An appraisal of contrasting working condition of own account workers and casual wage labours as a part of urban informal economy in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, West Bengal

The urban informal workers are the neglected and underserved economic group in any urban setup like Siliguri Municipal Corporation.The informal workers constitute a major part of the economy of any region or urban area but the facilities they get in return is very insufficient.Workers from different occupational groups are included in urban informal economy.The working condition of the informal workers are very much hazardous and associated with very much deteriorated condition.The informal workers due to their little bargain power and lack of awareness about their specific rights often has to work in those bad working condition.But the informal workers according to their nature of employment can be divided in different types like own account workers or the self-employed, casual wage labours, domestic workers etc.Their working condition also differs according to their control over work environment or surrounding.The own account workers usually are the self-employed workers like vegetable shop owners, fish & meat sellers, street vendors, auto & toto drivers, on the other hand the wage earners are the group where the workers are paid for their physical job or services like construction workers, porter, rickshaw pullers etc.The own account workers usually have the control over their working condition as they are the authority of their shop or workplace and are more associated with trading and business for their livelihood but the wage earners have to depend on the superior for their wage and the overall workplace is controlled by the authority or the superior.Hence the present paper is the humble attempt to understand the contrasting difference of working condition between the own account workers and casual wage labours as informal workers in Siliguri Municipal Corporation.