Caste and the Division of Laborer’s Linkage in the Indian Labor Market: Special Reference to the Rickshaw Pullers in Lucknow City, Uttar Pradesh, India

This study attempts to understand the Indian labor market specially the occupation of rickshaw pullers, which is primarily concerned with marginal communities who have been constitutionally identified as Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribe (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and religious minorities. In this regard, the essay articulates how a persistence caste system influences the choice of opting for any occupation in the Indian labor market despite constitutional guarantees (see. India’s Article 19 [1] [g]) to practice any occupation, trade or business. To examine the above social issue, this study applies survey method, which was conducted from March 2021 to October 2022 with 350 rickshaw pullers in Lucknow city, India. This present study concludes by examining Ambedkar’s views on caste and occupational preferences, focusing on how occupations such as rickshaw pulling, manual scavenging, cremation-related services, septic tank cleaning, waste collection, leatherwork, barbering, and fishing remain associated with historically marginalised social groups, whose limited access to landownership, education, property, and other assets has weakened their economic opportunities.