We all love to sit in street side cafés with friends, just relaxing and unwinding after a long day and chatting and catching up. Most of us prefer the small Tapriwali Chai over the overpriced coffee in the classy cafés such as Café Coffee Day (CCD), just to sit around and talk about that one friend who you don’t like or how you were annoyed by your boss who constantly pins the blame for unfinished work on you or how much you miss home or even to just sit silently and enjoy the noisy crowd move along with their lives in front of you. But have you ever wondered how those who create such places, such ambience for you, run their own lives? How those who serve you, serve their families? Never? Thought so. Well here’s a chance for all of us to reflect on the kind of lives we’ve been living in.

Twenty Three year old Anas, hails from Kodagu, also known as Coorg. As per the official Census 2011 and population data of Kodagu, the Muslim community forms the minority forming only 15.74% of the population. Anas too, belongs to the same. He comes from a family of six members; his parents, two elder sisters and a younger one. He has had a little more than the minimum education that is 2^nd Pre-University College (PUC) which is equivalent to the 12^th grade in High School.

Both his elder sisters were married off and the youngest one in the family is still receiving high school education. The lack of opportunities, especially for those who belong to the minority section of that particular locality, was compelling and Anas was forced to move to the buzzing busy city of Bangalore in search of better ways to make a livelihood. In the patriarchal society that we live in, being the only male child in his household, Anas bears the responsibility of looking after his aging parents and educating and getting his younger sister married to a respectable man.

However, he did not come all alone to this city. He came with his in-laws, hoping to gain some experience and also earn enough money to undertake his share of responsibilities. He currently works under his sister’s Father-in-Law, her husband (his Brother-in-Law) and a Cousin of his, as cleaning and serving staff in a local café namely, Mallu Café. Yes, he works with family, but it is no less than working under someone.

He works a shift of nearly 17 hours which starts at six in the morning and ends at eleven at night. The salary that he earns after working for so many hours is a meagre salary of INR 18000. The amount may seem small to us, but for Anas, it serves as a chance to help meet the ends of life.

Although working with family does grant him privileges such as taking leave days as and when required, Anas does not misuse them. He works very hard to earn the money he is given. Things such as Health Insurance, Transportation and other allowances are out of the picture for someone like Anas who work alongside family. The café runs on its own funds while bearing the risk of sudden closure.

Talking about the industry he works in, the café sector although considered to be a more diverse market than it had been previously, does not seem like a very safe place to work in.

With the establishment of large number of cafés, both local and high branded sophisticated ones, standing out and surviving in this service industry itself is very hard. When it comes to the local cafés on street sides, where you can see at least 3 other cafés in the same lane, mere survival becomes a huge task in itself. In order to attract more customers, the basic survival instinct drives them to reduce price of eateries and drinks, reducing their profit margin, even leading to eventual elimination of its very existence. To grow and live a better standard of life turns into a dream that could possibly never turn into reality.

Anas seems to possess a reasonable amount of job security since he works with known people and his family, and job satisfaction is at a considerable level too as he is very confident about his role in the functioning of the café. He is, however, still searching for further possibilities of better job and better pay.

When asked about spreading his wings into other field of occupation, Anas had replied, “With the minimum education that I was given access to, there is very little I can grasp…”.

“I would never blame my parents for not educating me more. They tried their best to take us to where we are now, got both my elder sisters married to well-off families, raised all of us with good values and cultural beliefs”, Anas added.

Whilst conversing with young Anas, we came across this question of what his dream would be if his life had not turned out this way. His answer surprised us all, quite a bit much. He said, “From the kind of life that our family lived through until now, there wasn’t any time for building dream castles. Reality constantly hit our lives like a calamity giving us no time to think or dream about anything at all. All we did was survive, and all we want to do now is survive.”

CONCLUSION (CRITICAL ANALYSIS)

Anas is just one example among the many underprivileged young Indians who did not have the luxury of receiving a complete educational qualification and are thus forced to work in the sidelines, with not much opportunity for growth. While Anas is lucky to be working with his family in the café, he is still working under somebody else with thoughts only of supporting his family and himself.

Our group had a touching experience speaking to the cleaners of the café as they showed us that the Indian society and it’s unwritten rules play the important role of determining their fate without them having a say in it.

Anas also revealed that his religion had led to many violent encounters in his life but he did not disclose many details as the conversation made him uncomfortable and he was afraid of speaking out about such sensitive topics. Clearly, being from a Muslim community has affected him as well.

Anas’ contentment with his current working conditions is admirable as it portrays his patience and perseverance. He believes that better things are yet to come his way and is simply glad that God is showering him with sufficient blessings to get his family and himself by.

However we, as a group, believe that this should not be the case and that mankind himself must take measures to correct the situation before it goes drastically out of control.

The nation, as a whole, suffers because of the disproportionate ratio of the country’s population and availability of opportunities. There is also the issue of lack of equal regional development, which is what forced Anas to shift to Bangalore in the first place, making him stay away from his family and hometown.

We believe that pay, of all employees and workers, should be increased in accordance with level and quality of performance of work completed.

If this was a practice that was practiced throughout the country, Anas’s parents and everybody before them would not have had to struggle with financial issues and providing proper care for their respective families. A positive cycle of economic growth and development would be facilitated and the nation of India would not be holding on to its resources by its fingertips, as it is doing now.

Prepared by:

1. Abel Martin (Roll No. 02)
2. Anushka Hegde (Roll No. 35)
3. Milan Sera Raj (Roll No. 40)
4. Noela Raichel Eapen (Roll No. 43)
5. Stuti Joseph (Roll No. 49)
6. Divya M (Roll No. 68)

INTRODUCTION

Humans knowingly or unknowingly dream without even thinking if it will come true in reality. 

It’s a story of someone who dreamt of reaching great heights in his life but ended up seeing himself through someone else’s eyes, as if they define and describe him. It’s not that he cannot form an opinion of his own, but it’s just that he is not confident enough to do so.

ABOUT NAGENDRA

He left his home when he was just 18 years, with eyes full of dreams and enthusiasm over-filled. He just completed his 10th grade yet had a very good definition for life. He came from a place of very good environment filled with greenery all over. But got stuck between the tall buildings and busy roads. Although he had amazing thoughts about his life in a new place, he always wanted to grow up from his base to something more. The dedication towards finding work never dropped down. He added saying that he came to Bangalore promising himself that he would become stable enough to lead his family solely by himself. But he never knew nor had a clue that Bangalore is an overpopulated place having no opportunities even for the educated to find a better living.

HARDSHIPS FACED BY HIM

 Few days passed and the money he carried was almost over and had to go through the tough times and was also a high time for him to find a job. He walked all day in the hope that he would find some or the other job. But ended up with nothing. And this continued for almost a week. And one tiring day when he sat down on a slab as he was hungry and was empty stomach, he saw a pamphlet which said vacancy for the job of dropping newspapers (for male from 18-28)  and was filled with little hope and happiness but turned out to be disheartened the next morning as he needed a bicycle as a job requirement. But somehow managed to convince the owner and got a bicycle on rent and he joined the job without even asking what the salary was. 

He also added that the owner used to treat him as his own brother but ended up earning 3000 per month out of which he had to pay 500 as the rent for the bicycle. He was also given a small room in the office as he was also making a record of the papers that was distributed.

 His work used to end by 11.00am and hence decided to find some other odd jobs. And ended up finding a job as a cleaner in Navya’s and the timings are pretty manageable. He is also provided with lunch and dinner. Now he is a little contend about him migrating. He is also able to send money to his hometown and has very good employers in both the places. 

LIFESTYLE

Now he gets 10000 per month for cleaning and 5000 per month for distributing newspapers early in the morning. He has no rent coast as he stays in his office room and he barely spends on his food as he gets food both the places. He manages to send 10000 to his home every month and he’s happy about it. He has 2 siblings one elder sister who is married and another younger sister who is pursuing 12th grade. He wishes his sister to study well and go to places and not stop her education due to monetary issues. He told us that his work timings are good enough to take care of his own health, and also shared his daily routine of:

 waking up at 5.00 am and start distributing newspapers to the houses by 5.30 am and goes back to the office at 8.00 am and finishes all the record work by 10.00 am and gets the breakfast done there and reaches Navya’s by 11:30 and starts his work which goes on till 2:30 pm, where he gets his lunch break  and again starts his work by 3.00 pm and again work until 5.00 pm. The customers who walk-in for the hotel is reduced by this time and hence gets some time to learn English and many more general stuff from owner’s children. He told us that they are very sweet to him and he loves to work in such an environment. And again his work starts at 6:30 pm and goes on till 9.00 pm and later he eats his dinner and leaves back to office room . Now he feels  that he’s stable enough to look after his family, as his father was a farmer and now he can’t work anymore in the farm as he’s getting old, he feels good that he’s able to contribute his best to the family and make his sister study. And now he feels working in Bangalore is easy but having a better standard of living is difficult.

HIS THINKING ABOUT THE JOB

“Whenever I found something beautiful about me, I ruined it myself; like an artist destroying his own creation, and like every other truth obscured by the lies. And then, like every autumn, I shed every part of mine just because of the cold winds which carried me away from myself. And now, I am left with, regret, guilt and disappointment thinking why was I ruining myself when someone disrespected me for the work I did/do.”

“I feel like I have lived a lie all along, and the more I try to get out of it, the more I was trapped. It’s as if the judgements are alive in me and the truth is dead. Everything I made up of is just opinions and ideas of people about me, and the more I try to fit in, the more I break apart. I did realise that I am not who people think and talk about, but somewhere within me, a small doubt ruins it all. And at the end of the day, it’s me destroying my self worth. It’s tiring; the entire process of killing yourself everyday is tiring. And the only way to feel alive again is to trust myself. The entire point is to realise and accept the fact that no matter who I become, no matter what I do, people are always going to judge. And my opinion about myself shouldn’t change just because of few people who aren’t even sure of themselves. I should love myself enough to realise that people don’t define my life, not only because they cannot, but also because they are incapable of doing so, for it’s all about knowing your worth.”

We have taken the initiative to interview one of the staff members of a Fast Food joint. From this we were able to get an idea of the socio-economic conditions of the fast food industry and the type and conditions of the staff working in such joints.

Almost every employee in any fast food restaurant would be receiving similar wages, working hours, employee benefits and working conditions. People who work in such places are mostly unskilled labourers who have received little education and are in desperate need of a job. This is because of the number of fast food joints that have been established around the country. In Karnataka alone there are over 500 fast food restaurants. The employees are hired based on their communication skills and not their level of skills they possess. These companies take the initiative to train their employees with the required skills after hiring them.

Workers in the fast food industry are generally paid according to the number of hours worked in a day. They would be paid the standard wage only if they have worked a particular number of hours in a day. If they work for more or less hours their wage would be adjusted accordingly. There is not much other incentives provided to these employees. They do not receive employee recognition, the leave policy is very strict and they are not guaranteed job security. They only initiative for them to work is that if they work for more hours, they get paid more. There have been initiatives to increase the minimum weekly wages of such employees. But the problem with increasing their wages would highly affect the profits of the company and the prices of their products.

The person we interviewed was working as a cleaning staff in the fast food joint ‘Burger King’ situated in Koramangala, Bangalore. His name is Prabhat and he is originally from Bihar. He is fluent in speaking Hindi, Kannada and English. He has received basic education. He is currently living with his mother in Bangalore. He wants to improve the living conditions for his mother and himself, but he is not able to do so with the little salary he receives. He still tries to stay satisfied with the regular wages that he receives. He says that it is enough to support his mother. His basic work as an employee there includes taking orders, preparing and serving food and cleaning the tables. He says that his work is repetitive and it does get boring after some time. His working hours are similar every day and the company does not have any leave policy. Leaves are granted to employees based on their work.

He is from a not so well of Hindu family. Prabhat lived a rural part of Bihar among his relatives and family. Prabhat had a mother and father and an older sister. His sister moved away to Punjab after she got married. Prabhat did his schooling and college in Punjab . Later he graduated from college with a BCA degree and returned to Bihar . Prabhat travelled a lot when he was young as his father served for the indian military. He travelled across multiple indian states , from tamil nadu all the way to Jammu and Kashmir . Prabhat was hit with the worst shock when he heard news regarding his father’s death . Prabhat and his mom lived alone for 3 years surviving with the little money they had . For some reason they haven’t received any sort of compensation or money in return from the government . Prabhat also couldn’t sit for any job opportunities in Bihar. They later decided to shift to bangalore as many of his relatives worked among the low level jobs . Prabhat and his mom shifted to Bangalore , Koramangla .

Prabhat’s Job at Burger King , does not provide him much job security and legal protection. He could be easily thrown out or fired at any point of time and prabhat would be left helpless. Prabhat works with such a risk since he was left with no option and also has to take care of his mother. Burger King does not have any law or any sort of official measure that protects the rights and freedom of Prabhat .Secured employees can always do the best work knowing that there is no threat to their future .Incentives and benefits should be given to motivate employees and workers so that the best is brought out of them . Resulting with job security and worker satisfaction , it also builds goodwill and reputation of the workplace . Unfortunately , prabhat does not receive such benefits.

Prabhat does not indulge much in the political field . His political representation is very low , during elections he either votes for the BJP or the Congress . His work life is very hectic and tries to focus on that most of the time .

Wrestling with work life balance is a luxury while working to support a family is a necessity rather than a choice . Prabhat faces with the same scenario and deals with the hardships of life daily. The tough working conditions at Burger King gives him no future happiness with his mom. He works daily with the fear of no job security and could be thrown out and left unemployed . If Prabhat works hard and smart , he could become a manager or even be promoted to another branch as a leading staff for Burger King .

Saranya ‐ 1812647

Sakshi – 1812645

Visvaant – 1812627

Sumit – 1812623

Akhilesh – 1812621

Anish – 1812614

GROUP 5

In order to delve deep into the plight of the marginalised group of labourers prevalent in modern Indian society, it is integral to analyse it from the perspective of their socio-economic background and its implications. A detailed study would be done on the industry conditions, the legal protection offered as well as their political representation.  This will give us a comprehensive insight into the significance of one’s social identity and the circumstances surrounding it in the secular nation that is modern India. We, as a collective, have decided to discuss the state of affairs concerning the cleaning staff working under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The BBMP is the administrative body responsible for civic amenities and some infrastructural assets of the Bangalore metropolitan area. Its roles and responsibilities include the orderly maintenance and development of the city involving zoning and building regulations, health, hygiene, licensing, trade and education, as well as quality of life issues such as public open space, water bodies, parks and greenery.

Firstly, it is essential to analyse and understand the social history of the cleaners themselves which in return establishes their social identity. Although, questioning the cleaners about their social background, caste and their current predicament seemed insensitive, it is integral for us to establish the fact that majority of the staff come from scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) backgrounds. The BBMP provided a secure profession for the destitute, catering to their financial needs, ensuring their sustenance and development. Although most of the staff came from uneducated backgrounds, some were very fluent in the common tongue, owing to their primary education and the nurturing environment prevalent within the industry. The skills themselves were developed on a peer-to-peer training basis, in an immersive environment where experienced workers themselves supervised and taught the new comers. A greater part of the cleaning staff were born and brought up in Bangalore, but however there remained a strong portion from other Indian states, both north and south. This was due to the booming Bangalore economy in the early 1970s. The Public sector employment and education provided opportunities for Kannadigas from the rest of the state to migrate to the city. Bangalore’s job prospects also attracted those from other states, leading to an influx of migrants. This produced a platform for indigent marginalised groups in India that was conducive in ensuring that they can provide for their families while procuring a secure job. This also to lead to future generations of these marginalised groups securing similar professions.

Now that the social background and history has been established, it is integral to discuss the conditions and norms prevalent within the BBMP cleaning industry. The cleaning staff work early shifts, clocking up to 48 hours a week, with allotted one hour breaks, and are paid the paid the minimum wage (Rs.7.33/hour) aggregating to Rs.5300 a month. This was deemed to be insufficient by the cleaning staff required to support their families, hence are required to take up extra shifts doing other physically demanding jobs. Although we were unable to obtain insights regarding BBMP’s leave policy due to the workers’ discretion and lack of time, we were informed that the Karnataka Municipal Corporation authority had granted enhanced number of days of Maternity leave and Child Care Leave for the benefit of the female KMC employees. The nature of the contract itself is one of for an unspecified period of time as the workers have the liberty to join and exit at their own will. This ensured job security, giving them the earning capacity to sustain their families. Even though the recruitment of employees at different levels used to be done centrally, promotions were awarded independently by the department where employees were posted depending on vacancies available,  this resulted in imbalance in career growth of employees Hence, to provide more transparency relating to career advancement particularly for the SC/ST employees, the KMC implemented provisions for preparation of post-wise seniority of the employees based on date of joining to a particular post/cadre.

Now, to understand the true plight of the BBMP workers, it is important for us to know about their political representation and its influence. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is an administrative body headed by M Goutham Kumar has 198 seats. Other parties like Congress (INC) has 76 seats, JD(S) 14 seats and Independent politicians with 7 seats. The local elections, generally, mirror the state elections, mostly so in cases of municipal corporations, as it exists in Tier One cities where the population is more than 10 Lakhs. But in the case of Bangalore, due to the inclusion of people moving in from Northern states, the local elections were affected to an extent that they mirrored the political scenario in the North. Congress had always gained pan-nation support since India’s Independence, but however this slowly declined once the BJP came into power, which had a significant impact on Bangalore. The BBMP workforce comprises of many people who came from northern states in search of employment, thus the coverage gained by the state political party like JD(S) is minimal because of their narrow political narratives. When it comes to the elections, their choice is indifferent in comparison to that of a tech professional working in an IT company who is not of Bangalore origin. Moreover, the representation of the workers is politically minimal, due to similarity in practices adopted by municipal corporations to those of other urban cities. The BJP in Karnataka is united by conservative ideologies and divided by linguistics which only seeks to safeguard its own interests. The Cleaning staff’s inability to communicate in English, as opposed to a tech professional, further dilutes their influence as they are forced to learn the common tongue, Kannada to reside here. As answered by the BBMP workers, learning the local language was a necessity, since most of them that grew up in Bangalore, following their parents or grandparents who migrated here have been speaking Kannada since their childhood as their second language as some have been to schools while some unfortunately couldn’t. Those fortunate were educated and instructed in Kannada; learning subjects such as history warped by far-right narratives, creating a divided state, unified by nothing but the right-wing thread of the state.

India has one of the highest numbers of Civic workers, hence, there’s a scope of exploitation because of the excessive supply and limited demand for unskilled labour. The Indian constitution has in place various laws for the protection of the workers. The BBMP cleaners interviewed didn’t have any clue as to the legal protection they have, which is a true statement for most of the workers in India as a result of which these laws which are in place are never actually applied. The following are some of the laws protecting the rights of the BBMP Cleaners: Contract Labour (Regulation & abolition) Act,1970, Industrial Employment Standing Order Act, 1946, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, etc. Even after all these laws being in place, there are numerous reports stating that the current system of BBMP is ambiguous and workers are often not paid for months on end. There is a need to simplify the structure of BBMP administration and also to educate the workers about the rights that the law provides them.

To understand the plight of the marginalized, it’s important to get a glimpse of living and working conditions of such groups. In the hierarchy of vulnerability, they are at the bottom. Surprisingly, the workers interviewed were happy and barely had any complaints, even though they have to work long with little breaks — they were satisfied with the basic pay and working conditions. Furthermore, the most crucial aspect for these communities to survive is job security which is taken care of by BBMP. Workers’ attitude inspires us for a hardworking and content life.

“A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it”. We go to different  restaurants, ranging from very small restaurants to large star hotels on a frequent basis. But all we do is to have our food and leave. But the employees of these restaurants, the people who serves us, the people we’ll even speak harshly if they make a small mistake in serving our food, the people we treats as our servants at point of our life… So we take this opportunity of the project to respect them, support them and help them. We visited a small restaurant in SuddaGunte Palya, Bangalore and interviewed 3 out of the 8 employees of that restaurant. They were not interested at first to talk to us in front of their employer but later they opened up to us and they were happy doing so, to have someone to share their story and feelings.

We interviewed with Karun, Ram and Selvam and some of our observations include that all the three were migrated from different places. Working hours of these employees are from 7 am to 10-11 pm, which will fluctuates according to the number of customers coming to the restaurant. They work on Sundays too. Their salary/wages were not disclosed to us neither by them or their employer. The restaurant is a very small enterprise and none of the employees are hired on contractual basis; they could fired any time as per the discretion of the employer. Health and medical help is given to the employees if the employer is convinced about the credibility of the situation. Employees can avail 2 paid leaves in a month. Karun, Ram and Selvam used to go to their hometown during their respective festival seasons.

Karun,  Ram and Selvam has their own stories of their journey.

I’m Karun from a village of West Bengal . I’m 23  years old. I’ve been working in this hotel for last 10 months. Earlier I worked in a Dhaba near Electronic City but I was paid less there. I came to Bangalore in search of work. I’m the only breadwinner of my family. Baba worked in a farmhouse but he met with an accident in Kotulpur and suffers from dislocation of disk. Ma works in a sugarcane estate but she earns only during the harvest season. My sister is in the eleventh grade and doing her schooling in a convent school. She excels in her studies and therefore her education is sponsored by the management of her school. Presently, she lives in a hostel.

I studied till 10th in a government school and later started  to work with baba in the farmhouse. After Baba’s accident I found it difficult to earn a living with that job  because the wages was Rs. 200 per day and that was too less to fulfill our needs. I requested for more wages but my efforts went in vain. I was denied higher wages because I belong to a backward caste. They said I was already being paid higher than I deserve.

Myself Ram. I’m from Belahiya, Nepal ;  Indo-Nepal border.  I’m  36 years old. I’ve a family of 4 members. I’ve being working in this hotel for last 2 years. I left my home 5 years back to earn more.  Before coming to Bangalore I worked in Mumbai and Gujarat. I had done multiple jobs in the streets of Mumbai to earn a living. In Gujarat I worked in a Cement factory. I lost my job as the factory shut down  because of some labour issues. My wife is working in a carpet manufacturing unit. Sasu (his mother in law ) takes care of my children Dhanu and Chaha. Dhanu is in 3rd standard and Chaha is 4 years old.

My name is Selvam. I’m from Trichy and I’m 41 years old. I had worked in  different parts of  Tamil Nadu , Karnataka and Kerala. Before getting this job I worked in a construction site at Kochi, Kerala. I got that job through an agency. There are many workers in the site and most of them are members of labour union. Since we are migrated workers we are paid less when compared to the native labours. I worked there for 6 months and got injured as a slab fell on my leg. So I left my job and went  to my hometown. It took nearly 3 months for the recovery and still I cannot perform any tasks that involve putting a physical strain on my leg.

When we were given this project, we had no idea of the gravity of the situation. The atrocities against labourers must stop. What we have observed just goes to show that we have been ignorant and complacent of the difficulties faced by the lower strata of the society. There are many people like Karun who do not get what is rightfully theirs due to the fact that they were born in a family belonging to a backward caste. Selvam is advised to not perform strenous physical tasks but he has a family to take care of with the bare minimum that he earns and therefore, he cannot afford to take a leave. This could worsen his condition. Migrants from rural India are not given healthy working conditions. They do not earn as much as the natives of the state. They are not given a sense of belonging. Labour laws have to be enforced in a more efficient manner. Labour unions should be given proper backing by political leaders and influential people so that they are taken seriously. Although, Selvam worked with members of labour union he could not raise his voice against discrimination based on region. Ram had lost his previous job in the cement factory due to labour issues. The labour unions did not take adequate steps to save the factory and at the same time protect the rights of workers. It is advisable to supervise working and functions of these labour unions. They should be given authority and measures must be taken to make them powerful.

Name of the person: Arpan
Occupation: Cleaning staff in a hotel
“Excuse me, waiter….” We would to present to you an essay on the life of a hotel staff who works for
a small hotel in SG Palaya near Christ(Deemed to be University). The idea of interviewing a staff
working in a small hotel struck us when we realised that they are those people work hard, without any
rest to earn handful amount of money their family. In the handful amount of income, they earn, they
are hardly able to fill their family’s stomach and everything else is just luxury, a dream.
Arpan, a waiter and a cleaning staff in Ande Ka Funda (a small hotel), is from a small village in
Karnataka who belongs to scheduled caste, moved to Bangalore at the age of 17 to find a job. His
family was into agriculture a few years ago. Arpan’s father is a farmer, who sold his land to repay all
the loans. The family of 5 including him find it hard to fill their stomach every day. Arpan and his
father work in a hotel and they earn handful sum of money. After they sold their land to repay the loans,
they were left jobless for a couple of months. Arpan says he always had faith in the Almighty.
Eventually, his prayers were answered. He moved to Bangalore at the age of 17 in some hope to find a
job. He roamed in the streets for a couple of days seeking for some work opportunities. He got a job in
Ande Ka Funda as a cleaning staff with a salary of rupees 150 per day. He started to work at n Ande Ka
Funda and he says his life style has improved to some extent compared to the times when he had no
job. Arpan starts his day at 5 in the morning. He works for a newspaper dealer. At 8, he goes to the
hotel to work and works there till 11 in the night. He earns around rupees 200 to 250 per day. He
manages all his expense within rupees 50 per day. He sometimes tries to avoid his expenses as much as
possible.
Arpan has taken the burden of earning for the entire family. At the present, he is the only bread earner
in his family. His father is old and cannot take the risk if working every day. His mother takes care of
the entire family. Arpan is however trying to do his job at his best ways possible and is satisfied
despite the fact that he earns less. He says that he has faith in the almighty and he hopes to find a better
way to earn and to lead a good life in the future.
When we talk about the business sector and the conditions of the work, SG Palaya is a very crowded
place that has a lot of cafes and hotels. Hotels can be successful based on their food menu, pricing and
different items that can attract the consumers. Ande Ka Funda is a very small hotel with less capital
compared to others. This can also affect the working conditions and the salary Arpan receives on a
daily basis. Sometimes, he receives salaries based on the number of customers who turn up. A small
hotel, generally has less funds, and hence cannot modify their food menu which may in turn affect the
sales. Ande Ka Funda has three workers who cook, clean, and wash all the vessels all by themselves.
Due to less capital, they are unable to expand the business. Arpan feels if he had got a job in a better
and bigger restaurant he might have earned better. Working conditions and sector also affects the
workers and their income.
Job security is a big question mark in this society. Arpan’s job security is based in his work and the
quality of work. He has a good reputation in the eyes of his owner. But at the same time, Arpan does
not receive any other allowances apart from his basic salary. He tries to keep his personal expenses at
the minimum as possible as to make sure his family gets to eat thrice a day. If we take deeper look,
Arpan might as well lose his job in case if he commits any mistake.
A small hotel business would not face any legal restrictions or political influences unless it has some
thing to do with breaking the laws of the land. Ande Ka Funda, does not face any such issues. They
claim to provide good food to its customers. Unlike the legal restrictions imposed on big restaurants

and hotels, small hotels do not have any such important rules to follow. But at the same time, food
business in the country is looked at as an important sector. All the hotels are supposed to provide good
quality food and healthy food without adulteration. Ande Ka Funda follows all the laws of the land,
they provide healthy and good quality food to its customers.
When you meet a person, whose life is hard beyond one’s imagination, you get to realise hardships of
life. it is really important to respect these people for the services they provide us irrespective of the
class we belong in the society. As we got to interact with Arpan, we realised the value for money that
we spend lavishly without giving it a second thought. As individuals bought up in economically
forward class, we got to know the difficulties that other people face in their day to day life. Eating in a
fancy restaurant is a dream for them, which might become true or eventually might just stay as a dream
forever.

Salonee Agrawal -1812646

Sreenithi Rajendran-1812648

Anuhya D-1812673

Khushbu S Bafna-1812638

Kashvi Modi-1812637

Manali Jain-1812663

COMMERCE IN INDIAN SOCIETY

CIA-1

“Life could have been harder for me but honestly speaking, I think I’m grateful for what I have.” Alex Tripura is a cleaning staff working at a restaurant called Udupi Park which is a vegetarian restaurant at Koramangala that serves a variety of dishes which are of both North and South Indian cuisines. He is from Tripura, Assam. He comes from a poor family consisting of 5 members. He studied till 9^th grade and was not fortunate enough to continue his studies any further. His family situation had forced him to work at a very younger age. As he was did not have any basic qualification, he could not get any job with a proper salary. So he was forced to migrate from Tripura to Bangalore in the hope of getting a job with a proper salary. Alex’s father is a painter who hardly earns 100 Rs per day. As his father’s job is only seasonal, his family is dependent on Alex for food and shelter. Once he migrated to Bangalore no one came forward to offer him a job. So he spent many days in hunger and fear of his future. The main reason that he had came to Bangalore is that he doesn’t want to stay in Tripura and also he would like to earn his own. He is in a fear of losing his job as this is a temporary job. He doesn’t know how long he could continue with this job. Anyways, he plans to stay in Bangalore as he is earning a good livelihood that could help his siblings study. The fact that his English was not satisfactory and the fact that he did not know the colloquial language, made it very difficult for him to find himself a job in any of the sectors. One of the major factors that made him feel hopeless and miserable about his current situation was because of the discrimination he faced out here in Bangalore. “I felt like I was being exploited and made a mockery out off.” He said when asked. After a long struggle and perseverance he finally found a job in one of the most famous restaurants called Empire. “Luck finally favored me.” he said.

His first salary was offered at rupees eight thousand per month for the work of a cleaner and his shift timings lasted for about ten hours. “It was very stressful at first and I know that many people find it very insulting when they are given the job of a cleaner, but honestly, I never really found it to be a reason or something to be ashamed of.” When asked, how the money he earned helped him survive in such a lavish place. He replied saying that he was not satisfied with the job as his friends who have migrated with him were earning rupees Ten Thousand per month. “I had to look for a better opportunity, something that pays me more but at the same time I cannot afford to quit the job because, job nahi milega tho.” Which loosely translates to “what if I don’t find one?”

 When he found that he had an opportunity to leave his current job and join in another place which like he said paid him more. He left the job and got a new job in Udupi Grand. It was another restaurant which offered him a sum of rupees thirteen thousand per month.

 And also he is quite satisfied with his new duty timings, 1pm-11pm. He admits that the new place is good and he is well treated. The only problem he is facing is that there are no weekly leaves. So if he wants a day leave he should sacrifice a day’s wage for it. “And if I take leave regularly, how can I earn money”, he smiles… He is happy with his current living and also he is provided with rooms to stay within walking distance. He could earn a decent job but his situations at that time didn’t allow him to do so as he stopped studying at the age of 14 .He wanted to make money on his own and also he had a slight interest in dance and was a while in Assam he kept aside his dreams and started to focus on earning his living. He has a little brother and a sister to take care of.

When we asked him about the job security, the manager told him that they would offer him a permanent job if he worked for more than a year. But Alex refused because he had higher ambitions and he felt that this would restrict his goals. Thus making his opportunity for growth limited. Deep inside his plan had always been to save enough money to get a degree in correspondence. When being questioned about the benefits he received from Udupi, we were informed that they had offered him accommodation, transportation and food. “How did you find the accommodation?” compared to the other places I’ve been with, the facilities provided here are quite good. “Are any retirement schemes provided by Udupi?”

No replied the Alex. I haven’t heard of anything regarding that. The same reply was given to the question regarding workers union. The most important part about this question was the fact that he actually didn’t not understand what a workers Union was and we had to explain it to him. This made us realize that people were not aware of the various empowerment schemes available to them and that spreading awareness was still a necessity in the current world, even in a metropolitan city like Bangalore.

OUR EXPERIENCE:

For our Commerce and Indian Society CIA, we went to Sri Udupi Park, 5th Block Koramangala. Sri Udupi Park is a clean and well maintained restaurant. We met the manager, who allowed us to interview a new staff. The manager greeted us well and also asked us to try out their cuisine. We interviewed Mr. Alex Tripura from Assam, who had recently joined. He seems to be very happy with his working conditions there. We had ordered Carrot Halwa and few beverages. The food tasted good and was served well. The prices were pretty affordable and economical.The management and the staff were very welcoming. We had a great time, doing this CIA

Submitted By:

M.Dhayananth-1812610

T.Havi Varshav-1812612

S.S.Thirukkumaran-1812626

Barani Siddharthan-1812608

Ashwin Ani-1812606

Albert V Sunish-1812605

4BCOMP-B

                                                            

According to the information available, socio-economic conditions and living standards are very discouraging in India. The vast majority of them, being in the unorganized sector, still lack the minimum standardized social security protection. This condition prevails even though there are many legal provisions for their protection in accordance with the laws of the central and state level. Even though more and more jobs are being created, poor working conditions and lack of effective social protection characterize such employment. In the above context, we have a story of one such migrant labour, which throws some light on the socioeconomic conditions of unorganized sector migrants labourers.

My name is Kumar Iyer and I hail from the city of Erode, Tamil Nadu. I am the only son in my family of 5 and I have two younger sisters and I am the only bread earner of my family. After my father was forced to the bed due to an injury, I had to start working at a very young age to help my family survive. I had to give up on my education and work hard to provide for the house and for the education of my younger sisters. In search of work, I came to Bangalore 10 years ago and did many odd jobs to make a living. Initially I didn’t get any job 2 full years and was unemployed that long. I then got a job in a construction site which however did not last too long. After this, with great difficulty again I hunted for more jobs. I worked in a tea shop, in an apartment as a watchman and in many such unstable jobs. Due to my job instability and the no leave policy in almost all my jobs I never got an opportunity to spend time with my family. I have not celebrated even one festival with them. I could not even attend one of my own sister’s wedding. Eventually after facing many hardships and setbacks I landed with a decent job at the flour mill. Earlier I only used to make 75 for a day’s hard work but now the situation has improved and I earn 200 a day and work for 26 days in a month, sometimes Sunday is also a working day and I have no choice but to work. I have no job contract as such and I fear that I could be fired from work any day if I am not efficient enough. My employer sometimes allows me to take leaves if it is an emergency but if he doesn’t deem the reason for leave to be of significance, I lose my wage for the day.

I walk to work every day and if possible, I borrow my neighbor’s cycle when he is not working which is very rare in a month. I have realized that there is no opportunity for growth but survival is important and hence I have to work here. Receiving a bonus is like a dream come true as there is no scope that my employer will spare extra money if he earns some extra profit.

My dream was to study a lot and become a successful person. But this cannot happen now. I want to at least educate my child when I have a family of my own and make him study very well and see him as a successful doctor or a lawyer. I have realized that nothing in this world can be done without money and no one helps in times of crisis.

Deeper analysis about the on-field observations resulted in the following.

The workplace environment affects the health of workers. Unhygienic conditions are observed in the workplace environment of flour mills as fine organic flour dust gets airborne in the indoor environment of the flour mills.

Furthermore, on being questioned about the working conditions prevalent, we found out that many of the flour mill workers were having shortness of breath problems(asthma), frequent coughing and respiratory tract irritation.

In solution to which we recommended the compulsory use of personal protective equipment (nose mask) by the workers during working hours as It would help to protect their health from the flour dust alongside a regular periodic examination that is necessary to measure the impact of particulate matter on the health of the flour mill workers.

One of the major reasons behind the continued hardships of Kumar Iyer is the growing unemployment in India. Even after so many policy implementations like MGNREGA and Swarnajayanti gram Swarozgar Yojana the state of the poor and needy still remains the same. In fact in comparison with the past few years, unemployment has been on its highest this year. Moreover, even if people like Kumar Iyer are employed, more often than not they are disguisedly unemployed and thus their wages are not sufficient for even two square meals a day.  

Even though the court has made many laws such as the- the Minimum Wage Act, Payment of Wage Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. Still these hardworking labours do not receive a minimum sustenance wages. All workers across the globe deserve a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure, and social, and cultural opportunities.

Despite the vast number of migrant workers, the policies have failed largely in providing any form of legal or social protection to the vulnerable group. The urban market treats them with opportunistic indifference extracting hard labour but denying basic entitlements.  A serious constrain in framing effective policy is the lack of credible data. Migrants also become an easy victim of politics and parochialism easily.   

Despite impressive economic growth, India continues to face significant development challenges. Poverty alleviation and equitable access to basic social services including education and health care remain at the forefront of national socio-economic discussions. India’s sustainable development will be dependent on the country’s ability to maintain economic growth while addressing the root causes of staggering poverty. In context to the lifestyle of Kumar Iyer, who by profession, works at a Flour mill, has to work really hard to sustain in the city. It’s not just about the meagre salary that they’re paid, but the concern is about the unhealthy working conditions which has resulted in several breathing problems, respiratory tract issues, et cetera. We couldn’t help them any better but advise them about some of the measures that would protect them from the above mentioned health issues.
Hence, employers should be well aware of these problems and should take drastic measures in the improvement and maintaining a healthy working environment.

Dhruv Aggarwal 1812611

Juzer Aziz 1812653

Chahat Talwaria 1812661

Kashish Wahi 1812662

Palak Kala 1812644

Suranjan Hunjan 1812664

According to TOI Survey Bangalore has over 40% migrants working in various sectors. In order to analyse trends and reasons, our group did an interview with 23 year old Naushad working as a cleaning staff at Pin me Down restaurant in Bangalore. Native of Kerala, Naushad came to Bangalore in 2015 while his family dwells in his home state.
Talking about his work conditions he clocks around 10 hours a day from 11 in the morning to 10 in the night with a lunch break of an hour in the afternoon. Naushad is able to earn 13000 per month working at the restauarant which is his only source of income. The terms and conditions of employment don’t seem to be very formal with respect to job security and benefits. It’s basically an unskilled sector where there is surplus labour and so chances of collective or individual bargaining are negligible. Although, he says that his employer is quite supportive and understanding in terms of leaves and bonus.
He is a father of two kids who are currently studying in class 4 and class 2 respectively back in kerala.He gets to meet them when he goes back to his hometown for 2 months in a year. When asked about his future prospects, Naushad says that he aspires to work in a 5 star hotel and serve the customers.
Job tenure for Naushad is either at the mercy of the employer or when better prospects come by.

Industry Conditions:
Hotel industry included under Factories Act says that the industry will have to fix proper shifts and pay overtime if they work for more than 8 hours a day. Along with this they will have to ensure workers health, safety and welfare facilities. The rule book of the leading hotels would need a relook as the decision of ministry of labour and employment to include the ‘Hotel Industry’ under the Factories Act. It is also said that not only the time frame or shifts are the things that has to be looked upon but also we have to probably look at the employees issues relating to health, safety, welfare facilities, working hours, employment of young persons and annual leave with wages which is all a part of Factories Act with the inclusion. The Factories Act is a social legislation which has been enacted for occupational safety, health and welfare of workers at workplace. This Act helps many workers and would prevent them from being ‘used’ at the workplace. The standard of their living would also improve. The Act provides for a maximum punishment up to two years imprisonment or a fine of up to rupees one lakh or both.
Many hotels management always ignore the protection of employees in work places. This is the most significant issue of those employee health and safety issues. Insuring in working places caused employees health and safety without protection. An incorrect training or misleading direction is also fatal for employees who work on the first line of a restaurant.
They can easily get hurt with the equipment’s without training. No work place can insure his/her hotel does not have the occurrences od violation of human rights. Bullying in the workplace has received increasing attention over recent decades and continues to be an area of concern for both researchers and organizational practitioners.
Face to the issues:
This can be done by legal protection
• Article 36: state shall practice a working hour system under which labours should work no more than 8 hours a day and no more than 44 hours a week.
• Article 38: employing unit shall guarantee that its staff and workers have at least one day off in a week
Government functions are to strengthen supervision and inspection on the employees. The duty of the government should be
a) To guarantee the efficiency of the law
b) To regulate the public order of the labour
c) To protect the right of the labourers in an administration method
d) To coordinate the relationship between the employees and employer
An employer is a person or organisation that hires people to perform work in exchange for compensation which is usually money in the form of wages or a salary. So, employee builds relationship with employee directly. In the production and business activities, employee’s health and safety should be protected carefully no matter the employee who is in charge of food protection or guest room selling.
The solution could be:
a. To standardized work schedule
b. More attention on the work place
c. Appropriate training
d. Human rights protection

Given that the above laws are strictly implemented and followed, many workers in the hospitality industry like Naushad can have a stable job and lead a better life while able to chase their dreams.
This activity was an informative experience for all of us as it helped us know about the actual conditions of workers in the hospitality industry. We even got to learn a lot of things interacting with Naushad like reasons for migration, job security, pay structures etc. Overall, it was a great experience for us interacting with a restaurant worker who in the end even invited us to visit the restaurant in the future.

Group Members

Devashish Raj 1812609

Tanishq Jain 1812624

Vedant Malhotra 1812628

Fuzala Askeri 1812656

Palash Rathi 1812657

Bhumika Sharma 1812660

In an era of washing machines, there are dhobis. Men and women who use their hands to wash and iron others clothes and earn their livelihood. According to the 2001 Census, found out that dhobis are 6% of the Scheduled Castes of the population. In Tamil Nadu dhobis are known as vannar. Now according to the recent surveys conducted by various organizations, there are reports that the  perecentage of people working as dhobis is decreasing. One such person we met is Ramesh.

A man who hails from the town of Hosur, Tamil Nadu. He migrated to Bengaluru around twenty five years ago. He works day in and day out, from dusk till dawn to support his family. His father was a dhobi in Hosur and since his childhood he watched his father and mother wash others clothes to help him get educated. He could not study further after finishing his SSLC. He wanted to study further after SSLC but could not because of the circumstances. Now he tries his best to fulfill the wishes of his daughters to achieve their dreams and progress further in their careers.

 Now he has come to a bigger city in search of a bigger opportunity to try to provide for his family what he could not get in his childhood. He started ironing as well along with washing clothes so that he can earn more money and try to help his children learn.

He has two daughters. His elder daughter is studying in Christ University. She is doing her Master’s of Science in Bio-technology. His younger daughter is pursuing her Bachelors of Commerce from NMKRV College.

He earns about 100 – 1000 Rupees in a day depending on the number of clothes that he gets from his customers. There are variations in his earnings. Since his shop is near to Christ University, most of his customers are students. During their vacations his revenue is one-third or lesser of what he earns during peak days. During festivals he earns more because people give him their new clothes to be washed and ironed.

His working hours are very hectic, tiring and exhausting. He starts his work from eight in the morning and goes on till nine in the night. He takes a break from two to three in the afternoon. Sometimes he goes beyond that as he has to meet his deadline of washing his clothes and ironing them. There are no standard working hours among dhobis since there is no union among them and they work according to the number of clothes that they get in a day. He takes a holiday every Sunday, so that he can cool off the work pressure that he has and spend some time with his family and he also tries to work that day to prevent his work from piling up.

Since there is no union he says that he faces problems of representation within the society. He says he faces difficulties due to the rising prices of basic things like food and clothes. If he raises his prices then he would have fewer customers as the customers would go to some other shop. This would mean that he would face a loss and he would have to reduce his prices in order to match with his competitors.

 When asked about job satisfaction, he said that it is a necessity and he has to do his work whether he is satisfied or not. The reason for this is that he does not know any other thing to do other than this.

When asked about his caste, he was a little hesitant to answer because he was a little fearful about his caste. He was born into a Scheduled Caste family. This is because of the society that he lives in and the perception that is built around his caste. He also feels that maybe in some way his caste created a barrier between him and his higher education. Now he feels a little relieved that there is not much discrimination today because his daughters do not have to face what he had face in his younger years.       

EXPERIENCE:

Our group feels that he has been discriminated. When we spoke to him we felt that he is a very sweet person. He seems like a harmless soul who would not hurt a fly. We feel that he has been oppressed all his life and now he strives hard every day to earn a living and help his daughters to live the life that they want to live.

We feel that there is a strong need for a union. We feel that the prices should be set according to the economic conditions of the country. We feel that their contribution to the society is not recognized in the way it is supposed to be. We also feel that the dhobi community is now dying because of the new technological innovations and more efficient Laundromats which take lesser time when compared to the dhobis.

Dhobis have been a part of the society since centuries and we feel that now in these dire times that they face it is our duty to help them.

Group Members:

Abin George Joseph – 1812603

Niven George Benny – 1812618

Rohit Cheeran Rajith – 1812620

Jim Johnson – 1812625

Tanmay Agarwal – 1812658

Daniyal Tasgaonkar – 1812674