Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

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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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VIII. - Mines

Collection:: Economics Books

MINES. 121 present evil may be gauged from the following figures, which relate solely bo the colliery areas of the Dhanbad sub-division. In 1928 the average number of male persons employed in coal mines in that sub-division was about 55,000. The consumption in the colliery areas of country spirit alone during the excise year 1928-29 represented an expenditure by the consumers of Rs. 6,70,000. In addition to this, there was a large con- sumption of rice beer ; expenditure on this cannot be estimated, but in license fees alone Government received on this account over Rs. 1,20,000. When allowance is made for the consumption of ganja and intoxicating drugs in other forms, the total expenditure on drink and drugs in that year cannot have been less than Rs. 10,00,000. We make proposals regarding the sale of drink in industrial areas in a later chapter, but we would smphasise here the harm done, particularly to the aboriginal population, by the sale of spirits, and the loss in efficiency for which drink is responsible in the coalfields Payment of Wages on the Rest Day. There is one other factor contributing to irregularity to which attention should be drawn and which might easily be removed. In most of the coal mines Sunday is the weekly rest day, and it is the common practice in the Jharia field, if not elsewhere, to pay wages on that day. In some mines payment is a lengthy process, and the last miners are not paid out till the afternoon. If, amongst the latest, there are some who have many miles to walk to their village, most of their rest day may be wasted. In these circumstances it is not to be expected that the miner will appear for work on Monday. We consider that pay- ment of wages should be made on a working day, preferably Saturday. There need be no difficulty in finding time for the calculation of wages, as, if necessary, the week for which Payment is made can end on Friday or carlier. The matter is one that might be left to the initiative of the managements, but if, after a reasonable time, payment on a rest day has not been discontinued, Government should take steps to prohibit the practice. Shortage of Tubs. Many of the recommendations we have to make for the improve- ment of efficiency fall under the heads of health and welfare and are dealt with elsewhere. But there is another obstacle to satisfactory working which calls for attention. At the time of our visit to the coalfields, which corresponded with one of the busiest seasons, there was a fairly general shortage of tubs, Nearly every worker we examined complained of this shortage and it is a common practice for the miner to delay the commence- ment of work until tubs are available. The deficiency may be ascribed partly to the seasonal variation in production and partly to the tendency of employers to admit, at certain seasons, more workers than can be fully employed. The shortage might be partially remedied by better organisa- tion 80 as to enable each tub to be filled more often than at present. We suggest to mineowners that, even at the cost of increased expenditure, an adequate supply of tubs, properly distributed. is essential to efficient

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