ARTICLE ANALYSIS

WORK, RACE AND ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY, 2BL311

COURSE: B.A. LL.B. (HONS.)
SEMESTER III
SESSION JULY TO OCTOBER, 2016

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Mr. Arun Prasad Anjali Chaudhary

Course Coordinator Roll no.15bal010
Economic Development and policy, 2BL311 Semester: III
Semester III Section: A
ILNU ILNU
 INTRODUCTION

Citizenship is more often than not taken as a political subject. But while
limiting it only to the political sphere, we tend to miss out on the social,
cultural and economic elements of it. As this article is about economic
citizenship, before defining the term, I would like to present several
definitions by scholars on the idea of citizenship to base my claim that
citizenship is a broad concept with several definitions

The general definition of citizenship, which is prevalent and is taught, can

be stated, as a citizen is a member of a political community, which is
defined by a set of rights and obligations. This definition therefore tries to

Citizenship Institutions more

Definition
Elements closely associated

Rights necessary for individual freedom liberty of the

person, freedom of speech, thought and faith, the right to
Civil rights Courts of justice
own property and to conclude valid contracts, and the
right to justice.

Right to participate in the exercise of political power, as a Parliament and

Political
member of a body invested with political authority or as councils of local
rights
an elector of the members of such a body. government.

The right to a modicum of economic welfare and Educational system

Social rights
security. and social services.

define citizenship as a relationship between the individual and the state,

in which the two are bound together by reciprocal rights and obligations

The most important scholar in the subject of citizenship is T. H.

Marshall. His definition of citizenship inspired the later definitions. He
was the first to define citizenship in an interdisciplinary form. He defined
citizenship as full membership of a community. According to him,
citizenship is constituted by three elements: civil, political and social. For
the easy understanding, the three elements have been tabulated as :

The first to revisit Marshals theory was Brian Turner. He defines

citizenship as a set of legal, economic, and cultural practices which define
an individual as a competent member of society. Such practices shape the
flow of resources to individuals and social groups. Turners definition
allows us to analyze how individuals and groups have differentiated
opportunities of becoming competent members of society. From this point
of view, citizenship identity, the sense of belonging and solidarity, is
necessarily connected with the problem of unequal distribution of
resources in society. His definition places an emphasis on the
acknowledgment of a person as competent and on the inequality in the
society.

The recent scholar to define citizenship is Zamudio. According to him

there are three dimensions of citizenship: status, exercise and conscience.
He has further explained these three as: Citizenship status is the set of
rights and obligations between individuals and the state. Only those
individuals and groups, which fulfill all the requirements, that define
citizenship in a country will have the formal recognition of the state.
Citizenship exercise refers to the conditions necessary for the realization
of citizenship rights and the incorporation of new rights (the
transformation of needs into legitimate rights), redefining and expanding
the previous notion of citizenship. Last, but not least, citizenship
conscience makes reference to the conviction of being a citizen, with the
recognition of the state expressed in concrete practices that assure
citizenship exercise.
All the above definitions take into account not only political elements,
but also elements like status, civil rights, economic practices etc. based
on such a wide definition of citizenship itself, I will further try to define
economic citizenship.

Karen Brodkin in this article has tried to define economic citizenship as

a way of connecting the elements that constitute economic security and
the roles they play in determining the membership in civil society.
Economic citizenship focuses on the social and civic entitlements that are
associated most generally with economic independence e.g. home and
auto ownership.

Barbara Harris White has defined the concept of economic citizenship

as aspiring to the universalism of, embodying the rights to work (to be
employed) and have the means to consume, to invest and be
entrepreneurial and the obligation to be taxed.

In the UK, economic citizenship is a concept of economic literacy of a

particular kind. In the school curriculum and syllabus for ages 14 to 16,
when young people are formally socialized for work, economic
citizenship requires knowledge of private pensions and money
management, competition and prices the creation of a business plan, the
concept of the unique selling point, advertising and marketing, ethics,
globalization, outsourcing and labor costs, creditworthiness and loans,
rights, concepts of growth and recession, and taxation and expenditure by
the state.

With such a wide definition of economic citizenship, it is hard to put a

finger on when a person has gained economic citizenship. With such a
vague definition, one might think why is it necessary to study or attain
economic citizenship. Economic citizenship boosts ones economic status
as well as social status. It also provides with contentment and fulfills
psychological needs of acknowledgment and self esteem.

The importance of economic citizenship is that it has economic benefits

that are unreachable by legalization reform. Economic Citizenship
opportunities would mean higher wages for second class citizens these
higher wages create more consumers spending. That increased consumer
spending would allow the economy to strengthen and grow. When our
economy is strong, businesses benefit with increased revenue and they
grow, expand and hire more workers.
It creates certainty in the lives of hard-working people, their families and
employers. Employers will not have to worry about having to retrain an
employee, sometimes at high costs, as occurs when employees lose their
work visas. Along with the stability created for employees through
citizenship comes stability needed for employers to invest in more
education and job training. A better-educated and more experienced
workforce is key to a successful future for our nation.
Workers will have high attachment to their job which will help them in
working more and satisfyingly. It would bring acknowledgment of their
hard work in the society, which will further help in ones esteem and
working capabilities.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Is there a global definition of economic citizenship?

2. What does economic citizenship include?
3. How is economic citizenship related in this era of development?
4. India and its problem of economic citizenship.
5. What change will come in the undeveloped human capital by
economic citizenship?
ISSUES DISCUSSED AND ITS INDIAN CONTEXT ANALYSIS

Overview of the article and its issues

Karen Brodkin in this article tries to figure out if there is (a) actually such
a concept like economic citizenship and (b) if it affects the workers in
some way. (c) She also tries to show the lack of economic citizenship in
prevalent in only certain ethic groups or genders.
She analyses the Duke Medical Centre campaign and environmental
campaign run by Latina/o immigrants in Los Angeles.
African American women ran the Duke Medical Centre campaign. They
felt that their work was not being appreciated and acknowledged. The
seniors devalued their work as a Data Terminal Operators (DTOs) as
unskilled and structured while the DTOs considered their work as the
nerve center of the ward. This devaluation by the seniors and white
working community in the medical centre lead to a dissatisfaction among
the DTOs. They considered that informal recognition was as important as
formal recognition. Their hard work and attachment to the job was taken
as help, charity, hands or racial obligation. This was lack of
economic citizenship among the DTOs.
In Los Angeles, Sunlaw Corporation was allowed to build a large gas
fueled electric power plant in the municipality of south gate. This was to
be built near the residence area of Latina/o immigrants. The construction
of this plant would have led to jobs for the people living nearby. These
jobs would have further helped in leveling up the economic status of the
immigrants. This plant, though also meant that there would be pollution
in the air surrounding the area. It was a threat to clean air. Here the people
chose to not have the economic benefit (wages) and rather chose clean air
and physical health over it. it led to shut down of the project.
Both these cases prove that economic citizenship in itself is a real concept
and it does affect the workers decision. It also shows that weaker or
second-class citizens like immigrants, African Americans or women are
the groups, which do not get economic citizenship.
Indian Analysis
In India, there are many groups or communities, which do get
economically leveled with its counterparts but does not get economic
citizenship. Their rights as workers are not recognized and they are only
provided with income as a merit for their work. These communities or
groups are Dalits, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women, and
Bangladeshi immigrants, Muslims etc. I will be discussing certain of
these groups further.

Muslim Community
Muslims are a religious minority in India. Muslims constitute 13.4% of
the 1028.6 million population of India and according to the
2001 census Indias Muslim population is over 138 million. Muslims are
given educational reservation yet there is highest unemployment rate in
Muslim undergraduates according to the research paper written by
Manzoor Ali in reference to the Sanchar Committee Report.
Further if you look at the worker per population ratios, you will find that
Muslims have the lowest worker per population ratios of 54.9%.

Even if Muslims do get employment, the economic and societal benefits

that come with the employment are often seen missing. Muslims barely
get housing in areas, which are dominated by other religions. There are
separate localities for Muslims whereas other religions can live in a
mixed locality with exclusion of Muslims. This could be evident when
UN special rapporteur Leilani Farha said, bias against Muslims
manifests in different parts of the country in different ways in the
housing sector and that government was not focused on addressing the
problem of homelessness.
The rapporteur listed her observations about Indias housing sector at a
press conference, noting a detailed report will be submitted to the UN
Human Rights Council at its 34th session in March 2017 in Geneva.
This shows that despite employment, basic economic and societal needs
like housing are not available to the Muslim community.

Women
According to the report of National Commission for the Enterprises in the
Unorganized Sector, women workers are concentrated in the lowest paid
category of workers receiving substantially lower wages than men.
Women were concentrated in embroidery, cleaning, finishing, tagging and
packaging. More recently, women are entering into stitching in large
numbers. There is a clear sexual division of labour and with the
introduction of machines this has further been augmented and facilitated.
This very clear sexual division of labour has implications for the wages
earned, permanency in the job and the possibilities for upward mobility in
the industry. Obviously, the women receive lower wages and have limited
job mobility in the hierarchy of the knitwear industry. The Commission's
visit to the garment factories confirmed these features of the industry.
At the same time, women do not get a preference in jobs, which require
skills. Even in the medical sector, women are mostly employed as nurses
or midwives. Even after this, their work and contribution is rarely
acknowledged and appreciated.
Bangladeshi Immigrants.
For decades, India has received a constant inflow of unauthorized
migrants from Bangladesh. According to a survey conducted by the
Indian Statistical Institute in 2002-2003, most have economic reasons for
migrating, such as poverty and the lack of employment opportunities, in
addition to political instability.
The census of India report from 2001 states, Statement 12 on migration
by last residence shows that there were 4.9 million persons who migrated
from the neighboring countries, constituting about 96.9 percent of the
total migrants from abroad. The bulk of these migrants were from
Bangladesh, who were around three million in number.
It further adds that the bulk of international migration shown above
relates to 20 years or above category, pointing towards migration at the
time of partition or the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. Large-scale
migration from across the border seems to have declined after that, except
in the case of Bangladesh

As of 2001, there were around 259,204 migrants that came into West
Bengal. The Census data however, does not segregate the countries from
which these migrants came.
These migrants generally find work as cheap labor in the informal sector,
often as domestic helpers, construction laborers, rickshaw pullers, and rag
pickers. The Bangladeshi government does not officially recognize those
migrants and thus does not provide help or support. In 2003, Bangladesh's
foreign minister was quoted as saying that not a single unauthorized
Bangladeshi resided in India.
As with most illegal migration, data on its extent is scarce. The Home
Ministry estimated the number of unauthorized Bangladeshis as of
December 2001 at 12 million, residing in 17 Indian states. However, in
February 2009, the Home Ministry withdrew these data as "unreliable"
and based on "mere hearsay."
Political scientist Kamal Sadiq has estimated the number of illegal
migrants from Bangladesh at 15 to 20 million, basing the number partly
on documented growth of Muslim communities and partly on
unpublished government reports.
Sadiq's research has found that many of these Bangladeshis adopt Hindu
names and are able to obtain fraudulent documents that allow them access
to government subsidies and even to vote in elections. Indeed, some
Indian politicians have benefited from votes cast by illegally resident
Bangladeshi migrants
These immigrants do not have the citizenship of India which leads to
them being exploited by the employers. They do not get wages, which are
set as minimum wages by the government. They are only employed in
unskilled sectors. Their rights as workers are not guaranteed or supported.
The government does not acknowledge their hard work.
All this leads to their not obtaining the notion or concept of economic
citizenship.

CONNECTION WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND

GROWTH
Economic citizenship has been included in all the international treaties
and goals of development. Though there is no official term as economic
citizenship nor does it have a definite definition, still the ideas and the
themes carried in the concept can be seen in various international as well
as national policies.

In the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, 1974, there

are provisions which not only advocate for the economic citizenship of
people (indirectly) but also for the economic citizenship of states
(directly) as a citizen of the international community. The various
provisions which captured my attention and which I shall mention are
taken from the preamble of the charter.

(a) The attainment of wider prosperity among all countries and of higher
standards of living for all peoples.

It shows how not only a good income but also a high standard of living is
important for development.
(b) The promotion by the entire international community of the economic
and social progress of all countries, especially developing countries,

The term social progress in itself shows the essence of economic

citizenship, as mere economic progress will not help a person or a
country achieve its maximum potential and contentment.

(f) The protection, preservation and enhancement of the environment,

Mindful of the need to establish and maintain a just and equitable
economic and social order through:

As environment is considered as one of the features of economic

citizenship, this provision, which talks about environment and its
protection, preservation and enhancement shows the spirit of economic
citizenship.

In the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at

Work, which was adopted in 1998, commits Member States to respect
and promote principles and rights in four categories, whether or not they
have ratified the relevant Conventions.
It gives the workers certain freedoms, which can be entailed into
economic citizenship. It gives rights to the people and puts obligation on
the state to fulfill those rights.
These categories which come under economic citizenship are: freedom of
association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining, the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition
of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in respect of
employment and occupation.

Later comes The International Labour Office, which has developed the
concepts and content of work into a normative project, which consists of
individual and group rights, which provide a limitation to exploitation.
This is the project of Decent Work. Not only does Decent Work require a
right to work, there should also be rights at work (labour standards and
safety), rights to organize (the collective right to engage as workers in
social dialogue) and the individual right to social security. This project
aims at indirectly guarantying economic citizenship.

The most recent are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which
are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme
poverty in its many dimensions-income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of
adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality,
education, and environmental sustainability.

The goals mentioned above in the picture can be linked with the work
environment aimed at achieving economic citizenship. Gender equality
and empowerment of women by reducing sexual harassment, by giving
equal pay etc. in workplace will lead to economic citizenship.
Improvement of maternal health can be achieved in workplace by various
maternity leaves. Prevention of diseases as well as environment
sustainability all will lead to economic citizenship of the workers. Various
other important developmental and growth aspects of economic
citizenship were dealt in the introduction part.
POLICIES BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THEIR REGULATORY
ENVIRONMENT

Rent Control Act

Like several other governments, the Indian government also followed the
suit of enacting rent control act during Second World War period in some
cities to offer protection from steep rent rise to the sitting tenants.
Subsequently, the States that have adopted this enactment extended it to
various cities. The act means to provide housing to poor and tries to make
housing affordable and hence grant a part of economic citizenship to the
workers.

The adverse effects of this act are still evident in various cities across
India e.g., Wadhwa. It has dissuaded the supply of new rental housing and
has been adversely affecting the property tax revenues of local
governments, where the property taxes are tied with annual rental value.
Moreover, maintenance of rent control buildings was neglected, which
resulted in their reaching dangerous levels of dilapidation. The rent
control act adversely affected the housing options of urban poor. The
immigrants to cities hardly find suitable rented accommodation and are
forced to occupy public land to dwell in inhabitable houses in crammed
conditions. Moreover, over time, rent controls have created such a strong
vested interest that no political party is in a position to take a hard
decision to repeal the act. Even the moderate decisions come through
long legal and tenant consultation processes. It was under the directive of
the Supreme Court of India that the Union government prepared a Model
Rent Act, prescribing norms for fixing and revising rents, the levels of
which are far from the expectations of land lords for the upkeep of
building. However, several state governments are yet to follow the suit
and repeal the act.

Support to Training and Employment Programme (STEP)

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched this

programme with the aim of developing skills of women for self and
employment. The main targets of this scheme are rural women and urban
poor. This scheme provides funds to help the women and poor. Funds are
released to NGOs and not to the State Governments. At present, 273
Short Stay Homes receive grants from the Department, covering
approximately 8190 beneficiaries. Under the scheme the grant is being
released at the revised financial norms on the recommendation of the
State Governments to the extent of Rs.4, 51,350 (Recurring and Non-
recurring) when approved by the Government of India and subsequently,
recurring grant of Rs. 4, 01,350 is given to the Home every year on the
basis of 'C' Class City. There is also a provision for some increase in
subsequent years on the component of rent and the maintenance cost for
residents.

Yet reports published by certain NGOs show that these funds are not
properly taken care of and the women who become the beneficiary leave
within the a short period. The stay homes are not maintained properly. No
submission of reports on the expenditure of funds is given to the
government.

The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

It can be taken as a act which aims at providing workers with health

benefits and security. It provides a scheme under which the employer and
the employee must contribute a certain percentage of the monthly wage to
the Insurance Corporation that runs dispensaries and hospitals in working
class localities. It facilitates both outpatient and in-patient care and freely
dispenses medicines and covers hospitalization needs and costs. Leave
certificates for health reasons are forwarded to the employer who is
obliged to honour them. Employment injury, including occupational
disease is compensated according to a schedule of rates proportionate to
the extent of injury and loss of earning capacity. Payment, unlike in the
Workmens Compensation Act, is monthly. Despite the existence of
tripartite bodies to supervise the running of the scheme, the entire project
has fallen into disrepute due to corruption and inefficiency. Workers in
need of genuine medical attention rarely approach this facility though
they use it quite liberally to obtain medical leave. There are interesting
cases where workers have gone to court seeking exemption from the
scheme in order to avail of better facilities available through collective
bargaining.

The Workmens Compensation Act

It covers all cases of accident arising out of and in the course of

employment and the rate of compensation to be paid in a lump sum, is
determined by a schedule proportionate to the extent of injury and the
loss of earning capacity. But it has many disadvantages or drawbacks. For
instance, the unwieldy number of adjudicating authorities conciliation
officers, conciliation boards, courts of inquiry, labour courts, industrial
tribunals and the national industrial tribunal and the complex procedures
are out of sync with the essential pre-requisites for the success and even
the survival of companies in a globally integrated economy.
AMENDMENTS RECOMMENDED FOR THE ABOVE ACTS.

In this section I would like to make certain recommendations to make the

above acts more beneficial for the workers in achieving their economic
citizenship.

Rent Control Act

Incentives are to be provided for encouraging lending by financial

institutions, HFIs and Banks for rental housing. Also, Companies
and Employers will be encouraged to invest in the construction of
rental housing for their employees.
Efforts should be made to encourage Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) from International institutions, Non Resident Indians (NRIs)
and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in the housing and
infrastructure sector in consultation with the Ministry of Finance
and RBI.
Plan Funds and other assistance for housing and infrastructure
should be dovetailed according to the Action Plan prepared and
adopted by the States under their State Urban Housing and Habitat
Policy (SUHHP). This would bring about synergies in the
operation of various schemes and funding sources.
Develop convergence between urban sector initiatives and financial
sector reforms.
Central Government and Governments of States/UTs should
promote innovative forms of public-private partnerships.

The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

This act should take into account seasonal factories engaged

exclusively in any of the activities like: cotton ginning, cotton or
jute pressing, decoration of ground nuts, manufacturing coffee,
 indigo, lac, rubber etc. as most of the women work here.

Support to Training and Employment Programme (STEP)

To recognize special needs of single women including widows
separated, divorced, never-married and deserted women taking this
policy and staying at the stay homes, a comprehensive social
protection mechanism should be designed to address their
vulnerabilities, create opportunities and improve their overall
conditions as they may face social stigma.

To promote safety of women, all urban planning and smart city

projects will mandatorily include safe and gender sensitive
infrastructure and facilities. Urban Safety Audits will be conducted
periodically to ensure all gender safe measures are provided which
is currently missing in the policy.

CONCLUSION

Economic citizenship is not a concept about which there is consensus in

definition. It is not a concept native to India. Nor is it an imported
concept that has yet put down roots. Nonetheless Indias state has for
decades been planning for the economic inclusion of adversely
incorporated citizens through a mass of anti-poverty, participatory,
empowering and labour market interventions in the spheres of production
and social reproduction. It has also left nine tenths of all livelihoods
outside the scope of its regulative reach. In this article analysis I have
therefore interrogated the contested process of economic citizenship by
translating conceptual proxies and by examining the practices of civil
society and market as well as those of the state. Ethnicity, caste, religion,
gender, locality and other kinds of identity cannot be ignored as
regulators of the economy either. These then affect the politics of global
economic citizenship. Economic citizenship has a long way to go in India
- only a minority are free to exercise individual choice. There are
constituent states where non- local Indian political citizens have barely
any economic rights at all and where national territorial security is
guaranteed by the manual labour of incoming migrant road-workers,
many of who are illegal and have no rights whatsoever. The Indian state
has made a start on the right to work, it neglects rights at work and it
confines rights to social security to the labour aristocracy.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Scholarly views on citizenship.

2. The concept of economic citizenship
3. The bias in USA and India regarding workers.
4. Social status and its implication on economic status.
5. The lobbying of powerful groups to get rights.
6. Terms like redlining, zoning.
7. Various treaties like Charter of Economic rights, millennium goals
and others mentioned above.
8. Indias state in the term of economic citizenship.
9. Statistical data from various reports.
10. The policies mentioned above and their implications