Non-Regular Workers and Employment Relations in Agro based Industry: A Study on Rice Mills in West Bengal

Abstract

With business enterprises resorting to different structural adjustments to align themselves with the dynamic economic scenario,
the trend to hire non-regular workers has become a very common and the most sought after practice by the owners in present
times. Non-regular workers are the most common victims of issues related to wage disparity, job insecurity, little or no decent
work etc. cutting across different countries around the globe. In India there is an exhaustive mechanism of labour laws is well in
place to control and prevent the exploitative practices in the name of hiring of labour of different nomenclatures. However, the
engagement of non-regular workers in India is well on rise, specifically in the agro based sector which are mostly informal in
nature. The real condition of non-regular workers remains unveiled owing to little or no accessibility allowed by the owners of
enterprises to conduct research. As such it becomes all the more imperative to study different aspects related to non-regular
workers and employment relations in the agro based industries. The present research attempts to understand the patterns of nonregular employment and how the workers perceive employment relations in the Rice Mills in the State of West Bengal in India.
The Rice Mills are heavily labour intensive and mainly depend on non-regular workers to carry on the daily operations.
Qualitative research approach using Focus Group Meeting (FGM) has been ascertained to conduct the present research