Jan Breman in his study of labour migration in rural India used the term:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → ‘Footloose’ labour
Option (1) ‘Footloose’ labour — Correct. Workers from drought-prone and less productive regions circulate between their home villages and areas with more demand for labour, such as the farms of Punjab and Haryana. Jan Breman termed these migrant workers ‘footloose labour’, but this does not imply freedom: his study shows that they have few rights and are usually not paid the minimum wage.
Option (2) ‘Seasonal’ labour — Incorrect. The migration is indeed seasonal, but ‘seasonal labour’ is a plain description of when people work, not the term Breman used for these migrants.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.5 Circulation of Labour … Another significant change in rural society that is linked to the commercialisation of agriculture has been the growth of migrant agricultural labour. As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal migration emerged in which thousands of workers circulate between their home villages and more prosperous areas where there is more demand for labour and higher wages.…” “…These migrant workers have been termed ‘footloose labour’ by Jan Breman, but this does not imply freedom. Breman’s (1985) study shows, to the contrary, that landless workers do not have many rights, for instance, they are usually not paid the minimum wage.…” |