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Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India

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  • Rina Agarwala

Abstract

This paper brings labour back into the literature on legal empowerment against poverty. Employing a historical lens, I outline three waves of legal movements. Each wave is distinguished by its timing, the state-level target, and the actors involved. In all three waves, legal empowerment was won, not bestowed. Labour played a significant role, fighting in each subsequent wave for an expanded identity to address exclusions. These findings reveal the false dichotomy used to distinguish workers from citizens and class from identity-based interests.

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  • Rina Agarwala, 2017. "Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-57
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-57.pdf
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