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

+N CHAPTER XXII. Boards of Health and Welfare. Most of what has been said in the preceding paragraphs is already accepted by the majority of those engaged in the planting industry, and some have given much time and thought to the problems associated with the hrealth and welfare of their labour forces. Individual schemes brought to our notice have clearly demonstrated the existence of a desire to find solutions to these problems ; but so long as reform is left to the enterprise of individuals who have no guarantee that neighbours and rivals will accept similar standards, a large advance is unlikely. We believe that it i8 mainly the lack of this co-ordination that prevents advance. What is required in order to obtain closer relationship with the Government Public Health Department and to ensure general progress is an organisation which is assured of the co-operation of the industry and has adequate powers to secure simultaneous improvement. With these ends in view, we recommend the establishment under statute of Boards of Health and Welfare for convenient areas. Rach Board should have a majority of planter representatives who should be elected by their associations, but care should be taken to ensure that minorities, e.g., unorganised employers, receive adequate representa- tion. In addition the Board should include a Collector or Deputy Commissioner from the districts covered, the Director of Public Health (or one of his assistants as deputy), the district health officer, and persons nominated by the local Government, with a view to provide adequate representation of the workers. It is desir- able that the Board should include at least one woman member. In Assam the Protector of Immigrants should have the right to attend the meetings of the Boards but should have no vote. Each Board should elect its own chairman. Each elected member might be permitted to nominate a medical adviser or substitute, who would be able to attend and take part in meetings, whilst voting only in the absence of the member nominating him. The size of the Board must depend on local circumstan- ces, but should be as small as is consistent with securing adequate representation of the plantations. All these matters, however, would be regulated by the statutes constituting the Boards. Principle of the Scheme. The important principle underlying our scheme for such Boards is that, in the first instance, the industry itself should be entrusted with responsibility. We believe that, in respect of plantations, the sense of responsibility, combined with the powerful force of enlightened self- interest, re-inforced by the knowledge of local conditions and problems which only those in control can bring, should produce a much more rapid advance in measures for the health of the workers than would be achieved by State compulsion. We recognise that the State cannot divest itself of the duty of ensuring that certain minimum health require- ments are secured, and proposals follow for giving the Government adequate powers in this respect. But we hope and believe that the work of the Boards will not render the exercise of these powers necessary

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