Urban Poor in India: A Case Study of Kolhapur City

India is the second most populous country in the world. Of this, 467 million individuals constitute India’s workforce. Among this only 7 percent engaged in the ‘formal sector’ is entitled to social security benefits. The coverage does not extend to the overwhelming majority (93%) of the workforce engaged in the unorganized sector. For a workforce that is so large and highly scattered, Trade unions and membership organizations have a vital role to play in social protection of workers. As per the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) 2009–10, the total employment in the country was of 46.5 crore comprising around 2.8 crore in the organized and the remaining 43.7 crore workers means 93% of the total workforce has been engaged in the unorganized sector. Out of these workers in the unorganized sector, there are 24.6 crore workers employed in agricultural sector, about 4.4 crore in construction work and remaining in manufacturing and service.

Therefore, the Government of India has made various acts but the coverage does not extend to the workforce of those are engaged in the unorganized sector. Though this section is so large, it is highly scattered and therefore, first step to access social security is to organize and unite them. The present scenario does not apply only to India but other developing countries also.

Therefore, this research paper focuses on 120 urban poor who are working in the unorganized sector and live under the below poverty line and consequently are living in the slum area. The existing structure of the slums in Kolhapur City indicates that there are forty declared slums and sixteen slums are unauthorized. Out of these, eight slums have been selected on cluster method and the researcher has found that, they do not any social security.