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 XIV. - Health and welfare of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

250 CHAPTER XIV, is done will it be possible to obtain the useful information which these figures should provide. Sickness Statistics. We met with even greater difficulties in connection with tke incidence of sickness among industrial workers. Few employers know the rates of sickness among their workers, and little is known of the amount of sickness in the general population. The ‘records of hospital out-patient departments and of dispensaries refer to the general population living in their vicinity. Even where a particular industrial concern maintains its own medical staff and dispensary, the Indian worker frequently absents himself from work without reporting to the factory doctor. In a number of industrial concerns it is necessary bo keep an additional 10 per cent of workers on the wage-books as substi- tutes to fill the places of absentees, but neither this figure nor the figures for absenteeism can be used as a basis for estimating sickness rates, since the Indian worker stays away from his work for many reasons besides sickness. Inferences from Available Figures. Erroneous though they are, the registered statistics show that birth rates generally are extraordinarily high as compared with those prevailing in Western countries, and both general and infantile mortality rates are correspondingly high. The general death rate in India, on a conservative estimate, may be taken to be between 30 and 35 per 1,000. It is known that the average expectation of life at birth is only about 25 years, as compared with over 54 years in Great Britain. These two figures, although approximate, make it certain that sickness rates for the general population are several times higher than the corresponding rates in Britain. This brings us no nearer an estimate of the actual rates among industrial workers, but it is certain that sickness and disease exact a heavy toll and detract from their efficiency and earning capacity to a marked extent, Medical Registrars. The necessity of improved vital statistics is generally recognised, and in several provinces marked improvements have been effected with- in recent years by stricter supervision and more effective inspection. It is essential, however, that municipal councils and local bodies, who are primarily responsible for registration, should devote much more atten- bion to the matter. In the larger towns and the more important indus- trial areas, at least, the appointment of medical registrars should be com- pulsory since only then will it be possible to improve the classification of causes of death. This has already been done in certain areas and, as a result, special investigations which were previously impossible have been suceessfully carried out. Institute of Nutrition. We now consider some of the methods which should be adopted for improving the general health conditions of the industrial worker.

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