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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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXV. - Labour and the constitution

Collection:: Economics Books

LABOUR AND THE CONSTITUTION. 457 The output of the provincial legislatures has been very small. An Act repealing the Madras Planters Act (which provided inter alia for the system of criminal punishment of breaches of contract by workmen) was passed in Madras in 1927. On the other hand, the Coorg Legislature in 1926 continued this system for five years and seems tc have been pre- vented only by the Governor General from giving it a permanent place on the statute-book. Maternity Benefits Acts were passed by the Bombay Council in 1929, and the Central Provinces Council in 1930, somewhat similar proposals having been rejected by the Legislative Assembly in 1925. This small output is no doubt largely explained by the activity of the Central Legislature and is possibly due in part to lack of the neces- sary equipment in some provinces for dealing with such questions. But there seem to be some grounds for believing that in labour matters the provincial legislatures have evinced less interest than the Legislative Assembly. The interest of the Central Legislature has been stimulated by the fact that the existing constitution, combined with the Treaty of Versailles, necessitates the submission to the central, and not to the provincial, legislatures of the Draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted by sessions of the International Labour Conference. Fufure Constitution. In approaching the discussion of the future position of labour in the constitution, we found ourselves handicapped by the fact that we have had to consider the question at a time when it is uncertain what form that constitution will take. The main lines of the constitution must be determined by considerations which lie outside our scope, and until these are determined, it is not possible to advise with precision as to the best manner of securing that the interests of labour shall be adequately served. A further difficulty is that the constitutional issues relate to the whole of India, whereas our field has been limited to the provinces of British India. In these circumstances, our best course is to set down what appear to us the main considerations relating to our own problems, to recognise frankly that these can exercise only a minor influence on the bigger issues, which may be decided in more than one way, and to offer some recommendations which we believe will be of service. whatever solu- tion is reached. Argument for Co-ordination. So far as labour legislation is concerned, the question of out- standing importance is that of the power which should be exercised by the central and provincial legislatures respectively. The arguments in favour of keeping legislation in the hands of a central legislature are strong. The chief argument is that without uniformity, at any rate in respect of the main principles, sound legislation is extremely difficult to secure. When the question was first raised in India more than fifty years ago in connection with the first Factories Bill, the recognition of this point led to the rejection of the idea of a provincial Act. Since that date the eco- nomic and industrial unification of India has proceeded steadily, and the difficulties inherent in provincial labour codes are greater now than at any

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