Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VII. - Unregulated factories

Collection:: Economics Books

19 CHAPTER VII. those of the Burma Government in 1926-27 into small rice and saw-mills, and those of the Punjab Government in 1927-28 into child labour in the carpet factories in the Amritsar district. In a few cases useful enquiries of this kind have been made by private investigators desirous of drawing the attention of the public to particular social evils, leaders of localised trade unions in respect of conditions prevailing in their own industries, and social or student organisations generally interested in economic Juestions. Need for Further Advance. We are of opinion that the time has now come to take the next step by the extension of protective legislation to the worker employed in some of the industrial establishments which have hitherto escaped legislative control. The places most in need of such regulation fall naturally into two categories—those using power machinery but employing less than 20 workers, and those using no power machinery but employing a substantial number of workers. In the former category come the many small machine shops to be found in the back streets of all modern towns with the advent of mechanical transport and the extended use of electricity and machine tools, and in the latter a host of different in- dustries, from which for illustrative purposes we subsequently select six for more detailed treatment. Small Factories Using Power. Taking first the question of the smaller factories using power machinery, 7.e., those employing under 20 persons, the most important points requiring attention are the unsuitable and even unsafe nature of the buildings in which the machinery is erected and the lack of adequate, and indeed often of any, protective guards to shafting, belting and machi- nery. The dangerous possibilities of the latter are sometimes accen- tuated by the inadequacy or unsuitability of the lighting provided, but fortunately night work is not common. It has, moreover, to be borne in mind that, up to the present, workers employed in such places have been without the protection of the Workmen's Compensation Act, which has hitherto applied only to power driven factories employing 20 or more persons. Owing to the absence of any obligations to report accidents m unregulated factories, the number of serious or minor accidents is not ascertainable, but the number of fatal accidents is believed to be small, In addition to mechanical defects there is a marked absence of adequate sanitary arrangements both as regards latrines and washing conveniences. More than one instance came to our notice where the existing conveniences were used for general storage purposes. Finally both the age at which a child may be employed in such places and the hours of labour of all workers are unregulated, though there is reason to believe that no ap- preciable abuse of child labour exists, owing to the work being in most cases unsuited to them. In the aggregate the proportion of women employed is also small. Moreover the hours of work, though frequently covering a big spreadover, are normally not excessive as discipline is much laxer than in the large factories and the atmosphere is more that of the domestic workshop than of the factory proper.

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