~ 
CHAPTER XXII. 
the gardens of the group. In addition she would be responsible for the 
development of child welfare work, although to ensure success in this 
direction trained health visitors would also be necessary. We appreciate 
the difficulty of obtaining women doctors, but successful beginnings have 
been made elsewhere, and, if a sustained effort were made, we have no 
doubt that in time suitable applicants would become available. 
Sick Benefits. 
On certain plantations the worker, when ill in hospital, is given 
free food, and a gratuity is paid to a relation acting as sick attendant. 
We recommend that the practice of giving free food be adopted in all 
plantation hospitals. The gratuity might also be made generally appli- 
cable, except where a central hospital with a nursing staff makes other 
attendants unnecessary. 
Maternity Benefit Schemes. ; 
In many plantations it is already the practice to give maternity 
benefit to women workers. In some cases a lump sum is given to the 
mother after the child is born; in others an allowance is given for 
4 to 8 weeks before and for 4 to 8 weeks after her confinement. In 
one plantation in the Dooars the manager issues the benefit in 
monthly instalments, and continues an allowance of Re.1 per month 
for a period of 10 months, provided the child is brought by the 
mother to the plantation hospital for inspection by the medical officer. 
Representatives of the planters’ organisations gave it as their opinion 
that legislation was unnecessary because the maternity allowances now 
given voluntarily were sufficient. This may be so in some plantations ; 
but in certain cases allowances are considerably below the average 
and in some are non-existent. Inorder to secure the general adop- 
tion of a satisfactory scheme, some form of legislative compulsion is 
necessary. The one we advocate below is designed to secure a reason- 
able level of benefits together with assistance in the form in which it is 
most needed. We do not anticipate the reduction of existing allowances, 
even should the minimum provided by legislation be lower than that now 
given voluntarily, because most managers realise the value of such expen- 
diture. We propose that the law should require the employer to give a 
sash benefit to the mother, which should ordinarily take the form of half 
her daily wage for a period of 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after child- 
birth. In addition a bonus of Rs. 5 should be given, except where the 
employer has provided the skilled services of a woman doctor and a 
trained midwife, in which case any woman refusing to avail herself of 
these skilled services should not be eligible for the bonus. We believe 
that this addition to the benefit would go far to overcome the prejudice 
in favour of the untrained dai. If a woman is in good health, she need 
not be precluded from working during the 4 weeks before child birth, 
provided her allowances are not reduced, but no woman should be allowed 
to resume work until 4 weeks after her child is born. In the case of 
plantation labour, the condition of a “ qualifying period ” of employ- 
ment required in other industries could safely be dispensed with.