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 XX. - Recruitment for Assam

Collection:: Economics Books

268 CHAPTER XX, were largely responsible for the bad name of Assam in the recruiting dis- tricts, have been very successfully held in check. The arkatti or profes- sional recruiter, who in the days gone by used to boast that in a few minutes, by his peculiar methods, he could make any one “willing” to emi- grate to Assam, is now suppressed as soon as he commences his activities. For this the credit is very largely due to the tea industry itself, which has genuinely endeavoured to set its house in order. Complaints have been made of fraud and misrepresentation by garden sardars, but we were unable bo obtain any evidence of this on any appreciable scale. The emigrants are produced before local agents, whose duty it is to explain the condi- tions of employment to them before they are sent forward to Assam. As far as we can judge, cases in which labourers have gone to Assam as victims of fraud and misrepresentation must be few, considering the volume of the migration. It was stated that cases occur where members of a family run away from home, seek work in Assam and live there under an assumed name. Such cases, however, are not peculiar to Assam, and we do not feel justified in making any recommenda- tion. A more serious complaint is that women and minors are taken away to Assam without the knowledge or consent of their husband or guardian. But here, too, we found that the industry has taken special care to prevent such abuses and that, in accordance with the rules framed by local Governments, women and minors are detained at the depot for a certain fixed period during which the local agent institutes enquiries as to whether there is any objection to their proceeding to Assam. Nor does the evidence which we obtained in the recruiting districts lend support to the allegation that abuses in connection with the recruitment of women and minors are assuming alarming proportions. If abuses do exist, it is now within the powers of local Governments to check them by insisting on registration and production before a magistrate of all women and minors proceeding to the gardens unaccompanied by their husband or parent. Ideal of Free Recruitment. The official control of recruitment has always been regarded as a regrettable necessity and as a temporary expedient. On various occasions the Government of India have announced their adherence to the ideal of free recruitment, but little visible progress has been made bowards the realisation of that ideal in recent years. As the preceding account shows, we have been impressed by the serious objections to control, and in particular the injurious effects it has on the tea industry and, ultimately, on those employed in it. A further grave objection to the present system is its tendency to perpetuate itself, thus effectively preventing the industry from progressing to a more healthy form of recruitment. The system of control enhances the cost of recruitment, with the consequence that temptations towards abuses are increased. This, in turn, increases the difficulty of removing control, and so furnishes the justification for its retention. We are in entire accord with the view that the danger of serious abuses affords the only justification for the continuance of control, and we have examined with some care the

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