Inclusive Development: Role of Employment and Environment | INET-YSI and IPP, NLSIU Conference

The Institute of Public Policy, NLSIU along with the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and its Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) is organising a three-day conference on ‘Inclusive Development: Role of Employment and Environment’ from March 28-30, 2023. The conference will focus on inclusive development, especially the role of employment opportunities in a changing world of work and the environment in envisioning inclusiveness. The program will include contributions from senior academicians, policy makers and legal professionals as well paper-presentations from selected young scholars from across the subcontinent.

DAY 1: March 28, 2023 | 6 pm – 8 pm

Keynote Talk: Structural Labour Discrimination in India
Speaker: Prof. Jens Lerche, Professor, Agrarian and Labour Studies, SOAS, University of London 
Bangalore International Centre  

This presentation focuses on structural labour discrimination at the bottom of the labour hierarchy in India. Globally, labour market discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender and place is well documented. This is also the case for work related inequalities and discrimination along the lines of caste and ethnicity in India.

Combining labour market data with qualitative studies, this presentation by Jens Lerche shows that structural discrimination is central to labour market segmentation, also in the modern economy. This follows lines of caste, ethnicity and place.

Seasonal labour migrants, and among them especially Adivasis and Dalits, undertake the hardest, lowest paid hyper-precarious informalised jobs, often without access to the same rights as local labourers. They do this at the the cost of their and their household’s long-time social reproduction and care which is externalised by the employers. This is a result not only of direct labour market discrimination but is also based on discrimination in access to skill and historical disadvantage. The presentation concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations.

RSVP here.

DAY 2: March 29, 2023

Panel discussion & Paper Presentations 
NLSIU, Bengaluru

Can technological change lead to an inclusive future of work and promote inclusive development?Adoption of new technologies such as automation, AI and industrial robots in the production process continues to grow rapidly in every country. The question that has emerged globally is the impact of these technologies on employment and on overall society. In the context of a developing country with already existing inequality and social exclusion, the question is twofold: what is the future of work and is the future of work inclusive? This is a critical juncture for discussions around labour as technology has brought about not only a rapidly changing workforce, but also workplace scenarios. The emergence of gig and platform work has introduced labour law to new challenges where the employment relationship is digitally mediated and involves the algorithmic management of labour. As a response to this, lawmakers and workers’ organizations have experimented with different approaches: ranging from the demands for a bare minimum of social security and transparency in working conditions to a more comprehensive, worker-centred transformation of how gig and platform work is structured.

The ultimate effects of technological progress on labour relations will be determined by how it is used and how people, firms, governments, institutions, and international organizations respond and prepare for these changes in the economy and society. This panel will discuss these challenges faced by a developing country like India and reflect on possible ways forward, with a focus on gig and platform work.

Featuring: Prof. Bino Paul (TISS), Prof. Vijay G (Hyderabad University), Dr. Manjunath (Additional Labour Commissioner, Industrial Relations –
Government of Karnataka), Jane Cox (Attorney, India – Labor and Trade Unions), Chair: Prof. Babu Mathew (National Law School of India University)

DAY 3: March 30, 2023

Panel discussion & Paper presentations
NLSIU, Bengaluru

How can inequalities and injustices of pollution be accounted for in envisioning inclusive development? Impacts of pollution (including climate change), while ubiquitous, vary in pattern and strength across regions as well as across socio-economic groups within a region. On the one hand, disadvantaged groups are more exposed and susceptible to pollution related damages with limited ability to cope and recover from the losses. On the other hand, socioeconomic inequalities further facilitate the obstruction of climate policies by wealthy elites, undermine public support for the policy, and weaken the social foundations of collective action. This panel will discuss how such environment related outcomes of must feature in the conceptualization of inclusive development.

The conference will conclude with a session on “Consolidation & Future Research Collaborations” involving a summary of the conference, an open discussion on potential future research collaborations, and opportunities for continued involvement.

For more details about the programme, please click here.
Please note, this conference is for invitees registered participants only.
For further information, please write to ,