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 XIV. - Health and welfare of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

HEALTH AND WELFARE, 249 The Problem of Population. We cannot leave these questions of health and physique with- out referring to yet another factor, the importance of which has increasing- ly impressed itself upon us. High as is the general death rate, the rate of natural increase in India is still sufficient to add large numbers annually to the population. Increased production of food ultimately effects little improvement in the standard of living or in the quantity of foodstuffs available, since the population quickly multiplies under these favour- able conditions. Formerly war, famine and pestilence were all active in reducing the numbers for which the land had to provide sustenance ; war and famine have been largely negatived as active influences, whilst deaths from pestilence have been considerably reduced. The result is a steadily growing pressure on the land, which compels increasing numbers to migrate from the agricultural villages to urban and industrial areas in the hope of finding employment. This increasing migration is probably not a little responsible for the beginning of an unemployment problem in the latter places and for the keen competition for available work. We are not alone in holding that this factor exerts considerable influence in depressing the general standard of living, and it is one which must always be remembered when considering the other problems with which we are dealing. It calls urgently for studied attention from economists and others interested in the welfare of the peoples of India. Vital Statistics. Although more than one attempt was made to.give us vital statistics for groups of industrial workers, none of these gave a picture sufficiently accurate to demonstrate any relation between industrial activity and increased death rates. This is not a matter for surprise when it is remembered that, even in the larger towns, few sick persons see a doctor and certification of death is usually a matter of guess-work on the part of a non-medical registrar. Moreover, deaths are registered under one or other of only six or seven heads, three of these being small-pox, cholera and plague, so that by far the largest number is entered under “ all other causes ”. Lack of appreciation of their value in public health and of training on the part of the individuals responsible for their collection lead to the continuance of grave inaccuracies in such records. Again, in industrial areas the influx of large numbers of young males changes the age-distribution to a marked extent, and the failure to apply the neces- sary correction factor, before comparing them with other areas where the population is distributed more normally over the different age and sex periods, makes fair comparison very difficult. There is, therefore, little chance of obtaining reliable statistics for special groups such as industrial workers and, in consequence, we have been unable to make any estimate of the effect of industrial life, as distinct from urbanisation, on the death rates of these communities. Curious variations prevail in the methods of registering still-births throughout the different provinces. We re- commend that still-births should be excluded from both birth and death registers and that they should be separately recorded. Only when this

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