Write short note on Industrial labour
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Answer:
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Explanation:
The development of modern factories, mines, transport and plantations resulted in the erh^rgence, during the second half of the 19th century, of an entirely new class of Indian society, namely, the industrial working class. This class, comprising the Indian men, women and children working in modern industries, was subjected to as ruthless and revolting an exploitation as is known to modern man.
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On its sweat and toil, suffering and privations, was raised the structure of India’s industrial development. A study of the living and working conditions of this class is but appropriate.
Wages and Standard of Living of Industrial Labourers during Different Periods:
The task of measuring the changes in the working class levels of living in India is not easy. The data is scanty, especially in regard to the 19th century. Besides, it is faulty and also capable of different interpretations. Despite these limitations, a study of the workers’ standard of living in India can be conveniently divided into certain broad well-defined periods.
1861-1905:
This period was marked by two main features: extremely low wages and a rising price level. In Bombay, the daily wages paid by the P.W.D. were 37 paise, 25 paise and 18 paise in 1867 68 but they came down, in 1871 — 72 to 30 paise, 18 paise 13 paise to a male, female and child labourer respectively.
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In Punjab, the highest rate in 1867 — 68 was 30 paise per day chiefly in parts where public works were going on and the lowest rate was 12 paise only. In Bengal, the average daily rate paid by P.W.D. ranged from 7 paise to 13 paise. In C.P., it was only 18 paise in 1870.
These ‘pittance’ wages coupled with a rising price level kept the workers close to starvation. It was this miserable condition of the workers which prompted Ramsay Macdonald to observe that “the poverty of India is not an opinion, it is a fact.”
From about 1873, money wages began to rise both in the town and countryside. The greatest rise was recorded in Bombay, Bengal and Punjab, the rates of increase for agricultural labourers being 39% in Bengal and 49% in the Punjab and for artisans, 48% in Bengal and 50% in Punjab during the period 1873-1903.
In the Bombay Presidency, the increasing demand for labour in the cotton Textile industry pushed the wages higher with the result that it created conditions of scarcity in some of the agricultural districts. Labourers from U.P., C.P., Bihar and Madras migrated in large number to the Punjab, Bengal or Bombay thereby raising wages in the districts from which they came.
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This led the government to claim that the standard of comfort of workers had improved. As evidence, were cited the increased consumption of salt, large development of excise revenue, and the large increase in the post-office Saving’s Bank deposits.
True picture, however, is revealed when we compare the money wages with the cost of living. As Dr. Kuczynski has pointed out, between 1880—1905, money wages rose from 82 to 107 (1900 = 100), a rise of only 30%. On the other hand, the index of the cost of living increased from 77 to 91-an increase of 18%. Real wages, therefore, recorded only a nominal rise of 11% from 106 in 1880 to 118 in 1905.
It is evident that there was only a marginal increase in the real wages of the workers. However, labourers in certain urban centres as well as skilled artisans like blacksmiths and carpenters appear to have improved their position due to the spread of railways, rise of new industries like cotton, jute, mining and the emergence of new trading centres.
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