The industrial worker: some myths and realities

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the following widely-held beliefs about the industrial worker in India: (1) that most industrial workers are migrants from rural areas; (2) that the rural migrants who move to the city to take up work in industry have either no previous work experience or have worked only in agriculture; (3) that industrial workers are predominantly illiterate; and (4) that the proportion of non-Hindus and the lower castes is higher among industrial workers than the corresponding proportion in society as a whole. On the basis of data from empirical studies of industrial workers by different researchers, the writer contends that these beliefs about the industrial workers are myths. The reality is that the industrial worker in India is predominantly urban, educated, has prior industrial experience and come largely from Hindu families, particularly of the upper castes.