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CHAPTER XX,

were largely responsible for the bad name of Assam in the recruiting dis-
tricts, have been very successfully held in check. The arkatti or profes-
sional recruiter, who in the days gone by used to boast that in a few
minutes, by his peculiar methods, he could make any one “willing” to emi-
grate to Assam, is now suppressed as soon as he commences his activities.
For this the credit is very largely due to the tea industry itself, which has
genuinely endeavoured to set its house in order. Complaints have been
made of fraud and misrepresentation by garden sardars, but we were unable
bo obtain any evidence of this on any appreciable scale. The emigrants
are produced before local agents, whose duty it is to explain the condi-
tions of employment to them before they are sent forward to Assam. As
far as we can judge, cases in which labourers have gone to Assam as
victims of fraud and misrepresentation must be few, considering the
volume of the migration. It was stated that cases occur where members
of a family run away from home, seek work in Assam and live
there under an assumed name. Such cases, however, are not peculiar
to Assam, and we do not feel justified in making any recommenda-
tion. A more serious complaint is that women and minors are taken
away to Assam without the knowledge or consent of their husband or
guardian. But here, too, we found that the industry has taken special
care to prevent such abuses and that, in accordance with the rules
framed by local Governments, women and minors are detained at the
depot for a certain fixed period during which the local agent institutes
enquiries as to whether there is any objection to their proceeding to Assam.
Nor does the evidence which we obtained in the recruiting districts lend
support to the allegation that abuses in connection with the recruitment
of women and minors are assuming alarming proportions. If abuses do
exist, it is now within the powers of local Governments to check them by
insisting on registration and production before a magistrate of all women
and minors proceeding to the gardens unaccompanied by their husband or
parent.
Ideal of Free Recruitment.
The official control of recruitment has always been regarded
as a regrettable necessity and as a temporary expedient. On various
occasions the Government of India have announced their adherence
to the ideal of free recruitment, but little visible progress has been made
bowards the realisation of that ideal in recent years. As the preceding
account shows, we have been impressed by the serious objections to control,
and in particular the injurious effects it has on the tea industry and,
ultimately, on those employed in it. A further grave objection to the
present system is its tendency to perpetuate itself, thus effectively
preventing the industry from progressing to a more healthy form of
recruitment. The system of control enhances the cost of recruitment,
with the consequence that temptations towards abuses are increased.
This, in turn, increases the difficulty of removing control, and so furnishes
the justification for its retention. We are in entire accord with the view
that the danger of serious abuses affords the only justification for the
continuance of control, and we have examined with some care the