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 XXIV. - Statistics and administration

Collection:: Economics Books

STATISTICS AND ADMINISTRATION. 449 investigation of a very limited field. Their resources are seldom equal bo extensive enquiries which demand machinery not usually at their disposal, and the attempt to cover too wide a field has stultified some of the efforts made by such investigators in the past. Examples of the types of investigation which can suitably be undertaken by such agencies are those relating to a small but clearly defined group of workers, e.g., those employed in a small industrial establishment or form- ing a small section of a large one. For such groups, the analysis of their income and expenditure, their families, their indebtedness and its causes, their migrations, their absenteeism’ and its causes, their sickness, their housing and the inter-relations of such factors offer an almost unlimited variety of useful enquiries. The universities of India are mostly situated in cities and towns of some industrial importance, and enquiries of thiskind could be conducted by students of economics working under the direction of the university staff and in co-operation with labour office. The work, if properly dome, would form a valuable addition to economic knowledge and would directly benefit the whole community, which contributes much through taxation to university funds. From the point of view of education, we believe that the results would be equally valuable, for such enquiries would supply the practical training whichis an indispensable adjunct to any course of study related to present-day problems. We are aware that in some universities work of this kind has been attempted, and recommend to university authorities everywhere the examination of the possibility of making work of this kind an obligatory part of courses in economics. We believe that it could form a valuable part of the curriculum and that it would assist in bringing the universities of the country in closer contact with industry, an end which should be earnestly pursued. Investigation by Employer. For employers the opportunities are almost equally great, and having regard to the very valuable service which certain types of investi- gations might yield to employers, we are surprised to find how few have embarked on this field. Only one or two employers appear to have made experiments in the matter of working hours, e.g., their length and the distribution of intervals, and few could guarantee that the arrangement of their hours, which too often depends on tradition, was such as to secure the best results. It is quite certain, for example, that for & number of years some branches of industry worked hours which, by reason of their length, were definitely uneconomical, but it was left to legislation to demonstrate the fact through the introduction of a better standard. The whole subject of industrial fatigue, which is of such importance to efficiency, has been almost ignored in India, and there are countless directions in which experiments could be made by employers with a view to discovering means of improving output and efficiency. In an earlier chapter we have made proposals for systematic research into such subjects, but we would also urge on the larger indivi- dual employers and on associations of employers the possibilities of experimental work

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