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

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXII. - Burma and India

Collection:: Economics Books

CHAPTER XXIII, should be given statutory power to enter industrial establishments where Indian labour is employed. If a suitable officer is selected, he should be able to secure a large measure of co-operation from employers and assist them in dealing with the needs of the workers. A working know- ledge of some Indian languages, and particularly Telugu, is an Important qualification. We may remark in passing that the language difficulty is one of the factors responsible for the extent to which authority is dele- gated to intermediaries. What is said in another chapter regarding this lifficulty is especially applicable in Burma. We recommend that the Protector of Immigrants should have access to the Member or Minister responsible for labour, and that he should furnish the Government of [ndia with an annual report on the conditions of labour during the year and on his own work. He should have sufficient experience and standing to ensure that his advice will deserve and receive full consideration from authorities and employers in Burma. After a little experience such an officer should be able to do much to further the welfare of Indian labour. Work done along this line, so far from proving a handicap to industry, should be beneficial. The separation of Burma from India would increase rather than diminish the utility of an appointment of this kind. Streams of Industrial Migration. It is not possible to say what proportion of the migration re- presents industrial labour. The deck passengers include a large number who do not come to Burma for labour of any kind, and there are many who are looking for agricultural employment. The cutting of the paddy crop, in lower Burma especially, absorbs large gangs of Indian labourers ; but some of these look for employment in mills after the harvesting is over, and many others drift to Rangoon and swell the mass of casual labourers there. Hven on the question of the average stay of the Indian labourer in Burma there is little reliable information. It seems to be generally agreed that few of the immigrants return to India in the first bwelve months ; the returning emigrants who were engaged in industry are persons who had entered Burma. two or more years previously. On arrival a5 Rangoon, the various Indian races tend to move to separate branches of work. The Telugus, there known as Coringhis, furnish most of the Indian labour in factories and mills and in the port and are the most prominent section in the work of the city. Few of them are to be found in the upper ranks of labour. The Chittagonians man the inland steamer traffic, the small craft and the sampans, and hold a number of the better and more permanent jobs in the mills. The Uriyas look for con- struction work on railways and roads and are to be found in substantial aumbers on the oilfields and at the lead mines ; some are to be found in factories and in the docks, and they also find employment on the tramways. The Tamils and Hindustanis are less prominent in industry than the other races, but there are sections of them in various branches. of employ- ment, including some of the factories Other races represented are Bengalis, particularly in the railway service, ard Punjabis in other forms of transport and as mechanics.

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