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

260 CHAPTER XIV, advance must depend to a considerable extent on the co-operation of employers with other sections of the community. It is precisely the fact that the workers have been brought together in an industrial area which creates many of the problems of health, housing, recreation, etc., with which they are faced. For this reason, we are strongly in favour, at the present juncture, of a more general extension on the part of the employer of welfare work in its broader sense. It is advisable to remember that there is a danger in giving to welfare what should go in wages and so depriving the worker of independence and of the educative experi- ence which comes from having a margin after necessities have been met. But ordinarily there is no question of choosing between raising wages and developing welfare activities. Employers who have done most in the way of welfare work do not usually pay lower wages than their neighbours. Indeed, welfare work is generally associated with wages higher than are paid in corresponding establishments where no such work is attempted. Extensive welfare schemes may be regarded as a wise investment which should, and usually does, bring in a profitable return in the form of greater efficiency. Welfare Schemes. In recent years the development of welfare schemes in some of the larger industrial centres has received considerable attention from a num- ber of employers. Although some of these schemes are still at an element- ary stage, many have made considerable advance and a few are models of their kind. In this field as in others, the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in. Madras have given a lead to the rest of industrial India. Their manifold welfare activities include schools, meal-sheds, a co-operative society, workmen’s stores, an ambulance corps, athletic associations, a work-people’s institute and club, a dramatic society, a literary and de- bating society and village committees or panchayats. We were particu- larly impressed with the educational facilities provided by this company, which included a sound elementary course, some technical classes and training in hygiene. These welfare activities demand the full-time ser- vices of a secretary, assistant secretary and games superintendent in addition to a highly-qualified teaching staff, but the management is of opinion that the results obtained have justified the expenditure involved. The British India Corporation in Cawnpore has also devoted much time and thought to the welfare of its workers. In its housing settlement at McRobertganj it has provided boys’ and girls’ schools, play grounds, dispensaries, maternity and child welfare centres, club-rooms, wrestling pits, a community hall, a segregation hospital, a home for widows, a central office, woodyards and shops, whilst local self-government is effected by a sadar panchayat. The Empress Mills in Nagpur employ a full-time welfare officer who has successfully developed a number of activities. These include refreshment shops in the mills, meal-sheds, co-operative stores, a co-operative credit society, maternity benefits, creches, a boy scouts organisation, recreations and amusements of different kinds and an extensive educational scheme. This last commences with nursery and kindergarten classes for infants up to 6 years of age, and provides primary

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