Calcutta s Informal Sector-Changing Pattern of Labour Use

Changing Pattern of Labour Use Ishita Mukhopadhyay Calcutta, being a populous city of a third world country, contained a large informal sector of industrial activities in colonial times, The trends which were visible in the pre-independence days were reinforced in the last 50 post-independence years, A heterogeneous labour force are employed without the sanction of labour legislation and they are rising continually in third world urban sites or agglomerates. Both domestic and foreign firms have thrived in the city area on the basis of ancillarisation. The paper attempts to trace the changing pattern of labour use in this amorphous segment in Calcutta urban agglomerate during the last few decades. The all-India industrial scene also revealed an increasing trend of marginalisation and casualisation of the labour force, Calcutta has witnessed a spurt in informal activities during the last few decades. The city also experienced a difference in policy prescriptions as the state of West Bengal has been under Left Front regime during the last two decades. Labour organisations are much stronger in this state and labour movements have included the workers in this segment. The paper investigates whether this has affected the pattern of labour use in (his sector vis-a-vis the rest of the country.