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 XII. - The income of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

THE INCOME OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 195 3holapur. These enquiries are of great value as a guide to local condi- sions ; but in a country presenting the variations of India, they cannot be treated as typical. Enquiries made in two centres of the Central Provinces and six centres in Bihar and Orissa have been directed bowards measuring the movements in the cost of living and a little work on this has been done elsewhere ; but none of these enquiries has attempt- ed to determine actual representative earnings and expenditure. In Bengal, the leading industrial province of India, not even the construc- tion of a cost of living index has been attempted, and a statistical analysis of earnings and expenditure is entirely lacking. Evidence Obtained. In the course of our tours, we attempted to supplement the statistical material available as best we could. Employers readily gave particulars of their rates of wages, but as a rule these throw less light on earnings than do wage rates in other countries, and for our present purpose earnings are of far greater importance than wages. Information regarding expenditure is even more difficult to obtain. As might be expected, the worker seldom keeps any accounts and, even among educated men, there are few who would find it easy, even if they had no natural reticence, to explain without reference to documents how their income was spent. We examined and conversed with a large number of workers and others who were informed on the subject, and in personal visits to the workers’ houses we endeavoured to supplement, by the “ evidence of the eye ” the information otherwise available. Special Enquiries. As our first winter’s work progressed, it became steadily clearer bo us that the material we could collect in the ordinary way would fall far short of yielding all the information desired. We therefore decided, at the end of our first winter's work, to appeal to Government for further assistance. In a circular letter, which was addressed to the provincial Governments and to the leading railways and is reproduced elsewhere, we asked them to utilise the period which was available in the collection of information bearing on the standard of living of the workers. What we desired, in particular, was “evidence of the same character » as the Commission * might itself have secured if it had had a much longer time at its disposal and had been able to obtain from a number of witnesses information of a somewhat intimate character regarding their manner of life ”. - We appended to our letter a schedule indicating the particulars for which we were looking. We are under deep obligation to the Fovernments, the railway administrations, the employers, the workers and the numerous officials who co-operated in assisting us in this matter. Having regard to the very great difficulties which limitations of time, means and personnel Imposed, the results obtained are by no means disappointing. Their value would have been enhanced if more attention had been paid to the crucial question of sampling, for in a number of cases the efforts have been dissipated over too wide a field. But practically all the enquiries have served a purpose in throwing a sidelight on the 09

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