Abstract:                                  

           The study of the informal sector has been a key focus area in Development Economics literature. Particularly since the 1970s, it has drawn extensive attention of researchers and policy makers. The considerable overlaps between informal sector employment and poverty are testimony to the phenomenon of the “working poor.” In the present context of globalization, there has been a renewed interest in issues relating to the informal sector such as their employment, health problems etc. 

       The unorganized sector/ informal sector has a crucial role in our economy in terms of employment generation and its contribution to the national domestic product, savings and capital formation. This sector generates income earning opportunities for a large number of people by employment generation and leads to poverty alleviation. Predominance of informal employment has been one of the central features of the labour market scenario in India.  As per the estimates of 66th round NSS survey (2009-10), the unorganized  workers constitutes  93 percent of the total workforce in the Indian economy.

        According to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) Report 2007, 79 percent of the informal or unorganized workers in India belong to poor and vulnerable group. The Report indicates that they live and work in unhygienic conditions and are susceptible to many infections and chronic diseases.The persistent poverty and disease syndromes have pushed their families to a state of de-capitalization and indebtedness to meet their day to day contingencies. Both macro and micro level studies on the use of health care services show that these workers are forced to spend a higher proportion of their income on health care. The high incidence of morbidity cuts their household budget in both ways, ie, not only do they have to spend a large amount of money and resources on medical care, but are also unable to earn during the period of illness. Very often, they have to borrow funds at very high interest rate to meet both medical expenditure and other household consumption needs. One possible consequence of this could be to push these families into a zone of permanent poverty.