Political Economy of Crises

Based on a field survey, empirical exploration of national-level survey data, and critical political economy analysis, I engaged in several collaborative projects to examine the impact of Covid-19 livelihoods in India and the implications of it. The work ranged from undertaking a large-scale survey of 5000 workers across 12 states in India, documenting the impact, advancing scholarly debates on the issue of labour and crises, and advocating for policy reforms. Based on this analysis, we drew political economy implications for studying crises in capitalism.

Azim Premji University COVID-19 and Livelihoods Survey (CLIPS)
(Co-lead on survey conducted by Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University)

Along with Rosa Abraham, Rahul Lahoti, Amit Basole, and Paaritosh Nath, we conducted a phone survey of 5000 workers across 12 major states in India to assess the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on livelihoods and the access to relief schemes. We partnered with ten covil society organisations to conduct the survey. The survey was partly supported by Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives.

Release of findings

Data dashboard of the results

Media coverage

Pandemic, informality, and vulnerability: impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods in India (Journal article published in Canadian Journal of Development Research)

Authors: Surbhi Kesar, Rosa Abraham, Rahul Lahoti, Paaritosh Nath, and Amit Basole

In this work, co-authored with Rosa Abraham, Rahul Lahoti, Paaritosh Nath & Amit Basole, we analyze findings from a large-scale survey of around 5000 respondents across 12 states of India to study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic containment measures (lockdown) on employment, livelihoods, and food security, and identify underlying condition of precarity that resulted in the impact.

Contradictions and Crisis in the World of Work: Informality, Precarity and the Pandemic (Journal article published in Development and Change)

Authors: Surbhi Kesar, Snehashish Bhattacharya, and Lopamudra Banerjee

While this crisis has been attributed to the pre-existing conditions of widespread informality and precarity in the domain of remunerative work, in this work, co-authored with Snehashish Bhattacharya and Lopamudra Banerjee, we dig deeper to read these conditions and the crisis tendencies as articulations of certain key contradictions that define the world of work in the present conjuncture of global capitalism. The article highlights three specific contradictions: that between capital and labour in the ‘interior’ space of capital; that between capital and its ‘outside’; and those emerging from ‘dispersion’ of the circuit of capital to its ‘outside’. 

Down and out? The gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on India’s labour market (Journal article published in Economia Politica)

Authors: Rosa Abraham, Amit Basole, and Surbhi Kesar

In this work, co-authored with Rosa Abraham and Amit Basole, using  national-level panel data from India, we investigate the differential impact of the shock on labour market outcomes for male and female workers.

Popular writings:

• Hunger Grows as India’s Lockdown Kills Jobs Results of a Survey from 12 States  | India Forum

• The Budget does not help those facing hunger, unemployment and loss of educational opportunities | Frontline

• Pandemic Effect: 9 Months On, More Younger Workers Remain Jobless | India Spend