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 XV. - Housing of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

288 CHAPTER XV. question depends primarily on whether Government is able to assist, for the cost involved is the crux of the whole position. Government Action, We have already stressed the necessity for the formation of a Ministry of Health in each province and for the passing of a comprehen- sive Public Health Act. By the passing of suitable legislative measures Government would find themselves in a much stronger position to deal with the present impasse and would be able to enforce action on local authorities who were unwilling to respond. For the control of housing, the Ministry of Health should lay down minimum standards in regard to floor and cubic space, ventilation and lighting, and these standards should be incorporated by all local authorities in their building bye-laws. The provision of water supplies, drainage systems and latrines for work- ing class housing schemes should also be governed by regulations drawn up by the Ministry. Without these necessary safeguards, new housing schemes would speedily reproduce the very conditions they were intended to remove. The preparation and issue of model bye-laws by the Ministry of Health would be of great assistance to local authorities, and Govern- ments should insist on their adoption, with modifications necessitated by local conditions, within a specified period. In order to assist employers and others desirous of building working class houses, Public Health De- partments should also prepare plans, with approximate costs, of different types of houses, and be available for advice, thus preventing expenditure on schemes which do not conform to recognised health standards. We suggest that, in future, type-plans should provide more than the single room which for so long has been considered adequate for the average worker. The addition of a small room for storing utensils and for cooking and washing should be considered a necessity rather than, as at present, a luxury, and a verandah in front would give the worker and his family the much appreciated privacy so seldom obtained at present. Similarly, plans of approved types of latrines should be made available, and no housing scheme should be considered complete unless a sufficient number of sanitary conveniences are included. Town Planning Acts. Consideration must now be given to some of the additional legislative measures which Governments might use to secure further advance. The Town Planning Act is a British legislative measure which has proved of considerable value in the development of housing schemes. So far, the Madras Presidency is the only province which has placed such an Act on the statute book, but apparently there has been considerable reluctance on the part of municipal councils #0 make use of the powers conferred by it, whilst the Provincial Town Planning Fund, the creation of which is provided for in the Act, has not yet been constituted. It is true that extension schemes have been planned in Madras City and in one or two other towns ; in several municipal areas civic surveys have been considered or undertaken, but so far little or no amelioration of the housing conditions has been effected. If the present Act is ineffective,

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