Breaking down the question

The command word "discuss" asks for a balanced examination of how globalisation — the post-1991 integration of India into world markets through liberalisation, trade and mobile capital — has affected workers in the informal sector, that vast body of the workforce lacking secure contracts, regulation or social protection.

Since roughly nine in ten Indian workers are informal, the question probes whether globalisation has expanded opportunity or deepened insecurity for the majority of the labouring poor.

How to approach it

Keep the 10-mark answer two-sided and grounded in concepts. A strong response will:

  • Define the informal sector and note its dominant share of employment.
  • Show both the positive linkages and the negative pressures of globalisation.
  • Use Breman on informalisation and Standing on precarity.
  • Reach a balanced verdict on net effects.

Model answer

Globalisation has drawn the informal sector deeper into the circuits of the global economy, with effects that are decidedly mixed but weigh heavily towards insecurity.

The informal condition. The informal sector covers workers without written contracts, job security or social benefits — street vendors, home-based producers, construction and domestic workers, and casual labour. Barbara Harriss-White describes this as the economy where most Indians actually live and work, largely beyond the reach of formal regulation.

Informalisation of the formal. A key impact, documented by Jan Breman, is informalisation — under competitive global pressure, formal firms outsource and subcontract to informal units to cut costs, so that the informal sector grows even as the economy modernises. Permanent jobs give way to casual, contract and piece-rate work, blurring the line between organised and unorganised labour.

New opportunities. Globalisation has also created linkages that generate work. Global value chains in garments, leather and handicrafts, along with urban construction and services, absorb informal labour and can raise incomes for some. Export demand and new consumption open niches for petty enterprise.

Precarity and its costs. Yet the dominant tendency is towards what Guy Standing calls the precariat — a growing mass of workers bearing flexibility without security. Informal workers face volatile earnings tied to global demand, longer hours, unsafe conditions and no protection against downturns, as the 2008 crisis and later shocks exposed. Globalisation is also associated with a feminisation of informal work, drawing women into low-paid, home-based production on disadvantaged terms.

On balance, globalisation has expanded the informal workforce and integrated it into world markets while intensifying its insecurity, making social protection and organisation the central challenges for the majority who work without a safety net.

Examiner's perspective

Examiners look for a candidate who avoids a one-sided verdict and grasps the paradox that globalisation modernises the economy while enlarging its informal, insecure base.

Naming informalisation with Breman, precarity with Standing, and the scale of the informal economy with Harriss-White demonstrates conceptual control. Noting feminisation and global value chains adds depth. Weak answers simply list hardships; strong answers explain the mechanism of informalisation and deliver a measured, evidence-based assessment.