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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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XIX. - The planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

354. CHAPTER XIX. speaking, the planters of the North have endeavoured to secure permanent settlers. In the South the plantations extend to Indian States, in some of which, e.g., Mysore, Cochin and Travancore, they are to be found in large numbers, while in the North the planting areas are almost entirely situated within British India. This is a factor which may present difficulties if labour legislation in the Indian States does not keep pace with British India, but we deal with this question in greater detail elsewhere. Plantations in South India. The plantations in the South are to be found in the highest parts of the Peninsula. The important planting areas in British India are the Nilgiris, Malabar, the Anamalais and the Shevaroys in Madras and the small province of Coorg. The Nilgiris form a large plateau at the junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats, with an average elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level. All thethree main plantation crops are grown in this area, of which tea is now the most important, giving employment to about 31,000 persons, as compared with over 12,000 in the case of coffee and only about 400 in the case of rubber. Labour for the plantations in the Nilgiris is obtained locally and from the neighbouring districts of Coimbatore. and Salem, a small proportion also coming from the Indian State of Mysore. Coffee, tea and rubber are also grown in the Malabar district. The coffee and tea plantations are to be found chiefly in the Wynaad, a table- land 60 miles long by 30 miles wide lying amid the Ghats at an average elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level. Owing to its rainfall, the rest of the district is suited only for the cultivation of rubber. The total labour force on the plantations is about 20,000, of whom the large majority are employed on the tea plantations. The supply of labour is mainly local, but part of it comes from Coimbatore, Salem and the Indian State of Mysore. The Anamalais are a series of forest-clad plateaux in the south of Coimbatore district, on the lower slopes of which a number of tea plantations have recently been opened, which employ about 30,000 persons. Coffee is cultivated on a very small scale. The plantations obtain over a third of their labour force from within the district and the remainder from Malabar, Salem, Tinnevelly, Madura and Trichinopoly. The Shevaroys are a small detached rangein the Salem district. The plantations here are chiefly coffee estates, employing about 5,000 workers, all of whom are recruited within the district. Coorg. The small province of Coorg is a highland country to the west of the State of Mysore, on the summits and slopes of the Western Ghats. Coffee is the most important crop, but tea and rubber are also grown in small patches. The total labour force is about 24,000, most of which has to be imported from outside the province. The local inhabitants are the Kodagas or Coorgs proper, who from time immemorial were the lords of the soil, and the hill tribes, such as the Yeravas and the Kurabas, who were formerly their serfs but are now free. The Kodagas number

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