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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XX. - Recruitment for Assam

Collection:: Economics Books

RECRUITMENT FOR ASSAM, 371. approved by the local Government or by such authority as it may appoint. The aim should be to require the industry itself to take adequate mea- sures for the prevention of abuses. This responsibility can be best dis- charged by proper organisation for the provision and maintenance of satisfactory depts in the recruiting areas and on the journey. Hitherto the arrangements for registration and transit have been largely in the hands of one organisation which claims 93%, of the present recruitment for Assam. A number of gardens, mostly Indian-owned, are not members of this organisation nor have they been organised for recruiting purposes. The dangers of unorganised recruiting are obvious and it is essential that collective arrangements should be made, if the industry is to dis- charge its responsibility. If it is not found possible for this to be done through one organisation, we see no objection to suitable groups of planters forming themselves into organisations for this purpose. Each group able to satisfy Government that it could collectively fulfil the obli- gations of the law should be entitled to set up its own depéts and to place local agents in charge of them. The agent should be required to maintain registers of recruits in the prescribed form. The rules in force should also make provision for the detention of women and minors for a limited period, and the law should prohibit the forwarding of minors who are unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. The dept and its registers should be open to the inspection of any officers appointed by the pro- vincial Government for this purpose. From the stage when the emigrant is moved from the depdt, the rules should be made by the Government of India, who should make provision for the following of certain pre- scribed routes to Assam and for the maintenance, at necessary inter- vals, of depots where the emigrants can rest, be fed and, if necessary, be examined. Possibility of Removing Control. So long as organised recruiting is required, it will be necessary for the industry to maintain their forwarding agencies, but the aim should be to reach a stage where all restrictions on forwarding can be removed, thus giving the Assam tea industry the complete liberty which is enjoyed by all other industries in India. Further, while we are satisfied that this stage has not been reached everywhere, we think that in respect of some recruiting areas it may be possible to remove all restrictions at once. Areas mainly inhabited by aboriginals do not stand on the same footing as other recruiting areas. The most serious abuses in the past occurred in connection with the recruiting of aboriginals, and it is there that control is likely to be required longest. As regards other areas, it is significant that from North Bihar and the United Provinces large numbers of persons are recruited every year by contractors, without control, for work in other pro- vinces and in Assam itself, where they are engaged mainly on earth-work, and we had no evidence to suggest that any control was required in con- Dection with such recruitment. Further, certain proposals which we make later in connection with repatriation and the liberty of the labourer should, if adopted, effect a transformation in the position with regard to recruitment. As soon as the fresh recruit going to Assam is assured of the Ing

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation