Thinker
Jan Breman
Jan Breman is central to 38 previous-year questions, spanning 2009 to 2025 across Paper I and Paper II. Everything below is drawn from the official papers — the questions themselves, the concepts they test, and where they sit in the syllabus.
38Questions
2009–25Years tested
I & IIPaper
5Syllabus topics
Concepts asked alongside Jan Breman
What the examiner actually wants you to know when this name appears.
informal sector 15circular migration 7distress migration 5informalisation of labour 5social security 5urban poverty 5casualisation 4housing deprivation 4informal economy 4precarious work 4social exclusion 4footloose labour 3over-urbanisation 3precarity 3social security deficit 3child labour 2debt bondage 2depeasantisation 2
Where Jan Breman appears in the syllabus
Every question on Jan Breman
Each links to a full breakdown — how to approach it, a model answer, and the examiner’s perspective.
2025
- Critically analyze the sociological significance of informal sector in the economy of developing societies.
- Do you think that law has been able to abolish child labour in India? Comment.
- What are the major problems faced by the labour migrants while working in informal sectors of Indian States? Discuss.
2024
2023
2022
- Discuss different forms of deprivation associated with slums.
- Discuss recent trends in the structure of migration.
- Discuss the changing nature of Industrial working class.
- Examine whether rural bondage still continues to be a social reality. Give your argument.
- How do you view the growth of informal sector in India ?
2021
2020
2019
- Do you think that 'demonetization' has accelerated the economic growth in India? How do you understand the informalization of labour, underemployment and gender discrimination in this context?
- Elucidate the concerns of growing urban displacement dynamics in India.
- What is 'informal labour'? Discuss the need for and challenges in regulating informal labour in the post-industrial society.
2017
- Compare the pressing problems of a dalit poor family living in an urban slum with a similar type of family living in a rural setting.
- Do you agree that the issue of child labour raises questions about and beyond the informal sector? Give reasons.
- Write a short note on ‘changing means of production and increased rural poverty.’
2016
- “Globalization has pushed the labour into informal organization of work.” Substantiate your answer with suitable examples.
- Bring out the impact of the declining significance of the agrarian economy.
- Discuss the changing nature of the problems of working class in the informal sector of the economy.
- Write a detailed note on the effects of growing slums in urban areas.
2014
2013
2012
Browse all thinkers by exam frequency, or see the full trend analysis.