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 XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

308 CHAPTER XXI. and wage inspector could be combined. The inspector would concentrate on hoth factory and wage inspection during six months of the year and entirely on wage inspection during the remain- ing period when the factories were closed. The effectiveness of wage regulation depends mainly on three things—the agreement of the industry, its degre¢ of organisation and the efficiency of the enforcement. [t is reasonable to anticipate that, by the time the promulgation of rates had been reached, the machinery in Assam, as in Ceylon, would be working with the agreement and active co-operation of the industry. More- over, while the workers are completely unorganised (a fact which alone makes inspection by independent officials essential), the employers are unusually highly organised, the one Association covering over 90 per cent of the industry. The employer failing to observe the law would, in due course, become conspicuous and thus invite the attention of the inspector. We anticipate that the administration of the statutory rates during the first few years would be largely explanatory and advisory, with a view to assisting employers to make themselves thoroughly con- versant with the requirements of the law. The application of an old type of legislation in a new sphere may often appear to those at first brought into contact with it fraught with many dangers and difficulties. If the enforcement of that legislation is characterised from the outset by sympathetic and understanding administration, these dangers and difficulties are found gradually to disintegrate, and what was first accept ed experimentally with suspended judgment becomes a valued part of the machinery of the industry. Wages in the Dooars. The conditions obtaining in the Dooars are in many respects similar to those in Assam. The labour force is equally unorganised and the employers are represented by two independent organisations, namely, the Dooars Planters’ Association and the Indian Tea Planters’ Associa- tion. The former, which consists mainly of European planters, repre- sents 128 gardens with an acreage of over 120,000 or more than 90 per sent of the total acreage under tea cultivation in the Dooars. The other Association represents the interests of Indian planters, mainly in the Dooars, but its membership also includes a few planters in Assam and in the Terai. The total acreage under tea represented by this Asso- ciation is about 25,000. Formerly the system of payment was to fix a hazira for the daily task, while the worker, if he desired, could in addition earn overtime, which was known as doubli. With the rapid increase in the cost of living the planter preferred not to increase the rate of wages, but to decrease the task by introducing the system of a second and even a third hazira. The general rate of payment for the hazira is 4 annas for men, and 3 annas for women and children. It was stated that, on an average, a worker now takes about 3% hours and 2% hours respectively to complete the first and second hazira ; the completion of three haziras normally requires about 8% hours, but in a few instances workers are said to be able to complete 4 or even 5 haziras in one day. The labourers work in gangs under a sardar who, in addition to a monthly wage, receives

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