Articles by G Vijay

This paper is an attempt to delve on the consequences of the antinomies of flattened notions of subaltern politics. On the basis of a field study in a pollution affected village in Andhra Pradesh, it demonstrates how sustained demands for the closure of polluting industries based on collective mobilisation and action are met by repression by an uncivil state in nexus with the mafia and economic elites. This in turn pushes collectives to break up and be replaced by interest-based demands either at the level of smaller groups (formed around available social stratifications) or even the individual. This makes it increasingly difficult over a period of time to sustain collective political action that could demand and gain long-term structural changes.

A seminar in Hyderabad discussed a broad range of issues relating to economic, political and cultural trends in Andhra Pradesh with wide participation from representatives of various movements. One prominent strand that ran through the seminar was the general backwardness and poverty in the Telangana region, giving rise to armed struggle and demands for a separate state.

The changing policy orientation from mid-1980s onwards has serious implications for the institutions and actors involved in the process of industrialisation. The labour market is no exception. This paper tries to reflect on this change by understanding the politicaleconomic dynamics of change in a new industrial town Kothur in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.

Social security in the formal sector has an institutionalised expression. In case of the agrarian informal sector, pre-capitalist institutions of patronage perform this role of providing social security. In the case of the new industries, the process of flexibilisation has led to the generation of informal segments within the organised sector. Social security in this case is a complex issue since, firstly, it involves migration of labour from rural areas to what are termed as new townships; secondly, the labour in the new industries is recruited on contractual or casual basis; and thirdly, insecurity of employment prevents unionisation of labour. It is in this context that this paper attempts to define social security; conceptualise in what forms and through what institutions it finds an expression; and finally analyse what attributes enable access to these institutions.