ABSTRACT
This chapter problematizes the understanding of self-employment in the context of these contesting positions and outlines the diversities that exist within the category of the self-employed. It provides a definition of informal work, within which self-employment is typically included. This incorporates the structure of self-employment across rural and urban sectors. The chapter offers a profile of the self-employed in terms of incidence of poverty, educational status, nature and scale of enterprises. It draws on data from National Sample Survey (NSS) Employment and Unemployment Surveys. The chapter contextualises self-employment within the broad features of India's political economy, particularly the decline of manufacturing, the ascendance of services, and the critical perspectives that have emerged around the issue of whether the services sector can lead development in a context where large numbers of job seekers are unskilled or semi-skilled. It outlines the ways in which government policy, civil society initiatives and academic discourse have positioned the issue of self-employment, juxtaposing contrasting perspectives.
