Introduction

The chapters in this book represent state-of-the-art research on work and health in India. They cover a wide range of topics across a variety of different socioeconomic groups and locations. Yet the task of providing an overview of the issues raised is challenging. Indeed, the overriding impression one gets from the evidence presented throughout the book is that India is a country of contradictions. This is perhaps hardly surprising given its sheer diversity. India is a country of some 1.2 billion people covering an area of 3.3 million km2. In comparison the European Union is home to 508 million people over 4.3 million km2 and few people would treat this as a culturally, politically or even economically homogenous entity. Indeed, the degree of regional diversity is probably greater in India than most other comparable regions of the world. As Dreze and Sen (2014) wryly observe India is part California and part sub-Saharan Africa. It has some of the most dynamic, fastest-growing, modernising cities in the world. Visitors to Mumbai, Delhi or Kolkata will be struck by the sheer scale of the cities, the pace of economic activity and the number of easily recognisable global corporate logos dotted around the city. Yet these economic successes coexist alongside extreme poverty. As Dreze and Sen argue (2014, 47):

Evidence of this persistent poverty can be seen not only in the mega-slums that have grown up around these global cities but in the countryside too where famines and droughts continue to plague the lives of millions. Recently severe water shortages have taken a terrible toll on the lives and livelihoods of many famers in the country (Akhef and Joshi, 2015).

This level of diversity is reflected in the findings presented in the book. On the one hand there are some very clear indicators of modernisation and rapid development in the country, as noted in several chapters.