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DECENT WORK
Concept, Theory and Measurement

NAUSHEEN NIZAMI
NARAYAN PRASAD
Decent Work: Concept, Theory and
Measurement
 Nausheen Nizami • Narayan Prasad

Decent Work:
Concept, Theory and
Measurement
Nausheen Nizami Narayan Prasad
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University School of Social Sciences (SOSS)
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India Indira Gandhi National Open University
New Delhi, India

ISBN 978-981-10-2193-0    ISBN 978-981-10-2194-7 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2194-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957551

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
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errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
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Cover illustration: © Chris Cross / gettyimages

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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #22-06/08 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
This book is dedicated to our families whose untiring support was
statistically significant in the making of the book!
To practice decency is to follow human integrity.
 Foreword

Work in the twenty-first century is breaking the traditionally defined

lines of labour market and is redefining itself given the impetus by tech-
nological dynamism and near-perfect information via growing degrees
of communication. The conditions of work have however deteriorated
over time given the increasing demands of rising population and labour
force and the gaps in skill demand and supply. As remaining unemployed
is not a viable option for people living in developing countries due to
lack of financial support from the government’s end, the majority of the
workforce is often found to be working in the informal sector. Although
conditions of work are pitiable in the informal sector, there is a need
to examine them in the formal sector as well with a view to find sta-
tus of decent work therein. Decent work as an agenda of International
Labour Office has been one of its foundational concerns since 1919 and
has emerged as an exclusive agenda only since 1999. To further the value
addition, decent work is not just an agenda having mass appeal; it is also
an aspiration of every human being and a responsibility of every nation.
It is a part of the broader debate of human well-being. Well-being is a
multidimensional concept and refers to the economic, social, psycho-
logical, social and health well-being as components of holistic well-being.
Provision of decent work ensures a worker’s well-being.
This book brings a holistic perspective of decent work keeping in view
the changes creeping in regularly in the world of work. It has outlined
ix
x Foreword

the concept, theory and methodology for measuring decent work in an

industry and provides useful guidelines to researchers to investigate fur-
ther in this area. The book has introduced the different perspectives on
work with a special focus on decent work. It has linked the effect of stages
of development on a country’s labour market and industry’s growth with
the well-being of the workers.
The book has also conceptualised few indicators of decent work in the
Indian context and has attempted to use one of them in the measurement
study of decent work. The industry chosen for the study is information
technology, which is a young industry growing rapidly nationally and
internationally and has carved out a niche for itself. The industry employs
relatively younger workforce, offers sophisticated work conditions and
higher remunerations and is technologically advanced. A case study on
the IT industry has been undertaken by the authors at micro-level by an
extensive exercise of data collection and analysis. Right from methodol-
ogy to results, the study on measurement of decent work is interesting as
it paves the way for the use of mixed-methods research on a qualitative
phenomenon like decent work.
The theme of the book does justice to its content and is a positive
contribution to the literature of decent work given the limited work on
measurement at micro- and meso-level.
Dr. Ravindra Kumar
Vice-Chancellor (In-Charge)
Indira Gandhi National Open University,
New Delhi
 Preface

Economics is a social science and deals with human behaviour. At the

macro-level, it is closely connected to the hopes, aspirations and fears
of the people and at the micro-level it deals with the sense of fulfilment,
utility, contentment and well-being of an individual not just in economic
terms but in a utilitarian manner. In this sense, it is much similar to
social psychology and human development than to any other discipline
of social science. Work being an integral part of human life, decent work
is a necessity to maintain this sense of fulfilment, dignity and well-being
of an individual. Primarily, there are four factors of production in an
economy. Labour is embodied in human beings and is a unique feature of
labour market. Labour may be physical (manual) or non-manual. Most
of the economies today are stocking up human capital which is the stock
of knowledge, talents, skills, abilities, experience, intelligence, training,
judgment and wisdom possessed individually and collectively by individ-
uals in a population (Wikipedia). In this context it becomes important to
examine the inter-personal relationships between the supply and demand
of labour. Work may be undertaken to sustain livelihood, to secure future
earnings, to earn dignity in the society or for non-economic reasons too.
However irrespective of the motive for work, it is important to ensure
that work done by workers is in decent parameters and so there is a need
to understand what constitutes decent work and what the parameters of
decent work are.
xi
xii Preface

‘Decent work’ in its essence was conceptualised by the International

Labour Office (ILO), Geneva, to ensure provision of decent and produc-
tive work opportunities to both men and women, in conditions of equity,
freedom, security and dignity. ‘Decent work’ is a multidimensional con-
cept and applies to both formal and informal sectors of an economy.
This book has examined the status of decent work in India’s information
technology industry. Information technology is the new face of India’s
growth story. Information technology, in its essence, refers to ‘acquisi-
tion, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual
and numerical information by a micro-electronics based combination
of computing and telecommunications. IT professionals perform a wide
range of tasks, such as from installing applications to designing complex
computer networks and information databases, networking, manage-
ment and administration of entire systems.’1 The goal of decent work is
to create better jobs in the global economy without imposing burdens on
those who work for it.
Holistically, the definition of decent work goes beyond the ILO’s four
core labour standards embodied in the decent work agenda. It is impera-
tive that the definition of decent work must address all kinds of jobs, all
people and all families. In order to do so, it must recognise the inter-­
dimensional nature of people’s lives because these aspects are interdepen-
dent and indivisible and so must be addressed in a holistic human rights
framework.
In the Indian context, it is important to note some key characteristics
of the IT industry’s growth story. The IT industry in India is primarily
export driven and accounts for roughly 5.19 % of the country’s GDP.
It provided direct employment to two million labour forces by the end
of financial year 2008–09. Export revenues from IT service increased
from a mere 5.8 % in 2001–02 to 26.5 % in the year 2008–09 witness-
ing a compound annual growth rate of 23.2 %. The Indian government
has exempted IT and outsourcing companies from the provisions of its
labour law, that is, The Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act,
1946, for two years (2009–11) to help firms cope with the challeng-
ing business climate. In the financial year 2008, India’s IT industry was

1
Retrieved from Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia.
 Preface xiii

catered by 60 % of the US market, 31 % of the European market (includ-

ing UK) and the remaining 9 % with the rest of the world. Future trends
would further diversify the IT markets in different countries of the world.
However, the IT industry in India despite its peculiar features continues
to be an opportunity-driven volatile sector vulnerable to global business
trends because of its massive dependence on developed countries for its
projects and work. Globalisation has thus played the role of driver as well
as halter in its growth story.
Employees of this industry have redefined the characteristics of labour
force vis-à-vis other sectors and the emerging labour market. The IT
industry is being driven by a relatively younger, technically skilled labour
force dominating the sector vis-à-vis other sectors by its higher remu-
neration, disposable income and consumption spending having a circu-
lar impact on the generation of demand for goods and services of other
sectors. Some of the peculiar features of this emerging labour market are
high skill intensity, rapid skill obsolescence and continuous re-skilling,
flattening of job hierarchies, hastening of climbing up hierarchies, highly
individualised and flexible nature of wage fixation and so on. An excerpt
from an IT employee was taken to understand his meaning about decent
work. He revealed that for him decent work is a job that respects one’s
working hours, personal space and personal integrity and does not con-
stitute anything illegal either. However, work in every industry takes dif-
ferent forms and so employment is diverse.
Employees are the face of any industry, besides its performance and
growth story. Human resource has been the driving force behind this. In
the philosophy of human resource development, labour is a resource to
development. Although the employees of the IT industry are being paid
relatively higher remuneration, disposable income, better work environ-
ment and competent atmosphere in general, it is important to examine
the extent of decent work being observed by the employees in the IT
sector.
The decent work phenomenon in this book has been assessed on the
basis of indicators developed by ILO’s working papers. Generally, with
the growth of the IT industry, the following questions arise in the mind
of researchers:
xiv Preface

1. What are the indicators of decent work at macro-, meso- and micro-­
level? Are they universally relevant?
2. How far are the decent work indicators developed by ILO relevant to
the IT industry in India?
3. Does the structure of competition in the IT industry affect the decent
work practices in countries like India?
4. Is there trade-off between decent work and economic growth, decent
work and employment generation, and decent work and productive
employment?
5. Which challenges are being encountered by employers in the IT
industry in provision of decent work to their employees?
6. Is there any gender discrimination in decent work practices by employ-
ers in the IT industry?
7. Is a job in the IT industry decent simply because it provides higher
wages?
8. Does a decent workplace equally translate into provision of decent
work?

 ecent Work: Responsibility of Employers or

D
Law-Enforcing Agencies?
Provision of decent work is the responsibility of the employers. Since work
takes place at a workplace in general, the creation of decent workplace
can go a long way in ensuring decent work provision. A workplace which
is decent essentially addresses some of the basic insecurities in the minds
of workers such as income security, employment security, job security,
work security, skills reproduction security, voice representation security
and labour market security. Although some of these terms appear to be
inter-changeable, a fine line distinguishes them and has been explained
in detail in subsequent chapters. Standing and Tokman2 have noted that
labour market security is high when job changing involves only modest
personal costs and reasonable prospects of subsequent benefits and is typ-
ically inversely related to the level of unemployment. Hence, if the level
2
‘Towards social adjustment’ (Standing and Tokman).
 Preface xv

of unemployment is high, then labour market security would be low. In

the context of IT industry, labour market security is less because of the
contractual nature of employment and vast dependence of the company’s
business on foreign clients. Employment security is high when workers
cannot be dismissed without either costs to employers or the satisfaction
of pre-specified conditions. In the context of IT industry, employment
security is essential but is generally low because of sufficient supply of
technically skilled labour pool. So many a times, during downturns or
company losses, employers tend to fire some proportion of employees
in the lower run who have scored less in annual appraisals. Job security
is high when workers have rights to particular niches within enterprises
and where unions or other institutions safeguard craft barriers or skill
levels. Unions and workers’ organisations are virtually absent in the IT
industry, which lowers the job security of employees. Except for gold-­
collar employees, the rest of the employees do not find their expertise
sufficient enough to climb up the job ladders in their companies (Source:
Primary study). Work security is high when working conditions are safe
and healthy. It is important to consider not only the safety of the physical
environment at the workplace but also ensure that the work provision
and the nature of work are safe for the employee in the long term. This
dimension has been examined separately in this book as an important
indicator of decent work. Labour representation security is high when
employment-related changes are subject to negotiation between equally
strong, representative groups or when workers are able to influence the
pace and direction of change. Again, in the IT industry representation,
security is bound to be low because of the absence of any unions, worker
organisations and forums for grievance redressal. Finally, income security
is high when workers have their wages or income protected from fluc-
tuations either by indexation, collective bargaining or other institutional
protection (copyright approved). On a comparative basis, IT employees
stand better in income security, although still the primary reason of their
job change has been found to be ‘better salary’. An important point to
note in this context is the fact that remuneration to IT employees work-
ing in India is much less than their counterparts working abroad for the
same designation and work.
xvi Preface

Keeping in view the multidimensional nature of decent work and the

global nature of IT industry work culture, an attempt has been made
in this book to answer some tricky questions. This research study has
assessed and analysed several realistic facts about the IT industry along
the lines of some stipulated ‘decent work’ indicators and some newly
developed indicators in the Indian context. However, the broad objec-
tives of the study have been to develop a methodology for measuring decent
work status in any industry and provide empirical results to test the general
perceptions related to work culture in that industry.
The empirical analysis of decent work status in the IT industry has also
examined three research hypotheses:

(a) Adequacy of earnings and productive work are directly associated with
decent work.
(b) Deficit in decent work leads to work-life imbalance.
(c) The age and social class of employees influence their status of decent
work.

This book has been neatly divided into five parts, and each part has
been subdivided into a set of chapters. Part I broadly deals with different
perspectives on the notion of work and the conceptual frameworks of
decent work, its underlying philosophy and ILO’s principles on decent
work. The first chapter discusses the different perspectives on decent work
and then introduces the concept of decent work. The second chapter
explains the multidimensional concept of decent work in detail, exam-
ines what lies in the decent work paradigm and discovers the underlying
philosophy behind this major revolutionary agenda of ILO. The third
chapter takes a review on ILO’s take on decent work and looks into its
core principles, aims and objectives. The fourth chapter examines the
inter-linkage between decent work, stage of development of a country
and growth of an industry in such an economy.
In Part II, Chaps. 5 and 6 hold an important bearing as they introduce
decent work indicators at micro-, meso- and macro-level suggested in
various working papers of ILO. Chapter 7 provides and proposes a set of
new decent work indicators developed by us in the Indian context and
logically argues why they need to be included in any research study on
 Preface xvii

decent work carried for India. Chapter 8 provides a global perspective of

decent work and Chap. 9 examines the various challenges and trade-offs
that exist in the provision of decent work by employers.
Part III of the book empirically investigates decent work by measuring
it at industry level. For illustration purposes, Information Technology
industry has been chosen to measure decent work. The rationale for choos-
ing this industry is because it has been one of the fastest growing indus-
tries in the service sector since two decades and engages in global business
operations as its vast clientele exist in US, Europe and Asia. Given the
global outlook of this industry and the nature of work (computerised) it
would be interesting to examine whether the industry conforms to the
decent work standards or not. Further, measurement of decent work can
be undertaken in any industry and the indicators of decent work must
be chosen in accordance to the work-culture of a particular industry. In
order to do so, it is important to understand the industry, its history,
characteristics of its labour market, nature of work and other related
things thoroughly. Chap. 10 discusses the emergence of global informa-
tion economy and introduces to the readers the key features of the infor-
mation technology industry. Chapter 11 reviews the historical journey of
the growth of the IT industry and India and examines the latest trends
in the industry. Chapter 12 discusses the trends setting in the workplace
culture of the IT industry while Chap. 13 analyses the IT industry in
detail from the perspective of economics. Chapter 14 examines at length
those distinguishing features of the IT industry’s labour market that have
served as a motivation to find the current status of decent work in this
industry. It carries an interesting and debatable discussion on other issues
as well as the nature of work in the IT industry, job designations and the
labour law practices, flexi-time work, employment generation prospects
in the long run and so on. Chapter 15 introduces the concept of decent
ergonomics and discusses its importance in the provision of decent work
in an industry. Chapter 16 examines the inter-linkage between job hop-
ping, on-the-job search, the different recruitment practices in the IT
industry and decent work. Finally, Chap. 17 forecasts the road ahead for
the IT industry in India.
Chapter 18 presents a lucid literature review of some noteworthy stud-
ies undertaken by prominent authors and researchers about the various
xviii Preface

features of the IT industry which have served as a background to con-

duct the research study and by demonstrates how the indicators of decent
work can be applied to work in the information technology industry too.
Chapters in Part IV can be identified as the crux of the book as they
guide how to conduct empirical research of decent work in any indus-
try and bring to light the empirical findings of the study on the assess-
ment of the current status of decent work in the IT industry. Chapter
19 begins with an introduction to the methodology of the study and
introduces the tools and techniques of data collection and data analysis.
It also introduces the indexation approach followed in the study using a
range equalisation method, thus introducing the method of constructing
decent work indices for each indicator. The subsequent chapters have
been arranged to specifically discuss the key findings of the study on
each indicator. Chapter 28 presents the compilation and aggregation of
all decent work indices into a single decent work index, referred here as
decent work index aggregate, and Chapter 29 presents the decent work-
place index status of the IT industry.
Chapter 30 presents the results of chi-square test for finding inde-
pendence between different categories of decent work. Chapter 31 uses
techniques of correlational analysis for finding out whether there is a
correlation between different decent work indicators or not (on the basis
of respondent data). Chapter 32 makes use of factor analysis approach to
examine the most relevant decent work indicator in the Indian context
and further examines the most relevant sub-indicators under each decent
work indicator. Chapter 33 makes use of multinomial regression tech-
nique to examine whether the socio-economic attributes of employees
have an impact on their decent work status.
Part V summarises the main conclusions of the study, policy impli-
cations, policy suggestions and scope for further research in this area.
Chapters 34 and 35 also provide the methodological prescriptions for
future research. The Appendix contains the questionnaire format as well
as some data tables and charts. Finally, the list of references mentions all
the sources referred to during the course of this research study.
Decent work that sums up the aspirations of the people in their pro-
fessional life is the revolutionary agenda of International Labour Office.
Work essentially is the primary means of earning a livelihood. Work may
 Preface xix

be regular or contractual, precarious or non-standard, wage employment,

self-employment or even non-wage employment and child labour. In this
context, it is essential to ensure that provision of work should maintain
the dignity of the worker besides other things. Decent work is any such
work which ensures provision of fair and free employment to all men and
women of economically productive age group in conditions of f­airness,
equity, security and dignity. It is a multidimensional concept that applies
to both formal and informal sectors of an economy. Holistically, the defi-
nition of decent work goes beyond the ILO’s four core labour standards
embodied in the decent work agenda. It is imperative that the definition
of decent work must address all kinds of jobs, all people and all fami-
lies. In order to do so, it must recognise the inter-dimensional nature of
people’s lives because these aspects are interdependent and indivisible and
so must be addressed in a holistic human rights framework.
This book has examined and measured the status of decent work in
the information technology industry of India. Choice of IT industry has
an underlying logic. Technically qualified youth as well as the general
public perceive employment in the IT industry as highly remunerative,
productive, stable and safe and as a key to secure the future. Today, the
IT industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian economy
and has been increasingly contributing to India’s GDP and export rev-
enues since almost two decades. In view of this development, a question
arises that whether work in the IT industry is decent, what ‘decency of
work’ means, what its indicators are, how it can be quantified and how
it can be assessed in the context of IT industry. These various aspects of
work in the IT industry often go ignored, unrecorded, unmeasured and
also unanswered. All these questions have been addressed in the present
book because the IT industry holds a promising future for the younger
and technically skilled generation at least as of now. As citizens, we are
aware that economies are growing, technologies are diffusing and becom-
ing user-friendly, and international trade is flourishing in the twenty-first
century—all because people work! And so, it is important to ascertain
whether the nature of work provided by such leading industries of a
developing country is decent or not.
NASSCOM quoted financial year (FY) 2012–13 as the year of trans-
formation for the IT industry as the total revenues earned by IT-BPM
xx Preface

industry were US $ 108 billion out of which US $ 56 billion was con-

tributed by the IT industry. In FY 2012, total revenues were US $ 101
billion out of which the IT industry’s share was of US $ 69 billion.
Simultaneously, it achieved sixfold rise in direct employment with the
share rising from 2300 to 2400 in thousands. The IT-BPM industry
exports revenue is expected to grow 10–12% to $119–121 billion in con-
stant currency terms in fiscal 2017. With the growth of the IT industry
and conceptualisation of decent work, few questions arise: What are the
indicators of decent work at macro-, meso- and micro-level? Are they
universally relevant? How far are the decent work indicators developed
by ILO relevant to the IT industry in India? Does the structure of com-
petition in the IT industry affect the decent work practices in countries
like India? Is there trade-off between decent work and economic growth,
decent work and employment generation, and decent work and produc-
tive employment? Is there any gender discrimination in decent work
practices by employers in the IT industry?
The book has identified the relevant indicators of the decent work for
India in general and the Indian IT industry in particular. An appropriate
methodology has been developed to measure the phenomenon of decent
work on the basis of indicators developed by ILO. The book also tests the
applicability of indicators of ‘decent work’ in the context of developing
countries in general and India in particular. It would be of interest to
academicians, employees, employers, researchers as well as policy-makers.
 Acknowledgements

This book would not have been complete without acknowledging feel-
ings of gratitude to the people who have stood like pillars of a bridge dur-
ing the conduct of this research study. We are deeply grateful and express
our sincere thanks and gratitude to Mr. Sunil Kumar Mishra, Senior
Research Fellow, IHD, whose words of wisdom, advices and comments
enriched the technical analysis of this study. We thank him for taking out
his precious time during our many sitting sessions and for explaining to
me the usage of econometric techniques in a somewhat qualitative study
like this. We also express our gratitude to Prof. D. Gopal, Director of the
School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, for extending all his support and
cooperation during the course of this study. We are immensely thankful
to Dr. Alakh N. Sharma, Director, Institute for Human Development,
and his entire staff for their cooperation and support. We also express our
heartfelt gratitude to Prof. H.S. Asthana, Professor of Psychology, BHU,
Varanasi, who gave his technical insights and useful advices on the tech-
nical aspect of the study. We are also thankful to the library staff members
of IGNOU, NCAER, IIPA and IHD and JNU.
We take this opportunity to thank Prof. Nigam Dave, the Director of
School of Liberal Studies, PDPU, for providing ample time for complet-
ing this book.
We are delighted to convey our special note of thanks to all our col-
leagues and students who helped us in distribution of questionnaires to
xxi
xxii Acknowledgements

the target sample with special note of thanks to Ruchika and her family.
Since the study was based on a questionnaire, and the method was snow-
ball sampling, we also express our heartfelt thanks to all the respondents
for being a part of our study. We take this opportunity to also convey a
special note of thanks and gratitude to Mr. A.K. Mishra and friends—
Prince Selvaraj, Kanika Kapoor, Tanzeem Ahmed and Abhinav Saxena—
who have been the pillars of support for this study.
We are indebted to our family members for their deep insights and
logical proofreading and for their patience, understanding, encouraging
words and most of all their presence that made this research experience
complete.
 Contents

Part I Concept and Theory    1

1 Perspectives on Work   3

2 Concept and Theoretical Framework of Decent Work  13

3 Decent Work Agenda and ILO  23

4 Decent Work, Stages of Development, and Industry

Growth  27

Part II Measurement, Applicability and Relevance  33

5 Indicators of Decent Work at Macro-Level  35

6 Indicators of Decent Work at Meso-Level and

Micro-Level  49

7 Decent Work Indicators Specific to India  67

xxiii
xxiv Contents

8 Global Perspective on Measurement and Applicability

of Decent Work  75

9 Challenges and Trade-Offs in Decent Work Provision  85

Part III Empirical Investigation of Decent Work  89

10 Global Information Economy and Information

Technology  91

11 India’s IT Industry: Historical Review and Recent Trends  97

12 New Trends at the Workplace 107

13 Economics of IT Industry 113

14 Characteristics of IT Industry’s Labour Market 125

15 Decent Ergonomics: Meaning and Importance 141

16 Job Hopping, On-the-Job Search, Recruitment Practices,

and Decent Work 145

17 IT Industry: The Road Ahead 153

18 Empirical Review of IT Industry 157

Part IV Technical Analysis of Decent Work 181

19 Research Methodology and Sample 183

 Contents xxv

20 Adequacy of Earnings, Productive Employment, and

Decent Work 197

21 Decent Work and Stability and Security of Work 207

22 Decent Work and Flexi-time Work 215

23 Decent and Safe Work 221

24 Decent Work and Work-Life Balance 229

25 Decent Work, Employment Conditions, and Fair

Treatment for Employees 237

26 Social Security, Dialogue, and Decent Work 245

27 Decent Work and Complacent Work 255

28 Status of Decent Work in India’s IT Industry 261

29 Decent Work Status at Meso-level 271

30 Application of Chi-square Test to Decent work 285

31 Correlational Analysis of Decent Work Indicators 291

32 Factor Analysis and PCA Analysis on Decent Work

Indicators 299

33 Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis   315

xxvi Contents

Part V Methodological Prescriptions for Future Research   321

34 Discussion and Conclusion   323

35 Methodological Prescriptions for Future Research   337

Appendix 1343

Appendix 2399

Bibliography   431

Index   443
 List of Abbreviations

BFSI Banking, Financial Services and Insurance

BPM Business Process Management
BPO Business Process Outsourcing
CIO Chief Information Officer
FY Financial Year
GDP Gross Domestic Product
HDI Human Development Index
HR Human Resource
ILO International Labour Office
ISO International Organization for Standardization
IT Information Technology
ITES Information Technology Enabled Services
ITI Industrial Training Institutes
NASSCOM National Association of Software and Services Companies
NCR National Capital Region
PF Provident Fund
R&D Research and Development
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
UNDP United Nation’s Development Programme
UK United Kingdom
USA United States

xxvii
 List of Figures

Fig. 6.1 Vicious circle of longer working hours (Part-1) 54

Fig. 6.2 Interlinkages of disrupted work-life balance 59
Fig. 14.1 System Development Lifecycle model 128
Fig. 16.1 Impact of recession on IT industry 146

xxix
 List of Graphs

Graph 32.1 Scree plot of factor analysis of decent work indicators 305
Graph 32.2 Scree plot of decent work sub-indicators 305

xxxi
 List of Tables

Table 11.1 Mid-tier versus top-tier revenue growth (%) 100

Table 11.2 Employment generation by IT industry in tier-I and
tier-II cities 103
Table 11.3 Geographical spread of workforce and operating centres 103
Table 11.4 IT-BPO export revenues by geography in financial
year 2010 103
Table 11.5 Experiences of the IT industry in the past and estimates
for future 104
Table 11.6 Location-wise export revenues 104
Table 11.7 Impact of recessions on IT segments 105
Table 13.1 Input-output analysis of IT industry 116
Table 13.2 Economies of scale in IT industry 121
Table 14.1 Job titles, nature of work, and minimum time-span
required for promotion 129
Table 14.2 Designations relevant to IT industry and skill
requirements as per NIC 2004 130
Table 20.1 DWI-1 (adequate earnings and productive work) 201
Table 21.1 DWI-2 (stability and security of work) 210
Table 22.1 DWI-3 (decent hours) 218
Table 23.1 Health problems among IT employees owing to nature
of work 222
Table 23.2 Number of health problems among IT employees 223
Table 23.3 Type of harassment faced by IT employees 225

xxxiii
xxxiv List of Tables

Table 23.4 DWI-4 (safe work) 226

Table 24.1 DWI-5 (work-life balance) 232
Table 25.1 Parameters of discrimination at workplace 238
Table 25.2 Discriminatory grounds 239
Table 25.3 DWI-6 (fair treatment at employment) 241
Table 26.1 Methodology of coding social security schemes 246
Table 26.2 Number and beneficiaries of social security schemes 246
Table 26.3 DWI-7 (social security) 247
Table 26.4 DWI-8 (social dialogue) 251
Table 27.1 DWI-9 (complacent work) 257
Table 28.1 Composite decent work index 262
Table 28.2 Gender classification of composite decent work index 263
Table 28.3 Composite DWI results as per marital status 264
Table 28.4 Composite DWI results as per age group of IT employees 265
Table 28.5 Background-wise results of composite DWI 266
Table 28.6 Composite DWI as per social class of IT employees 267
Table 28.7 Composite DWI results as per size of company 268
Table 29.1 Decent workplace index 275
Table 29.2 Gender classification of IT employees 276
Table 29.3 Classification as per marital status of employees 277
Table 29.4 DWPI: classification as per age group of employees 278
Table 29.5 Classification of DWPI as per background of IT employees 279
Table 29.6 Classification of DWPI results as per social class 280
Table 29.7 Classification of DWPI results as per size of company 281
Table 30.1 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-1 286
Table 30.2 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-2 286
Table 30.3 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-3 287
Table 30.4 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-4 287
Table 30.5 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-5 288
Table 30.6 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-6 288
Table 30.7 Application of chi-square to decent work categorisation
and DWI-7 288
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
You may laugh, children, but it is true. The dolphin had a servant,
who was also a dolphin, but of the family of the Globiceps. These are
so called because of their round heads, which look like the globes
used in the electric lighting of streets.
The young dolphin was playing in the water. He tried to attract
Pinocchio’s attention in many ways. He spouted water through the
hole which every dolphin has at the top of his head. He called to the
marionette. He smiled at the youngster. It was of no use. Pinocchio,
with his wooden nose in the air and his dough cap on one ear, would
not even turn his head.
“I wonder if he is deaf or blind?” the dolphin finally said, loudly
enough to be heard.
Pinocchio turned with a start.
“For your own benefit, I just wish to say that I am not now and never
have been deaf,” he said as haughtily as he could.
“Then why do you look at me in that fashion? And why don’t you
answer me?” was the reply.
“I am acting just as a gentleman should toward those who are
beneath him,” said Pinocchio.
“I don’t know which of us is the better of the two. All I do know is, that
my father was the richest inhabitant of the sea and that the other
dolphins considered him their king.”
“King?” mumbled Pinocchio, who knew himself to be the son of a
poor carpenter, earning so little that he never had a penny in his
pocket.
“But king or not, what does it matter? In this world we are all equal,
for we have all been created by God. Listen, my dear marionette.
Come here. As we are to travel such a long distance together, we
should be friends. Are you willing to be my friend?”
These pleasing words made Pinocchio see how stupid and how rude
he had been.
“Think of it! A fish (oh, no, I mean a sea animal) giving me lessons in
politeness!” Then turning to the dolphin, he said, “Yes, we shall be
friends. What is your name?”
“Marsovino. And yours?”
“Pinocchio.”
“A beautiful name. Come, shake hands.”
“Very willingly,” replied Pinocchio.
The good little animal stuck one of his fore fins out of the water for
Pinocchio to shake.
“And what is the tutor’s name?” said the boy of wood to the boy of
the sea.
“The tutor is a dolphin of the Tursio family, but I call him father. Is it
true that you are coming with us on our travels?”
“Yes,” said the marionette, proudly. “And I am able to teach you.”
“Teach me! That’s strange. How do you expect to teach me?”
“You will soon find out. You talk rather disrespectfully to me. I have
been in all the schools of the kingdom. And you? You probably have
never been on land for twenty-four hours.”
Marsovino looked at the marionette smilingly, but made no reply.
Pinocchio walked up and down with his hands in his pockets and his
hat at an angle of forty-five degrees, ruffling his feathers at the
brilliant remark he had made.
As soon as Tursio came near, Marsovino asked him if he were ready.
“Yes. Everything is finished,” was the reply. “Are you ready,
Pinocchio?”
“Yes. I am ready. Let us start.”
“Start? How? Do you mean to say that you are coming under the sea
with that suit?”
“Of course. It’s the only one I have.”
“A suit of paper! The very idea! Luckily I have prepared for this.
Here, Globicephalous,” he said to his servant, “give me that little suit
of ray leather,—the one I had you make this morning.”
“Splendid,” cried Pinocchio, clapping his hands. “Now I have a new
suit.”
Putting it on, he looked at himself in the water. Seeing how dark and
unbecoming it appeared, he turned to Tursio and said excitedly:
“I don’t want this. It is too ugly. I like my pretty flowered-paper one
better.”
“Your paper one Globicephalous will carry in his satchel for you.
Should you wear it in the water, it would be spoiled.”
“I want my pretty suit,” insisted Pinocchio. “If any one saw me in this
thing, he would ask me if I had been through the coal-hole.”
“But yours will be ruined if you wear it in the water, I tell you.”
“I want mine. I want mine,” wailed Pinocchio.
“Very well. Globicephalous, take the paper suit out of the traveling
bag and give it to the boy.”
The marionette turned, expecting to see an ordinary traveling bag.
Instead, he saw Globicephalous take an enormous oyster out of the
water.
“Isn’t that strange! Oyster shells for a traveling bag!”
“Strange? Why, what is strange about that?” asked Tursio.
“What is its name?” asked Pinocchio.
“That is the giant Tridacna. They are the largest oyster shells
known.”
“How large the animal inside must be,” observed Pinocchio, with a
yawn.
“Yes. It is very large, and also very beautiful. The center of the body
is a violet color dotted with black. Around this is a green border. At
the extreme edge the colors change from deepest to lightest blue.
Yes, indeed. It is very beautiful.”
“What a good meal it would make,” thought Pinocchio. His only wish
was for a good dinner, but in order to be polite he said, “Who would
ever think that there are such things under the sea!”
“Why, you have been in every school in the kingdom and don’t know
that?”
“Books on the subject you can find everywhere.”
Pinocchio bit his lips, but did not say a word. Quickly he dressed
himself again in his paper suit and declared himself ready to start.
“All right! Come along!” said the dolphin, stretching a fin out to help
Pinocchio along.
The marionette started to walk into the water. He had not gone far,
however, before his paper suit began to leave him. Hastening back
to the shore, he very meekly put on the ray-leather suit which
Globicephalous handed to him.
“Remember, my boy,” said Tursio, “that in this world of ours we must
think not only of the beauty but also of the usefulness of things. Also,
do not forget that a boy who never learns anything will never be
anything.”
“But I have learned much,” answered Pinocchio. “To prove this to
you, I can now tell you of what material this suit is made.”
“I have told you already. It is of ray leather. Do you know what a ray
is?”
“Surely I know. You may give it another name. Still, it must be that
white animal on four legs. You know. The one the shepherds shear
during some month or other.”
“Mercy!” cried Tursio. “You are talking about sheep. They give wool
to man.”
Pinocchio, without moving an eyelid, went on:
“Yes, that’s true. I have made a mistake. I should have said it is that
plant that bears round fruit, that when it opens....”
“Worse and worse,” interrupted the old dolphin. “What are you
talking of, anyway? That is the cotton plant. Marsovino, please
explain to this boy, who has read all the books in the world, what a
ray is.”
So Marsovino went on: “A ray is a fish, in shape like a large fan. It
has a very long tail, which it uses as a weapon.”
“To what class of fishes does it belong?” asked Pinocchio.
“It belongs to the same class as the lampreys, which look like
snakes, the torpedo,—”
“Be careful never to touch that fellow,” here interrupted Tursio.
“—the sawfish and the squaloids,—that is, the common shark and
the hammerhead.”
“The saw? The hammer?” observed Pinocchio. “If I find them, I must
keep them for my father. He is a carpenter, but so poor that he
seldom has money with which to buy tools.”
“Let us hope that you will never meet the saw, the terrible
hammerhead, or even the common shark,” said Tursio.
Pinocchio made no answer, but in his heart he kept thinking, “I am
very much afraid that the dolphins are teaching me, not I the
dolphins.”
Tursio then handed Pinocchio a small shell of very strange shape. It
looked like a helmet.
“Wear this, Pinocchio,” he said. “It will make a pretty cap for you.”
“It is very pretty. What is it?”
“It is a very rare shell.”
“But it is only one shell. Where is its mate?”
“It has none. It is a univalve. That means it has only one shell. The
tellines have two shells, and are therefore called bivalve. Another
kind looks like a box with a cover.”
“But does an animal live in there?”
“Of course. Every shell has its mollusk.”
“Mollusk?” repeated Pinocchio.
“Yes. The small animals that live in shells are called by that name.”
“They have a very soft body. By means of a member, called a foot,
they get such a strong hold on rocks that it is very hard to tear them
off.”
“Some mollusks have a strong golden-colored thread by which they
also hang to rocks. Why, people have even made cloth out of these
threads.”
Pinocchio cared little for all this explanation. He looked at himself in
the water, and was, after all, very much pleased with himself.
“This cap seems made for me,” he said. “Too bad I have no feather
for it.”
“Perhaps we shall find one on our journey,” laughed Tursio.
“Where will you get it? In the sea?”
“Yes, in the sea,” answered Tursio, in a tone which made the
impudent marionette almost believe him.
 CHAPTER IV
“Well, children, let us hasten. If we talk so much,
the sun will rise and find us here. Come, Pinocchio!
Jump on my back and let us start.”
There was no need for Tursio to repeat his
command. In the twinkling of an eye, Pinocchio was
riding on the dolphin’s back, holding on tightly to the
dorsal fin.

“Gallop and gallop, my pretty horse,

Swiftly over the boundless sea.
Straight through the water take thy course,
Till my dear father again I see.”

“Gallop and gallop, my pretty horse,

Gallop away under the sea.
Swim to the south, and swim to the north,
Till my dear father again I see.”

So sang Pinocchio gleefully.

Tursio and his swimming companions, with a few shakes of their
strong tails, were soon far away from shore. This is not to be
wondered at, for dolphins are known to be very swift. Very soon
Pinocchio saw nothing but sea and sky. Always holding on tightly to
Tursio’s fin, he looked to the right and to the left; but nothing could
he see of his dear father.
“Hold fast, Pinocchio,” suddenly cried Tursio.
“All right, Mr. Tursio,” replied Pinocchio, but he could say no more.
For suddenly, with a great jump, the dolphin was under water.
What a moment for our poor wooden hero!
“Now I understand it all,” he thought. “This dolphin wants to get me
into the sea that he may eat me at his leisure. Oh, poor me! I shall
never again see the light of day.”
But marvel of marvels! He suddenly awoke to the fact that, instead of
drowning, he was breathing easily. Not only that, but he could
actually talk!
“This is strange,” said he. “I have always thought that people would
drown in the water.”
“And it is true,” answered the dolphin, “that men usually drown in the
sea. But I have given you the power to live under water. You see,
then, you have become a real amphibian.”
“A real what? What am I now?”
“An amphibian. That is, you have the power to live both in the air and
in the water.”
“But are there such animals?”
“Why, of course, child. Frogs, for example, which belong to the
Batrachia family. In the water they breathe with branchiæ, or gills,
and in the air with lungs. Usually, however, the name is given only to
those mammals that live in the water and move only with great
difficulty on the earth. To this class belong the seals and the sea
lions.”
“Well, then, I shall never drown.”
“No; and you will have a wonderful journey under the sea. Just hold
on to me, and I will carry you. Do not be afraid.”
“Afraid? Of course not. But I don’t like the darkness very much.”
“That is too bad. But the darkness will not last very long. You know, I
promised that we should make our journey by the light of the sun.
Wait awhile.”
Through the water Tursio went like an arrow, followed by Marsovino
and the servant.
Pinocchio, to gain courage, shut his eyes. When he opened them
again, wonder of wonders! Very near to him a large sun was moving
back and forth. It looked as if it were alive.
“The sun at the bottom of the sea!” yelled Pinocchio, frightened
almost to death. “Do you want me to believe that? You must be a
wizard playing tricks on me.”
“I am not a wizard, Pinocchio, and the sun is not a trick. It is nothing
more nor less than a fish.”
“I never heard of such a thing.”
“And you have been in all the schools of the kingdom! Marsovino,
please explain to this boy what a sunfish is.”
“The sunfish is so called because of the bright light that comes from
its body. When several of these fish are together, the sea looks as if
it were full of little, shining suns.”
As usual, Pinocchio was silent. He was beginning to think that even
dolphins knew more than he did.
Stretching out his hand, he touched a small fish that was passing by.
Another surprise! As soon as he touched it, it began to swell and
swell, until it was as round as a ball. And from this ball, countless
points began to stick out.
“Suddenly, with a Great Jump, the Dolphin was under the
Water.”
“Oh!” yelled Pinocchio again. “What is it this time?”
“It is only a globefish, my marionette. It is harmless, if you don’t
touch it.”
“But why should it turn into a balloon?”
“It does that to protect itself,” answered Tursio. “It is possible for the
globefish to do that, because it can take in a large quantity of air.
With bristles ready, it can then meet the attacks of other fish, as each
point is as sharp as a needle.”
“I never knew that before,” exclaimed Pinocchio, forgetting his
previous boast.
Tursio and Marsovino looked at each other and laughed.
 CHAPTER V
The night passed without further adventure.
As soon as morning dawned, the four friends rose
to the surface. Our marionette was delighted to see
the sun again. The pure morning air, though,
reminded him that he was hungry. The day before,
if you remember, he had eaten very little.
“I should like something to eat,” he said in a weak
voice.
“Let us go to breakfast,” answered the dolphin. Gayly he dove into
the water, and led the party deep into the sea. After a short swim, he
stopped. But, unfortunately, the four friends found themselves in a
place where there were very few herring and salmon. These, you
know, are the dolphin’s favorite food.
The salmon is a fish that lives both in rivers and in seas. Like the
swallow, he looks for warm places in which to pass the winter. So, in
large numbers he migrates to the sea at that time of the year, and in
the spring he returns to the rivers.
“This morning our breakfast will be light,” observed Tursio,
swallowing three herring at once.
“I shall not eat anything. I don’t feel very well. Besides, salmon is the
only thing I can eat,” said Marsovino.
Tursio, wishing to please his pupil, started to swim toward two very
high rocks. They were so high that their tops stuck out of the water.
Very probably they were the base of an island in the middle of the
sea. But although he looked here, there, and everywhere, he could
find no salmon.
Globicephalous satisfied his hunger with three dozen herring and
half a bushel of smelts.
And Pinocchio? Pinocchio this time certainly did not suffer from lack
of food.
Tursio had shown him a large rock, attached to which were hundreds
of oysters. Some were of the size of a pinhead. Others were as large
as a boy’s cap, and these were two years old.
“Go and have your breakfast,” said Tursio.
“Must I eat those horrible-looking things?” asked Pinocchio.
“Open them and see what is inside,” was the reply.
“Pinocchio this Time certainly did not suffer from Lack of
Food.”
After Pinocchio had opened and eaten one, he no longer thought of
the looks of the oyster shells. He opened and ate so many, that it
was a wonder to Marsovino that so small a person could hold so
much.
Suddenly Pinocchio noticed numberless tiny, tiny white specks
coming out of some oysters. To him they looked like grains of sand.
But when he saw the specks moving and trying hard to attach
themselves to rocks, he could not help crying out, “O look at the live
sand, Tursio.”
“Who told you it is live sand?” asked Tursio. “Those are the newborn
oysters, looking for a place on which to spend their lives. Where
those small grains hang, there the oysters will live, grow, and die.”
“If no one gets them before that,” added Globicephalous.
“And are all those little dots oysters?”
“Yes. All of them. And many of them come from a single oyster, for
an oyster gives forth almost two millions of eggs at a time. These
little things have so many enemies, however, that very seldom do
more than ten of the millions grow old.”
“Two millions! Then I may eat all I want to,” continued Pinocchio,
unmercifully tearing away the poor oysters, young and old.
“Look, Pinocchio,” here called Tursio, pointing to a small fish, colored
with brilliant blues and reds. “That is the stickleback. You may have
heard that this fish makes a nest, as do birds. Also that the male, not
the female, takes care of the eggs.”
“Surely I have,” answered Pinocchio, seriously.
The stickleback seemed to be very much excited. He moved around
the nest he had made and watched it anxiously. The cause for this
was soon evident. A second stickleback made its appearance from
behind the rocks. At once the two engaged in a terrific struggle. They
bit each other, used their tails as weapons, and charged each other
viciously. During the battle they changed color—to a beautiful blue
mottled with silver.
Pinocchio was struck with wonder. “Look! Look! One is wounded....
He falls.... He dies!” he cried. “And look at the other. How quickly he
returns to the nest to guard the eggs!”
“But how is it,” here asked Marsovino, “that once I saw a stickleback
swallow one of his little ones?”
“If you had followed him, you would later have seen the small fish
come safely out of the large one’s mouth,” answered Tursio.
 “‘Look! Look! One is Wounded.’”

“But why did the large one swallow the small one?” asked Pinocchio.
“Because the little one probably wanted to run away from the nest. It
was too soon, the little one was too young to take care of himself; so
the father took the only means he had to save the youngster from an
enemy,” patiently explained Tursio.
Just then a small fish attracted the dolphin’s attention.
“Boys,” he said, “do you see that tiny fish? It is called the pilot fish. It
is the shark’s most faithful friend. Wherever goes the shark, there
goes the pilot fish.”
“Now, Pinocchio,” he continued after a pause, “I shall leave you with
Globicephalous. Marsovino and I are going to pay a visit to the
dolphin Beluga, who is a great friend of mine. He usually lives in the
polar seas, but on account of his health, he has come to warmer
waters. We shall return this evening, if all be well. Meet us near
those two mountains which are so close together that they form a
gorge. You may take a walk with Globicephalous, but be sure to be
at that spot to-night.”
“I am ashamed to be seen with a servant,” began Pinocchio.
“You are a fine fellow,” answered Tursio, with sarcasm. “Do you
know what you should do? Buy a cloak of ignorance and a throne of
stupidity, and proclaim yourself King of False Pride of the Old and
the New World!”
With this remark Tursio turned to his pupil, and the two swam away.