Call for Papers for National Seminar on "Labour and Employment Trends in North-Eastern Region: Challenges & Opportunities"
Date : 27-28th March, 2012

NORTH-EAST RESEARCH CENTRE
V. V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida
Organises
National Seminar
on
Labour and Employment Trends in North-Eastern Region
Challenges & Opportunities
27-28th March, 2012

Call for Papers

Concept Note:

The North Eastern Region (NER) of India constitutes 7.9 per cent of country’s total geographical area and 3.8 per cent of total population of the country (Census, 2001). It stretches from the foothills of the Himalayas in the eastern range and is surrounded by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar. It includes eight states- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Troubled by history and geo-politics, the NER has remained one of the most backward regions of the country. Poor infrastructure and governance is combined with low productivity and market access.

The standard of living of the people in the region, as measured by per capita Gross state Domestic Product (GSDP), has lagged significantly behind the rest of the country. Creating job opportunities is a challenge for a development strategy for any State or region but more so in NER with its largely agrarian economies, low levels of industrial activity and significant dependence on the public sector for employment-creation opportunities. At the same time, the supply of manpower has been constrained by the lack of good quality professional and vocational training in the region that would raise the skills base and boost entrepreneurial abilities.

NER constitutes 3.6 per cent of India’s total workforce (2004–05). The labour scenario in the NER is quite unique compared to other regions of the country owing to a multitude of factors (including geographical, socio-economic and political). While the region witnessed a rapid expansion of employment in the 1980s and 1990s, most of the job creation took place within public administration in response to the formation of new States, the need to establish an administrative machinery and possibly to compensate for the lack of employment opportunities from private investment. The region is marked by lower rate of industrialization and limited spread of modern service sector.

The agricultural operations are also distinct (with the presence of unique systems like jhuming). Cultural ethos governing labour market participation is also different, which inter alia reflects on the distinctive composition of the labour force – across gender and social categories. Yet another important aspect is migration, which gets complicated due to several socio-political considerations – both in terms of internal migration of population (from within and outside the region) as well as in terms of influx of labourers across national boundaries. Although there have been various initiatives taken up by the government for employment and income generation in the region, their benefits to the people at the grassroot is still debatable.

All these suggests that, understanding the labour market and employment strategies in NER warrants specialised efforts and analytical frameworks – as the labour market dynamics of the region may not be fully amenable to the extant conceptualizations based on empirical evidences pertaining to other parts of the country. It is in this context, the North-East Research Centre (NERC) of V.V. Giri National Labour Institute is organising this two day national seminar on the theme Labour and Employment Trends in North-Eastern Region: Challenges and Opportunities.

Papers on the following sub-themes, but not limited to these are invited:

Sub-Theme 1: Economic Reforms, Employment and Development Indicators in India: Evidences from NER

It examines the linkages between economic reforms, employment and poverty reduction in NER. Focus will be on to identify policies that will channelize higher rates of economic growth and employment generation to achieve faster poverty reduction. It attempts an analytical and empirical exercise to examine how higher levels of economic growth will reduce poverty via growth of productive and remunerative employment which will further increase productivity and economic growth.
It also focusses to map all economic and social changes during the economic reform period (1990s and beyond) and examine its impact on employment in NER. The reform process has not only thrown challenges but also opportunities. So a dis-aggregated/sector specific studies need to identify high-grown, slow-grown and declining sectors. This will help in formulating comprehensive sector-specific policies to further expand productive employment in NER.

Sub-Theme 2: Livelihood Strategies in NER

Under this theme, there is an attempt to examine the causes and determinants (such as access to resources: institutional, market, policy environment, intra-household relations, wider social relations, and so on) of various livelihood strategies including migration in the NER. Other issues such as pattern of employment-oriented migrations and gender dimension of migration will also be explored.

Sub-Theme 3: Employment Expansion: Role and Potential of Tourism, Handloom & Handicrafts, Plantation Sector and other Cottage Industries in NER

In NER, tourism, handicrafts, cottage industries and plantation, have got immense employment potential. Tourism and its allied small-scale industries will be crucial for the future growth of economy of NER. It would be worth examining the implications of these sectors for the growth in general and employment and export expansion in particular.

Sub-Theme 4: Social Security Measures including NREGA & Other Government Employment Generation Initiatives in NER

The primary focus under this sub-theme is to critically review and analyse the impact of social security measures including NREGA and other government employment generation initiatives in NER.

Sub-Theme 5: Dynamics of Employment and Social Groups in NER

This sub-theme tries to explore the dynamics of the relationships between employment and social groups like workers-organised & unorganised, women, children, youth, disadvantaged groups etc in NER.

Level of participants:

Academicians, researchers, policy makers and activists from various Universities/Institutes/organisations working on labour and employment issues in North Eastern Region of India.

Guidelines for submission of Abstract:
* Word limit: up to 300 words
* Font type: Times New Roman; Font size: 12 points
* Margins: 1 cm all sides; Spacing: 1.5

The received abstracts will be reviewed by an expert panel and those selected will be asked to submit the complete papers. The electronic copy of the abstract should be sent by 29th February, 2012 and the completed papers by 15th March 2012 to [email protected] or [email protected]. Please note that there is no need to send the hard copy. The details regarding the seminar can be obtained from the institute’s website: www.vvgnli.org

For any information, please contact:

Seminar Coordinators:

Anoop Kumar Satpathy
Fellow & Coordinator
North-East Research Centre
V. V. Giri National Labour Institute
Sector: 24, Noida-201301, India
E- mail:anoop(dot)kumarsatpathy(at)gmail(dot)com

Otojit Kshetrimayum
Associate Fellow & Associate Coordinator
North-East Research Centre
V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
Sector-24, Noida-201301, India
E-mail: otojit(at)gmail(dot)com