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Indian Economy

Notes power looms in the country. The majority of these are in the western zone followed by the
southern zone. 75% of these power looms require modernization in varying degrees.
Although this industry employs several lakh workers it is being threatened by the relentless
onslaught of global players. Women are the main work force of both the handloom and
power loom sectors. In Nammakal district in Tamil Nadu the power loom industry employs
lakhs of workers. These industries are run by powerful rural landlords. They maintain
strong feudal links on the one hand and at the same time powerful business links with the
global market. Hundreds of sweat houses are fitted with ten to hundred looms each. The
working day is 12 hours with two shifts. The workers live in adjacent sheds. The working
conditions are dreadful with workers earning ` 500 a week on piece rate system. Most of
the workers are bonded with the owner by the advance they received. Women workers
face other challenges with the Government of Tamil Nadu barring several lakh ration
card holders from getting rations. In addition there have been attacks on the impoverished
by way of hikes in electricity prices and school fees.
Tirupur, a small town in Tamil Nadu is the largest export centre for knit wear production
in India accounting for 20% of direct exports and 50% of all exports if re-exported sales to
the big cities in India are included. Neetha’s study shows that the mills in the early phase
1925-70 were employing only male workers. In the next phase during 1970-85, production
started to get more fragmented. Production facilities moved to Tirupur from Calcutta
after a series of strikes. This period witnessed the decline of the local handloom industry
leaving many women workers unemployed or underemployed and they started to get
involved in the production process as helpers to the male workers in cutting, arranging
and folding jobs. From 1985 onwards with massive expansion of exports from Tirupur
there has been accelerated subcontracting and informalisation of labour. There has been
feminization of the work force with women now constituting 60% of the total work force.
The women between the age group 15 and 30 work for very poor wages with daily
incomes just above half the minimum wages in the area. Activities like tailoring which is
considered to be of a higher skill are still the preserve of men. Subcontracting is very
extensive and it goes to the home based work level or to very small production units i.e.
very tiny cottage enterprises. Thus the feminization of employment is to provide the
cheapest possible production for international suppliers to ensure maximum profits.
Continuing the discussion on the textile industry, the conditions of women workers in the
garment industry in the Peenya industrial estate in Bangalore are once again deplorable.
The garment industry in Bangalore employs about 1.5 lakh workers of which more than
80% are women. Several international name brands are manufactured here. The ` 4,000
crore industry is export-oriented. The average work day for the women in the industry is
10-12 hours. In many factories that employ more than 500 women there are no more than
4 or 5 toilets. The factories have neither a rest room nor a crechè. The salary range is 1500-
2000 rupees per month which is far below that stipulated by the government. Annual
leave, benefits, bonus are all very rarely given. Many of the employers are provident fund
defaulters. This industry classically exemplifies the exploitation of workers in the export
processing zones set up in the country aimed at promoting export and growth.
Women workers in domestic services in 1999-2000 constituted 3.2% of the workforce and
this comprised 39,25,000 workers. The services provided include cooking, cleaning utensils,
washing, babysitting amongst other responsibilities. In the ‘global economy’ there has
been an emergence of a new professional class of workers that includes well educated
women. With this there has been a need for domestic servants to help the professional
women in their daily chores. However, even in this sector, there has been a decline in the
number of women employed from 1993-94 to 1999-2000. The percentage has fallen from
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