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 XIII. - Indebtedness

Collection:: Economics Books

INDEBTEDNESS. 237 Monthly payment is practically universal on the railways and in most other forms of transport, it is general in cotton textile mills except in Ahmedabad and Cawnpore, and is common in engineering and metal factories. The most important exceptions to the practice of monthly payment, so far as factories are concerned, are the jute mills, in which the operatives are paid weekly, the Ahmedabad cotton mills which pay ap- proximately fortnightly, most of the leading Cawnpore mills which pay fortnightly, and the bulk of seasonal factories. Monthly payment is rare in the mining industries; the Raniganj coalfield pays wages daily and the great majority of mines elsewhere pay weekly. Casual labour naturally tends to be paid daily and unskilled labour in unorganis- ed industry, if not employed by contractors, is often so paid. Delays in Payment. With the prevalence of long periods of payment there is a ten- dency to allow a comparatively long time to elapse between the end of the period in respect of which a wage has been earned and its actual payment. Where wages are paid monthly, it is the exception for the worker to receive his wages at any time in the week following the end of the month. Ten to fifteen days usually elapse before he gets his money, and it is not infrequent for the delay to exceed 15 days. With shorter periods of payment than the month, there is generally less delay. Fortnightly wages are seldom retained for more than 10 days and are frequently paid in from 3 to 5 days. Weekly wages are hardly ever withheld for more than a week and may be paid very promptly, while daily wages are usually paid on the day on which they are earned. Weekly Payments Bill. The only attempt so far to deal with these questions by legislation was made in 1925 when a private Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly with the intention of enforcing the general adoption of weekly payments to employees. The measure was circulated for opinions and those received were almost unanimously unfavourable to it. It was opposed generally by employers and the provincial Governments. It was asserted with some confidence in many quarters that the workers were opposed to the reduction of the period. On the second reading In 1926, the Government of India opposed the measure, and made it clear that in their view the aim should be to reduce the delays which took place in the payment of wages and not to reduce the period of pay- ment. On an assurance being given by Government that this latter Question would be investigated, the Bill was withdrawn by its sponsor. Delayed Payment and Debt. } In the discussion of both these questions, stress was laid on bheir bearing on indebtedness. While we recognise the injustice of withholding wages for longer than is necessary to ensure their calcula- tion, we do not believe that the existence of a fairly long waiting period

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