The agrarian system of Moslem India

Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1804119261

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-188010

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Moreland, William Harrison http://d-nb.info/gnd/172263670

Title:: The agrarian system of Moslem India

Edition:: 2. ed. Reissue (d. Ausg. Cambridge) 1929; [Reprint]

Place of publication:: Delhi

Publisher:: Oriental Books, Munshiram Manoharlal

Year of publication:: 1968

Scope:: XVII, 296 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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WAGES ON PLANTATIONS, 403 form of a Wage Board. While indicating that they might not object: if the principle were applied to all industries in India, they emphasised that they were more concerned with the wages of agricultural labour than those of industrial labour. These objections are based on the fact that it is exceptional to create wage-fixing machinery for agriculture and that, elsewhere, it is usual to apply such machinery in the first instance to sweated industries where organisation is defective. The Report makes special reference to the high degree of organisation reached in Assam, where 909, of the acreage under tea is represented by the Indian Tea Association. Very early in the history of tea cultivation in Assam, the need for organisation and common action was recognised. As far back as 1859, it was found necessary to form a Tea Planters’ Association for the purpose, amongst others, of organising a system of emigration to Assam. Other labour or re- cruiting organisations followed until in 1892 the Association, now known as the Tea Districts Labour Association, was formed to supervise recruit- ment. The Labour Enquiry Committee of 1906 emphasised the neces- sity for effective organisation to discourage and prevent enticement of imported labour from one garden to another. The Enquiry Committee of 1921-22 suggested that the District Sub-Committees of the Assam Branches of the Indian Tea Association should recommend decent monthly or daily rates of wages and the representatives of the Associa- tion in evidence before us stated that in certain cases these Committees increased the wages or'reduced the tasks. Notwithstanding these long continued efforts on the part of employers, the need for combined action continues and indeed is recognised in our Report which contains many suggestions for increased common effort on the part of all concerned in the cultivation of tea. The Report deals fully with the many factors which have con- tributed to the continued scarcity of tea garden labour in Assam and contains recommendations designed to remove some of the existing lifficulties. The representatives of the Indian Tea Association and of the planters consider that the removal of restrictions on recruiting including freedom of propaganda, coupled with the right of repatria- tion for new recruits, will ensure a more plentiful supply of labour. It is hoped that, in this respect, the experience of organised industries in other parts of India will be repeated. In the case of Assam, however, the problems arising out of the long distances from recruiting areas con- finue and meantime make it difficult for tea garden workers, if they so desire, to find their way back to the villages without assistance from their employers. This, indeed, is one of the differences between Assam and other plantations, e.g., Madras, where ample supplies of labour are available within easy reach. There is every likelihood, therefore, that organised recruitment and some measure of control will continue to be necessary for some time in the case of Assam tea gardens. In ordinary circumstances, scarcity of labour and the demand for it in competition with other industries should create conditions that would make wage- ixing machinery unnecessary. The conditions obtaining in Assam, 202

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