India traditionally has always been an agricultural economy but now, the scenario is changing with manpower outsourcing companies ensuring a shift in the labour market from agriculture to the industrial and services sectors. Lower-income workers are mainly labourers who are directly involved in industrial production and are at the bottom of the workforce pyramid. These lower-income workers may be physically involved in productivity like working at construction sites, operating industrial machinery, driving trucks or they may even be office desk employees performing typing and data entry.
When India was an agricultural economy, people were mostly self-employed with occupations like farming, running cottage industries and operating shops. But as the British came to India, the labour market shifted and the Britishers started employing Indian labourers in the industries that they set up in our country at meagre wages, which were almost negligible. The lower-income workforce during the British era was maltreated and inhumanly exploited and their needs were never looked upon. Their working conditions were miserable and they had no job security.
After independence, when modernisation started, industrialisation began to pick up pace in India. New industries began to emerge and the economy of India started shifting from small-scale industries to large-scale ones. The demand for labour started increasing in large-scale industries that needed to be met. This witnessed the rise of manpower outsourcing services to fulfil this demand and ensure a steady labour supply to the industrial and services sectors.
As the labour supply to industries became steady, the Indian economy experienced gradual growth with improvement in industrial production. The lower-income workers or labourers form an important part of the production process. If they are not present, other production factors such as land and capital remain useless. So, India’s labour workforce is of immense importance when it comes to determining the country’s economic growth.
The exploitation and discrimination of the lower-income workforce did not just prevail during British rule but they are still practised at several workplaces in the modern era. Manpower outsourcing companies do their duties of putting labourers into industrial production processes, but what happens to them after that? Do their supervisors or senior management take care of their basic necessities, training requirements, salaries or personal well-being at their workplaces?
Lower-income workers are generally subject to poor, harsh or even potentially life-threatening working conditions. But what do they receive in return? Low daily wages or perhaps a meagre monthly salary. Besides, such lower-income groups are denied any rights within their workplaces; they are not allowed to exercise their opinions and just have to obey orders from their senior management.
During the British era, most of the lower-income groups had only two sources of employment. A majority of them were working as industrial labourers for the Britishers with long extended hours of work and the rest were involved in forced agriculture where they were made to grow crops as per British requirements only. These crops used to be exported by the Britishers to foreign countries, thus severely exploiting the agricultural workforce in India.
However, in the past hundred years, as the British grip over India loosened, new forms of employment began to arise that proved to be convenient to lower-income workers. The post-independence era thus witnessed an upsurge in industrialisation along with the emergence of manpower outsourcing companies, which ensured labour supply to these industries.
The labour reform started in the post-independence era when Dr. B.R. Ambedkar began the quest to seek improvement in the working conditions of the lower-income groups. Labour laws were thus amended and the 14-hour workday was reduced to 8 hours a day. This improved the work-life balance of the lower-income workers.
However, further reforms are needed in the labour market concerning improvement in the wages and salaries of the lower-income group, taking care of their as well as their families’ well-being by letting organisations provide health and life insurance plans to these workers and improving their working conditions. Manpower outsourcing companies also need to take care of the training needs of the workers whom they deploy to the industries and service sectors.
Labour supply is essential for the industries but those labourers also need to be taken care of by their respective employers so that they feel satisfied and happy with their workplaces. A satisfied workforce tends to be motivated, determined and productive, which will ultimately increase industrial productivity and improve the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India.
India can become a developed economy by 2047 if its industrial productivity surges further which is only possible with the upliftment of the country’s low-income labour class.
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Remember the lower-income workers have an immense contribution towards production and the economy. If they are kept well-trained and satisfied within their workplaces, they will be motivated to perform and become more productive. A productive workforce defines a developed nation. If manpower outsourcing companies in India maintain a steady labour supply to industries, which will have to ensure labour reforms are in place. Upon accomplishing these, India will soon find itself among the developed nations.
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