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U N IT E D ST A T E S D E P A R T M E N T OF L A B O R
Frances Perkins, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Isador Lubin, Commissioner (on leave)
A. F. Hinrichs, Acting Commissioner
+
Wartime Labor Conditions
in India
by
R A JA N I K A N T A D A S
formerly o f the
International Labor Office
fR eprinted from th e M o n th ly Labor R e v ie w , September
and O ctober 1943J
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1943
For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D. C. - Price 10 cents
Letter of Transmittal
U nited States D epartment of Labor,
B ureau of Labor Statistics,
Washington, D. C., October 18, 1948.
The Secretary of Labor:
I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on wartime labor conditions in
India, prepared by Rajani Kanta Das, formerly of the International Labor
Office. The material previously appeared in the September and October 1943
issues of the Monthly Labor Review.
A. F. H inrichs, Acting Commissioner.
Hon. F rances P erkins,
Secretary of Labor.
Contents
Summary_____________________
Industrial development________
Rise of industrial labor________
Labor legislation______________
Industrial relations____________
Employment and unemployment
Efficiency and training________
Health and safety measures____
Social insurance_______________
Hours of work________________
Industrial remuneration_______
Cost and standard of living____
Industrial welfare_____________
II
Page
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27
Bulletin T^io. 755 of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
[Reprinted from the M onthly L abor R eview . September and October 1943]
Wartime Labor Conditions in India
Summary
VARIOUS organized or large-scale industries such as plantations,
mines, railways, and factories have been developed in India. These
have been considerably increased under war conditions and employ
about 5 million workers, about 3 million of whom are in factories.
India has made considerable progress in labor legislation, has
ratified and applied 14 International Labor Conventions, has estab
lished advanced labor standards, and has instituted a tripartite labor
organization, besides adopting several wartime measures providing
for workers’ training, and for the control of employment.
Trade-unionism has also made some progress and received State
recognition. Measures have been passed for the prevention and
settlement of industrial disputes. Strikes without 14 days’ notice
have been prohibited in all industries for the duration of the war.
Indian workers are strongly against Nazism and Fascism and have
been helping the Government to increase civilian and military produc
tion.
The system of recruitment through intermediaries, although
condemned, still prevails in most of the industries. The greater part
of the Indian workers are unskilled and inefficient, mainly because of
malnutrition, illiteracy, and lack of training. The Government of
India has realized the importance of industrial training for wartime
production and has developed several schemes of training workers.
By March 1943, 70,000 workers were expected to complete their
training.
Sanitation and safety are well provided for in most of the larger
plantations, mines, and factories, although ‘much remains to be
done among the smaller ones. In 1938, there were 35,065 industrial
accidents and the average compensation per accident was Rs. 40.9.
Working hours in India have been regulated by law in many
industries and in these cases the maximum workweek usually is 54
or 60 hours. Actual working hours, however, are considerably
shorter than the maximum.
Both time and piece rates are paid. Under the law, wages must be
paid at least once a month; many industries pay their workers twice a
month and some pay by the week or even bv the day. The cash wages
are supplemented by various bonuses and payments in kind as well
as by cost-of-living allowances, but earnings are nevertheless very
low in most of the industries.
1
2
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
The standard of living is also very low. The worked diet is
deficient in both quantity and quality; housing often lacks even the
minimum facilities for sanitation and health. Indebtedness is com
mon and the high rates of interest form a serious drain on the family
income. The high cost of living and the shortage of food under war
conditions have seriously affected workers' real wages and the Gov
ernment and employers have been obliged to open cost-price food
stores on the premises of factories and in industrial centers.
Although India has made considerable progress in improving labor
standards, several urgent steps remain to be taken, among them the
following: (1) Measures to raise the level of education and training
of the workers, most of whom are illiterate and unskilled (the present
Government schemes of training workers for war industries are com
mendable but very limited in scope); (2) the creation of minimumwage-fixing machinery for increasing wages as well as improving the
standard of living; (3) the enlargement of the scope of social security,
to cover unemployment, sickness, and old age; and (4) the establish
ment of collective bargaining and the recognition of workers' organi
zations by employers.
Industrial Development
With an area as large as Europe, not including Russia, and with
about a fifth of the world's population, India occupies an important
place in the world economy. The most important industry in India
is agriculture, which directly or indirectly supports about four-fifths
of the population. In spite of the introduction of a few commercial
crops, Indian agriculture is largely based on a subsistence economy.
It is primitive and backward and is in urgent need of reorganization
on the principles of modern science and technology.
The second important class of industry is handicrafts, through
which most of the national needs for manufactured goods are still
supplied. In competition with modern industries from the West,
Indian arts and crafts declined in the second half of the 19th century,
but some of them have been recently revived. In 1938-39, the handloom industry, for instance, supplied 2,259 million yards of cotton
cloth, as compared with 4,553 million yards produced by the powerloom industry.
The most important factor in the economic development of modern
India is, however, the rise of organized or large-scale industries, the
present position of which is best indicated by the investment of the
paid-up capital of Rs. 3,037 million1 by 11,372 (1939-40) Indian
joint-stock companies and £745 million 12 by 870 (1938-39) foreign
joint-stock companies. Of the modern industries, the most important
are cotton 3 and jute mills, tea and other plantations, coal and other
mines, and iron and steel industries, railway and engineering work
shops, and munitions and ordnance factories.
Even more significant is the fact that India has great potentialities
for the development of heavy and large-scale industries, as indicated
by the following facts: (1) There are reserves of 3,000 million tons of
iron ore of 64-percent iron content, 60,000 million tons of coal, and
1 Average exchange rate of rupee in 1938=36.59 cents; in 1939=33.25 cents, and in 1940=30.15 cents.
s Average exchange rate (free) of British pound in 1938=$4.88; in 1939=$4.43.
*Indian cotton mills have 10 million spindles and 200,000 looms.
RISE OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR
3
27 million horsepower of hydro-electric resources; (2) the country
has substantial capital resources, as indicated by the fact that since
the beginning of the war India has reduced its national debt, including
railway stocks and annuities, from Rs. 4,800 million to Rs. 882
million, has accumulated Rs. 4,600 million in pounds sterling in the
United Kingdom, and has made an industrial profit of Rs. 1,000 million
and (3) there are immense manpower resources of great potential
efficiency, as well as an increasing purchasing power of a vast popu
lation.
War has given a new impetus to industrial development, for the
production of civilian and military requirements both of India and of
some of its allies. From the beginning of the war to October 1942, the
value of contracts placed by the Government of India for supplies
amounted to Rs. 4,280 million. Most of the industries have been
organized on a wartime basis; and production, distribution, and
consumption have been brought under Government control. The
Government has also enacted legislation and promulgated orders for
the regulation of the working and living conditions of the workers
and for their training in modern industry. %
Rise of Industrial Labor
According to the census of 1931, which is still the latest source of
information on occupational distribution in India, of the total popula
tion gainfully employed, two-thirds were engaged in agriculture, onesixth in industry, transport, and trade, and the remainder in professions,
liberal arts, public works, and other vocations. The total number of
wage workers was 56.5 million, including 31.5 million agricultural
.workers and 25 million nonagricultural workers. On the basis of a
population growth of 15 percent in the last census decade, the total
number of wage workers by 1941 was about 65 million, including
36 million agricultural workers and 29 million nonagricultural workers.4
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
The beginning of industrial labor, or more strictly, labor in organized
or large-scale industries, may be traced to the middle of the last
century when the Public Works Department was established, and
elaborate schemes for the construction of roads, railways, and public
buildings were projected. The significance of these public works lies
in creating new and permanent opportunities for industrial employ
ment and in introducing the system of payment in cash rather than in
kind, the latter having been up to that time almost universal through
out the country.
Public works were soon followed by other organized industries,
such as railways, plantations, mines, and factories, which began to
develop in different parts of the country and to employ increasingly
large numbers of workers. Since the beginning of the present century,
and especially since the first World War, industrial activities have
still further increased and have created new demands for industrial
labor. The exact number of such laborers is difficult to ascertain,
owing to the lack of statistical data, but in 1932 the total number of
workers in organized or large-scale industries was estimated by the
4 Because of war conditions some of the statistics are not published: others are not available in the United
States.
4
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
Indian Franchise Committee at about 5 million,5 which must have
now increased to about 7 million, especially under war conditions.
OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION
The most important classes of industrial workers are those employed
in such industries as plantations, railways, mines, and factories,
which employed approximately an average daily number of over
4,672,000 persons in British India during the period, 1938-41:
Establishments
8, 478
Plantations (1938-39)1______________
Factories (1940)2___________________ 3 10, 466
Railroads 4_________________________ _____
Mines (1940)5______________________ 3 1, 925
Approximate total____________ _____
Average daily number
of workers
885, 950
2, 727, 927
730, 436
328,196
4, 672, 509
* Government of India, Calcutta and Delhi: Indian Rubber Statistics, 1938; Indian Coffee Statistics,
1937-38; and Indian Tea Statistics, 1939.
* Government of India, Indian Trade Journal, January 1,1942.
8 Data are for 1939.
* There were 40,000 miles of railways in 1940-41 (Report by Railway Board on Indian Railways, 1940-41).
8 Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Mines in India, 1938.
Indian States have also developed a large number of organized
industries; their mines, plantations, and factories employed in 1937-39
a daily average of 514,184 workers—173,952 on plantations, 41,138
in mines, and 299,094 in factories. Because of lack of definite infor
mation on their working and living conditions, these workers have
been excluded from the present study, as have also (for the same
reason) seamen, longshoremen, street-railway employees, and drivers
of busses and taxis. The largest group of transport workers consists
of the railroad employees, shown above.
Plantations, especially those for the cultivation of tea, rubber, and
coffee are among the oldest organized industries. In India, as a whole,
these plantations employed a daily average of 1,059,902 workers in
1937-38; four-fifths of these were in British India and included 5,239
on rubber estates, 47,832 on coffee estates, and 832,879 on tea plan
tations. The largest group of tea-garden workers was employed in
Assam,6 as shown below:
Total num- Average daily
Total_____________________________
Men_____________________________
Women___________________________
Children__________________________
ber on books
attendance
646,588 462,250
294,848 218,409
263, 280 181, 197
88, 460 62, 644
Mines have been under Government control since 1901. The
underground employment of women ceased as of July 1, 1937. Of
the total number of mine workers in 1940, 209,173, or about twothirds, were employed in coal mines. The following statement shows
the number of workers in all types of mines in British India in 1940:7
Total______________________________________
Underground_______________________________
Open workings______________________________
Surface_____________________________________
Total
328, 196
156, 238
83, 585
88,373
Men
271, 058
156, 238
53, 344
61,476
Women
57, 138
_____
30, 241
26,897
* Census of India, 1935 (p. 285); also Report of the Indian Franchise Committee, 1932 (p. 91).
6 Data are from Annual Report on the Working of the Tea Districts Immigrant Labor Act (1932), for
1937-38 (Statements VII and VIII).
7 Data are from Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Mines in India, for 1940 (Calcutta, 1941).
5
RISE OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR
The largest number of industrial workers is employed in factories
which, as above noted, employed about 2 % million persons in 1940.
Detailed information on factories is available only for 1939, when
there were 6,943 factories working the year round and employing
1,460,314 people, and 3,523 factories working only during the season
or part time in the year and employing 290,823 people. The distri
bution of these workers is shown in table 1.
Table 1.— Factory Workers in British India, 1939 1
Class of worker
Total
1,751,137
1,475,723
239,414
26,597
9,403
All classes_______________________________________
Men.......................................................................................
Women____ _________ ___________________________
Adolescents (15 and 16 years).............................................
Children (12 to 15 years)............................................ .........
Year-round
factories
Seasonal
factories
290,823
209,261
74,589
5,062
1,911
1,460,314
1,266,462
164,825
21,535
7,492
1Data are from Statistical Abstract for British India (London, 1943).
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Most of the industrial workers are concentrated in certain regions.
The rubber and coffee plantation workers are in Travancore, Cochin,
Madras, and Coorg, and tea-garden workers in Assam and Bengal.
Mine workers are mostly in Bihar and Bengal, which employed
respectively 170,217 and 60,661 workers in 1938. The centers of the
coal industry are Jharia (Bihar) and Ranigunj (Bengal), which
produced two-fifths and one-fourth of the total output and employed
one-fourth and one-fifth of the total mine workers, respectively.
As shown in table 2, the majority of the factory workers are found
in Bengal and the Bombay Presidency (with about one-third and over
one-fourth of the workers in 1939), and in Madras and the United
Provinces (with one-ninth and one-eleventh of the workers).
Table 2.— Distribution of Factory Workers in British India, by Provinces, 19381
Factories
Province
Workers
of Number Percent of
Number Percent
total
total
Total......................................................................................
Bengal.....................................................................................
Bombay.............................................. . . . .............................
Madras..................................................................................
United Provinces................................. ...............................
Bihar............................................ ........................................
Punjab................................................................................
Central Provinces and Berar_____________ _________
Assam-------------------------- ---------------------------- ------Others............................................................. ....................
10,466
1,725
3,120
1,811
546
328
800
740
772
624
100.0
16.5
29.8
17.3
5.2
3.1
7.6
7.1
7.4
6.0
1,751,137
571,539
466,040
197,266
159,738
95,988
78,302
64,494
52,003
65,767
100.0
32.5
26.6
11.3
9.1
5.5
4.5
3.7
3.0
3.8
i Data are from Statistical Abstract for British India, 1943.
Most of the factory workers are concentrated in the large cities
and their vicinities. The leading industrial centers are Calcutta and
Bombay, employing about one-fourth and one-tenth of the total
6
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
factory workers. Of the other industrial cities, Ahmedabad, Cawnpore, and Jamshedpur are the chief, as indicated below:8
Number of
factories
Calcutta and vicinity____________________________________
Bombay and the island__________________________________
Ahmedabad_____________________________________________
Cawnpore______________________________________________
Jamshedpur_____________________________________________
Madras_________________________________________________
943
476
247
—
—
—
Number of
workers
439, 022
177, 323
102,753
51,892
28,737
23,492
Since the beginning of the war in 1939, almost 300,000 workers have
been added to different factories, especially to those which are engaged
in war production. The total number of factory workers would now
amount to about 3 million.
Labor Legislation
Labor legislation has made considerable progress in India within
the past two generations and become an important social institution.
India has already ratified and applied 14 International Labor Conven
tions and given effect to a number of Recommendations.
The origins of labor legislation in India may be traced back to 1863,
when the first plantation law was passed. Although the main object
of that measure was to give legal sanction to the indenture system,
and guarantee the employer a stable labor force recruited at his own
expense, it also assured the workers steady work, adequate sanitation,
and fixed wages. The first factories act was, however, passed in
1881, laying the foundation for the development of modern labor
legislation. Since then the number of labor measures has increased
both in volume and in kind, with reference both to labor in general
and in specific industries. The following deserve special mention:
(1) The regulation of forced labor and the abolition of the indenture
system.
(2) The establishment of a minimum age and physical-fitness
standard for the admission of children into employment in factories,
mines, and docks, the limitation of the hours of work to 5 a day for
children between the ages of 12 and 15 in factories, and the prohibition
of night work.
(3) The creation of a new class of protected young workers between
the ages of 15 and 17, who may not be employed as full-time workers
in factories without certification of physical fitness.
(4) The abolition of nightwork of women and of their employment
on underground work in mines and on dangerous work in factories.
(5) The regulation of hours of work of adult workers in factories
and mines, on railways and on board ship.
(6) A compulsory weekly day of rest in factories, mines, plantations,
railways, shops, commercial enterprises, restaurants, and theaters.
(7) The provision of health and safety standards for workers in
factories and mines and on docks.
(8) The protection of wages as regards time and method of pay
ment, and the abolition of the system of fines and deductions from
wages earned, as well as relief from indebtedness, attachment of wages,
and imprisonment for debt.
8 Industrial Labor in India, Geneva, International Labor Office, 1938, p. 49.
LABOR LEGISLATION
7
(9) The provision of compensation for industrial accidents and for
a number of industrial diseases, to over 6 million workers in organized
and semi-organized industries, and of maternity benefits to woman
workers in factories in several Provinces.
(10) The provision for facilitating industrial welfare work.
(11) Measures for the recognition of trade-unionism and for the
prevention and settlement of industrial disputes.9
ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW
The importance of proper administration has been realized by the
Government since the beginning of labor legislation, and necessary
provisions have also been made under each measure. In 1941 the
Government of India created an independent labor department under
a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and appointed a special
officer to advise on labor legislation. Administrative organizations
have also been established by Provincial governments. The Govern
ment of Bombay established a labor office under a commissioner of
labor in 1921, and similar action has been taken by the other Pro
vincial governments.
Every legislative measure has included provision for the (1) inspec
tion of factories, mines, and similar industrial plants, (2) the adjust
ment of the claims of workers against employers, as in the case of
compensation and wage payment, and the settlement of any disputes
arising between the two parties, and (3) the prosecution of violators
of the law and the infliction of penalties in case of conviction. The
administration and enforcement of the law are carried on by both the
Central and the Provincial governments.
TRIPARTITE LABOR ORGANIZATION
An important step toward the improvement of industrial relations
and the amicable settlement of industrial disputes was the establish
ment of a permanent tripartite labor organization composed of the
representatives of governments, employers, and workers, meeting in
an annual conference and having a standing committee on the model
of the International Labor Organization. The object of this new
organization is three-fold: The promotion of uniformity in labor
legislation, the formulation of a procedure for the settlement of indus
trial disputes, and the discussion by employers and workers of matters
of national importance.
The first conference was held under the chairmanship of the Labor
Member of the Viceroy’s Council in New Delhi on August 7, 1942.
The conference was composed of 22 representatives of the Govern
ment of India, Provincial governments, and Indian States, and 11
representatives each of workers and employers. The standing com-,
mittee was composed of 5 representatives of the Government of India,
Provincial governments, and Indian States, and 5 representatives each
of employers and workers, with the Labor Member acting as chairman.
The first session of the standing committee was held in New Delhi
on November 30 and December 1, 1942, under the chairmanship of
the Labor Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council; such ques
tions as wartime labor legislation, production problems, workers’
earnings, labor welfare, and industrial statistics were discussed and
• History of Indian Labor Legislation, by Rajani Kanta Das, University of Calcutta, 1941.
556819°— 43----- 2
8
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
an agreement was reached regarding a uniform scale of cost-of-living
bonus, supply of food grains at cost price, and the supply of “stand
ard” or utility cloth.101
WARTIME LABOR MEASURES
Under the pressure of war, the Government of India has been
obliged to undertake a number of measures regarding labor, the most
important being the following:
(1) The National Service (Technical Personnel) Ordinance, issued
by the Government of India on June 29, 1940, which enables the
Central Government to control the employment and distribution of
all skilled and semiskilled labor in India, and to insure that it is used
as effectively as possible in the prosecution of the war. The ordinance
is administered through organizations known as National Service
Labor Tribunals, one of which has been constituted in every Province
except Orissa and the Northwest Frontier Province (which are in
cluded in the jurisdiction of the Bihar and Punjab Tribunals, re
spectively). The ordinance aims at the provision of adequate
supplies of labor for Government and other factories, called “notified
factories,” engaged on work of national importance. The tribunals
have power to remove technical personnel from “unnotified” factories
and the Central Government can exercise similar powers in respect to
“notified” factories.
(2) The Essential Services (Maintenance) Ordinance, issued by
the Government of India in 1941, empowering it to prohibit any
worker engaged in any employment covered by the ordinance from
leaving his job without permission. Two formal amendments were
made in May and July 1942, in order to make it clear that the obligation
under the ordinance to remain in certain employment does not over
ride an obligation to undertake employment elsewhere imposed under
any other law in force, such as the National Services (Technical Per
sonnel) Ordinance, and on the other hand, to render more specific the
provisions relating to the continuance in service of essential personnel.
Rules for the administration of the ordinance were promulgated in
Bengal in May 1942. Under these rules the Labor Commissioner is
empowered to issue directions regulating the wages and other condi
tions of service of persons engaged in any employment to which the
ordinance is applied. Similar rules were promulgated in Orissa in
June 1942, empowering the district magistrates to regulate the wages
and other conditions of service of all employees of essential services,
subject to the general control and supervision of the Provincial
government.11
(3) A general order of March 6, 1942, issued by the Government of
India under the Defense of India Rules, prohibited strikes and lock
outs except after 14 days’ notice. Under the India Trade Disputes
Act of 1929, this provision had been confined to public utilities. The
new order extended the scope of this provision to all industries and
enunciated the principles of compulsory arbitration and the enforce
ment of the arbitrator’s award. Up to April 1943 compulsory arbi
tration had been applied in only about 25 cases.
(4) As a result of the increasing demand for textile, leather, and
other goods under war conditions, the hours of work in the industries
10 International Labor Review (Montreal), June 19,1943 (pp. 762-65).
11 International Labor Review (Montreal), April 1943 (p. 501).
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
9
producing these commodities have been increased in most of the
Provinces, at the suggestion of the Central Government. In Novem
ber 1941 the Governments of Bombay, Bengal, the Central Provinces
and Berar, the United Provinces, Madras, and Sind raised the maxi
mum weekly hours of work from 54 to 60 and provided for overtime
pay for the additional 6 hours.
Industrial Relations
em ployers’
a s s o c ia t io n s
The earliest organizations of employers in India were those of
Europeans, who were the pioneers of organized industry; and it is only
in recent years that Indian employers have developed strong organiza
tions of their own for furthering their group interests. At present,
employers’ organizations in India may roughly be divided into three
categories—commercial associations, industrial associations, and em
ployers’ associations. The main objects of employers’ associations,
which are directly concerned with labor questions, are the establish
ment of a harmonious relationship between labor and capital, the
securing of proper representation of the interests of their members in
the Provincial and Central legislatures, and the nomination of dele
gates and advisers to represent the employers of India at the Inter
national Labor Conference.
Employers’ associations exert a great influence on national labor
policy. All important industries, such as the cotton mills of Bombay
and Ahmedabad, the jute mills of Calcutta, the tea gardens of Assam,
and coal mines in Bengal and Bihar, are highly organized. They not
only take concerted action in fixing the conditions of labor and rates
of wages in the establishments of their members but are also repre
sented in the Central and Provincial legislatures as well as on com
missions and committees and similar bodies appointed by the Govern
ment to consider economic and labor questions.
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
The origins of labor organization in India may be traced back to
the year 1890 when a laborers’ association was formed at Bombay.
It was not until 1918, however, that the trade-union movement really
began, with the establishment of labor unions at Madras, Bombay,
and Calcutta. Since then the number of unions has increased rapidly
in most of the important industries all over the country. The exact
number of trade-unions is hard to estimate, but those which have been
registered under the Trades Unions Act of 1927 increased from 29
with a membership of 100,619 in 1927-28 to 666 with a membership
of 511,138 in 1939-40.
The most important labor organization in India is the All-India
Trade Union Congress, which was started in Bombay in 1920 with
the object of coordinating “the activities of all organizations in all
the Provinces in India, and generally to further the interest of Indian
labor in matters economic, social, and political.” After serving as a
national platform for the declaration of a policy of organized labor
in both national and international organizations, the Congress split
into two groups in 1929 and only recently has the gulf between the
10
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
two factions been bridged. It now stands as the only central organi
zation of the wage-earning classes.
Indian trade-unionism has not yet become an effective movement.
Its weakness arises from such causes as the absence of any permanent
class of wage workers, the illiteracy of the largest part of the workers,
the lack of adequate leadership, and nonrecognition by employers.
In spite of these defects, however, the labor movement has become an
important factor in the national life, as is indicated by Government
recognition of trade-unions in the enactment of protective legislation
in 1926, the rise of the labor press which has become influential in
recent years, representation by trade-unions in the Central and
Provincial legislatures, and representation by Indian labor in the
International Labor Conference and also in the Governing Body of
the International Labor Organization.
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES
Isolated industrial disputes took place in India as early as the
eighties of the last century, but it was not until 1918 that they became
serious and attracted public attention. In 1921, when the first
accurate data became available, there were 396 disputes involving
over 600,000 workers and causing loss of over 6,900,000 working days.
In 1928 the number of disputes as well as the number of workers in
volved declined, but the lost working days amounted to more than
31,000,000. In 1940 there were 322 disputes, involving 453,000
workers and over 7,577,000 days of idleness, as shown in table 3.
There is a good deal of fluctuation in the number of disputes, of
workers involved, and of working days lost, because of the nature
and conditions of industry and the classes of workers concerned. The
railway and textile industries are responsible for the loss of more work
ing days than any other industries. The great increase in the num
ber of working days lost in 1928 was due to the prolonged dispute on
the railroads. In 1940, over 42 percent of the strikes, 73 percent of
the striking workers, and about 80 percent of the working days lost
were in cotton and jute mills.
Table 3.— Industrial Disputes in India in Specified Years, 1921-40 1
Year
1921...........................................................................................
1926....................................................................—.................
1928................................................................ .........................
1938...................................................... ..................................
1939.........................................................................................
1940. ______________________ ___________________
Disputes
396
128
203
339
406
322
Workers
involved
600,351
186,811
506,851
401,075
409,000
452,539
Working days
lost
6,984,436
1,097,478
31,647,404
9,198,708
7.993.000
7.577.000
i Data are from Government of India Bulletin of Indian Industries and Labor No. 43062: Industrial
Disputes in India; and Indian Trade Journal, January 1,1942 (p. 42).
The immediate causes of disputes are economic. Of all disputes
from 1921 to 1937, 56 percent were concerned with wages and bonuses,
21 percent with personnel (i. e., employment and dismissal), and 23
percent with leave, hours of work, and other causes. Similarly,
62 percent of the disputes in 1940 were caused by demands for
higher wages, and the rest by demands for bonuses, and by personnel
questions, leave, and hours of labor. Among other causes must be
11
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
mentioned political unrest during the post-war period 1918-21 and
communistic propaganda during 1920-21. Even in these cases
the economic factor was the underlying cause, and, as pointed out
by the Royal Commission on Labor in India, “there has rarely
been any strike of any importance which has not been due entirely
or largely to economic reasons.” The increasing cost of living since
the beginning of the present war has been causing a good deal of
unrest [among the workers, and although “dearness” (cost-of-living)
allowances have been granted by the employers, they have not
adequately met the grievances of the workers.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
The frequent occurrence of disputes had led the Central and Pro
vincial governments to enact measures for their prevention and
settlement. The Government of India passed the India Trade
Disputes Act of 1929, prohibiting strikes and lockouts in the publicutility services and for any purposes other than the furtherance of
trade-union interests; it also provided for the appointment by the
Government, whether Central or Provincial, of a court of enquiry
and a board of conciliation in the case of any disputes, if both parties
applied for it. Since most of the important strikes took place in
the Bombay Presidency, the Government of Bombay also enacted
the Bombay Trade Disputes Conciliation Act of 1934; it provided
for the appointment by the government of a labor officer to guard
the interests of the workers and to remove their grievances, and also
named the commissioner of labor as chief conciliator [with the
power to initiate, as soon as a trade dispute appeared or was appre
hended, conciliatory proceedings with a view to effecting an amicable
settlement. Finally, the Government of India also passed the
India Trade Disputes (Amendment) Act of 1938, redefining publicutility services and authorizing the Government to appoint officers
charged with the duty of mediating in or promoting the settlement
of trade disputes; and, as noted above, in 1942 prohibited strikes or
lockouts, except after 14 days’ notice, in any industry for the duration
of the war.
w orkers’
a t t it u d e
tow ard
the
w ar
Indian workers are strongly against Nazism and Fascism. In
public meetings at Calcutta and Jamshedpur in January 1941, they
pledged their help to the workers of Great Britain and the Soviet
Union in their struggle against Germany and Italy.
Indian workers were, however, disappointed at the failure of the
Cripps Mission and especially at the arrest of Gandhi and other
leaders on August 9, 1942. A large number of workers, especially
in the cotton mills of Bombay, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Madras,
Coimbatore, and Jamshedpur, immediately went on strike.- With
the reopening of the cotton mills at Ahmedabad on November 26,
1942, the political strikes and lockouts came to an end. In spite
of these strikes, the majority of the workers throughout the country
remained remarkably steady. Moreover, as pointed out by the
Labor Member of the Government of India, there was no sabotage
on the part of the strikers.
What is more important is the fact that there was no strike among
the railwaymen. The disturbances in railway communication and
12
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
the damages to railway property were caused largely by gangs in
the rural districts and by the students in the urban areas. As
pointed out by the president of the Indian Railwaymen’s Federa
tion, the vast majority of Indian workers, although in full agree
ment with the rest of the Indian people in demanding India’s inde
pendence and national government, supported the United Nations’
war against the Axis and were strongly opposed to strikes and riots.
In a recent broadcast, the Labor Member of the Government of
India also pointed out that it was undeniable that Indian labor was
actively cooperating in the war effort and wanted fair conditions of
both work and living, including democratic ideals which could be
achieved only through Allied victory.12
Employment and Unemployment
The rise and concentration of organized industries in a few centers
away from the sources of labor supply and the increase of popula
tion faster than the volume of national employment have raised the
problems of employment and unemployment in India.
LABOR SUPPLY
In spite of the vast potentialities of India as a source of labor
supply, some of the organized industries were, in their early days,
confronted with the difficulty of obtaining not only the right kind
of labor but also a sufficient number of workers. This was espe
cially the case with tea gardens in Assam and coal mines in Bengal
and Bihar, as they were in sparsely populated regions and the nature
of work was different from that to which the people were accustomed.
The unhealthful conditions of most tea gardens in Assam, the lack
of any organized method of recruiting, and the insufficiency of the
transportation system, as well as the ignorance and immobility of
the laborers themselves, added to the difficulty.
At present, however, there is scarcely any difficulty in securing
sufficient unskilled and semiskilled labor, except that labor for the
Assam tea gardens still requires some governmental control, with
special reference to recruitment, transportation, and repatriation.
There is, however, a dearth of skilled labor for all industries engaged
in the war effort.
The essential feature of industrial labor in India is that it is migra
tory. Most of the factory workers, including those employed on
plantations, are recruited from the rural districts, where they are
occupied in agriculture and handicraft, and where they have their
families and often hold land. The pressure of population on the land,
the overcrowding of agriculture, and the decline of handicrafts have
forced some of them to look for occupational opportunities in indus
trial centers, but they generally leave their families in the villages and
return home periodically, especially during the planting and harvest
ing seasons. However, a class of industrial workers has been growing
in large centers such as Bombay and Ahmedabad, becoming increas
ingly dependent upon industrial work as a sole means of livelihood.
13 Indian Information (New Delhi), January 1943.
EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
13
RECRUITMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
Methods of recruiting and engaging labor differ in the various indus
tries, but are characterized almost everywhere by the use of interme
diaries. In the south, plantations recruit their labor forces from the
neighboring villages, but in the north, especially in Bengal and Assam,
the tea-garden proprietors prefer the aboriginal population of Nagpur
and the Santhal Parganas. The Assam tea gardens draw their labor
forces from distant parts of the country, and formerly recruited them
under the indenture system which was, however, abolished in 1932.
The majority of the mine workers belong to the aboriginal races and
are recruited either through contractors or agents of the mines. Un
skilled laborers for railways are mostly recruited locally, semiskilled
laborers through promotion, and skilled laborers from outside appli
cants who have been trained in particular trades.
The factories are scattered all over the country and the sources of
supply, as well as methods of recruitment, vary widely. Small fac
tories in industrial centers recruit their laborers locally, but large
industrial centers like Calcutta, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, and
Jamshedpur depend upon migrant labor. The most common system
of engaging laborers is through the supervisor or jobber, on whom
depends also the promotion, transfer, and dismissal of his workers.
This system has given rise to a number of evils, such as favoritism
and bribery. It was strongly criticized by the Koyal Commission on
Labor in 1931, which condemned the system and recommended the
recruitment and engagement of workers by a specially appointed labor
officer in larger factories and by the manager himself in the smaller
ones.
EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment has become a serious problem in India, partly
because of the decline of the handicraft industries and partly because
of the retarded growth of organized industries. This maladjustment
between population growth and the volume of employment affects all
types of workers, agricultural, educated, and industrial.
Agricultural unemployment, or rather underemployment, is a major
problem. Various estimates show that most of the cultivators in
India have not sufficient work to keep them occupied for more than
6 months in the year. The fundamental causes of this underemploy
ment are the overcrowding of agriculture far beyond its sustaining
capacity, the scarcity of supplementary occupations, and the back
wardness of agricultural industries. Among the remedies suggested
for solving the problem are the improvement, diversification, and in
tensification of cultivation, the reconstruction of cottage industries
and reorganization of arts and crafts in the light of modem technology
and marketing, and the establishment of industries in rural areas, such
as the preservation of fruits and vegetables and the manufacture of
agricultural implements.
The problem of unemployment among the educated classes has
become very serious, especially during the last two decades, and sev
eral commissions and committees have been appointed by most of
the Provincial governments to solve the problem. The principal
causes of unemployment among the educated are, first, the absence of
compulsory universal education, which would employ the largest num
14
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
ber of the graduates of colleges and universities; second, the lack of
sufficient modern industries to absorb the increasing number of edu
cated young men; and finally, the theoretical and academic nature of
Indian education, which scarcely prepares young men for the technical
and practical work required by modem industries and commerce.
The problem of industrial unemployment is of very recent origin.
Organized industries made almost steady progress during the first
quarter of the present century. After the depression of 1929 some of
the industries reduced the number of their workers, through either
retrenchment or rationalization. Since the beginning of the war,
there has, however, been a great expansion of most industries in both
handicrafts and factories. Although some of the industries such as
jute, have reduced their production and working strength, most of
the others have expanded production and employment, this being
especially true in the cotton, sugar, iron and steel, chemical, and
ordnance and munitions industries. As long as expansion continues
on this scale, there may be some allocation and reallocation, but there
is no likelihood of an unemployment problem, at least for the duration
of the war.
The appearance of industrial unemployment has, nevertheless,
raised the question of finding some measures for its remedy. Those
industries which depend upon labor recruited from distant places can
easily adjust the supply of labor to their demand through the control
of recruitment. However, there still remains the problem of those
workers who are already employed, and especially of those who
have come to depend on industrial employment as a sole means of
livelihood. Of the several remedial measures proposed the following
are worth considering: First, the introduction of some kind of unem
ployment insurance fund within an industry, to which both workers
and employers may contribute; second, the extension of the relief
work already utilized in the case of famine and scarcity. The essence
of the relief-work method is the preparation beforehand of schemes
of work for the workless and putting these into operation when
the flow of labor to works on which only a bare subsistence wage is
paid has demonstrated the need of relief.
Efficiency and Training
The efficiency of Indian labor is rather low. By far the majority
of the workers are unskilled. In 1920, for instance, only 26.9 percent
of the total labor supply in certain areas was found to be skilled in
the ordinary sense of the word. There are several causes for this low
efficiency.
First, there is the lack of vigor and vitality among the majority
of Indian workers, largely because of malnutrition and ill health, as
indicated by the low expectation of life which is only 26.91 years for
men and 26.56 years for women (1931) as compared with 59.06 years
for men and 62.68 years for women (1929-31) in the United States.
The food supply is insufficient in both quantity and quality. Ac
cording to Sir John W. D. Megaw, former Director General of the
Indian Medical Service, over two-thirds of the Indian people are under
nourished. An analysis of the diet of the jute-mill workers in Calcutta
in 1930 showed that it was deficient in animal fats, proteins, and other
protective elements. Moreover, both endemic and epidemic diseases
EFFICIENCY AND TRAINING
15
not only kill a large number of people annually but also devitalize
others for efficient work.
Second, the industrial workers are almost all illiterate. According to
the census of 1941, the proportion of literacy among the Indian people
as a whole is only 12 percent, and practically all the workers are
illiterate. “In India,” said the Royal Commission on Labor of
1929-31, “nearly the whole mass of industrial labor is illiterate, a
state of affairs which is unknown in any other country of industrial
importance. It is almost impossible to overestimate the consequences
of this disability, which are obvious in wages, in health, in produc
tivity, in organization, and in several other directions.” 13 This
illiteracy stands in the way of the workers’ intelligent participation
in the work and in the acquisition of skill.
Third, the absence of any permanent body of industrial workers
who could make industrial labor a means of their livelihood and
specialize in certain occupations makes for inefficiency. Most of the
industrial workers in India are migrants and are drawn from rural
districts where they are generally occupied in agriculture and handi
crafts, and are quite unaccustomed to the work in modem industry.
Moreover, lack of standing orders or rules of conduct stands in the
way of the worker’s acquiring industrial discipline, which is an
important element in industrial efficiency. Although the public
and semipublic establishments are subject to the Government Servants
Conduct Rules, private enterprises have no standing orders or rules
of conduct. In 1928 the Bombay Millowners’ Association drafted a
uniform set of standing orders for thqjr workers, but they were never
put into practice.
A fourth cause of inefficiency is inadequacy of management and
supervision. Both of these have recently improved in most of the
highly organized industries, such as the Tata Iron & Steel Co. (Jam
shedpur), the British India Corporation (Cawnpore), and the Bucking
ham & Carnatic Mills (Madras), as well as in many other advanced in
dustrial establishments in Bombay, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, and Nag
pur. Nevertheless, the great majority of industrial enterprises need to
improve both management and supervision with special reference to
proper selection and placement, adjustment of the worker to his job,
personnel administration, and advancement and promotion—all
essential for improving the efficiency of the worker and increasing
the productivity of industry.
Finally, another important method of increasing the efficiency of
an industry is rationalization, which has already been introduced in
many cases. Little is known about the forms such scientific manage
ment has taken, except in the case of the cotton mills of Bombay and
Ahmedabad where it has mainly meant increasing the number of
machines in charge of one worker, either in the spinning or the weav
ing or in both departments. Most of the mills in Bombay City,
however, encountered technical difficulties (e. g., coarse counts, fancy
cloth, and short lengths) in adopting schemes of rationalization.
Much more progress in the improvement of plants and working con
ditions has been made in Ahmedabad, where recently a number of
up-to-date mills were built and modern machinery was installed in
several old mills, though the scheme of rationalization has been
adopted only in the spinning departments.
13 Report of the Royal Commission on Labor in India, 1931 (p. 27).
556819°— 43------3
16
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
WARTIME TRAINING SCHEMES
The greatest drawback to the industrial development of India is
the scarcity of technical and skilled labor, which is due mostly to the
lack of facilities for technical training. Until recently, technical
training was imparted by only a few educational institutions. In
addition to the professional schools and colleges such as those of law,
medicine, agriculture, commerce, forestry, and veterinary science,
there are also technical schools and colleges. In 1937-38 these tech
nical schools numbered 567 and had 35,794 scholars.14
The industries themselves are a more important factor in technical
training. Some of them impart practical training which is often
supplemented by courses in technical schools. The common method
of training employees is through personal study and help from col
leagues and supervisors. There are also evening classes or part-time
courses, and some Government departments have organized such
classes primarily for workmen in Government factories and work
shops. Most of the mills in the Bombay Presidency employ appren
tices for training. Coal mines have organized lectures and classes
at various centers and also maintain a school of mines at Dhanbad
for higher instruction in mining, engineering, and geology. The rail
way workshops have a system of apprenticeship for both workmen
and foremen. The Tata Iron & Steel Co. maintains a technical
institute for theoretical and technical training, and also supports a
technical night school for the education of the workmen of the com
pany and of the associated companies.
The most important step in training workers in modern industrial
technique has, however, been undertaken by the Government of
India. With a view to training new men in war industries, the Gov
ernment of India appointed a Technical Training Enquiry Committee
in June 1940 and on its recommendation developed a scheme of
technical training. The first proposal was for the utilization of 16
technical institutions and the training of some 3,000 men in different
trades by intensive training for 8 to 12 months. The scheme was
revised in November 1940, increasing the training capacity to 15,000
men both in educational institutions and in factories and workshops.
This scheme was revised again in 1941 and the period of training was
reduced to 4 months in some instances. By the end of 1942, there
were 350 training centers with facilities to train 35,000 workers.
The Department of Labor, which is directly in charge of these schemes,
aims at providing a total seating capacity of 46,000 workers with a
view to training from 50,000 to 60,000 workers annually. By the end
of 1942, 16,000 workers had completed their courses and about 33,000
men were under training. It was expected that by March 1943 a
total of 70,000 workers would be trained.15
In addition, the Air Force Department and Ordnance Factories
have also developed their own schemes for training workmen and
foremen. Part of the Government scheme has also been undertaken
by the Tata Iron & Steel Co. Ernest Bevin, British Minister of Labor,
also developed a scheme in November 1940 for training Indian work
ers in British factories and workshops. Under this scheme, about
50 workers (10 percent of whom are students from technical schools)
14 Statistical Abstract for British India, Delhi, 1940, table No. 56.
» International Labor Review (Montreal), May 1943, June 1943.
SOCIAL INSURANCE
17
are sent to England in groups for 6 months’ training. By the end of
1942, 150 trained workmen had returned to India. According to a
tentative decision, the Technical Training Scheme would be con
tinued for a period of 18 months after the conclusion of the war, to
help in supplying trained and skilled workers to the rising industries.
Health and Safety Measures
Provisions for sanitation vary from industry to industry. Owing
to their location on hillsides and in forests and to the lack of adequate
sanitary arrangements, most of the plantations were unhealthful in
the beginning. Great improvements have recently been made on
larger plantations, but much still needs to be done on the smaller
ones. Although the coal mines generally are shallow and the interior
passages are spacious, permitting sufficient ventilation, the lack of
adequate sanitation is indicated by the prevalence of hookworm and
other diseases from which a vast number of coal miners suffer. Above
ground and in the living quarters, however, sanitation has been
greatly improved and boards of health have been established at both
Asansol and Raniganj. In larger and newer factories sanitary con
ditions are quite satisfactory and compare favorably with those in
advanced countries; but in smaller factories, and especially in those
not regulated, they require much improvement.
The question of industrial safety has become more and more im
portant in India, with the increasing use of machinery and mechani
cal power. The need for improvement in safety provisions is indicated
by the fact that considerable numbers of industrial accidents occur
every year. The first Factories Act of 1881 contained provisions
requiring various measures to be taken for the safety of workers in
factories, and these provisions have been extended and elaborated in
successive amendments to the act by the Government of India, as
well as by the supplementary and elaborate rules issued by the Pro
vincial governments.
Safety in mines is also one of the main objectives of Indian mining
legislation. The Mines Act of 1923, for instance, empowers the Gov
ernor General in council to make regulations providing for the safety
of mine workers. In spite of a large number of fatal accidents, espe
cially in the collieries, there has been great progress in the prevention
of accidents in mines.
The most recent safety measures in the transportation industries are
those provided for the dock workers engaged in handling cargoes,
especially in the ports of Bombay and Calcutta. The Governor
General in council has been granted powers to make regulations to
safeguard the dock workers from most of the occupational risks against
which the Revised Conventions of the International Labor Conferences
requires protection.
Social Insurance
Workmen’s compensation for industrial accidents is the most impor
tant social-insurance measure in India. In spite of gradual improve
ment in protective measures large numbers of accidents occur every
year, amounting to 36,006 (1939) or 20.36 per thousand workers in
factories, 1,757 (1940) or 5.32 per thousand workers in mines, and
17,616 (1940-41) or 24.11 per thousand employees on railways.
18
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
Data on the compensation paid for industrial accidents are available
only in the case of factories. In them the number of accidents in
creased from 11,371 in 1925 to 35,065 for the year 1938. This increase
is accounted for mostly by minor accidents or temporary disablements,
which increased from 10,371 in 1925 to 32,272 in 1938, partly because
of the improvement in the method of registration of accidents and
partly because of the increasing desire on the part of the workers to
record their injuries, however slight, in the hope of receiving compen
sation. The total number of industrial accidents for which compen
sation was paid in 1938 was 35,065 and the amount of compensation
paid amounted to Rs. 1,432,723 or an average of Rs. 40.9 per accident.
The distribution of accidents and compensation is indicated in table 4.
T able 4.— Industrial Accidents and Workmen's Compensation in British India, 19381
Accidents
Result of accident
Compensation
Adults
Total Adults Minors
T otal.................................................. 35,065 35,022
802
803
Deaths...............................................
Permanent disability____________ 1,990 1,987
Temporary disability____________ 32,272 32,233
Minors
Total Average
Total Average
per amount
per
amount person
person
Rs.
43 1,432,165
1
610,436
471,391
3
350,338
39
Rs.
761
237
11
Rs.
558
200
204
154
Rs.
200
68
4
i Data are from Workmen’s Compensation Statistics for 1938, Government of India, 1940.
Another kind of social insurance which has been introduced in India
is maternity benefit. Some kind of maternity benefit had long existed
in several industries, e. g., in the tea gardens of Assam and Bengal,
but this voluntary system was found to be quite insufficient and in
effective in times of trade depression. Since 1929, maternity-benefit
measures have been enacted by several Provinces such as Bombay,
the Central Provinces, Madras, the United Provinces, and Bengal, and
have also been adopted by Delhi and Ajmer-Merwara. In 1936 the
women deriving such benefit numbered 572, receiving an average of
Rs. 17.16 per person in the Central Provinces and Berar; 946, an aver
age of Rs. 22.42 per capita, in the Madras Presidency, and 4,310, an
average of Rs. 24.16 per capita in the Bombay Presidency.16
Hours of Work
The working day in organized industry in India originally lasted
from sunrise to sunset. By a series of legislative measures beginning
in 1881, this long day has been reduced in factories and mines, and
limited on railways and, to a certain extent, on board ships, in motor
transportation and in workshops, stores, and commercial enterprises.
Moreover, rest intervals, weekly holidays, and regulation of spreadovers and overtime have also been provided for. The Hours of Em
ployment Regulations for the railways have been gradually applied
to the different systems and by January 1, 1941, all employees of
the State-owned railways came within the scope of these regulations.
16 Annual Reports on the Administration of the Factories Act in the respective Provinces for 1936.
INDUSTRIAL REMUNERATION
19
Hours of work have been established in the following industries:
In factories the hours of work for men may not exceed 10 per day and
54 per week in year-round factories, and 11 per day and 60 per week
in seasonal factories; in both types of factories, women’s hours are 10
per day and 54 per week and those of children, 5 hours a day. Work
ing hours m mines are limited to 10 a day and 54 a week for both men
and women for surface work; for men in undergroundwork (prohib
ited for women), the hours are 9 per day and 54 per week. The law
regulating hours of work on railways specifies that they should not
exceed 60 a week on the average for a month for all employees except
those whose work is essentially intermittent or involves long periods
of inactivity; the hours of the latter should not exceed 84 hours a week.
Working hours on docks have been fixed at 9 a day, but overtime is
permitted up to a maximum of 3 hours on any one day and is paid
for at the rate of time and a third. In motor transportation, no driver
should be compelled to work for any continuous periods of more than
5% hours, or for periods aggregating more than 11 hours in any period
of 24 hours. In unregulated factories, (i. e., factories or workshops
working without mechanical power, or employing fewer than 20
persons) some of the Provinces have certain limitations on working
hours; thus, the Central Provinces Unregulated Factories Act of 1937
permits women and children to work only 9 hours and 7 hours a day,
respectively.
Actual hours of work are much shorter than the maximums estab
lished by the various acts. For instance, in 1938, in the Jharia coal
fields which employ the largest number of mine workers, the maxi
mum actual weekly hours were 47 in underground work, 48 in open
workings, and 52 for surface work. Similarly, 29 percent of the yearround factories employing men and 30 percent of those employing
women worked 48 hours or less; 36 percent of the seasonal factories
employing men and 43 percent of those employing women worked 54
hours a week or less.
Industrial Remuneration
WAGE FIXATION AND PAYMENT
The methods of fixing wages are different in different industries.
On plantations, wages are generally fixed by the piece or task, but for
certain operations time rates are also paid. In mines, piece rates are
generally paid for underground work, the unit for coal cutters and
loaders being the tub. Railway employees are paid time rates, by the
day or by the month. In most other industries time rates are paid,
but in building and construction work, as well as in the loading and
unloading of ships, work is often done on a contract basis. Both piece
and time work are found in the textile industries; of 211,359 men,
44,949 women, and 1,024 children employed in the cotton-mill in
dustry in 1934,45.6 percent of the men, 70.3 percent of the women, and
2.3 percent of the children were employed on piece work and the
remainder on time work.
Until recently there were various methods of wage payment, but
some of these have been substantially changed by the Payment of
Wages Act, 1936. In practically all industries wages are now paid in
cash and directly to the workers who earn them, and the employer or
his responsible agent is charged with responsibility for this. There is
20
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
no uniformity in the length of the pay period in India. Under the
Payment of Wages Act, no wage period may exceed 1 month, but in a
large number of industries wages are also paid semimonthly, weekly,
or even daily. In the jute mills of Bengal, for instance, almost all
process workers are paid by the week. In the cotton mills, wages are
generally paid each month in Bombay, Cawnpore and Nagpur, and
each fortnight in Ahmedabad. In coal mines the pay period may
be either 1 week or half a month. Wages on railways, whether rated
monthly or daily, are paid by the month. Throughout India unskilled
laborers are generally paid by the day.
Formerly, one of the defects of the wage system in Indian industries
was the delay in payment. The majority of employers held up pay
ment for varying lengths of time after the period during which they
were earned. This long delay in payment necessitated the granting of
advances against wages earned, and sometimes interest was even
charged on these sums. The Payment of Wages Act, however, specifies
that wages must be paid within 7 days after the period for which they
are due in enterprises employing fewer than 1,000 workers, and within
10 days in other cases. Fines and other deductions from wages have
also been brought under control. Moreover, the central Government
and some of the Provinces have issued regulations governing attach
ment of wages for debt, imprisonment for debt, and intimidation and
molestation for the recovery of debt.
RATES AND TRENDS OF CASH WAGES
There is a great variation in rates of wages, both by industry and
by locality.
The rates and movements of wages on plantations are well illus
trated by those of the Assam tea gardens from 1928-29, when rates
were very high. These wages have gradually declined both because of
the industrial depression and the lower cost of living. The trends of
wages in the Assam Valley and Surma Valley are shown in table 5.
Since the beginning of the war, in 1939, the rates must have increased
but no data have yet become available.
T able 5.— Average Monthly Wages in Tea Gardens in Two Divisions of Assam in
Specified Years, 1923-24 to 1937-38 1
Assam Valley
Year
Men
1923-24.............................................................
1928-29............................................................
1932-33.............................................................
1933-34.............................................................
1935-36............................................................
1937-38.............................................................
Women Children
Surma Valley
Men
Women Children
Rupees 2 Rupees1 Rupees 2 Rupees1 Rupees1 Rupees*
11.32
9.55
5.30
8.80
6.96
4.71
14.09
8.70
11.26
7.38
10.81
5.49
11.79
6.42
7.42
8.94
5.30
4.16
7.47
5.88
4.23
5.39
3.74
2.64
6.82
5.65
4.01
5.81
2.85
4.01
7.11
6.15
5.81
4.21
2.95
4.26
1 Data are from Industrial Labor in India (International Labor Office, 1938) and Annual Report on the
Working of the Tea Districts, Emigrant Labor Act (1932), 1937-38.
2 Exchange rate of rupee varies; in 1938 it averaged 36.59 cents; present rate, about 30 cents.
The average monthly rates of wages of all workers in mines are
obtained by dividing the total amount paid in wages during the
month by the average daily attendance. Earnings vary considerably.
In the Jharia coal fields, employing the largest number of mine
21
INDUSTRIAL REMUNERATION
workers, daily earnings of miners dropped from Rs. 0.89 in 1927 to
Rs. 0.59 in 1938, unskilled workers’ earnings from Rs. 0.61 to 0.47
and women’s from Rs. 0.55 to 0.32 (table 6). Daily earnings of
loaders and skilled workers varied from Rs. 0.67 to 0.52 and Rs. 0.73
to 0.67 during the same years.
T able 6.— Average Daily Earnings of Underground Workers in Jharia Coal Fields in
December of Specified Years 1
Skilled Unskilled Women
Miners Loaders workers
workers
Year
1927
1931
1932
1935
1938
.................................................................................
..................................... ..........................................
................................................................................
.
......................•
_______________ ______________________ _
Rupees Rupees Rupees Rupees Rupees
0.67
0.73
0.55
0.610.89
.72
.72
.53
.75
AT
.61
.53
.41
.67
.38
.42
.95
.33
.48
.39
.52
.47
.59
. 67
i Data are from Industrial Labor in India (International Labor Office, 1938), p. 258.
Average earnings of different grades and occupations of railway
employees are shown in table 7. As it indicates, about four-fifths of
the employees receive an average of Rs. 23 a month.
Table 7.— Earnings of Railway Employees in India, 1940-41 1
Total annual
Number Percent
of total pay roll
Class of employees
All classes.......................................................... -................. 666,365
Gazetted officers................................................................. 1,670
Subordinates, with monthly salaries of—
Rs. 250 or over.............................................................. 7,618
Rs. 30 to 250___ ___________ ________ ________ 124,503
Under Rs. 30.................. .............................................. 10,007
Daily rated labor staff of lower ranks.............................. 522,567
Per capita
earnings
Annual Month*
ly
Rupees Rupees Rupees
532
44
100.0 «354,968,355
.3 30,247,371 18,112 1,509
431
1.1 39,415,726 5,174
94
18.7 137,919,009 1,108
1.5
24
287
2,877,649
78.4 144,438,454
23
276
*Data are from Report by the Railway Board on Indian Railways, 1940-41, Vol. II, pp. 250-56. (Ex
cludes Jodhpur, Mysore, and Nizam State Railways.)
* Not the exact sum of the items, but as given in source.
Average earnings of factory workers in the Bombay Presidency in
1934 are shown in table 8. The average monthly earnings ranged from
Rs. 21.59 in establishments producing oils, paints, and soaps to Rs. 39.24
in engineering workshops.1
Table 8.— Average Monthly Earnings in Manufacturing Establishments in the Bombay
Presidency, M ay 1934 1
Industry
Engineering. .......................... ...................................... .
Printing__'...........................................................................
Textiles.................................................... ...........................
Matches________________ ____________________...
Oils, paints, and soaps................ ........ .............................
Number of Average Average
persons percent of daily
employed attendance earnings
46,039
8,604
256,308
5,468
* 3,103
85.8
91.9
82.9
Rupees
1.71
1.39
1.10
.87
.83
Average
monthly
earnings
Rupees
39.24
34.34
28.70
22.60
21.59
1 Data are from General Wage Census, Bombay Government Labor Office, 1937, Parts I and III. 1936.
1937. Calculated from daily rates on basis of 26 days to a month.
* Adults only.
22
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
The trend of earnings (including cost-of-living allowances) in the
cotton mills of Bombay during the 28 years from 1914 to 1942 is shown
in the following tabular statement. On the basis of earnings of
May 1914 as 100, average monthly earnings had increased by 111 per
cent by 1926, from which point they declined considerably during the
depression years. By the end of 1939, however, earnings had reached
and passed the 1926 level, and from that point through July 1942
they continued to rise, reaching a level nearly 3 times that of 1914.
May 1914________
May 1921________
August 1923______
July 1926________
December 1933___
October 1934_____
July 1937________
February 1938____
December 1939___
August 1941______
January-June 1942
July 1942________
Average monthly
earnings (in
rupees)
16. 38
30. 63
32. 75
34. 56
27. 88
29. 00
28. 44
32. 13
35. 38
38. 19
40. 25
47. 13
Index (May
1914— 100)
100
187
199
211
170
177
173
196
216
233
246
288
BONUSES AND PAYMENTS IN KIND
Besides the regular wages, the earnings of Indian workers are sup-*
plemented by special bonuses and various indirect payments which
must be taken into consideration in calculating workers’ total earnings
or incomes. Special bonuses are not paid in mining (except to the
supervisory staff) nor in engineering, in the Bombay Presidency.
They are, however, paid on the plantations of the south, as in Nilgiris
and Coorg. Profit-sharing bonuses, or bonuses for attendance or for
quality of work have long been paid in some industries. This has
been very common in the cotton mills of Bombay and Ahmedabad.
Another important form of bonus is the allowance to compensate for
increases in the cost of living, discussed in the following section.
The practice of paying part of the worker’s remuneration “in kind”
is very widespread in India. Payment in kind generally includes such
items as land for cultivation on plantations, free or cheap housing,
supply of grain and other necessaries at wholesale or reduced prices,
free fuel, and medicines. Miners are allowed a certain quantity of
coal for domestic use and railway workers receive free quarters, uni
forms, and other clothing. The payments in kind are greatest on the
plantations. In the Assam tea gardens they used to form a part of
the legal requirements for the protection of the workers under the
contract system, and consisted of free housing, medical treatment and
firewood, interest-free advances on wages, free grazing for cattle, and
land for cultivation either free or at an economic rent. In 1938, the
total area of land held by the Assam tea-garden workers amounted to
185,897 acres.
WARTIME WAGE ADJUSTMENTS
As war conditions have led to increased prices, employers have in
many cases either increased wages or have granted special cost-ofliving allowances. Most of the mills, especially in the Bombay
Presidency, continue to reckon earnings on “basic” rates prevailing in
COST AND STANDARD OF LIVING
23
August 1917, to which they add cost-of-living allowances. Some of
the industries, including the coal mines, have granted increases in
wages, averaging about 10 percent.
On the demand of the G. I. P. Railway employees, an investigation
was made by a court of inquiry, which found that the cost of living
had increased from 11 to 15 percent for different classes of general
consumers and wage workers. As a result of its study, the court es
tablished three different “subsistence levels”—Rs. 35 per month for
the city of Bombay, Rs. 30 per month for the other towns, and Rs. 25
for the rural districts. It recommended certain rates of allowance
which have been granted in most cases.
Some of the measures taken in the various industries to meet
advances in the cost of living are noted below:
Some 70,000 mill workers in Cawnpore received an increase varying from 9.38
percent to 12.5 percent of their monthly wages in July 1941, and a further increase
of 6.23 percent under certain conditions in July 1942.
An increase of amenity allowances from 1 rupee per month to 0.75 rupee per
week was agreed upon by the Jute Mill Association when it recommended a
reduction of hours of work from 60 to 54.
Members of the Bombay Millowners’ Association gave increases in the rates of
wages by from Rs.4.5 to Rs.9, for a period of 26 working days.
The Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association granted an increase of 45 percent as
from July 1941 to 100,000 workers.
The Sholapur and Bombay cotton-textile mills granted a war bonus of 12.5
percent of the total wages for 1941 to all workers, in addition to the cost-of-living
bonus.
A cash bonus of 16.6 percent of the total basic earnings for 1942 was authorized
by the companies which are members of the Bombay Cotton Millowners’ Asso
ciation to all their workers.
Employees of the State-managed railways were given increases varying (ac
cording to the monthly earnings) from Rs.2 to Rs.4.5 a month. A grant of 1
month’s extra pay was made by the Calcutta Corporation to all workers receiving
up to Rs.200 a month on August 12, 1942; this was the second such grant made
by this organization.
Dockers in Bombay received a 10-percent increase in wages from August 3,
1942, but the present rate is only Rs.2 per day.
Employees of several British Provincial governments (Madras, Bombay, Orissa,
the Punjab, Sind, and the Northwest Provinces) were granted a bonus and this
example was followed by several of the Indian States.17
Cost and Standard of Living
Accurate information on living standards in India is rather rare.
Data are available for some industrial cities (Bombay, Ahmedabad,
and Sholapur) in the Bombay Presidency, and a few studies have
been made for certain other cities, such as Calcutta, Madras, Jamshed
pur, and Cawnpore. Owing to differences in method and date, how
ever, the figures given in these studies are not comparable. Moreover,
most of the studies were undertaken about a decade or so ago and
no reliable data of recent years are available.
INCOME AND EXPENDITURES
Studies of size of family indicate that the average family ranges
in size from 4 (Ahmedabad) to 5.78 (southern railway) persons. The
Indian family, however, includes, in addition to the natural family—
father, mother and children—other relatives who, even though not
17 International Labor Review (Montreal), December 1942 (p. 727).
556819°— 43----- 4
24
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
living under the same roof, are dependent for their livelihood upon
the earnings of their relatives in industrial centers. The majority
of the families have one earner, but a study of budgets in different
centers revealed that the number of families having one earner varied
from 36 to 78 percent, the number having two earners from 18 to 53
percent, and the number having three earners from 7 to 46 percent.
The average family income and expenditure in several important
industrial centers are shown in the accompanying statement. On the
basis of certain limited studies18 it appears that both income and
expenditure are twice as high in Bombay as in Cawnpore:
Average monthly
income {rupees)
Bombay (1930), 85 budgets_______________
Ahmedabad (1926), 872 budgets____________
Calcutta (1930), 125 budgets______________
Madras (1930), 79 budgets________________
Cawnpore (1930), 729 budgets--------------------
55.
44.
34.
33.
25.
05
44
43
80
53
Average monthly
expenditure (irupees)
55.56
39.35
32.09
32.59
24.90
The percentage distribution of the family expenditures for the
various budgetary items in the different localities is presented in
table 9.
T able 9.— Percent of Expenditure of Workers’ Families in Specified Localities in India,
by Consumption Group1
Locality
Bombay (1930)______________
Ahmedabad (1926)......................
Calcutta (1930)................. ........ .
Madras (1930)..............................
Cawnpore (1930).........................
Food
57.1
57.9
64.9
60.7
48.1
Cloth
ing
7.3
9.5
7.5
3.8
7.4
Rent
10.6
11.7
4.7
8.3
8.8
Fuel
and
light
House
hold Miscel
requi laneous
sites
7.1
7.0
7.1
7.5
6.0
3.1
1.2
1.7
.3
1.8
14.7
12.7
14.0
19.3
27.9
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
* Data are from Industrial Labor in India (International Labor Office, Geneva , 1938).
Except at Cawnpore, more than half of the total expenditure of
the family budget was for food alone. By far the largest amount of
money was spent for cereals, including rice, wheat, jowar and bajra
(two of the Indian millets), or a combination of any two of these
products. Considerable numbers of Indian workers, especially the
Hindus, are vegetarians and live mostly on cereals, pulses, ghee
(clarified butter), and sweetmeats. Mohammedans eat both mutton
and beef; beef is a prohibited food for the Hindus, although some
of them take mutton. Fish is the chief protein food in Bengal and
Madras. Milk is used by all classes of workers wherever it can be
had, but it is costly, and pure milk is rarely available in the cities.
Next to food, the most important items are clothing and housing.
The monthly rent amounted to less than Rs. 3 for 65 percent of the
families in Sholapur (1925), to less than Rs. 6 for 66 percent of the
families in Ahmedabad (1926) and to less than Rs. 7 for 62 percent
of the families in Bombay (1930). Because of the climate, expendi
tures on dress is not a heavy item as in European countries. Men,
as a rule, do not clothe the upper part of their body, and most of the
men and women go barefooted. Fuel and light form the next largest
18 Industrial Labor in India (International Labor Office, Geneva, 1938), p. 280.
COST AND STANDARD OF LIVING
25
item in the budget. The fuel required is mostly firewood for cooking,
while, for lighting, kerosene or some vegetable oil is generally used.
Household requisites are few in number, consisting of cots, mats,
mattresses, blankets, pillows, cooking pots, and a few pieces of simple
furniture.
Miscellaneous expenditure covers a wide range of items such as hair
oil, washing soap, tobacco, betel (a kind of leaf for chewing), liquor*
medicine, school, travel, amusements, remittances to absentee mem
bers of the family, and interest on debts. The item, “traveling ex
penses,” usually refers to the cost of the worker’s travel between his
native place and his place of work. Most workers (and their family
members, in some centers) receive free medical care from their em
ployers; there is also a certain amount of personal expenditure for
this purpose. Expenditure on schooling for the children is rather a
small item in the family budget, and the same holds true for recrea
tion, owing both to the lack of facilities and the low income level. A
considerable part of income, amounting to 10 or 12 percent, is spent
on drink, especially by the families in the lower strata of Hindu society.
“The consumption of drink, or particularly of spirituous liquor,”
observed the Royal Commission on Labor, “may be said to be a feature
of the majority of industrial areas and has created considerable havoc
in some of them.” The Mohammedans are, however, prohibited by
their religion from drinking alcohol. Remittances to relatives are an
important item of expenditure, since by far the largest number of
Indian workers are migrants and leave some members of their families
in their native places.
Payment of interest on debts is a heavy expenditure among almost
all classes of industrial workers in India. According to the inquiries
of the Bombay Labor Office, in 1921-22, about 47 percent of the families
in Bombay City and 61 percent of the families in Sholapur were in
debt. In many cases the son inherits the indebtedness of his father,
but the most important cause of indebtedness is expenditure for mar
riages, funerals, festivals, and anniversaries. The burden of debt is
aggravated by the excessive interest rates which most workers have to
pay, ranging from 9 to 15 percent on money loaned against jewelry,
from 15 to 24 percent in the case of promissory notes and mortgages,
and from 37.5 to 150 percent in the case of short-term “hand loans”
(without documents). Interest payments are, therefore, a heavy
burden on the family; they ranged from 2.77 percent of the total
family expenditure in Bombay (1921-22) to 6.65 percent in Sholapur
(1925).
HOUSING CONDITIONS
Organized industries have usually developed in large towns, al
though in some cases they have formed the nucleus of new cities.
Limitation of space, high land prices, and the lack of any plan or
control are responsible for much of the congestion and overcrowding
in large cities. Subletting, a common practice among workers’
families, is another cause of overcrowding.
The housing accommodations of workers in large organized indus
tries are chiefly supplied by employers, by public or semipublic bodies,
and by private landlords. Almost all the plantation and mine workers
are housed by their employers. The general policy adopted by the
Government, the railways, and the municipal factories is to provide
26
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
quarters when funds permit or wherever the housing provided by
private enterprise is not adequate. Thus, the S. I. Railway workshops
have provided 3,426 dwellings for their workers, at rents not exceeding
10 percent of their wages, and the Bombay Port Trusts have set aside
136 tenements for their workshop staff. Numerous factory workers
are housed by their employers. The cotton-mill employers in Bombay
have provided 3,887 tenements for their workers. The public chawls19
of Bombay, now under the control of the Public Works Department,
accommodate 63,000 workers. By far the largest number of industrial
workers live, however, in dwellings rented from private landlords.
Most of the dwellings available for the workers in industrial towns,
especially those rented from private landlords, lack even such sanitary
arrangements as drinking water, latrine, light, and ventilation. Over
crowding is common in the tenements, most of which have only one
room. Of 13,189 tenements provided by the cotton-mill industry of
the Bombay Presidency, 11,332 (about 86 percent) had one room and
only 1,866 (14 percent) had two or three rooms. An inquiry covering
5,363 families in Bombay City in 1930 showed that nearly 60.0 percent
of the buildings surveyed had only one window per tenement, 26.0
percent had two windows, and 4.5 percent had no window. In 89.3
percent of the buildings, one toilet was provided for the use of from
1 to 8 tenements, in 8.4 percent one for 9 to 15 tenements, and in 1.6
percent one for 16 tenements or more; 0.7 percent lacked any toilet
facilities whatever. Similarly, one water tap supplied 1 to 8 tenements
in 25.7 percent of the buildings, 9 to 15 tenements in 40.4 percent, and
16 or more tenements in 33.0 percent; 0.9 percent of the buildings were
without even one water tap.
As would be expected, in view of the insanitary and overcrowded
housing conditions, the rate of infant mortality is high.
With a view to improving housing conditions of industrial workers,
the Royal Commission on Labor in 1931 made a large number of
recommendations on such matters as the survey, lay-out, and
development of urban and industrial areas, the establishment of mini
mum standards for floor space and cubic space, ventilation and light
ing, water supply, drainage and latrines, architectural plans for work
ing-class houses, Government subsidies to employers for undertaking
housing schemes, and the encouragement of cooperative building
societies. Thus far, the principal measure taken by the Government
of India to implement these recommendations was an amendment to
the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, to provide facilities for employers to
acquire land for housing projects.
WARTIME COST OF LIVING
The standard of living of industrial workers in India is not only
extremely low, but has been very adversely affected by the rise in
prices since the outbreak of the war. In the first few months of the
war, prices increased by one-third and the wage level was stabilized in
March 1940 at a level about 19 percent higher than that of March
1939. Since then the cost of living has increased considerably, as
indicated from the movement of wholesale prices of certain com
modities in Calcutta (table 10), although retail prices fluctuate more
widely than the wholesale prices. There has been a great increase in
the prices of all commodities.
19 In Hindu, “ehawl” means literally house; but, in Bombay, chawls are 2- or 3-story tenement houses.
27
COST AND STANDARD OF LIVING
T a ble 10.— Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices of Selected Articles in Calcutta1
Period
1914 (end of July)......................................
1938: Annual average...............................
1939: Annual average.............................
1940: Annual average...............................
1941: Annual average.............................
1942: Annual average.............................
1943:
January...............................................
February_______ ______ _______
March.................................................
April....................................................
Average,
all com Cereals Pulses Sugar
modities
100
106
120
129
154
212
298
311
319
331
100
72
86
99
112
158
260
266
334
375
100
88
99
101
105
162
238
280
309
307
100
132
164
157
145
209
258
260
298
280
Tea
100
130
142
149
202
240
299
246
199
189
i Data are from The Indian Trade Journal, May 13, 1943, and previous issues.
* For 3 months only.
Other Cotton
food manufac
articles tures
100
109
125
146
178
298
434
444
457
505
100
106
106
122
179
a 180
The importance of price control was realized by the Government of
India from the very beginning of the war, but no effective measures
were undertaken. After a long delay, the Government called a Food
Production Conference in April 1942, issued a food-control order on
May 21, and appointed a Central Food Advisory Council, which had
its first meeting at New Delhi on August 24 and 25, 1942. The
Council recommended the following: (1) The extension of price
control to cover all the staple grains which are competitive; (2) the
creation of a single agency for the purchase of the requirements for the
army and the “deficit” areas, and the delegation to this agency of a
monopoly of available rolling stock for the movement of foodstuffs;
and (3) the extension of food control to cover retail prices and the
fixation of permissible margins.
The fundamental cause of the rise in the prices of foodstuffs and
other commodities is the lack of supply to meet the increasing demand
of such goods, especially under war conditions. Among the measures
undertaken to meet this situation the following should be mentioned:
(1) Increased production of food, especially rice. In 1938-39,20
1,281,000 tons of rice were imported from Burma; the blocking of
these imports has caused a great food shortage in India.
(2) Better distribution of foodstuffs by increasing transport
facilities. The Government of India decided early in August 1942
to grant a fortnight’s priority in railway transportation for the move
ment of food grains. This facilitated the transport of several ship
ments of wheat from the Punjab and of substantial quantities of rice
from the Madras Presidency to Bombay.
(3) The establishment by the Government of food stores in different
industrial areas, where the workers may buy food at very moderate
prices. Foodstuffs have been stored at munitions plants and other
industrial establishments in the Calcutta area and also at the Jam
shedpur and Burnpur steel mills. Nearly all the industrial establish
ments in India maintain stores where grain may be bought at cost.
In 1942 there were 61 such shops in the Bombay mill area.
Industrial Welfare
The economic and social backwardness of the working classes in
India has made welfare work very desirable. Welfare work measures
Review of the Trade of India in 1938-39, p. 20.
28
WARTIME LABOR CONDITIONS IN INDIA
have already been introduced by large enterprises such as the Tata
Iron & Steel Co. at Jamshedpur, the British India Corporation in
Cawnpore, and the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in Madras.
Most of these measures relate to improvement of sanitation, comfort
and safety, provision of nurseries, construction of suitable dwellings
and even model villages, the creation of clinics and maternity and
child welfare centers, the opening of day and night schools for boys
and girls, and the provision of playgrounds, athletic and dramatic
clubs, libraries, and reading rooms.
Excellent medical and first-aid facilities are provided by most of the
larger engineering establishments owned by the Government, munici
palities, railways, public bodies, and public-utility companies. The
majority of the textile mills are also provided with well-equipped
dispensaries and part-time doctors. Mining industries have estab
lished health organizations at Asansol and Ranigunj for the benefit
of their workers; these bodies are also charged with provision of
measures for maternity and infant welfare. The plantations, espe
cially in the Surma Valley in Assam, have greatly improved the health
conditions of their workers. Several semipublic organizations, such
as the Port Trusts and municipalities in Bombay, have undertaken
welfare work for their employees. Private organizations for social
welfare work are comparatively few in number. The only organiza
tion worth mentioning is the Social Service League, organized by the
Servants of India Society, which is devoted to elevating the moral
and material conditions of the workers.
The most important steps for increasing recreational facilities have
been those of the Government of Bombay. In pursuance of its
policy for the amelioration of conditions of industrial labor, the
Government of Bombay is expanding the activities of its Labor
Welfare Department. Several large and small recreation centers
have been started in Bombay City, Ahmedabad, Sholapur, and Hubli.
Among the facilities provided are indoor and outdoor games, gymna
siums, libraries, lectures, plays, motion pictures, art exhibitions,
music, classes in literacy, etc. Woman teachers have been engaged
to give lessons to woman workers in sewing, knitting, and similar
subjects. The Government has introduced other schemes of labor
welfare. In 1941-42 the sum of Rs. 65,000 was earmarked for building gymnasiums in Bombay and Ahmedabad and for installing shower
baths and circulating libraries in various industrial centers.
FmyiCTORY
BUY
U N IT E D
STATES
WAR
BONDS
AND
STAMPS
@FedFRASER