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 XIII. - Indebtedness

Collection:: Economics Books

Credit of the Worker. Thought on the subject has naturally concentrated mainly on the position of the borrower. We also are anxious to protect the borrower ; at the same time considerable light can be thrown on the pro- blem by examining it from the other end, namely, from the point of view of the lender. The worker’s debts are due to a large extent to the fact that the lender finds in him a profitable investment and is ready and, indeed, eager to give the worker money which it is contrary to the latter's interest to accept. After weighing carefully the considerations on both sides, we are definitely of the opinion that itisin the worker’s interest to reduce his attractiveness as a field for investment. In other words, efforts must be concentrated on diminishing his power of obtaining credit. We recognise the force of the argument against this conclusion. There are occasions when the worker is in grave need, and money-lenders often perform a useful function in assisting the worker in emergencies. But the widespread havoc produced by the present system of comparatively easy credit far exceeds the hardships that would result from a reduction in the money-lender’s readiness to lend. It is relevant to observe that, if the larger loans were not advanced, the worker would probably find it easier than it is to borrow the smaller sums necessary to tide him over a hard time and to repay these without undue delay. Our proposals, then, are mainly directed towards making it unprofitable for the money-lender to advance to workers amounts which are beyond their power to repay. INDEBTEDNESS. 22] Attachment of Wages and Salaries. Our first recommendation in this connection refers to the re- covery of debts through employers. Under the Civil Procedure Code, it is possible for a money-lender to secure the attachment of the wages of any one who is not a labourer or a domestic servant, and we understand that the majority of workers in. organised industry would not be regarded as labourers within the meaning of the Act. But in respect of certain classes of employees, particularly railway servants and the servants of local authorities, the law allows the money-lender to use the employer as his debt-collector to a much greater extent. In such cases it is possible to attach half of an employee’s salary or the amount by which that salary exceeds twenty rupees a month, whichever is less. In some cases pri- vate employers are required to make similar recoveries, although the legality of this is doubtful. Thus, in the case of an employee In receipt of a regular salary, the money-lender can secure an order directing the railway administration to hand over, month by month, a large part of the employee’s salary until the whole decree has been covered, a period which extends in some cases to years rather than months. The comparative security of railway service further increases the attraction of the railway servant for the money- lender, and all the evidence goes to show that the level of indebtedness In terms of wages is higher among railway servants than among Industrial employees as a whole. This is itself a striking confirmation of our main thesis that it is the credit of the worker whichis his undoing.

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