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 XX. - Recruitment for Assam

Collection:: Economics Books

Nan CHAPTER XX. tea garden manager was warned for carrying on propaganda in a recruit- ing district, not because he was guilty of any misrepresentation, but be- cause he was acting contrary to the strict letter of the law. Believing as we do that the emigration of labour to Assam is of advantage to the recruiting districts, we consider it undesirable that honest propaganda by the industry should be ruled out. Another anomaly of the existing Act is that it renders illegal any assistance to emigrants, except through a garden sardar who may not always be available. A local agent would be guilty of a punishable offence, if he attempted to forward recruits who offered themselves voluntarily for service in the Assam plantations. In consequence, intending emigrants who are badly in need of relief have nceasionally to be kept waiting till a garden sardar arrives before they can be given the required assistance to proceed to Assam. These restrictions cause unnecessary irritation and check the flow of labour to Assam. Control over Recruitment. The control which is exercised over recruitment for Assam is two- fold ; in the first place, it is exercised by the district authorities in the recruiting districts, and secondly, it is entrusted to a central agency known as the Assam Labour Board which was created in 1915 at the request of the industry. The dual control is overlapping, but, in practice, no difficulty has been experienced owing to the fact that the Board has always endea- voured to work in harmony with the local Government and to render what- ever assistance it can in bringing cases of illegal recruitment to the notice of the district authorities who alone are empowered to start criminal pro- ceedings. The Act requires a garden sardar, before he can commence his activities, to obtain from his employer a certificate which formerly had to be countersigned by the magistrates of the district in which he is em- ployed and of the recruiting district. The latter countersignature has been dispensed with by local Governments by notification, but a condition has been imposed requiring garden sardars to work under the control of duly licensed local agents. The provincial Governments concerned have also framed rules under the Act relating generally to the supervision of re- cruitment, provision of accommodation and maintenance of registers by tocal agents, the production on demand of emigrants before magistrates or police officers, and the reporting of cases in which objections have been raised to the emigration of a recruit by the husband or wife, parent or lawful guardian. The penalty for failure to comply with the effective provisions of the Act or the rules framed thereunder and for inadequate supervision is the cancellation of the license of the local agent. A garden sardar can also be prosecuted and imprisoned, if he recruits emigrants without a proper certificate or independently of a local agent. Further, any person taking part in recruiting in contravention of the Act is liable to imprison- ment. Recruits need not be produced before any official in the recruit- ing district ; the agency utilised for the registration of recruits is the locai agent who is an employee of the industry but is also under the control of the district authorities. The local agent has thus two masters to serve, but in practice no difficulty has been experienced as the industry is anxious to co-operate with the local Governments in the maintenance of

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