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

390 CHAPTER XXI. hope that our efforts will be of some assistance both in dispell- ing prejudice and in removing the grounds for complaint which at present exist. We have tried to show, especially in the preced- ing and following chapters, that in some directions the industry has gone to commendable lengths in the attempt to secure a contented labour force. By improving existing conditions it should be possible for the planters in Assam to offer intending recruits conditions greatly superior to those prevailing in the recruiting areas. At the same time, nothing would do more to restore confidence in such areas than the knowledge that the recruit was assured of the form of protection ob- tainable through statutory wage-fixing machinery. The existence of gardens where the wage rates can be cut reacts unfavourably on the whole industry ; and unsatisfactory conditions, even on a few gardens, keep alive all the old prejudices against Assam and make it more diffi- cult for even the best gardens to secure recruits. Moreover, the potential recruit is more likely to understand the position and to appreciate the advantage held out to him, if he knows precisely what pecuniary return is obtainable for his labour. The inauguration of wage-fixing machinery, therefore, should be as much to the benefit of the industry as to that of the workers employed in it. If the industry were in a position to give an assurance in the recruiting districts that on no garden could the rates fall below specified limits, a continuous source of danger should be eliminated; and the mere establishment of the rates at present prevailing in the better gardens should in itself constitute an important aid to recruiting. The establishment of minimum rates in Ceylon and Malaya has come mainly from the desire of India to ensure that its nationals who emigrate receive fair treatment. The establishment of wage-fixing machinery in the Assam tea industry should give the same assurance in respect of the emigrant to Assam and thus go far in placing that province and its main industry in a position where they would receive the sympathy and co-operation of all fair-minded men in the recruiting provinces. Basic Rate and Wage Level. Tu suggesting the establishment of statutory wage-fixing ma- chinery we must not be understood to suggest, in an industry largely worked on a piece-rate basis, that the actual piece rates should be fixed by statute. In our view a careful investigation of the rates at present ob- baining is necessary for the purpose, not only of determining the basic rates to be fixed, but of ensuring the establishment of the type of machinery best suited to the industry. We go on to indicate the general lines on which such an investigation should be conducted. It is not necessary to assume that the basic rate ultimately fixed would exceed that at present paid in the better gardens. The case for the operation of such a rate in Assam does not rest on the supposition that wages are exceptionally low. As a matter of fact, annual earnings in the Assam plantations are higher than those of agricultural workers in most parts of India, and in considerable areas of Assam they appear to be higher than in other planiations. Qu the other hand, we believe that in some gardens

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