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CHAPTER IX. 
three of the state-owned and state-managed railways at an estimated 
annual cost of Rs. 26 lakhs per annum. Revisions of pay have also been 
sanctioned for two of the company-managed railways, involving addi- 
tional expenditure of over Rs. € lakhs annually, and it is stated that else- 
where similar improvements are under discussion. Moreover, enquiries 
as to the pay of other subordinate employees on scales higher than those 
recently revised or under revision have been instituted. We appreciate 
the difficulties caused by the present depression in trade and realise that 
the extent and rate of the desired improvements are conditioned by the 
ability of the railways and of traffic to bear the additional expenditure 
required. It must be kept in view, however, that of 75,900 employees 
on the twelve Class I railways under review on 31st March 1930, 408,000 
or 549, were in receipt of less than Rs. 20 per month. We recommend, 
therefore, that the claims of low paid workers to improved wage standards 
should continue to receive careful consideration from the Railway Board 
and the administrations concerned. 
Methods of Payment. 
Except for piece-work, whichis in vogue to some extent in the 
workshops of several railways, wages are rated by the day or by the 
month. As almost all wages are paid monthly, workers generally can 
be divided into those daily-rated monthly-paid and those monthly-rated 
monthly-paid. The workers in the loco., carriage and wagon shops are 
practically all daily-rated, with the exception of those employed in certain 
shops of two railways, who are monthly-rated. It has been urged that 
all workers should be monthly-rated so that those now daily-rated may 
be entitled to all the privileges open to monthly workers, including liberty 
to join provident funds. Already in some cases provision is made 
allowing daily-rated workers to join provident funds, and lately orders 
have been issued under which daily-rated workers in state-managed 
railways, after three years’ service, will be entitled to a month’s notice or 
a month’s pay in lieu of notice. As few workers in other branches of 
the service are daily-rated, we recommend that, after twelve months’ 
continuous service, all employees should be monthly-rated and, as soon as 
practicable, made eligible for all the service privileges to which monthly- 
rated employees are entitled. In connection with proposals we make 
elsewhere, we should observe that we do not consider the monthly- 
rated status incompatible with payment at shorter intervals than a 
month. 
We are informed that enquiries are being made with a view to 
improving the system of grading in cases where incremental scales of 
pay are in force in order to meet complaints that increments are too small 
and blocks in promotion prolonged. Time-scales, 4.e., fixed periodical 
increases, are in force in some departments and not in others. We 
consider these enquiries should be extended to cover the comparative 
merits of the system of time-scales and that of beginners’ rates increasing 
within a short period to fixed standard rates. The latter system appears 
to us, under existing conditions, to be suitable for application to certain