This article traces the trajectory of different initiatives to address unfree labour and their impact on workers’ capacity to aspire to and exercise their rights in India. We attempt to understand the dimensions and effects of different ‘ways of seeing’ precarity and exploitation within the larger context of economic policies, social structures such as caste-based discrimination, gender-based violence, and state indifference. In a caste and gender-unequal society such as India, with deep regional disparities, we examine how different lenses have impacted on development-led historical processes of informalisation and flexibilisation of work. We do this by contrasting two different ‘models’ in the country, one in the north in a rural setting and the other in the west in an urban context. Context is important, but the organisations and activists involved in our two case studies saw their role and that of workers differently, operating according to distinct goals and working practices. Our research demonstrates that ‘ways of seeing’ matter, as they lead to disparate results in terms of workers’ capacity to mobilise and claim their rights.

中文翻译：

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“眼见为实”-印度的政策范式和不自由劳动

本文追溯了解决非自由劳工的各种举措的轨迹，以及它们对工人追求和行使其在印度的权利的能力的影响。我们试图在更大范围的经济政策，社会结构（如基于种姓的歧视，基于性别的暴力以及国家冷漠）的大背景下，了解不同的“看待方式” car不安和剥削的规模和影响。在印度这样的种姓制和性别不平等的社会中，存在着巨大的地区差异，我们研究了不同的视角如何影响以发展为主导的非正规化和工作灵活性的历史进程。我们通过对比该国的两种不同“模式”来做到这一点，一种在农村环境中在北部，另一种在城市环境中在西部。情境很重要 但是参与我们两个案例研究的组织和激进主义者则根据各自不同的目标和工作习惯，对他们的角色和工人的角色看法有所不同。我们的研究表明，“观察方式”很重要，因为它们导致工人动员和主张其权利的能力截然不同。