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 XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

WAGES ON PLANTATIONS. ash devoted much labour to rendering it suitable for cultivation ; but, so far as we are aware, eviction is not resorted to except for purposes of redistribution. The concession is unevenly distributed ; in most gardens there are a number of workers without land, while there are a few who hold more than what is strictly their fair share. Other Concessions. The remaining concessions, such as free grazing, free fuel, ad- vances without interestand the supply of rice at concession rates, are of less importance. The first two, where available, are not regarded as con- cessions, as they are enjoyed by villagers in almost all agricultural areas in India ; on the other hand, thelack of such facilities in certain areas is felt as a deprivation. The third is frequently regarded with suspicion, as the worker naturally feels that he is bound to the garden till the ad- vance is repaid and still harbours in his mind the unfortunate associa- tion of advances with penal contracts. The last concession is now rare, and we are glad to note that the practice of supplying rice on credit, which was condemned by the Enquiry Committee of 1921-22, has dis- appeared. Other Factors. Apart from concessions, there are two other factors which have an important influence on wages. In the first place, as we have shown earlier, the migration to Assam is one of families rather than of individuals, since the gardens offer employment to women and children as well as to men. In most other industries the scope for the em- ployment of women and children is limited, and in consequence the worker usually leaves his family behind in his village, remitting money for its maintenance. On the plantations nearly all the members of a worker’s family are wage earners, and even children of tender age come out with their parents to increase the family earnings. There are thus comparatively few non-working dependents in a working class family. The effect of this on the standard of living is important for, even with low individual earnings, the total family income may be sufficiently high to prevent the worker from feeling the pinch of poverty. The second factor is the extent of standardisation in the matter of wages, as a result of combination among employers. The tea industry in Assam is perhaps the most highly organised industry in the country, and the Indian Tea Association, with a branch in each of the two valleys, represents about 90 per cent of the total area under tea cultivation in Assam. The object of this Association is to promote the common interests of all persons con- cerned in the cultivation of tea in India”. We have already seen that problems connected with the recruitment of labour have been of primary importance for the development of the industry and that jomt action has been taken through the Association to prevent the enticement of labour from one garden to another. But efforts to regulate the relations between employers and employed go further than this. In addition to the “labour rules’, the Association has been able to enforce what are known as “ wage agreements >’ among its members in order to secure, as far as practicable, oy

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