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, 401 Nilgiris and in Coorg a bonus of 4 annas is paid to the worker for six days’ work in the week. The labourers are employed in gangs ander their matstry who is generally paid a small monthly wage; but his main source of remuneration is a commission on the total earnings of the men employed under him. The commission is usually equal to 10%, of the worker’s earnings, but in Coorg this is raised to 159%, in the case of those workers who have not received an advance from the sstate. As we have shown earlier, the final settlement of wages is not made till the end of the contract period, which is usually from the 1st of June till the 31st of March. The weekly payments made for the workers’ subsistence are Re. 1 to Re. 1-4 for men and 12 annas to Re. 1 for women. These are not always paid in cash, and in the Nilgiris and the Anamalais the estates issue rice at concession rates to men and women and make a petty cash payment of 4 annas a week to each adult worker. The bonus, where paid, is included in the weekly disbursement, and on most estates the worker, if he so desires, may draw weekly the amount which he has earned above the daily rate. At the time of the final settlement the worker usually has a credit balance which he can take to his home. The amount naturally varies with each worker, but from the evidence which we received, the average would appear to be between Rs. 30 and Rs. 40. In some cases workers have been known to return with as much as Rs. 100. Sometimes, if it is be- lieved that the worker will return to the estate for the next season’s work, this amount is supplemented by a fresh advance and by the expenses of the journey. Concessions. Unlike the important planting areas of North India there is little private cultivation, as the workers return annually to their village, but small plots are often allotted for the growing of vegetable crops for private consumption, and free firewood is available to all. Free housing, medical facilities of varying standards and, in many cases, maternity benefits of differing amounts are also provided by the employer. Defects of System of Wage Payment. The system of wage payment in South India has one advantage in that it enables many workers to return to their homes with what must oe to them a fairly substantial sum of money. It involves a saving of all surplus earnings, and it is no little credit to the planter that the worker places such complete confidence in him. On the other hand, the disadvan- bages in our view outweigh the advantages. It tends both to tie the worker to a particular estate, and to put an unnatural brake on that gradual ad- justment of the plantation worker to a higher standard of living which the industry itself realises to be one of its greatest needs. Not only are the weekly payments small, but evidence was not lacking to show that in some cases the workers were compelled to take further advances from their maistry for wants which could not be met out of the weekly advance. Moreover, we believe that the system of payment of wages in full to the worker at regular intervals, a system in force in all other plantation on

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