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

212 . CHAPTER XII. most part without any certainty as to the method and extent of its appli- cation. Interest in this subject in India has received a considerable stimulus from the Draft Convention on the subject adopted by the Inter- national Labour Conference in 1928. The Convention contemplates the creation of such machinery only in the case of “ trades or parts of trades (and in particular in home working trades) in which no arrangements exist for the effective regulation of wages by collective agreement or otherwise and wages are exceptionally low ”. The question as to the nature and form of the machinery and the trades to which it is to be applied are left entirely to the discretion of the States concerned. After canvassing opinions, the Government of India came to the conclusion that they could neither enter into any commitment nor give any indication of possible ratification until a thorough enquiry had been held into the prac- ticability of establishing wage boards in India. Both chambers of the Central Legislature agreed that the Convention should not be ratified, the Legislative Assembly adding the rider “ pending the report of the Indian Labour Commission >’. Possible Application of Minimum Wages. We have throughout approached the consideration of questions from the point of view of the needs of India rather than of the applicability of international Conventions; and we deal elsewhere with the question of wage-fixing machinery in the Assam planta- tions, a case which we donot regard as coming within the scope of the Convention. We have also recommended the guaranteed payment of a standard minimum output in the case of underground workers in coal mines. This, however, is not equivalent to a minimum wage, as it is not proposed that the rate of payment for the task should be regulated. In our view the Convention, in referring to trades in which wages are ‘‘ exceptionally low ”, must be regarded as having in view trades in which wages are low, not by comparison with Western or other foreign standards, but by comparison with the general trend of wages and wage levels in kindred occupations in the country concerned. It must always be remembered that in India organised industry cannot be regarded as lowering the standard of living of those it absorbs, the majority of whom left the field for the factory to secure an alleviation of their hardships. It appears to us that, in order to conform to both the letter and the spirit of the Convention, it would first be necessary to create machinery for fixing minimum rates of wages in those trades in which wages are lowest and where there is no question of collective bargaining. Preliminary Enquiries. In view of the absence in India of reliable information on wage rates and earnings in individual industries, to which reference has already been made, it would be unwise to attempt legislation on the lines of the Convention before obtaining a fairly clear indication of the trades to which the machinery should properly be applied in the first instance. It will be recognised by those familiar with the subject that it was impossible for us, in the time at our disposal and with such wide terms of reference, to survey the trades or to sav definitely in the case of

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