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 VIII. - Mines

Collection:: Economics Books

1924. CHAPTER VIII. exclusion of children under 13 years, grant of a weekly holiday and the limi- tation of weekly hours to 60 above ground and 54 below ground. The Act has been supplemented by two elaborate series of regulations framed under it by the Government of India ; one of these relates to coal mines and one to other mines. In addition, rules have been framed by provincial Governments relating to a number of matters falling within their purview. Since 1923 two important changes have been made in the law. The amending Act of 1928 provides that no mine shall be open more than 12 hours in the 24, unless on a system of shifts, that shifts must not exceed 12 hours and that they must not overlap. The regula- tions of March 1929 prohibit the emplovment of women wunder- oround. Existing Hours. At the time of our visits to the mines, only the weekly limit imposed by the Act of 1923 was in operation. A number of mines were working on a system of shifts, but, in the main, hours were irregular and cases came to our notice where the legal limit was exceeded. Indeed, the registers in use up to two months before our visit made any effective check extremely difficult. Mica mines and some iron mines in Bihar and Orissa were normally working two 8 hour shifts and the Bawdwin mine in Burma was working three such shifts. The manganese mines in the Central Provinces and mines in Madras do not generally work more than one shift in 24 hours. In the latter province hours were re- ported to vary between 74 and 9 per day, while the day’s work in the manganese mines was said to average 7 to 8 hours. Shifts in Collieries. It appears likely, therefore, that the change inthe law will be felt mainly in the coal mines where the worker, although not yet used tc regular hours, will no longer be free to carry on the old system of remaining for long spells underground. Thus, if the shift is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m, it may be 9 or 10 in the morning before all the workers are in the mine, and we can well understand that late arrivals, being piece- workers, may be reluctant to leave work with the other workers of the shift as the Act enjoins. This will arise particularly in the case of those who walk some distance from their homes. But, where voluntary shifts have been worked, these difficulties have already been overcome and, now that the law removes the possibility of dis- satisfied workers avoiding the shift system by moving to another mine, they should no longer be a serious obstacle to satisfactory work- ing. Registration of Hours, The first necessity for the enforcement of proper hours is a satis- factory system of registration, for which forms are prescribed in the rules made by local Governments. Prior to 1929 the form left much to be desired, and in the salt mines of the Punjab and the manganese mines of the Central Provinces we found practically no check on hours. In the

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