Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- one Introduction: Work, stress and health in India
- two Work, stress and health: Theories and models
- three Work environment, health and the international development agenda
- four Employment trends in India: Some issues for investigation
- five Rural-urban and gender differences in time spent in unpaid household work in India
- six Activity status, morbidity patterns and hospitalisation in India
- seven Occupational class and chronic diseases in India
- eight Stress and health among the Indian police
- nine Health status and lifestyle of the Oraon tea garden labourers of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal
- ten The role of work-family support factors in helping individuals achieve work-family balance in India
- eleven Working conditions, health and well-being among the scavenger community
- twelve Lessons and future research directions from work environment research in India
- Index
twelve - Lessons and future research directions from work environment research in India
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Foreword
- one Introduction: Work, stress and health in India
- two Work, stress and health: Theories and models
- three Work environment, health and the international development agenda
- four Employment trends in India: Some issues for investigation
- five Rural-urban and gender differences in time spent in unpaid household work in India
- six Activity status, morbidity patterns and hospitalisation in India
- seven Occupational class and chronic diseases in India
- eight Stress and health among the Indian police
- nine Health status and lifestyle of the Oraon tea garden labourers of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal
- ten The role of work-family support factors in helping individuals achieve work-family balance in India
- eleven Working conditions, health and well-being among the scavenger community
- twelve Lessons and future research directions from work environment research in India
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The chapters in this book represent state-of-the-art research on work and health in India. They cover a wide range of topics across a variety of different socioeconomic groups and locations. Yet the task of providing an overview of the issues raised is challenging. Indeed, the overriding impression one gets from the evidence presented throughout the book is that India is a country of contradictions. This is perhaps hardly surprising given its sheer diversity. India is a country of some 1.2 billion people covering an area of 3.3 million km2. In comparison the European Union is home to 508 million people over 4.3 million km2 and few people would treat this as a culturally, politically or even economically homogenous entity. Indeed, the degree of regional diversity is probably greater in India than most other comparable regions of the world. As Dreze and Sen (2014) wryly observe India is part California and part sub-Saharan Africa. It has some of the most dynamic, fastest-growing, modernising cities in the world. Visitors to Mumbai, Delhi or Kolkata will be struck by the sheer scale of the cities, the pace of economic activity and the number of easily recognisable global corporate logos dotted around the city. Yet these economic successes coexist alongside extreme poverty. As Dreze and Sen argue (2014, 47):
‘Contrary to the increasingly used rhetoric which suggests that India is well on its way to becoming an economic ‘superpower’, this is far from the real picture, even in terms of per capita income. In fact, despite rapid economic expansion in recent years, India remains one of the poorest countries in the world.’
Evidence of this persistent poverty can be seen not only in the mega-slums that have grown up around these global cities but in the countryside too where famines and droughts continue to plague the lives of millions. Recently severe water shortages have taken a terrible toll on the lives and livelihoods of many famers in the country (Akhef and Joshi, 2015).
This level of diversity is reflected in the findings presented in the book. On the one hand there are some very clear indicators of modernisation and rapid development in the country, as noted in several chapters.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Work and Health in India , pp. 237 - 254Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2017