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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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

WAGES ON PLANTATIONS. 399 from the planter a commission of one pice for each hazira worked by his men. In a number of gardens the wages are paid in a lump sum to the sardar who in turn pays the individual labourer. We were informed that this system had not led to any unauthorised deductions by the sardars, but it is fraught with danger to the labourer, who is frequently in debt to hig sardar. For this reason we recommend that the direct method of payment should be universally adopted. The payment for the first hazira is made to the workers monthly, but the extra kaziras are paid to them weekly. In the matter of concessions, the policy pursued in the Dooars is similar to that in Assam, and the factors to which we referred in dealing with Assam apply equally here. The representatives of the two planters’ associations admitted that there was an understanding among their members not to raise the rates of wages. No limit is imposed on individual earnings and in some cases workers have been able to earn as much as Re. 1 or even Re. 1-4 in a day. No official statistics of average earnings are available, but we were informed by the representatives of the Dooars Planters’ Association that the average monthly earnings in 1929 were Rs. 14-4-1 for men. Rs. 10-5-8 for women and Rs. 2-14-5 for children. Other Tea Planting Areas in North India. In the Darjeeling district practically all the tea estates are represented in the Darjeeling Planters’ Association, and here, too, there is a “labour agreement ” the object of which, as stated by the Association, is ““ to prevent undue competition between estates to secure: labourers and to regulate matters arising out of the movement of labour from one estate to another ”. Thereis no organisation among the employ-- ses. Wages are fixed on a piece work basis and are paid weekly. No statistics are available as to the average monthly earnings of the workers, but, according to the statement furnished by the Association, the minimum earnings of an ordinary worker would be about 7 annas 6 pies a day for men, 6 annas for women and 2 annas 9 pies for children. It 1s stated that the earnings are higher during the plucking season and that, in addition to the money wage, the workers are given free housing and on most gardens receive plots of garden land, free of rent, for private cultivation. We have no information as to the proportion of workers to whom the allocation of land applies. The conditions obtaining in the Terai are similar to those in the Dooars. The important employers’ organisation in this area is the Terai Planters’ Association. The other planting areas in North India, ¢.e., the Punjab, the United Provinces and the Chota Nagpur division in the province of Bihar and Orissa, are not of any great importance. Labour is recruited locally, the wages paid are governed by local considerations, and the close organisation among employers. characteristics of other planting areas. does not Ser Employers’ Organisation in South India. - In South India, as in other areas, the plantation workers are illiterate and unorganised, while on the side of the emplovers there are .

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