Deconstructing self-employment

Having a large number of self-employed people does not necessarily indicate an improvement in job conditions

The jobs debate has consumed Indian society and the polity. The recent instance of the Indian Railways receiving 25 million applications to fill 90,000 vacancies is the tip of the iceberg. India’s jobs challenge is not just one of creating jobs for the entrants into the labour force, but also one of creating “better paying productive jobs” for the large swathes of workers trapped in poorly-paid and low-productivity jobs in the informal sector. So, what fits the bill of a “good productive job”? A salaried job or a self-employed one? The government has put its weight behind the latter, arguing