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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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXI. - Wages on planatations

Collection:: Economics Books

108 CHAPTER XXII Fortunately cholera cannot be said to be endemic in any of the plantation sreas of India, although occasional outbreaks occur. In- oculation with anti-cholera vaccine, carried out, if possible, before the cholera season commences, has already proved of value, and a wider use of this method of immunisation would preclude the danger of serious outbreaks among the plantation populations. Housing Construction. Resident labour is housed rent free and, almost without excep- tion, the housing is provided by the employers without assistance from the Government or other public or private agency. In a few gardens materials for building purposes are provided by the managements, the labourers in such cases erecting dwellings to suit their own require- ments. Most of the houses are constructed of mud plaster with thatched roofs, and necessary repairs are carried out by the labourers themselves during the slack season, thatch being provided free. It has’been the custom for employers to erect houses in long blocks of 8 to 12 rooms, but these should be suitably spaced out and should never be built back to back. The addition of suitable verandahs would also give some degree of privacy, a feature which is much appreciated, but has received too little consideration in the housing of labour in the past. A more recent type we have seen meets all require- ments in regard to space, light and ventilation, the houses being built in blocks of two rooms. Small families are allotted one room, but where the numbers necessitate additional space, both rooms are given over to the one family. We commend this method of construction to managers proposing to erect new housing for their workers. In plantations occupying hilly land, as in South India, the lines of houses were previously constructed, without plinths or drains, on sites lying on the banks of the streams running through the estates. This was convenient for the supply of water but objectionable as regards malarial infection. In most cases the incidence of the disease:can be effectively reduced by selecting high ground for house sites, and all new construction should be governed by this principle. Minimum Requirements. Even in the most recently constructed lines, plinths are seldom provided, floor and cubic space are often inadequate, whilst light and ventilation are too frequently entirely ignored. The house built by the worker himself is never provided with windows or ventilation openings, but that is no sufficient reason for their exclusion from houses built by employers. We were informed in Ceylon that the compulsory installa- tion of windows had had a marked effect in lowering the incidence of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, and that the workers are gradually learning to keep their windows open. The authorities we in- dicate later should lay down standard minimum requirements on all these points, and should have the power to condemn houses which cannot be made sanitary. Standard type plans to suit varying conditions should also be prepared and made available to garden managements.

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