was thought
important for them to start work, but one daughter is literate and the other is physically
challenged and stays in the village with their parents. Interestingly the physically
challenged daughter got an opportunity to study in a special school by the government
and to that end the brothers and sister are working in the town to save some money and
send it across for her treatment.
The majority of the sample population (84 per cent) are married and 2 per cent are
Marital status of sample
2%
84%
II Married Unmarried
!!~Widowed
widowed. The largest share of respondents (63 per cent) got married between the ages of
15 - 19 years. The pie chart shows the marital status of the sample.
Of the married women respondents, 88 per cent reported their husbands were
construction workers, while the rest said that they worked in factories, as rickshaw
pullers, were either in security services or as municipality cleaners. The majority of the
men reported that since their wives were mostly in the village they were involved in
animal husbandry, farming, and domestic work. The majority of the male family migrants
have their wives engaged in construction work in the city, while others also have their
wives work as domestic workers, or are home-based workers. Since men who were
interviewed are single migrants, they do not migrate to the city with their families. They
manage all the domestic work themselves and help each other in community sharing
basis. They get help in domestic chores from sons and friends.
Women on the other hand, get help only from female relatives with the exception
of one respondent who said that her husband helped in domestic work. Majority of the
women respondents (68 per cent) carry their children to the worksite. The rest (38 per
cent) either leave the children at home with the eldest daughter. Very few of them have
their children in the village with their extended family and in-laws. Sometimes women
workers themselves are engaged in working for long hours within and outside the
household as well as taking care of children. This was expressed by all respondents, to
quote one, " ... For me, the struggle at work used to be when my children were young and I
had to carry them along to the worksite. To be able to manage housework along with
working at the worksites and taking care of my children all at the same time was the
biggest challenge. Now things are different my daughter-in-law helps with most of the
household work". 14
The maximum number of the women workers work during their menstrual period
and the usual time of continuing work until the ih or 8th month into the pregnancy and
half to one month's rest are usually taken before and after the delivery. Contrary to this,
some of the respondents said they worked until the last day of their pregnancy and almost
immediately started work at the site carrying their newborn. About 41.7 per cent of the
respondents have 4 to 5 pregnancies, 64 per cent have had abortions/ miscarriages in the
range of 4 to 7 times, as shown in Table 9. Approximately 61.2 per cent of the women
have lost their daughters below 1 0 years who have had pregnancies ranging from 4 to 7
14 Testimony of Balu Ben Haribhai, for further details refer to Appendix II 198
times and above. 42.5 per cent of the women have lost their sons below 10 years who
have had pregnancies ranging from 4 to 5 times. Due to the high rate of pregnancies and
miscarriages most of these women workers have poor reproductive health. One
respondent shared, " .. .1 am 55 years old and was 14 when I got married. I had 6
pregnancies and only 3 survived. Two of my children died before they turned one year
old. One died due to terminal illness and lack of treatment at the age of two. Due to
financial constraints and nature of work (we hardly get time to look after our children) I
lost my children". 15
Table 9- Reproductive health( in percentage)
Range of number No of No of abortions/ of pregnancies pregnancies No of miscarriage
0-1 2.1 0.9 2-3 25.0 8.7 4-5 41.7 31.0 6-7 19.8 33.0 Above 8 11.5 26.1
No of children died below 10 years of age
Girl Bo 0.0 0.0 8.3 10.0 30.6 42.5 30.6 20.0 30.6 27.5
Other than reproductive health, the general health of construction workers is a
matter of concern. Most women in the construction sector are head loaders who carry 16
bricks, each 2.5 kg, on a wooden slab on their head up great heights. Due to the
considerable amount of weight on their head, the workers suffer from headaches, neck
and back pain and pain in hands and legs. They also have prolapsed uterus, menstrual
disorders, miscarriages, asthma, and other respiratory disorders. Sometimes, they
complain of bleeding from their fingertips due to continuous handling of bricks. Health
hazards are also high in the construction sector due to its accident-prone environment
added to the fact that most construction companies do not provide for safety measures.
Out of the total sample, 1.8 per cent are adivasis, 85.8 per cent are Hindu's, 8.3
per cent are Muslims, and 4.1 per cent do not know their religion, as shown in Table 10.
The majority of women (84.1 per cent) and men (89.3 per cent) respondents are Hindu's.
Of the men, 10.7 per cent are Muslims. Interestingly, when asked about their religion,
migrants from the Dahood region mostly did not respond and generally were confused
about their caste affiliations. The low percentage of Muslim women engaged in
15 Testimony of Balu Ben Haribhai, for further details refer to Appendix II 199
construction might be due to other work preference (home-based work, domestic work). It
might also be a result of sensitive communal riot prone situations which affect women's
mobility outside their homes.
In response to the situation during the Gujarat riots in 2002 most of the
respondents did not answer, barring a few men from Shahpur and few women affiliated to
SEW A. 16 Shahpur is a Muslim dominated area, which was one of the most sensitive riot
prone areas. During the Gujarat riots of 2002, the migrants often were not in a situation to
venture out for work for several months. Also during curfews, police repression was very
high and they would be easy targets. Some women from SEW A shared that Gomtipur,
Bapunagar, Behrampura, and Amravadi were the worst affected areas during the riots.
Their houses were burned down, and they had no work for three to four months. SEW A
in all these places organised camps and also provided for health facilities, aided in
children's education and created employment generation avenues
Table 10- Religious composition (in percentage)
Religion Female Male Total Adivasi 2.7 0.0 1.8
Hindu 84.1 89.3 85.8
Muslim 7.1 10.7 8.3
Don't Know 6.2 0.0 4.1
In the total sample, none of the respondents belong to the general category, as
shown in Table 11. The majority (52 per cent) belong to Scheduled Tribes (ST), 28 per
cent belong to Scheduled Castes (SC's), 14 per cent belong to Other Backward Classes
(OBC's), and 6 per cent are Muslims. Fifty-four per cent of the women and 48 per cent of
the men all Scheduled Tribes and 33 per cent of the women and 18 per cent of the men
are Scheduled Castes. The adivasi and bhils among the STs, chamars and vankars among
the SCs and yadav's among the OBC were the highest caste groups within these
categories. 17 One reason for this might be the selection of the sample as the majority were
from Dahood region who belong to ST communities.
16 Refer to the Chapter Six for details on the Gujarat Riots 2002 17 Of the Scheduled Tribes the majority are adivasi and bhils, rest are from the following communities; meenama bhil, bhabor, bhil thakur, rathore, yasaria, pargi, haria, khokria meena, damoor, meena, gudiya, katara, palash, sangara, vasaiya, bhuria, gondia, bhilwar, mavi, mohania, mochar. Of the Scheduled Castes 41, per cent are reported from the chamar community and 30 per cent from vankars and rest are makwana,
200
Table 11- Caste composition (in percentage)
Caste groups Female Male Total sc 32.7 17.9 27.8 ST 54.0 48.2 52.1 OBC 9.7 21.4 13.6 General 0.0 0.0 0.0 Muslim 3.5 12.5 6.5
Table 12 shows the maximum number of women (42.5 per cent) cast their vote
and the maximum number of men (46.4 per cent) do not cast their votes. In total, 23.7 per
cent cast their vote in the village and the maximum number (42 per cent) do not cast their
vote at all. Among women, mostly second and third generation migrants staying in pukka,
semi-pukka houses in resettlement colonies or unauthorised colonies, who already use a
ration card, are the ones who generally cast their vote.
Table 12-Voting behaviour (in percentage)
Do you vote Female Male Total Yes 42.5 17.9 34.3 No 39.8 46.4 42.0 Yes village 17.7 35.7 23.7
Out of the 34 per cent who vote, 12 per cent vote for Bharatiya J anta Party (BJP),
22 per cent vote for the Congress Party, and 60 per cent did not respond, while 4 per cent
vote for Narendra Modi though they do not know which party he represents. The total
Muslim population (3.5 per cent of the women and 12.5 per cent men) mostly vote for the
Congress Party.
As shown in Table 13, overall, we could say that BJP gets 27.3 per cent of the
total votes from OBC women and 50 per cent from OBC men. The Congress Party gets it
vote from SC women and Muslim men. ST women and SC and ST men have no idea
about parties; mostly they do not vote as they have no election card. About 3.3 per cent of
the ST women and 16.7 per cent of the OBC men vote for Narendra Modi.
mocha, bhanwar, and chawra. Of the Backward Classes, yadav's constitute 10 per cent followed by ode, darbar, prajapati, ghanchi, deewan, marvari, sonar, and patel.
201
Table 13- Participation in electoral process (in percentages)
Female Male Party Total
Muslim OBC sc ST Muslim OBC sc ST
BJP 0.0 27.3 13.5 0.0 28.6 50.0 30.0 7.4 12.4
Congress 50.0 18.2 51.4 4.9 42.9 8.3 10.0 22.2 21.9
BJP/Congress 0.0 0.0 5.4 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.7 2.4 No Idea 50.0 54.5 29.7 90.2 28.6 25.0 60.0 59.3 59.8
Narendra 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.3 0.0 16.7 0.0 7.4 3.6 Modi
Employment status and payment of wages
The majority (92 per cent) of the respondents are currently employed and only 8 per cent
have retired from their work as construction workers. Eighty-two per cent of the
respondents visit the naka, of which 64 per cent were women. Eighty-eight per cent of the
total sample work as head loaders and helpers, of whom 75 per cent are women. Nine per
cent of the sample work as masons out of which 7 per cent are women skilled workers as
is shown in Table 14. Forty-two per cent of the workers receive wages in the range ofRs
100 to 125 and 35.5 per cent receive wages between Rs 150 and Rs 175. Only 21.5 per
cent of the skilled men receive wages between Rs 200 and Rs 225 and 57.1 per cent
receive wages above Rs 300. The majority (58.6 per cent) of the women receive wages
between Rs100 and Rs 125 while men (76.2 per cent) receive wages between Rs 125 and
Rs 175. The minimum wages in Gujarat with effect from April 1st 2010 was Rs 157.7 and
Rs 157.3 for unskilled workers; Rs 137.6 and Rs 159.0 for semi-skilled workers and Rs
163.5, Rs 172.2, Rs 162.7 and Rs 170.6 for skilled workers (depending on the grade scale
A or B). 18 If we compare these statistics it is evident that for all level of skilled/ unskilled
and semi-skilled work the payment of minimum wages was not met according to the Act.
In the sample, maximum number of the workers earn wages between Rs 125 and Rs 175
and visit the naka to solicit work.
Comparing the wages received by women with men in the skilled and unskilled
categories one finds a difference of around Rs 50 in the wages received. For instance,
women unskilled workers get up toRs 125 (with some exceptions) and men in the same
category receiveRs 175, similarly women skilled workers earn up toRs 225 whereas men
18 http://www.labour.nic.in
202
in the same category earn up toRs 300 and above. Women workers do not get wages in
accordance with the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Equal Remuneration Act 1976.
Table 14- Wage rate in accordance with skills (in percentage)
Wage rate Skilled Unskilled Total
Female Male Female Male 60-79 0.0 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.6
80-99 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4 0.6
100-124 0.0 0.0 58.6 14.3 42.0
125-149 0.0 0.0 10.8 9.5 9.5
150-174 0.0 0.0 28.8 66.7 35.5
175-199 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
200-224 1.7 21.4 0.9 7.1 5.3
225-249 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
250-274 0.0 14.3 0.0 0.0 1.2
275-299 0.0 7.1 0.0 0.0 0.6
Above 300 0.0 57.1 0.0 0.0 4.7
Kayam and rokri were local terms used to denote the nature of work in
construction. The difference between kayam and rokri is that kayam workers do not visit
the naka and usually work with one particular jobber/ mukardam. They get wages in bulk
once a month, at the end of the project and after giving the jobber his commission and
they usually receive less wages compared to rokri workers. On the other hand, rokri
workers work from the naka and get paid on a daily basis. But this distinction does not
stand ground in times of recession as many kayam workers have started visiting the nakas
due to unavailability of work as such. Majority of the women workers (83 per cent)
reported availability of work for only 15 days in a month and (89 per cent) of the men
reported work availability for 20 days in a month. The non-availability of work was
reported by many women workers, to quote one respondent, " .. .1 have been working in
the construction sector for the last 20 years as a headloader. I visit the naka to solicit
work. Nowadays, we do not get work for more than 15 days in a month also the wage is
not paid as promised per day, infact we get paid randomly sometimes when the work is
completed, other times on daily basis. When I started work the wage was Rs 5". 19
19 Testimony of Kothari Gachi, for further details refer to Appendix II
203
This decrease in the days of work availability can be linked to heavy
mechanisation processes which displace unskilled workers. Some unskilled men
construction workers have the advantage of skill upgradation in the sector, but due to
gender based division of work as women mostly work in unskilled capacities; they are the
most disadvantaged by this phenomenon.
Apart from this there are also big construction companies who undertake skill
training programmes specifically for men and resort to company policy, women's
inability to travel distances or family restrictions for not training women. Similar views
were expressed by one interviewee, " ... as a policy we do not train women construction
workers. Women are mostly helpers; they have less capacity of bearing weight. As they
have no skills, therefore, they end up doing unskilled work. We have to build creches
where women workers are engaged, so in some ways, investment is much more for
women; social safety risk increases, industries therefore avoid employing women. They
are less productive as compared to male workers, so we have proportional wage
difference and wage gap. The biggest challenge to big companies is that even if we train
women they do not work for us due to family restrictions. Women want work near their
residents, but big projects, are mainly housed far away from residents, in rural and open
areas"?0
Also, it was clear during field visits that daily wage workers (rokri) did not
receive wages each day. On the contrary they were paid after 2-5 days or after 8 days
twice in a month. Many women workers especially those attached to SEW A felt that
work in the construction sector was mostly kayam, initially the contractors gave bonus
and also registered attendance, but after the boom in the construction industry and the
high rate of in-migration has led to the creation of the naka and posed competition to
local women. They argue that contractors prefer migrant labourers as they work for less
money.
The majority (72 per cent) of the respondents are engaged in kayam work whereas
22 per cent are engaged in rokri work and 6 per cent are engaged in both kayam and rokri
work. Of this, 16 per cent of the women are engaged in kayam unskilled work, 48 per cent
are engaged in rokri unskilled work, and only 1 per cent are engaged in rokri skilled
work. For men 18 per cent of them are engaged in rokri unskilled work, 4 per cent is
engaged in both kayam and rokri unskilled work, 2 per cent of the men are engaged in
20 Interview with Sanjay Bhai, Chief Engineer, Larson and Toubro as on 281h November 2008
204
kayam skilled work, and 5 per cent of them are engaged in rokri skilled work. A minor
percentage of both men and women workers are engaged in both kayam and rokri work.
Therefore, we can infer from the sample that the majority of the workers both men and
women are involved in rokri unskilled work.
Out of the total sample, the majority (59 per cent) receive their wages daily (out of
which men reported 33.3 per cent and women reported 66.6 per cent), 16 per cent receive
their wages monthly. Some respondents involved in both kayam, rokri work receives their
wages randomly either daily or monthly, and they constitute 6 per cent of the sample. The
remaining 19 per cent of the sample receives kharchi, which is money in lump sum either
in 2-5 days or in 8 days depending on the time taken for the completion of work.
Due to irregular nature of wage payments and all earned income being spent on
day-to-day consumption expenses, these construction workers hardly have money to save.
The majority (80 per cent) of the sample have no savings and they live hand-to-mouth
existence, which includes 78 per cent of the women and 84 per cent of the men, as shown
in Table 15. Only a few single male migrant workers (mostly skilled) have some amount
of savings. Also second and third generation women migrants with substantive household
assets in the areas of Amravadi, Guptanagar, and Gomtipur had savings above Rs 1,000
per month. The amount of money usually saved depended upon other factors, such as
household size, number of earning members, consumption expenditure, money spend on
health and repayment of old debts, and lastly type of workmen (skill levels).
Table 15- Savings (in percentage)
Savings Female Male Total 0-99 0.9 0.0 0.6
100-199 4.4 1.8 3.6
200-399 3.5 0.0 2.4
400-599 2.7 0.0 1.8
600-799 0.9 0.0 0.6
800-999 0.0 0.0 0.0
1000-1999 1.8 3.6 2.4 2000-2999 2.7 5.4 3.6 3000-3999 0.9 3.6 1.8 4000-4999 1.8 1.8 1.8 Above 5000 2.7 0.0 1.8 NA 38.9 8.9 29.0 Not Mentioned 38.9 75.0 50.9
205
Due to lack of savings, most of the construction workers depend on borrowing
money for emergencies. They usually borrow money from friends, relatives, neighbours,
moneylenders, and contractors. In this sample, the maximum number (39.6 per cent)
borrow money from the moneylender and 25.4 per cent borrow from friends, rest borrow
from the bank, family members, village, neighbours, and contractors, as shown in Table
16.
Table 16- Groups/ individuals lending money (in percentage)
Loan taken from Female Male Total Bank 4.4 1.8 3.6 Family 7.1 1.8 5.3 Friends 15.9 44.6 25.4 Village 7.1 7.1 7.1 Moneylender 39.8 39.3 39.6 Neighbour 8.8 0.0 5.9 Thekedar 8.0 0.0 5.3 Noone 8.8 5.4 5.9
Workers borrow money from moneylenders in the village who charge interest
ranging from 3 per cent to 1 0 per cent. Some of the reasons for the loan could be for
health emergencies, repayment of old debts, farming, and festival celebration. The
majority (80 per cent) of the sample recorded to have borrowed money for repayment of
old debts, illness related needs and for marriages of their children. In adivasi marriages,
the bridegroom's family is required to pay bride price and after the marriage the daughter
in-law is supposed to repay that money. This was one of reasons behind migration given
by women construction workers from Dahood, Ahmedabad.
The Table 17, shows that the maximum number (44.3 per cent) of the respondents
work for 8 to 10 hours in a day, while 23.6 per cent work for 10 to 12 hours a day and 19
per cent work for more than 12 hours in a day. Fifty six per cent of the women
respondents work for 10-12 hours while men (95 per cent) respondents work for 8 to 10
hours in a day, at a continuous stretch, with only a break of one hour.
206
Table 17- Working hours (in percentage)
Working hours Female Male Total
Less than 8 hours 2.6 0 1.7
8 hours 3.5 3.5 3.5
9 hours 28.3 76.7 44.3
10 hours 28.3 14.2 23.6
II hours 8.84 3.5 7.1
12 hours 19.4 0 13
More than 12 2.6 0 1.7 No exact time 6.1 1.7 4.7
None of the workers receive overtime and avail creche facilities at the worksite as
is shown in Table 18. In the context of facilities provided at the work site, 50.4 per cent of
the women reported no toilets and 85.7 per cent of the men confirmed this. About 26.5
per cent of the women and 5.3 per cent of the men reported no provisions for drinking
water at the site. Approximately 65.4 per cent of the women and 75 per cent of the men
reported no muster rolls or attendance register to record attendance. About 79.6 per cent
of the women and 96.4 per cent of the men did not have any labour card. Ninety-eight per
cent of the men and 88 per cent of the women received no bonus by the contractor during
the work year. Approximately 98.3 per cent of the workers said that there was no
compensation given as accident benefits. Of the 1. 7 per cent who received accident
compensation, were unionised and got help from the union to retrieve the money.
Table 18- Facilities at the worksite (in percentage)
Facilities at Yes No Depends the worksite
Female Male Female Male Female
Toilet 24.7 0 50.4 85.7 24.7
Drinking water 31.8 78.5 25.6 5.3 25.6
Register 34.5 25 65.4 75 0 attendance Do you have a 20.3 3.5 79.6 96.4 0 labour card Break during 100 100 0 0 0 the day Accident at 11.5 3.5 88.4 96.4 0 workplace Compensation 4.4 1.721 7.9 94.6 0 for accident
21 Reported to have got only small part of the accident compensation 207
Male
14.2
16
0
0
0
0
1.7
Never Heard
Female Male
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
87.6 1.7
With next to no facilities at the worksite the majority (52 per cent) of the
respondents reported no other option for work but construction. Women respondents were
open to opt for work like domestic work, garbage collection, stitching and vegetable
vending. Men responded that they would engage in business, factory work, hardware
work, hotel helper, but since all avenues of work required either experience or skill,
construction work for them was ideal as they could start work as unskilled manual
workers.
Migration patterns of construction workers
In the total sample, 1 per cent of the single migrants are women, and 22 per cent of the
single migrants are men, as shown in Table 19. Majority (66 per cent) of the family
migrants are women and 11 per cent are men. Majority of female family migration takes
place after marriage.
Table 19- Migration pattern (in percentage)
Years of Single Migration Family Migration Total migration
Female Male Female Male 0-1 1.7 18.9 6.3 15.8 10.7 2-4 0.0 24.3 11.6 21.1 15.4 5-9 0.0 27.0 9.8 0.0 12.4 10-14 0.0 10.8 7.1 15.8 8.9 15-19 0.0 5.4 11.6 10.5 10.1 20-24 0.0 5.4 9.8 10.5 8.9 25-29 0.0 5.4 4.5 0.0 4.1 30-34 0.0 0.0 3.6 0.0 2.4 35-39 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 40-44 0.0 0.0 2.7 0.0 1.8 45-49 0.0 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.6 After Marriage 0.0 0.0 17.9 0.0 11.8
Second 0.0 2.7 13.4 15.8 11.2 generation Third 0.0 0.0 0.9 10.5 1.8 generation
The regions of Paldi and Shahpur in Ahmedabad were selected to study the
migratory patterns of single male migrants. Some migrants who were born in the city of
Ahmedabad and their parents had initially migrated for work has been categorised as
second generation migrants. Also, for respondents whose parents were born in the city of
208
Ahmedabad as their previous generations had migrated for work (especially in the textile
mills) are categorised as third generation migrants?2
The majority (71 per cent) of the total sample migrate from within Gujarat from
the areas of Dahood, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Sabarkantha, Bhuj,
Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Kathiawar, Saurashtra, and Mehsana. Within this, 60 per cent
of the total migrants are from Dahood, 81 per cent within this are women migrants. 23 Of
the total 13 per cent, in-migration is from Rajkot out of which 54 per cent migrate from
Morbi. Also 8 per cent of the total respondents are workers are from Ahmedabad, mostly
third generation and second generation (from the regions of Ranpur, Dholka, Vekaria,
Nalsarovar, and Sanand). Male migrants from Rajasthan constitute 23 per cent of the
sample out of which 59 per cent are from Banswada and 30 per cent are from Udaipur,
rest are from Jodhpur, Marwar, and Kisanganj. Four per cent of the total sample migrate
from Madhya Pradesh out of which 75 per cent migrate from Jhabua, rest migrate from
Mahoba, and Bhind. Also 2 per cent of the total sample constitutes single male migration
from Maharashtra.
In the north-eastern tribal areas of Gujarat, land is used for forest based work as
agriculture is not possible due to the stony nature of the soil and perpetual water problem
in these areas. There is massive deforestation and sanctuaries built, therefore, no
resources are left. In addition, the government infrastructure is very poor in the tribal belt,
f.Jr instance road, education, primary health facility, lastly there is a problem with the
implementation and the delivery mechanism of the schemes, and there are no industries
where people can work. These are few reasons due to which workers migrate to cities.
Almost, 80 per cent of the migrants enter the city and get engaged in construction related
activity as they are mostly unskilled, and there is a high demand for unskilled labour.24 In
an impact study conducted by an organisation called Aravali, sponsored by the Rajasthan
government and written by Ajeevika Bureau, it was pointed out that in south Rajasthan,
out-migration accounted for 60 -70 per cent of the total population. The income in the
family was coming from outside (through migrants) not from local livelihoods
(agriculture, livestock, forestry).25
22 Field notes 23
Zalod has the highest number of migrants within Dahood followed by; Amli Khajuria, Limkheda, Pandri, Similia, Liler, Vandaria, Sanvara, Tarvaria, Borali, Gamli, Chanwana, Motikharg, Ratigh, Bawkar, Itawa, Hawa, Olamba. Source: Field notes 24 Interview Poulomi Mistry, Founder ofDisha NGO, Ahmedabad, as on 151
h February 2008 25 Interview Mahesh Gajera, activist with Ajeevika Bureau, as on 21st December 2008
209
In Ahmedabad majority of the family migrants migrate from Jhabua, Banswada,
and Dahood; all three are predominantly tribal areas and one reason for migration is for
livelihood purposes as natural resources are not enough for sustenance in originating
areas. These migrants mostly migrate to Ahmedabad, Kutch, Surat, and Jamnagar for
work. Mostly migrants visit their native village for emergencies or for festivals (Holi and
Diwali).26 The single male migrants visit the village frequently (once in two months) or if
they own landed property, they visit once a year after rains for farming purposes. The
trend in mobility of these migrants depends upon family type, family ties, agriculture
pattern, and frequency of going back home, frequency of rains. The age group of the
migrants is 14 to 40 years, though majority lies in the age group of 16 to 26 years. Very
few workers migrate after the age of 50.
One notices two particular streams of in-migration in Ahmedabad, one from
Dahood, Panchmahal, another from Chota Udaipur in Rajasthan, Dungarpur, and
Banswada. From southern part of Rajasthan, Ahmedabad is the closest and the best option
geographically, though migrants travel from there to Surat, Bombay, or Bangalore. The
relation of migration with connectivity by train or bus is very important. For instance,
Banswada has good connectivity to Baroda so mostly people migrate there for work.
Many migrants settle at the entry point to the city or along the bus routes within the city
(as noticed in Ahmedabad). Migrants from Rajasthan settle down in Naroda and Memko,
which are border areas of Ahmedabad along the bus route. Migrants from Dahood enter
the city from Bapunagar, Jashodanagar, and Maninagar and start living there injhuggi's
alongside the bus route.
There is also an interesting link between the specialisations in construction trades
and the regions the workers migrate from. For instance, migrants from Devgarbaria,
Panchmahal, Gidhra, Schawada, and Santrampur are mostly single male migrants
specialising in bar bending and centering work. Migrants from Kherwada, Dungarpur, in
Rajasthan are Scheduled Caste skilled workers. Migrants from Banswada, Gherwa are
mostly tribals and unskilled workers; they take 2 years to attain skill. Migrants from
Dahood specialise in concreting and bar bending.
An interesting case study of single male migrants from Rajasthan settled in the
region of Shahpur, in Ahmedabad, point out their conception of domestic work. Most of
them engage in household chores like cooking, cleaning, washing but admit that they
26 Holi and Diwali are Hindu festivals celebrated in North India 210
would not engage in the same when home in the village as they consider domestic work
as 'women's' work'. These migrants stay in shared semi- pukka houses which they refer
to as chaali, and pay an average rent of Rs 200 a month. Most of them migrate from
Banswada express the fact that they receive Rs 1 00 in their village and get three times the
money for the same work (skilled work) in the city. They mostly migrate to the city and
start work as helpers in hotels then gradually shift to the construction sector. In an
average, they work for 8 to 10 years as helpers while they learn the skill and finally
graduate into skilled work. Most of them engage in kayam work but they also visit the
naka to solicit work. They believe that in kayam work one gets less money but there is an
underlined promise of working for a longer period of time till the project finishes. On the
other hand, in rokri work one is paid more for a short- term work but there is no
employment security. They frequently visit their native village and in their duration of
stay in the city take a holiday only during the festival of vishwakarma and during amavas
(no moon day).
In contrast to them single male migrants in Paldi, on an average don't have money
to pay rent for their jhuggi 's or houses, instead they stay on top of the municipality
hospital building. In total some 50 men stay there from nearby villages. There is a huge
shortage of water supply, where they stay, they somehow access water from either the
municipality tap, but most of them pay Rs 5 to take a bath from paid public toilets.
Almost all the respondents expressed their wish to save money earned and not spend it on
rent and this is one reason why they choose to stay in the open. All of them cook together
but they claim that they would never cook in their villages back home, as it is considered
to be the 'women's responsibility'. On the question ofwhy they do not migrate with their
families most of the respondents said that they wanted to avail the benefits of government
schemes which can be utilised only if their families were staying in the village. Also
women help in animal husbandry and farming which caters to their sustenance during the
whole year. Most of these men on an average stay 8 months in Ahmedabad and 4 months
in their originating village.
The maximum number (32 per cent) of the total sample have been staying in one
place since 4 years this also includes male migrants in majority (57.1 per cent), as shown
in Table 20. The maximum number of women workers (23.9 per cent) have been staying
at the same place since their marriage (this category includes women migrants staying at
211
the same place for more than 30 years). Usually the workers have non-permanence of
residential arrangements due to the nature of work and their migratory status.
Table 20- Non-permanence of residential arrangement (in percentage)
Since when are you living in this locality Female Male
Few days 1.8 3.6
0-4 19.5 57.1
5-9 13.3 14.3
10-14 13.3 10.7
15-19 8.8 3.6
20-24 10.6 1.8
25-29 1.8 0.0
Many years 7.1 8.9 Since Marriage 23.9 0.0
Total
2.4
32.0
13.6
12.4
7.1
7.7
1.2
7.7 16.0
Of the total sample; 5.9 per cent never go back to their native village, 11.2 per
cent go back to their village only occasionally for emergencies, 36.7 per cent go back
very frequently (once in two months), 32.5 per cent go back for festivals and only 12.4
per cent go back home for harvesting purposes, as shown in Table 21. About 70.2 per
cent of the men go back frequently to their native village, and 45.1 per cent of the women
go back once a year for festivals (Holi and Diwali).
Most of the second and the third generation migrants with no family or extended
family in the village rarely go back to their village. The frequency of visiting the village
mostly depends on family ties or for agricultural purposes. Since the majority of the
sample does not engage in agriculture for this research the workers mostly visit native
villages to visit family or extended family though there are few exceptions. For instance
one respondent expressed, " .. .1 belong to the Muslim community and migrated from
Surendranagar in Gujarat 10 years back since we did not own any land in the village.
Since the last two years we have been staying in this place before this we changed our
place of residence some 6 to 7 times depending on the place of work. I visit the village in
the harvesting season to work in other's fields". 27
27 Testimony ofMumtaz Ben Akbar Bhai, for further details refer to Appendix II
212
Table 21-Frequency of going back to native village (in percentage)
How many times do you go home Female Male Total Don't Go 4.4 8.8 5.9 Frequently 19.5 70.2 36.7 Festivals 45.1 7.0 32.5 Harvesting 18.6 0.0 12.4 Once in two years 0.9 0.0 0.6 Once in 3 I 4 years 0.9 0.0 0.6 Occasionally 10.6 12.3 11.2
In the total sample, 40.9 per cent own land up to 0 to 5 bighas and 36.7 per cent
do not own any land in their native village, as shown in Table 22. Only 12.4 per cent of
the sample engages in agriculture (which includes 18.6 per cent women respondents and
no men). Forty-six per cent of the women do not own land and few (29.2 per cent) own
land up to 5 bighas, which they said was either not suitable for agriculture or inadequate
(due to fragmentation and subdivision of land). Most of the women who visit their native
village for harvesting work during the agricultural seasons work on other people's farm at
daily wage workers.
Table 22- Property in terms of land in bighas (in percentage)
Property Female Male Total 0-1 4.4 7.1 5.3 2-3 11.5 30.4 17.8 4-5 13.3 26.8 17.8 6-7 0.9 10.7 4.1 8-9 0.0 0.0 0.0 10-11 0.9 3.6 1.8 12-13 0.0 0.0 0.0 14-15 0.0 0.0 0.0 16-17 5.3 0.0 3.6 18-19 0.0 1.8 0.6 20-21 1.8 1.8 1.8 22-23 0.0 0.0 0.0 24-25 0.0 0.0 0.0 26-27 0.0 0.0 0.0 28-29 0.9 0.0 0.6 Above 30 0.9 0.0 0.6 Don't know 14.2 0.0 9.5 No land 46.0 17.9 36.7
213
Union participation and awareness of labour laws
In the total sample, 27 per cent of the women and 13 per cent of the men were unionised.
Women workers were part of SEWA (15.9 per cent) and both men and women workers
were part of Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan (10.71 per cent). Along with this, a few
male workers (7.14 per cent) were affiliated to Ajeevika Bureau (an NGO working on
labour rights and migration issue).
SEW A members from Gomtipur and Arnravadi were selected for primary data
collection for the purposes ofthis research. SEW A works with women workers within the
parameters of the informal economy, in almost all sectors: agriculture, forestry,
manufacturing, and trade and services. It is registered as a trade union that operates on the
principle of decentralisation, which allows it to reach and organise the women workers at
the grassroots more effectively. This principle of decentralisation is evident in the
structure of the organisation and also the different activities it is involved in. SEW A
believes in decentralised local management through barefoot managers and Aagewans,
literally meaning local leaders. It has a democratically elected leadership-cum
management structure with four tiers represented by the executive committee, the council
of representatives, the trade-cum-area committee of leaders, and finally the members. 28 In
terms of organisational structure, SEW A functions as an umbrella organisation, which
brings together various smaller, local associations of women.29 It mobilises women
workers through four types of associations; the union, the cooperatives, the federations
and the supportive services.30
28 As expressed by Kalima Rose who has worked extensively with SEW A, for more details see, Kalima Rose, Where Women are Leaders: The SEWA Movement in India, Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 1992 29 SEW A's organisational structure is divided into general body, representative council, executive council. The general body is made up of different trades like vendoring, gum collecting, rag picking, bidi making, agarbatti (incense stick) making. Members of each trade elect their own representatives who form the representative council, which is concerned with different trade issues. Every three years the representative council elects the executive committee, consisting of 25 members, and is the highest decision making body. The executive committee elects the office bearers. The executive committee meets every month and the representative council meets every three months. See Debi Saini S, 'Securing working class rights for Informal sector workers in India: A case study of Self-Employed Women's Association', Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol.50, No.4, 2007 30 Renana Jhabvala, 'Self- Employed Women's Association: A Case Study of Interventions in The Labour Market', Paper presented at a seminar on Gender and Employment in India; Trends, Patterns and Policy Implications, organised by the Indian Society of Labour Economics and Institute of Economic Growth, , December 18-20, Delhi, 1996
214
Given its emphasis on employment and income, most of the organisations that
comprise SEWA are trade- based.31 It has been instrumental in organising its members
into cooperatives based on issues of livelihoods.32 The SEWA Bank, the SEW A's Rural
Development Programme, the SEW A Trade Facilitation Centre, SEW A Academy, and
Social Security Measures provided by it, form the framework of supportive measures that
SEWA undertakes within its broad organisational structure. SEWA's strategy is to
organise rural women by identifying the needs of the communities, designing demand
driven programmes and link them with government programmes. Examples of this can be
the integrated social security scheme, running of the balwadi 's and providing maternity
benefits and childcare facilities etc. At present, there are 1 00 cooperatives in rural and
urban areas that are coordinating 9000 self-help groups, towards providing social
protection needs to women workers.33 The goals of SEW A's activities are to achieve full
employment and self-reliance for all its members. It organises women to enter the
mainstream of the economy through the twin strategies of struggle and development. 34
SEW A started work with construction workers in 1998. Initially, they were
unionising screen printers (who lost their work due to mechanisation) and women
workers in the textile mills after the textile mills shut. These women workers found an
easy entry into construction as no specific skill was required to enter this industry.
Women who were a part of the textile mills and screen printing unions demanded the
formation of a union for construction workers. Thereafter, the union of women
construction workers was started. SEW A has helped their union members to start bank
accounts and with loans for health emergencies. The groups have also started creche,
housing unit, training centre and university for women in the unorganised sector for
further learning, started video unit, literacy unit, insurance schemes, specialised training
31 The members of these Trade organisations are the beneficiaries. Some of the organisations are registered under the cooperative act, and some are DWCRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) groups or producers' groups registered with the Ministry of Rural Development. All these trade organisations are smaller primary groups that are village level or mohalla based and all of them function as independent, autonomous bodies. 32 Some of the cooperatives started through SEW A's initiative are the Milk producers cooperative, the Artisans cooperatives, the Land based cooperatives, the Stone quarrying cooperatives, the Cleaners cooperatives, the Salt producers' cooperatives, the Housing cooperatives, the Bank cooperatives and the Vendors cooperatives. Some of the DWCRA groups started by SEWA are as follows- artisan based DWCRA groups, land based DWCRA groups (fodder farms), Small forest produces gatherers groups, Nursery raising groups Cattle feed and consumer items 33 Debi Saini S, 'Securing working class rights for Informal sector workers in India: A case study of SelfEmployed Women's Association', Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol.SO, No.4, 2007 34 'The Self -Employed Women's Association', Working with Women in Poverty, Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UN publications, 1993 215
for trade-based activity (in terms of new technology which comes in the market), training
to learn computers, training to learn other trade- based activities.35 In 2002 the SEWA
Insurance Cooperative started a special Accident Insurance Scheme for construction
workers. It also opened 25 day-care centres at construction sites or near the houses of the
workers.36
A number of studies conducted by SEW A from 1998 to 2007 on construction
workers showed that women are mostly involved in unskilled work (head loaders), lack
skill training, no opportunity to perform skilled work , lower wages, no basic amenities at
the worksite, non-payment of minimum wages, vulnerability to physical illness, and lack
of employment security and social security provisions.37
To address the need to provide skill training to construction workers SEW A
established the SEW A Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) in 1994 to train and certify women
in construction skills and connect them with potential employment opportunities. In 2003,
the MHT established the Karmika School for Construction workers to fulfil the above
stated objectives. This school offers three months training programmes in skills such as;
masonry, plumbing, plastering, tiling, carpentry, painting, electrical wiring, welding,
excavation, and bar bending. It also provides short-term skills such as construction of
disaster resistant houses, toilets, drains, sewers, landscaping. Alongside the above
mentioned programmes, it also trains women on functional literacy and life skills
(bargaining with the contractor/ employer, conflict resolution). The recruitment of the
women workers into the school for this training programme follows several methods: the
MHT teams and former and current trainers visit the nakas and inform women about their
training programme; MHT also organises exposure visits for potential women trainees. At
the end of the course the women workers are issued certificates in partnership with CIDC
(Construction Industry Development Council).38
The 1998 study revealed that women workers got barely 16 days of work per
month this had reduced to 11 days in 2003. In these reports the workers cited two main
35 Interview of Ramila Ben, working with the construction workers in SEW A, on 5th October 2008 36 B, Baruah, Gender and globalization - Opportunities and constraints faced by women in the construction industry in India, Labor Studies Journal, 2008 37 SEW A studies in the 1998 and 2003 had 250 individuals ( 125 men and I 25 women) and in 2007 it interviewed 193 women. Also see, Labouring Brick by Brick: A Study of Construction Workers, National Workshop on Emerging Issues related to Construction Workers, 5th -6th March, 2008, Reference Study Material, Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad, SEW A Publication, June 2000 . 38 B, Baruah, Gender and globalization - Opportunities and constraints faced by women in the construction industry in India, Labor Studies Journal, 2008
216
reasons for this decrease. Firstly, work for manual labour has decreased due to the advent
of new machines in the industry. Also migrant workers have replaced work opportunities
for local workers.39 In yet another SEWA publications based on survey of women
construction workers in 2003, it was pointed out that mostly migrant workers from
Rajasthan come to Ahmedabad in search of work during the dry seasons. Contractors
prefer migrant workers to local workers because migrant workers are willing to work for
less (Rs 50 per day for migrant workers as opposed toRs 60 for local women workers).
This poses a big challenge for local construction workers.40
Other than imparting skill training for women workers SEW A also helps develop
build a sense of solidarity amongst its members around numerous issues. As is
exemplified by one respondent, " .... I have been a member of SEWA and through their
initiative; I have a labour card and have been registered to the Welfare Board. After
joining SEW A, I have stopped borrowing money from moneylenders at high interest
rates. SEW A has not only provided me financial security but a space to share other day
to-day issues with many women like me who are a part of the same struggle".41
There are approximately 12 lakh construction workers in Ahmedabad out which
70 per cent are migrants. In Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan, the number of migrant
workers membership is 4000, of which women constitute around 40- 45 per cent.
Approximately 5 to 6 lakh construction workers migrate each year from Dahood district
in the age group of 16- 30 years.42 Bandh kaam Mazdoor Sangathan was started in 1993
as a part of an NGO, Disha in Ahmedabad. They work with migrant tribals on issues
around livelihood and human rights in 50 construction sites in Ahmedabad. The process
of unionisation was started in 1985 with forest workers, land cultivators after which the
following unions were formed; agriculture union, mine workers unions, NREG unions,
and baandh kaam (construction workers) union. These unions are formed both in their
originating villages and cities. The main issues which initiated the process of unionisation
of construction workers were; non-payment of wages, no place to stay, miserable
conditions at work and stay, sexual harassment and children's education. Initially there
were three demands as a part of the construction workers union in its starting days: a
39 Purushottam Vankar and SEWA Academy Research Team, At the Kadiyanaka: Challenges faced by construction workers in Ahmedabad, SEWA Academy, 2005 40 Monika Thakkar, Construction Workers in Ahmedabad, draft Report 2003, unpublished 41 Testimony of Valli Ben Daya Bhai, for further details refer to Appendix II 42 Interview ofVipul Pandya, activist with Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan as on 20th November 2008
217
place for people to stay, children's education, and skill training for the workers. Later the
demands were expanded to include; improvement in their conditions at the work site,
health and safety provisions, social security benefits, compensation against accident,
issuance of identity cards, and maternity benefits. The areas of Chandlodia, Motera,
Vasna, Vastrapur, Vatva, Sabarmati, Shivranjani, and Vejalpur for the purposes of field
work were conducted with the help of Baandh kaam Mazdoor Sangathan. One
respondent who was a member of Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan shared the several
ways in which the union has helped him over the years, " ... Unions help us all the time
against police harassment, also helps us against non-payment of money by the contractor.
We stay on the road, there is always a water crisis, there are no toilets, and sometimes the
union helps us with shelter. I had been engaged with Baandh kaam Mazdoor Sangathan
for the last 14 years. When I got to know off them, I thought they want to convert tribal's
to Christianity, but eventually I found out that the case was not so. I know about the
provisions granted under several acts and feel that it would help in terms of social
security especially to get loans and also benefits against accidents".43
Studying the trend of out migration from southern part of Rajasthan to Gujarat,
Ajeevika Bureau started in 2005 from Gogunda block in Udaipur with an objective of
issuing identity cards to the migrants, in the construction sector, in regions out of
Rajasthan. Due to natural calamities, high rate of accidents, harassment by the police,
difficulty in getting work, starting a bank account, and a place to stay, the issuance of
identity cards was very important for migrants in regions outside their own state.
Ajeevika Bureau also works alongside on financial issues, training, and placement of
these migrant workers. The registration of workers and issuance of identity cards are
conducted at two levels: at the source (originating/ native village) and at the destination
end (cities). Ajeevika Bureau also gives information regarding trade and employment
opportunity, conduct outreach programme, organise recruitment fair, and organise skill
training programmes for the workers. Technical knowledge in the following trade is given
at their training sessions; masonry, plumbing, carpenter, office boys, hotel waiter,
domestic servants, and house wiring. For the purpose of primary data collection,
specifically to interview single male migrants the areas of Shahpur and Paldi were
43 Testimony of Sujhia Bhai Jitra, for further details refer to Appendix II
218
selected and they facilitated the process of field work. The workers interviewed were
affiliated with them.
Overall, in interactions in the field, workers attached to Baandh Kaam Mazdoor
Sangathan expressed the fact that the union helped them in the rehabilitation process
when the municipality slum clearance drives takes place; they also provide relief (tents
and quilts) during harsh weather conditions strike especially in the rainy and winter
seasons. Most of the workers are involved in campaigns and rallies organised by the
union. Respondents attached to Ajeevika Bureau expressed that the organisation helps
them cope up with their problems, by issuing identity cards. Women workers who are a
part of SEW A expressed that the union grants loans, insurance, imparts training for skills,
builds awareness and help them save money.
In the total sample, 5.9 per cent were aware of the existence of the Building and
Other Construction Workers (Regulations of Employment and Conditions of Service)
Act, 1996, Equal Remuneration Act 197 6 and the Minimum Wages Act 1948, as shown
in Table 23. Out of the 7.9 per cent, women who were aware ofthe above Acts and their
provisions barring two women who had no union affiliation rest were SEW A members.
Irrespective of trade union membership the number of men who were aware of the above
laws was miniscule in this sample.
Table23-Awareness about labour laws (in percentage)
Gender
Female
Male
Yes 7.9
1.7
Awareness about the law
No 92.0
98.2
In 1998, the rules for the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulations
of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, was framed by the Centre, in
Gujarat there was a growing demand for its implementation from the unions working with
construction workers. Due to the boom in construction industry, the accident rates also
increased and there was a direct link between health and safety rules as per the provisions
of the Act and the need for the Act to be implemented. After years of struggle, finally on
18th August 2003 this Act was implemented in Gujarat. In this State Act 80 per cent of the
technical provisions is the same as the Central Act but Gujarat government asked for a
one-man board until the formation of the tripartite board. The one-man board/ chairperson
219
would be the Principal Secretary Labour and Employment Department. The Central Act
could be divided into three distinct parts: conditions of work (hazri card, attendance card,
overtime, water, toilet facility, first aid box, creche, salary); health and safety provisions
(safety provisions mentioned technical); and Welfare Board (social security and how it
should be implemented).In the State Act only attention was paid to the Welfare Board,
and the conditions of work and health and safety measures was ignored. For the
functioning of the Welfare Boards, construction workers are to be registered to the Boards
and thereafter social security benefits would be granted to registered workers (with the
help of Cess collected).
There was a growing resistance from Baandh kaam Mazdoor Sangathan and
SEW A due to the non-inclusion of provisions of conditions of work and health and safety
measures in the implementation process. They were against the functioning of a one-man
board. In the State Act, there was mention of the following clauses for the enrolment of
workers to the Welfare Board: workers should have worked for 90 days in the last 12
months; age should not be below 18 and above 60; contribution from workers was to be
Rs 75, and registration fee to be paid was Rs 25. The unions were against two of these
clauses: the certification of the 90 days clause to be granted by the contractors, also the
benefits to be granted to the workers after a year of the registration process.
Consequently, the unions demanded for two amendments; validation to be provided by
trade union rather than contractors for 90 days proof of work and benefits should be
granted within seven days after filling in papers.
Soon the process of Cess collection was started and unions were given the right to
make the validations for 90 days work proof and that the benefits would be disbursed to
workers within 7 days of registration was the new ruling of the Board. In 2005/06 roughly
1,200 workers were registered through this process but after the transfer of the Labour
Commissioner the rules changed again and in early 2008 the union participation in the
Board has been stalled also the registration process has started again and the once who
were registered in 2005/06 were invalidated.
Gujarat had a one-man board and the Advisory Committee does not have any
trade union member's, only government officials in the labour department and builders as
in 2008. The registration processes has started again and in total 2000 registrations are
220
done, but benefits are not yet disbursed.44 The first scheme to be passed was the
scholarship for education of children. Cess collection was started in January 2005 and Rs
1100 crore cess has already been collected. By the end of 2008, the Board was declared a
tripartite board with only trade union representation from Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
(Trade Union affiliated to Bharatiya Janata Party). In 2010 the Cess amount collected is
150 crores but only one per cent has been spent, the number of construction workers
registered to the Board is 40,000 but the renewal of membership is very low (1 0-20 per
cent).45
For Gujarat, the Employers contribution is Rs 30 per square meter. Workers
contribution is Rs 75 per annum with one time registration fee Rs 25. The following are
the Schemes granted for the state of Gujarat: for accidents (death- Rs 2,00,000,for
paralysis and physical handicapped during accident- Rsl,OO,OOO); for diseases (TB, blood
pressure, AIDS- Rsl ,00,000); for training for work ( stipend Rs 1500, total amount of Rs
5000); for education scholarships (From 1-4th_ Rs 250, 5th -9th_ Rs 500, lOth -lth- Rs 1000
added Rs 1500 for hostel, for ITI- Rs 5000, Diploma-Rs 5000, added Rs 7,500 for hostel,
Degree Rs 5000, added Rs15,000 for hostel, PG course- Rs 15000, added Rs 20,000 for
hostel, Medical, Engineering- Rs15000 added Rs 20,000 for hostel); Maternity benefit
Rs 3000; for last rites- Rs 2000; loans for tools-Rs 5000. Also provision for overtime,
pension, and creche facilities were granted.46
In the struggle for the implementation process of the Act (to be inclusive of all
provisions made by the Act), between the unions and the government bodies the workers
are mostly oblivious of the situation. As this research has showed, the majority of the
workers especially women are not unionised and are not aware of the benefits which they
can enjoy after the process of effective implementation takes place.
Overall, this study highlights two major points of departure; one is the trend of
migration which is mostly from within Gujarat and the second point is the interplay
between these migrants and the third generation migrants who claim to be locals as they
have been in the city for the last 40 years.
Interestingly, according to the locals the notion of creation of nakas, kayam and
rokri work, the stopping of bonus, overtime, creation of the categories of sub-contractors
have been linked to the construction boom and the resultant in-migration into the city.
44 Interview with Vipul Pandya, activist with Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan as on 301h November 2008
45 Views expressed by Vipul Pandya, activist with Baandh Kaam Mazdoor Sangathan as on 301h June 2010
46 All details from the office ofDirector, Mr. V.N Patel Industrial Safety and Health, government ofGujarat 221
The reduction of work and the reduction of the amount of wages are also connected to the
in-migration phenomena according to the third generation migrants (locals). Their
argument sometimes points out that it was 'legitimate' 40 years back for in-migration into
the textile mills, but after they shut the situation changed. The entire population that was
displaced and needed work entered the construction sector. There was already a huge
competition with the locals in the construction sector, but after the boom in construction
industry there is space for more competition, resulting in employment insecurity and
increase in exploitation. These factors added to the informalisation of work in the
construction sector (lack of decent conditions of work, lack of social security provisions,
irregular intervals for payment of wages, non-availability of work due to mechanisation,
and lack of unionisation etc) marks the vulnerabilities of the construction workers in
general and that of women construction workers in particular.
222