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 II. - Migration and the factory worker

Collection:: Economics Books

20 > - CHAPTER IL Aon 8 lation divorced from the villages, or should the existing contact be main- tained and stimulated ¢ This is a question which must be faced in any intelligent attempt to view the problems of Indian labour as a whole, and we were surprised to find how little attention it had received. It is true that no wholesale or sudden change in the existing system is practicable : whatever view is reached industry must depend for a long time on the villages and the tenacity with which many industrial workers, with little encouragement, have retained their village connections shows that the system has deep roots. But the nature and extent of the contact with the villages can be powerfully affected, both locally and generally, by different policies and it is of importance to have a clear aim. Our con- sidered opinion is that, in present circumstances, the link with the village is a distinct asset and that the general aim should be, not to undermine it, but to encourage it and, as far as possible, to regularise it. We have not reached this conclusion without a clear recogni- tion of the evils attendant on the industrial system as it stands to-day ; but we believe that, by thoughtful and sustained effort, many of its de- fects can be eliminated or minimised and that the advantages of the village connection can be conserved and, indeed, increased. In special areas and for special purposes, the growth of a purely industrial population is inevitable. There are classes to whom the village can offer little, and a definite severing of the connection may be advantageous in the end. Further, if, as we hope, a substantial improvement is secured in the conditions prevailing in the factory areas, this is bound to encourage the growth of a definitely urban class of factory workers. It is arguable that the present conditions represent merely a transition- al stage, which is bound to be replaced by conditions more resembling those of Western countries. But it is doubtful if it is legitimate to des- eribe as transitional the connection with the villages, which has lasted so long and which, in the most important centres, certainly has not weakened in the last generation. Whatever view be taken of the distant future, we believe that, at the present stage, it is not advisable that this striking feature, which marked the beginnings of Indian industry and has shown such persistence during its steady advance, should be discouraged.

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