The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) is pleased to invite you to the third seminar in our Work in Transition Series titled “Work and Welfare”, featuring a conversation between Dipa Sinha, Associate Professor, Azim Premji University and Yamini Aiyar, Visiting Senior Fellow, CSEP.

The seminar will be held on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm (IST) at the CSEP Auditorium, 6, Dr Jose P Rizal Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021.

Please note that this is an in-person event only. If you are in Delhi on the day, we invite you to join us for what promises to be a thought-provoking discussion. The event will be available on the CSEP website and YouTube channel upon completion.

Register here to attend

About the Event

This seminar, the third in CSEP’s Work in Transition series, brings together two leading scholars in conversation to examine how India’s welfare state is adapting to a changing world of work. The discussion will explore the evolving relationship between the state, firms, and workers, with particular attention to the persistence and changing nature of informality, and interrogate whether current policy frameworks are equipped to address the realities of a rapidly shifting and increasingly diverse labour market.

About the Initiative

Work in Transition: Informality and Structural Change in India

It is a well-known reality that the bulk of India works in the informal economy. In recent years, several top-down policy efforts have been undertaken to “formalise” the economy, including GST, greater digitisation (digital payments and e-shram) and most recently the move toward de-regulation via the new labour codes.  Added to this, disruptive shifts like the expansion of gig-workers and increased rural-urban migration (both intra-state and inter-state) have created a new kind of informality in labour markets. Third, the expansion of technology-enabled cash transfers has created new policy levers for building social protection systems. Together, these changes raise critical questions about the evolving relationship between the state, firms, and workers in India. They are also a push to understand whether existing policy levers are fit to purpose, given the rapid pace of change in labour markets. Work in Transition: Informality and Structural Change in India is a CSEP initiative that will seek to develop a deeper understanding of these labour market dynamics.

Previous seminars in the series:

• Work in Transition Series Seminar #2– “Everyday Grammar of Work: What workers’ everyday experiences reveal about work, informality, and policy”
• Work in Transition Series Inaugural Seminar– “India’s Labour Productivity Puzzle”

Speakers 

Dipa Sinha

Dipa Sinha is a development economist interested in issues related to economic and social policy in India. Her areas of expertise include social policy, food and nutrition rights, public health and gender. She has taught at Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) for almost ten years. Dipa has worked on several field studies evaluating programmes such as the Public Distribution System, child-related nutrition programmes and maternity entitlement schemes. Dipa also contributes regularly to academic as well as popular publications. Her monograph, Women, Health and Public Services in India: Why are States Different? has been published by Routledge (Taylor and Francis) India. She was awarded the Elizabeth Adiseshaiah Citation for contribution to the field of Development Studies in 2023.

Yamini Aiyar

Yamini Aiyar is a Visiting Senior Fellow, CSEP. She is also Senior Visiting Fellow, Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia and Watson Institute, Brown University, where she is working on a comparison of welfare states in the Global South. Previously, she was President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, a leading multidisciplinary think tank in New Delhi, from 2017-2024. Prior to becoming President, she set up the Accountability Initiative, known for its work on governance, social accountability and expenditure tracking. Yamini’s research spans the fields of contemporary politics, state capacity, welfare policy, federalism and India’s political economy. Her latest book, Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi Schools, was published by Oxford University Press in December 2024. Yamini has published widely in academic and current affairs journals as well as the popular press, including in the Economist, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Democracy, Hindustan Times, Deccan Herald, and The Hindu.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.

Please contact Gurmeet Kaur at GKaur@csep.org for general queries and Ayesha Manocha at AManocha@csep.org for media queries.