Connection Paper

Neoliberalism as unexceptional: Economic zones and the everyday

precariousness of working life in South India
Step 1:
Part (a)
The special economic zones that are being built across India are thought of as offshore territories
away from the normal society where the regular laws of labour, regular disciplines or inalienable
rights to citizens are not applicable. People like activists, politicians and social scientists imagine
these zones as exceptions where everything is market-oriented and the laws are flexible. Whereas,
these zones are actually just unexceptional places because of their connections to the economy of
the outside world and all they do is just sanction the conditions of informality and precariousness
of work which already exist in most of the Indian economic society.
Part (b)
These zones are not impermeable to the outside world. In fact, the uncertainty of working
conditions, the political conditions inside and the permeable walls of the zones make the working
conditions in these zones similar to the ones outside. This is because of various reasons. First,
these zones work smoothly and effectively because of the informal and casual labour relationships
which involves people in different areas of work like manufacturing, construction etc. Second,
large global corporations like Worldwide Diamonds are connected to other sites of labour and
other sources of income which permeate the boundaries of the zones. Third, it does not matter
whether the people are working inside or outside these zones, the labour class in India never enjoys
any rights or job security.
Part (c)
The implication of these special economic zones is just that they validate or authorize the already
existing conditions of precarity, informality and lack of security under which most Indian
economic activities take place. The lack of rules and regulations by the government in regular
economic activities is sanctioned by these special zones. The ‘flexibility’ in the working
conditions of these zones is nothing else but the lack of protection and security for the workers
which unfortunately already exists outside these zones. These conditions are legitimized in these
offshore territories “as a mode of capitalist production and labour control” (Cross, 2010, p. 370).

Step 2:
The first sociological concept that I would like to connect with the reading is the concept of
Neo-liberalism. “The term neo-liberalism involves, in Harvey's view, a combination of classical
liberalism's commitment to individual liberty with neoclassical economics devoted to the free
market and opposed to state intervention in that market” (Ritzer, George. Globalization: A Basic
Text. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, Pg-110). The concept of Neo-liberalism includes
various economic liberalization policies involving ideas like free trade, relaxation of rules and
regulations, casual labour laws, increasing privatization by reducing government spending etc.
The economic zones which the author talks about in this article are a classic example of
enforcement of neo-liberal policies. These special zones were conceptualized as neo-liberal
exceptions and were being built with the idea of experimenting with the government to reduce
state intervention in economic activities and to make these areas more market-oriented. This article
helps us understand the concept of neo-liberalization better by introducing the concept of these
special economic zones which were imagined to have all the characteristics which promote neo-
liberal policies. The Vizag special economic zone was thought of as an isolated territory, away
from the mainland with relaxed policies, rules and regulations all promoting free market and trade
which benefit the large companies like Worldwide Diamonds which setup business in these zones.
The working conditions for the labour class in these zones, although not so different from the
conditions in the economy outside these zones, are terrible. The workers in the VSEZ are mostly
Telugu-speaking people of different castes who have always lived in the districts of Andhra
Pradesh near the coastal areas. These workers are always employed on a temporary basis. The
hiring is always irregular, casual and informal and security of work is never there in these zones.
These people’s jobs are always instable, they are hired on minimum wage and regular wage is
never guaranteed. Any kind of security, protection from the company employing them or medical
or social benefits are not provided and they never enjoy any “inalienable rights or entitlements”
(Cross, 2010, p. 359). These people mostly need to work multiple jobs and interact with the
economy outside the zone to make both ends meet since the wages are not enough and their jobs
are temporary. From the above description, it is clear that the working conditions and the rights of
the labour class inside these special economic zones are such that they favour large companies
like Worldwide Diamonds in every way and are aimed at maximizing the company’s profit and
reducing state intervention in economic activities. Thus, we see that these conditions, and hence
the economic zones, promote neo-liberal economic policies.
The second sociological concept that I would like to connect to the article is the concept of
Outsourcing. “Outsourcing is the transfer of activities once performed by an entity to a business
(or businesses) in exchange for money. The form of outsourcing most closely and importantly
associated with globalization is offshore outsourcing which involves sending work to companies
in other countries” (Ritzer, George. Globalization: A Basic Text. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2010, Pg-226). Large multi-national companies like Worldwide Diamonds setting up business in
these special economic zones and hiring a large number of locals to work in their factories is a
classic example of outsourcing and helps us understand this concept better. Outsourcing the work
to these Indian economic zones helps Worldwide Diamonds to maximize its profit as the labour
here is very cheap and the labour laws are relaxed which exempts the company from providing
any kind of benefits to its factory workers and enables it to hire people on a temporary minimum
wage basis.
Another very specific example of outsourcing mentioned in the article is as follows. The contract
for making uniforms for company workers was given to Hari, a supervisor in the production
department. “In turn, Hari outsourced the work to Kodi, a male co-worker on the factory floor
who had spent a couple of years after leaving school at age 16 as a tailor in a small family business.
Kodi subsequently recruited his uncle and his uncle’s employee and together they stitched 400 of
the 1200 blue production uniforms circulating around the factory” (Cross, 2010, p. 365).
Step 3:
A real-life example that connects to this reading is the construction work currently going on in
front of New Core Labs (NCL) in our campus. The labourers working on the construction site are
hired by the contractor on a temporary basis and work on a daily wage. These people come to
work everyday and go back to their homes at the and of the day. The construction company might
be based somewhere else but these workers are local people from poor families hired on minimum
wage with no benefits or security. This example is very similar to the example of the Telugu people
working in the special economic zone of Vizag and this article helps us understand the conditions
under which the labourers here at IIT Kanpur are working. The workers in Vizag went on a strike
to protest against miserable working conditions. This might help us predict any similar event that
might occur if the condition of the workers here at IIT Kanpur keeps deteriorating.

Sagar Chaudhary
Roll no.- 160603

Bibliography

1. Ritzer, George. Globalization: A Basic Text. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010

2. J. Cross, “Neoliberalism as unexceptional: Economic zones and the everyday
precariousness of working life in South India”, Critique of Anthropology, 30(4) 355-373
(2010)