Welfare through skills development

Economic liberalization and structural reform agenda of 1990’s in India led to a boom in infrastructure development and expansion. The construction sector in India is one of the largest employers of workers, next only to agriculture. Informal, unskilled workers form a major part of this labor force. In this context, social assistance provided for workers by the Government of India has particularly focused on preventing exploitative conditions at the worksite. Seldom is it directed towards skills, wages, and productivity nexus to uplift livelihood of workers. Hence, there is a need to understand how employers structure welfare through skill upgradation; and how the worker locates himself amongst the organizational, institutional and monetary choices, within a geographical region. Types of skill acquisition and development become primary intervention tools for safeguarding livelihood generation and welfare of a construction worker. This thesis concerns with traditional and modern construction skills development with respect to social mobility in the context of public and private institutional frameworks.