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 XX. - Recruitment for Assam

Collection:: Economics Books

RECRUITMENT FOR ASSAM. 375 Cess on Emigrants. With the abolition of the Assam Labour Board and of Act VI of 1901, which we have recommended, will disappear the cess which is now levied on garden sardars and emigrants. To meet the cost of the Protector of Immigrants and his staff, the law which will take the place of the present Act, should empower the Government of India to levy on emigrants a cess somewhat similar to the existing one. The cess would not, however, be payable on garden sardars or on emigrants who are returning to Assam after a stay of less than twelve months, so that it may have to be fixed on a somewhat higher rate on the remaining emigrants. The total expenditure on the staff we recommend should be less than that involved in maintaining the Assam Labour Board. whose abolition we have recommended. Powers of Central and Provincial Governments. The subject of internal emigration is at present central, and under the existing Act, the powers exercised by provincial Governments are subject to the control of the Central Government. We recommend that, as the question concerns movements from one province to another, the character of the control necessary should be finally determined by the Central Government. This will ensure that, where control is neces- sary, it is imposed with a view to the interests of India as a whole, and that the decision is not unduly coloured by local interests. We do not suggest that the Central Government should retain authority over the dmmistrative control ; it should be responsible merely for deciding the type of control that should be applied in any area. Thus, for example, if that Government were satisfied that it was necessary to re-introduce limitations on actual recruitment in any area, it would issue the necessary notification, but it would then be for the provincial Government to decide to whom licenses to recruit should be given. Similarly, the provincial Government will be responsible for taking action against a local agent who has been guilty of misconduct, and it should also be possible for pro- vincial Governments to divide their provinces into specified areas, and to prescribe that recruits shall not be taken to depdts outside the area within which they were recruited. The appointment of the Protector of Immigrants should provide the necessary link between Assam, the recruiting provinces and the Central Government, and his annual reports should supply the public and the Governments concerned with a reliable account of conditions in Assam as they wonld appear fo emigrants from other parts of India. Need of Constructive Policy. Many factors such as the rapid expansion of the industry, official restrictions, memory of past conditions and the drain from the tea gardens to independent cultivation have made it necessary to continue organised recruitment on a large scale. But there are other factors which contribute materially to the scarcity of labour experienced by the industry. We were struck by the wide differences in conditions obtaining in different vardens and their effect on recruitment. At one extreme are gardens

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