AGRICULTURAL LABOUR
[Extracts from chapter VI of the Report of the Agrarian Reforms Committee (chaired by Dr. J.C. Kumarappa) and submitted in July 1949.]
To leave out the problem of agricultural labour in any scheme of agrarian reforms—as has been done so far—is to leave unattended a weeping wound in the agrarian system of the country. It is just not possible to keep for long the status quo of the bulk of the agricultural population and to increase the efficiency of the agricultural industry and the per capita income of the landed peasantry. Besides, to deny the fruits of Swaraj to such a numerous section of our population would be at the peril of grave social consequences...
We feel that the problem should be tackled on two fronts. There should be well-planned legislation, both positive (such as minimum wages) and prohibitive (such as banning agrestic serfdom) supported by ceaseless efforts on the part of the Congress workers and workers in the labour field to organise agricultural labour into Trade Unions. Agricultural labour codes are the beginning of the realisation that the agricultural workers are not serfs but equal partners... (in) agricultural industry.
Estimates of the Number of Agricultural Labourers.— ...If the tenant-cultivators of cultivating class especially with small holdings are counted, the number would exceed 95% of the total population in agriculture. The figures are based upon the 1931 Census but the relative proportion and dimensions of the problem remain unchanged...Besides, quite a large amount of agricultural work is done by that class of population which is returned as domestic servants in the census and all the children are often returned as non-working dependents. The number of agricultural labourers has increased fast during the last 50 years.
Between 1911 and 1931 the number of agricultural labourers per thousand cultivators rose from 254 to 417. The proportion may be still higher where the depressed classes in the locality are more numerous. Accounting for the rapid increase of the landless population, Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee observes: “Every circumstance which has weakened the economic position of the small holder has increased the supply of agricultural labourers—loss of common rights in the rural economy, the disuse of collective enterprise, the sub-division of holdings, the multiplication of rent receivers, free mortgaging and transfer of land and the decline of cottage industries.” (Land Problems in India, p. 215).
Classes of Agricultural Labourers.— The agricultural labourers may be generally classified into three groups, viz., field labourers, ordinary labourers and skilled labourers. The field labourers are the ploughmen, reapers, sowers, weeders and transplanters. Most of them are engaged in seasonal type of work. There is no doubt a certain section among them whose services are maintained all throughout the year or for at least a period of six months. They are the permanent and semi-permanent field labourers. The ordinary labourers are engaged in such work as embankment buildings, well-digging, canal silt clearing and for such other odd jobs which are connected with agriculture. The skilled labourers include carpenters, masons, blacksmiths and leather workers and such other artisans who, though not exclusively agricultural workers, are frequently employed by the farmer. The wages paid to these classes are governed by the rates of wages of agricultural labourers.
High Percentage of Female and Child Labour.— In the total labour force employed in agriculture, there is a high percentage of female and child labour. Taking all occupations together there are 465 females per thousand male workers. This proportion varies with provinces.... Women are generally employed in such semi-skilled work as weeding, husking and reaping. In these operations, the female worker can hold her own against her male partner. Perhaps she is more efficient. There are parts in India, especially in the North and some regions like Chota Nagpur, where the women folk have not supposed feeble physical powers. Dr. A.H. Lorenzo observes: “In the Punjab the hill women of Rathi, kanet, Dagi and Koli castes seem to be real amazons and among the plain-dwellers, the Meo women of Gurgaon have an equal share in the men’s work in large numbers. In Singhbhum the Ho women do all the agricultural work, while the men are indolent and lazy” (Agricultural Conditions in Northern India).
The employment of child labour is very common in agriculture. There are certain agricultural operations such as weeding, husking, spreading manure, watching crops, carting etc., in which children are frequently employed. Of course, the reason for employing the child labour is that equally efficient work can be secured on a much lower pay. Since no satisfactory work can be performed by children at a very young age, in agriculture most of the child labour is recruited from the age group of 10 to 15 years. There are various types of exploitation of child labour specially in respect of hours of work and rates of wages. In the case of hired child labour, the work is tedious and day-long. Children have been found to labour from six in the morning till late in the evening, and in moon-lit nights, work is resumed after dinner and continues till midnight. Besides excessively long hours of work, the conditions of work have been most unhygienic. The rates of wages are very low. While there has been a marked rise in the wages of the adult male labourers, the rates of wages for child workers have remained the same.
Rates of Wages and Mode of Payment.—Comprehensive and reliable statistics regarding wage rates of various types of agricultural labourers are not easily available. ...Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee who has done pioneer work in the collection of statistical data about the agricultural labourers has given the following rates of wages and modes of payment in different parts of India.
Field labourers are often paid in kind for their services. They receive a share in the crop together with other dues which are fixed by custom. This custom varies from province to province. Again the share of the farm-hands is standardised by a bundle tied with three lengths of straw. As the straw length increases or decreases with a good or bad harvest, there is an automatic adjustment of wages. The Chamars in the U.P., who supply the bulk of the agricultural labour in ploughing, sowing, and reaping, get 1/13th part of the produce of barley and 1/16th part of wheat. In Bengal, reapers are paid in kind at the rate of one bundle per 10 bundles they cut. Wages in kind for agricultural labourers who are on a yearly contract, are 8 to 10 maunds of rice a year, two pairs of clothes and two napkins together with other small requisites. ... In the Western Punjab, Rs. 5 per month, with a blanket and a pair of shoes at the end of the year, are what a day labourer expects. In the canal colonies, he receives twice that amount and food and clothing as well and if he has sufficient skill to work in a garden he can earn as much as Rs. 18 or Rs 20 a month... (Land Problems of India, p. 222).
Lag between Wages and Prices.— The most remarkable thing about the wage rates is the lag between prices and the wages which substantially reduces the real income of the agricultural labourer. The level of wages has some relation to the level of prices but increase in wages usually lags behind increase in prices. Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee illustrates this position with the help of some figures collected in Bengal... Between 1852 and 1922, the price of rice rose 8 times, but wages rose only between 4 to 6 times. “Real wages” therefore fell by 20 to 50%. ...
Standard of Living.— In our country there are very few studies, whether by the Government or by non-official agencies, into the family budgets of the agricultural labourers. ... According to Prof. N.g. Ranga’s investigations in South India villages 18 oz. Of cereals per capita were the minimum needed to keep the ryots family in any working condition. The Panchamas, both men and women, who are arduous workers, need much more food. Five out of nine families suffer from under-consumption of cereals, whereas only one out of five sudra families fare so badly. Panneyals usually have three meals a day if they can get them. During rainy season they are unable to get afternoon meal and many have to be satisfied with half a meal in the evening. In most cases although the food may seem to be quantitatively adequate, it has very little nutrition and vitamin. (Economic Organisation of South India, 1926, Vol. 1, pp. 17,18.)
The following Malayalam saying describes how the agricultural labourer in Cochin maintains himself: Chakkayum Mangayum Orusingam, Thaluthamara Orusingam, Angane Ingane Orusingam.” It means: He lives on Jackfruit and Mangoes in one season, plant leaves in another season, and from here and there in the third season.
World War II and Wages.— War certainly raised the rates of wages of the agricultural labourers. Due to mobilisation, increased employment in war industries, a large percentage of agricultural labour was withdrawn from the countryside....
It is true that there was price control and rationing and the Economic Adviser’s Index Number gives us an idea about the rise in prices. But it is admitted on all hands that the machinery of price control and rationing was all but effective in the countryside. Blackmarketing and profiteering were rampant and the agricultural labourers had to pay a heavy toll in the hands of corrupt officials....
We feel that the War has not brought about any substantial rise in the real income of the agricultural labourers... The Provincial Governments replying to the questionnaire of the Famine Enquiry Commission rightly emphasized the possible fall in the rates of wages in the post-war period due to demobilisation and fall in demand for labour in the war-time industries. As a matter of fact, after the war demobilisation, retrenchment in industries, and stoppage of work in factories due to communal disturbances have greatly reduced the demand for labour, which has ultimately affected the agricultural labourers. Besides, the decontrol as well as fall in agricultural production have further increased the cost of living of the agricultural labourer.
Early Implementation of Minimum Wages Act, 1948.— We, therefore, recommend that the relevant portions of the Minimum Wages Act should be given effect to as early as possible for agricultural labourers. ...
No doubt, the development of the collective farms on culturable wastes, where a good number of agricultural labourers could be settled, permanency of tenure for the sub-tenants, extension of agriculture, mixed farming for a substantial section of uneconomic holders, organisation of suitable agro-industries, regulation of hours of work and prohibiting employment of child labour and female labour during certain periods, stimulation of greater inter-regional mobility of the labour force would all give an upward pressure to the level of wages of agricultural labourers...
We recommend that the daily minimum wage of a casual labourer (agriculture) should be so fixed as to provide his minimum daily requirements during the period of employment. Since there are many kinds of work needed for the cultivation of any crop, and in most places there are more than one crop, the minimum piece as well as time rates of wages to be paid should be carefully worked out. ...The Wages Board, keeping in view the local usage, should prescribe for different areas and different crops and for different pieces of work, standards of minimum efficiency of work. Minimum wages to agricultural labourer should depend on the fulfilment by agricultural labour a standard of minimum efficiency laid down by the Wages Board, provided labour is given proper facilities of work. Work would be paid in cash or kind with the option of the agricultural labourer to accept the payment entirely in kind or partly in kind and partly in cash or entirely in cash.
Wage Boards.—We recommend that to determine the minimum wage, a Wage Board consisting of one Government nominee, one representative of the landed peasantry and one representative of the agricultural labour should be appointed at the District level. There shall be an appeal from the District Wage Board to the Provincial Board, which would be attached to the Land Commission and whose function would be to bring about reasonable parity in the rates of wages in different regions of the province. ...wage rates today have no reasonable uniform level between one place and another. The agricultural labourers frequently belong to castes or communities, weak both economically and socially, their wages depending on a variety of influences amongst which the consideration of caste to which the agricultural labourer belongs is even today an important factor. It is, therefore, necessary that there should be some apex organisation over these District Wage Boards to bring about some evenness in the regional rates of wages. Minimum rates of wages determined by the Wage Boards should be announced before the commencement of the agricultural season.
The Wage Boards, in addition to the task of determining the rate of wages, should make scientific and realistic studies of costs of cultivation and standard of living of both peasants and workers.
Land Tribunal.—The difficulty of enforcing these rates of wages would be very great indeed, especially in the absence of any well-developed organisation of agricultural labourers. We, therefore, recommend that a Land Tribunal consisting of equal number of representatives of landed and landless peasantry with an official chairman should be appointed in each local area to discharge the following functions:
(a) Implementation of the decision of the Wage Board regarding Minimum Wages.
(b) Peaceful settlement of disputes between the landed and landless peasantry.
The Land Tribunal will have an Inspectorate who will be assisted in their work to a great extent by the officials of the Village Panchayat. One of the duties of the inspection staff should be to see that the family of the labourer gets substantial advantage out of the wages paid to the labourer. We have in the course of our recommendations emphasized again and again the importance of the organisation of Village Panchayats. Since most of our recommendations including the one of minimum wages could be successfully implemented by a well-developed and properly functioning Village Panchayat.
It has been suggested that the enforcement of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act on farms irrespective of their size might drive the small farms, i.e., the bulk of the agricultural farms, out of cultivation and they would find it difficult to pay the minimum wages. We feel that in a way this would drive the small holders into the co-operative joint farms, which would increase the productive efficiency so much that it will make it possible to pay the minimum wages to the agricultural labourers. As payment of minimum wages would be an element of cost of production, prices of agricultural products should be so fixed that the average unit of agricultural production under our scheme can bear this charge without incurring any loss. (We discuss this question in greater detail in the chapter on Agricultural Prices.)
Equal Pay for Equal Work.—...there is a marked disparity in the wages of the male and female and child labour. It has also been made clear that in some operations there is no difference between the male and female labourer in respect of efficiency of work. We do feel that the practice of the U.S.S.R. in making no distinction in respect of pay for men and women should be followed while fixing the rates of wages at least for some operations. The rates of wages for children should have reference to their essential needs as members of a family. In the Soviet Union all employed youths over 16 receive the same wage as adults performing the same work in agriculture while young workers are trained without any cost to themselves and receive pay while learning. This unique achievement of the U.S.S.R. should be a beacon-light to all countries fixing fair rates of wages for labourers – agricultural as well as industrial.
Before the full-fledged machinery for the determination and enforcement of minimum wages comes into operation “guiding principles” for workers should be issued on as wide a scale as possible. The object behind this would be to educate the agricultural workers and to simplify the existing complexities in agricultural wages—which differ from village to village, work to work, even with little or no appreciable difference in physical efficiency, and time to time with very little increase or decrease for the supply of labour—in the modes and methods of payments and in the length of the working day. Efforts should be made to collect basic data bearing on all these aspects regularly from the representative regions and to disseminate among workers in each village through the Revenue Officer or the Panchayat where they exist. This work should be taken up by a full-fledged Employment Exchange at District, Provincial and all-India level – when they are formed.
The need for an all-India Employment Exchange of Agricultural Labour could be realised if we take into consideration the uneven nature of the supply of agricultural labour in different provinces. While the labour exchanges would greatly facilitate mobility of labour by spreading information about the demand and supply of labour in different regions, transport facilities at concessional rates should be placed at the disposal of the agricultural labourers. The workers’ trains are common in Denmark and Norway. In Finland during the winter when agricultural work decreases, the unemployed agricultural worker can easily migrate to forest regions on account of excellent transport facilities provided by the State. While touring in the different provinces we found large number of agricultural labourers going for harvesting and transplantation work from one place to another on foot. Most of them had to cover long distances under difficult conditions. We do recommend special concessions as well as special railway accommodation for agricultural labourers. Special rest centres may also easily be established with the help of local bodies.
Regulation of Hours of Work.— For the agricultural labourer the field working day is excessively long. While his counterpart in the industrial sector has been enjoying the benefit of regulated hours of work, no effort has so far been done to extend the same facility to the agricultural labourer. The question has not even been mooted as a practical proposition. It is true that in countries like England, Germany and America where there is industrialised farming, hours of work can be fixed easily because of the somewhat permanent nature of the employment. In India, due to seasonal considerations, hours of labour in farming are bound to be unequally divided. In sowing and harvesting labourers have to work long hours. We do feel, however, that elastic legislation may be made according to the agricultural conditions of the country and to meet the needs of each category of agricultural labourers.
According to Prof. N.G. Ranga, in his note to the National Planning Committee, for seasonal labour, the hours of work may be allowed to vary from time to time and from place to place, but care should be taken that the maximum number of hours of labour does not exceed 12 hours for males, and 10 hours for females on any day and 56 hours in any week, and special scales of pay are prescribed for overtime payment over and above 8 hours. For the regular farm workers or annual servants, suitable regulations will have to be made by the Local Wage Boards to fix their maximum hours of labour, keeping in mind the need of agriculture for specially prolonged hours of work in certain seasons, especially in the ploughing, sowing and harvesting seasons. In this connection the practice of fixing the total number of hours per annum may also be considered...
Regarding legislation for other amenities like sickness-insurance, old-age insurance, etc. we feel that agricultural labour would be served adequately only when the Rural Welfare Service is fully organised. In a subsequent chapter we would give fuller treatment to the organisation of Rural Welfare Service. Emphasis must be laid on the provision of suitable maternity benefits. It may be mentioned for information that the International Labour Conference recommended that measures should be taken to ensure female wage earners employed in agricultural undertaking protection before and after child-birth similar to that provided by the International Draft Convention adopted at the International Conference at Washington for women employed in Industries and commerce. (I.L.O., Third Session, 1921). The female agricultural labourer could have such facility only when there are properly organised maternity centres and health visitors.
We also feel that there should be prohibition of employment of children below a certain age... We are fully conscious of the fact that the low family income drives the parents to put their children to work for a wage. This can be avoided only if the wages of the male and female labourers should be so fixed that the family can dispense with the income of the child.
Seasonal Unemployment.— The agricultural labourers suffer not only from very low rates of wages during the period of employment but have also to face a long period of unemployment. Various estimates have been made regarding this period of unemployment by different investigators. ...
In the course of our investigations in the different parts of India, we found that the agricultural labourers who are not permanently employed have to eke out some subsistence by thatching, digging or fishing. The rates of wages during this period are much lower than the rates they earn during the busy season. Some of them migrate to industrial areas. The growth of this huge floating population, however, not only weakens our rural stability but is also in a large measure responsible for the present industrial unrest. Stabilisation of the rural economy, especially in this sector, is possible by development of suitable agro-industries. (We discuss the question of agro-industries in a separate chapter). Much relief can also be given to the agricultural labourers by well-planned activities of the Public Works department of the Government and of the Forest Department. Afforestation, road-building, digging of wells, canals, can be so timed that they might absorb the labour power of the agricultural communities especially of the landless section during the period of seasonal unemployment.
During this period of unemployment the agricultural labourers get into debts, the rates of wages during the period of employment being hardly sufficient for even bare existence. It is not possible for them to lay by anything against a rainy day. Leading a life of continuous want and semi-starvation these people naturally become improvident when they get a few annas to spare during the period of regular employment. When unemployment comes to them for a period of nine months or so, they have to take loans from the village money-lender and, having no security to offer, they fall an easy prey to the utmost exploitation of the money-lender. In the chapter on ‘Agricultural Indebtedness’ we have recommended the scaling down and wiping out of the burden of debts, but mere scaling down or wiping off their debts will not help them much unless they can be assured of facilities of co-operative credit. Methods will have to be devised by which prompt and cheap co-operative credit facilities may be equally available to these people as to the landed peasantry from the village multi-purpose co-operative society.
Agrestic Serfdom and Feudal Exploitation.— Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee in his “Land Problems...” speaks about a class of agricultural labourers who rarely receive cash and whose conditions vary from absolute to mitigated slavery. According to him, agrarian serfdom is most prevalent in those parts of India where the lower and depressed classes are numerous. “In fact, the ethnic composition of the village, which governs the social stratification, is responsible for the survival of the slavish conditions.” (Land Problems of India, p. 226).
He has described the conditions of Dublas and Kolis of Bombay as no better or less than that of bond slaves. He has spoken of Padialism or debt slavery in Madras among Izhavas, Cherumas, Puleyas etc. He gives a detailed account of the Kamia in bondage in Bihar. Dr. Mukherjee, after giving a review of the conditions prevalent, concludes that wherever the status of the farm hand verges on slavery like that of the Padial or Puleya in Madras, the Chakar in Orissa, the Shalkari in the Central Provinces, the Harawaha in Central India or the Kamia in Bihar, the system can be abolished by nothing short of special legislation making it penal to keep a bond slave and extinguishing all his debts. He also suggests that new lands should be reclaimed and the released serfs should be settled on these new lands.
Dr. A.H. Lorenzo who made a first-hand investigation in parts of Chota Nagpur, Bihar and Orissa studied the Kamiauti system of agrestic serfdom and collected reliable data after a continuous stay of several years amongst slave workers. In his book on ‘Agricultural Labour Conditions in Northern India’ he has given interesting details about the agrestic serfdom prevalent in those parts of Northern India. ... (He) describes how a Kamia is purchased by his owner. “The purchase price of a new Kamia takes the shape of the fee paid by the landlord for the purchase of a wife for the Kamia’s son. The intended wife and her mother are given a few yards of cotton cloth piece, a few cooking utensils, and a rupee or two and the Kamia and his son, along with the rest of the family are given a feed. The whole show does not cost the landlord more than ten or fifteen rupees....” (p. 80).
In the course of our tours we had no occasion to meet a Kamia or other types of agrestic serfdom prevailing in different provinces referred to by Dr. Lorenzo. But in Bombay and Madras we found and questioned some Halis in taluk Bulsar of district Surat and some Panneyals in Tanjore district and some Cherumas in Malabar. We describe below their conditions:
Bombay: Halis: Generally found in the Surat district of Gujarat, the Halis are drawn from the five communities, i.e., Dublas, Talavias, Naikas, Dhodias and Ghodras—the bulk of the Hali population, however, being Dublas. The total number of Halis has been estimated as 20% of the agricultural population of the district.
The Hali system is a form of agrestic serfdom most frequently originating in paltry loans taken for payment of bride’s price and other expenses enjoined by backward social customs. Under it the Hali and to some extent the members of his family bind themselves practically for life to serve a master, called locally the Dhaniama. Theoretically, the Hali can free himself by paying off the debt, but actually due to illiteracy of the Hali and the machinations of the Dhaniama, payment of debts is a rare phenomenon. Rarer still is any case of desertion, though the contract between the Dhaniama and the Hali is not legally valid. Such is the class solidarity of the Dhaniamas that a Hali who has deserted one Dhaniama would never be employed by another. While enquiring in Tanjaore district, Mayavaram taluka of Madras about the Panneyals, we found the same unity among the masters making any change of master unless permitted by the master himself almost impossible for the Panneyals.
Besides, the Dhaniamas, belonging to the higher castes have sedulously developed a deep rooted feeling among the Halis that running away from the master is a great sin for which God will punish the Hali’s descendants. We actually asked a Hali if he would leave his master and come to Bombay for better wages and were told that it would be a sin for the Hali to leave his Dhaniama.
These Halis are sold like chattel along with land. Sometimes prices are paid separately for the Halis, sometimes not. We found in Mayavaram in Madras, Panneyals changing hands with land. In village Koiur, a few miles from Calicut, we examined a Karijathn (a sort of semi-serf), who reported the practice of letting out these semi-serfs by their masters during periods of unemployment.
An agricultural labourer wanting to be a Hali in exchange of a loan has to undergo a period of apprenticeship for 2-3 years. And a Hali’s son who generally becomes a Hali by taking a loan at the time of his marriage has to approach the Dhaniama of his father, because, until now, has he not lived on the Dhaniama’s charity? e/g/. The wages paid to father Hali, and thus has not the Dhaniama acquired an indirect, but nonetheless a definite claim on the young son of the Hali? This automatic transmission of serfdom from father to son, from one generation to another, though not uncommon among the Panneyals of Tanjore is, however, not the general rule. We came across Panneyals’ sons working under masters different from those of their fathers.
Wages are generally paid in kind, called the ‘Bhata’, a ration of food grain, varying from place to place. This payment in kind, not being by weight but a certain measure, is always an underpayment to the extent of 10 to 25%. In fact, payment in kind, though it has the virtue of not being affected by the lag between wages and cost of living, generally suffers from this drawback of giving a further opportunity to the master to cheat the agricultural labourer. The Hali, however, cannot demand payment in cash as a matter of right. When paid in cash the Hali gets less than the current value of the grain wages...In addition to his daily wages, the Hali gets some emoluments in kind. There may be meals once or twice a day, tea or tobacco once or twice. On festival days and marriage occasions he may get cloth, a pair of shoes, food and pickles. The practice, however, is not uniform and varies from place to place.
In certain places the Hali gets what is called ‘Valva’, which may be called a kind of annual bonus. This may take the form of a certain quantity of paddy or jowar. Sometimes tow or five vasas of land may be given to him for cultivation without any charge. Very often such land is an outlying part of the Dhaniama’s field and is cultivated along with the same. The Hali has only to harvest his share of the produce. Amongst some other facilities allowed to the Hali is the freedom to collect fuel for his use from the Dhaniama’s land. He is given some space by the Dhaniama to construct his house, the necessary materials and straw for thatching. If the Hali is able to rear a goat, a cow or a buffalo, the Dhaniama allows him to graze them on his field. In return he appropriates the manure left by the Hali’s cattle. He also claims a share in the progeny of the Hali’s cattle....
Womenfolk of the Hali’s family, almost invariably, work at the Dhaniama’s house. They look after the cattle shed, grind grain, clean utensils, fetch water from the wells. For work in the fields the women get almost as much as the Hali when the payment is made in kind, and when in cash, it is slightly less. For domestic work the wages are different. On an average it would be Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 a month in addition to a Sari every year. In certain cases, however, this monthly wage may go up to Rs. 7. Obviously, the payment is much lower than the services rendered. The Hali’s sons are generally employed by the Dhaniama as herdboys. Very rarely, when the father’s master has no work, the son may go to work for others. The wages for this work are generally paid in cash, which may range from Rs. 6 to Rs. 12 per year. The work of the Hali’s son as a cow-boy really initiates him into the Hali system and is the beginning of his becoming a full-fledged Hali.
Now a few words about the Hali’s housing condition. In almost all cases the house is situated on the Dhaniama’s land who also supplies materials for erecting a miserable hut. But there exists no oral or written agreement indicating that any type of tenancy exists with the result that the Hali is entirely at the mercy of the Dhaniama for his living space. The house sites provided are generally unhealthy, particularly during the monsoon, when they become malarious. Small streams of rain water from other parts of the village flow through or near these places because they are generally in low-lying areas, often water-logged. Very often the place is full of obnoxious smell very injurious to health.
The huts are always indescribably bad. Improvised out of inadequate and inferior material, they provide little protection from rain and sun. During the rains the thatching material decomposes and water drips into the hut from many spots. There is no ventilation and the interior is almost perpetually dark. For the size of the Hali family the space is very inadequate and the situation worsens if he has a goat or a cow, which has also to be kept inside the hut during the rains and winter nights. The dependence of the Hali on the Dhaniama for the house site reduces his bargaining power too because the threat of ejectment always hangs over him like the Damocles’ sword.
Malabar: Shri K. Kelappan, the President of Kerala P.C.C. in his memorandum to the committee says: “There is forced labour still prevalent in certain rural areas. They lease them out to farmers who want cheap labour to cultivate their farms. This takes different forms. In certain areas the Harijans receive certain presents during Onam and Vishu in return for which they undertake to work for the donor for wages lower than the current rate. Though this undertaking is supposed to be voluntary, it is not so. There are other forms where the “serfs of a Jenmie” are leased to certain people for a return to the Jenmie in money or paddy. The rights the Jenmie exercised over these poor human beings will, thereafter, be exercised by the lessee of these unfortunates.” ...
The Committee examined some Cherumas, both males and females and other agricultural workers. Their frail and bony bodies, their emaciated and worn-out looks, their tattered clothes, all bore testimony to the extreme form of exploitation. They indeed looked sub-human and presented a piteous sight.
Madras—Panneyals of Mayavaram: Mr. F.R. Heminway wrote in the Tanjore Gazette in 1915 that “many relics of the former state of things (slavery) still exist. The right of the landlord over the Panneyal is often also transferred in the document which transfers the ownership of the land.”...
The main features of agrarian serfdom which the Committee found in the villages of Mayavaram Taluka of the Mirasdar-ridden Tanjore district are more or less the same as in other places though the exploitation may be said to be more intense. Here, as elsewhere, the farm servant and his wife must be available for agricultural and domestic service, whenever required by the master. They may work elsewhere, though this seldom happens. He is also indebted to the master, borrowing small loans, particularly for marriage purposes. He is generally ignorant of the amount of loan outstanding against him as the entire account is kept by the Mirasdar. He stays in the house site provided by his employer. He is also given a small strip of land to grow his own crops. A portion of his wage is apid at the time of the harvest. Sometimes, when it is a proportion of the gross yield, it is variable. Once in a year he gets some cubits of cloth and some gingili oil, barely enough to oil his hair.
Cases of hereditary farm servants tied to the land being transferred along with the land to the new landowner have no doubt become rare. And though the ordinary law does not bind the labourer to an employer, there are more powerful sanctions which in effect do tie him to the Mirasdar. There is the fear of eviction from the house site, of recall of loans, of being deprived of the small plot allowed to him for self-cultivation.
Shri M. Narayana Nallappah, founder-President of the Madras Provincial Agricultural Labour federation (Estd. 1908) in a memorandum submitted to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President of the Indian Constituent Assembly observes: “To suck the blood of innocent landless farm-servants known to this province as Panneyals, the landholders coerce them to work in their farms 70 hours a week and are unwilling to pay them reasonable living wages for the working months, nor are they given freedom to move about; besides, to keep them under their heels and at their beck and call they not only launched on a policy of atrocities to appropriate all those lands in the hamlets inhabited by the landless labour families of both touchables and untouchables but secretly shared among themselves the house sites and the other lands owned by the fore-fathers who had, during the halcyon days, unhindered enjoyment of their properties from times immemorial; to evict the landless servants from their humble huts with no difficulty they devised another treacherous plan as to the division of the house sites to manipulate the entries, in the village registers kept in their custody, instead of the old occupant’s names against the record of the Madras Permanent Settlement of 1802 and against the confirmation of the tenant’s occupancy rights of the house sites by the Madras Revenue Recovery Act of 1864.” The memorandum further points out that the District Officers never cared to check up the village records and reposed full confidence in the village officers who themselves were landholders.
With a view to find out the real facts, the Committee visited villages Elantangudi, Kozhayurcheri, Agarmannakudi, Manakuddi, Uluthakuppai, Bandallur, Aduthurai and Velathithi in Mayavaram Taluka of Tanjore district and examined a number of men and women farm servants.
A Panneyal of Elantangudi told the Committee that he got ¾ marakkal i.e. 1.5 Madras measure of paddy as his daily wage. He did not get any food, nor any special presents like cloth, oil etc. on festival days. He had work in the fields for two months during transplantation and for one month during harvesting. On other days he had no work to do except when the Mirasdar employed him which never exceeded ten days a month. He borrowed Rs. 40 from the Mirasdar in 1932 for his marriage but was not able to clear it till then. The Mirasdar further wanted him to execute a promissory note for Rs. 120 which, according to him, was borrowed by his father. He was given about 70 kulis of land in the backyard for cultivation, but he had to give 2/3rd of the produce to the Mirasdar. Last time he was allowed to harvest his produce only after he had paid Rs. 10 to the Mirasdar.
For the greater part of the year he did not have sufficient rice to eat and so hunted field rats, crabs and snails and ate them. White lily roots and seeds and flowers of Iluppai trees were also used as food.
The members of the Committee went inside the hut of this Panneyal to make a detailed examination. It was a small square structure 8 feet by 8 feet. The walls of the hut were 3 feet high with no windows on any side. There was a small entrance about 1.5 feet wide. When it was decided to take an inventory of the contents of the hut, it was too dark to see anything. Even with a lamp, it was not possible to look more than a few inches ahead. This was all at about 9 am.
Going down on our knees and with the help of the lamp, the following inventory was prepared:
1. Small brass water vessel 1
2. Aluminium cup 1
3. Brass drinking vessel 1
4. Bottles 2
5. Pots (big and small) 15
These were all the worldly goods the Panneyal had.
In Kozhayurcheri, the Committee found many houses destroyed. The villagers said that was what the Mirasdars’ men did as a reprisal against their demand for higher wages. Standing crops in their backyards such as brinjals and yams were also destroyed. Some houses were locked and the Committee was told that its inhabitants had fled away out of fear.
It was a ghastly sight. It was raining hard but ill-clad, half-starved women weeping and wailing fell on the ground before the Chairman and members of the Committee crying for protection. In all about 30 houses had been destroyed including that of their leader. The villagers alleged that goondas hired by the Mirasdar from the Ramnad District caused the havoc. They further alleged that roofings of the houses which were destroyed were used as faggots by the goondas.
The night school in Kozhayurcheri was also razed to the ground. This we found in some other villages also. Seeing a house razed to the ground in village Elantangudi, the Committee enquired about it and was informed that the building formerly housed a school but when the Panneyals demanded higher wages, the Mirasdar got furious saying that it was education which was spoiling them and ordered the school to be destroyed.
One Panneyal deposed that two years ago he demanded an increase in wages for which he was beaten by the Mirasdar. If his wife was late for work in the Mirasdar’s house, she was beaten either by the Mirasdar himself or his clerks. His two brothers were also beaten from time to time. The Committee heard similar stories of physical violence in all the villages visited by it. In some villages it was alleged that some Panneyals died as a result of the severe beating they had received but the matter was hushed up by the police.
At Mayavaram, the Committee found the exploitation of human beings at its worst and agrestic serfdom at its lowest. Continuance of such a state of affairs is a disgrace for the country and a slur on our independence. Indeed, when Gandhiji visited Mayavaram in 1927 he was constrained to warn the landlords who gathered before him that their lands would grow weeds and thorns and be barren if no brotherhood of man was extended to their landless farm servants who were toiling for the health and wealth of their families. ...
Forced Labour: Dr. Lorenzo (in his book “Agricultural Labour in Northern India”, p. 84) describes also various forms of begar or forced labour prevailing in different provinces in Northern India. The most common among them are: (i) Beth Begar, under which labourers are forced to perform certain agricultural operations for two to five days. Beth Begar may be of various forms:
(a) Hal Beth, for ploughing the field,
(b) Kodal Beth, for weeding and watering,
(c) Dhan Beth, for harvesting the crop,
(d) Miseni Beth, for thrashing the crop, and
(e) Moradandi Beth, for storing the grain.
(ii) Chakran Begar: Labourers living on homesteads, on landlord’s land have to render two to three days’ begar in lieu of rent.
(iii) Parjauta Begar: In times of emergency the residents of the village have to render three to twelve days’ labour to the landlord. In Bihar and Avadh, Parjauta has taken the form of Nazrana which may be commuted in cash.
(iv) Buha-Begar: A borrower taking a loan of either paddy or cash or plough or plough cattle has to render in addition to the interest on the loan not less than 9 days’ free labour to the lender. According to Dr. Lorenzo, the Buha system is largely responsible for the increase in the number of born serfs in the districts of Hazaribagh and Ranchi.
(v) Dubri-Begar: This is prevalent in those regions where sub-infeudation has gone to impossible lengths.
Regarding the prevalence of Begar, Prof. Sridhar Misra deposing before us submitted that even today the common reply to this question in different villages included in his enquiry (1947-48) was maliq ke basae hain, kam karnahi parta hai (the landholder has allowed us to live in his domain, we have to work for him). Every person has to do work for a fixed number of days with the landlord, generally free of charge. The number of days varies from three to ten in each harvesting season. The wages paid, if valued, are negligible or take the form of chabana, sattu or midday meal.
With the abolition of zamindari the system of forced labour and some types of agrestic serfdom, it is hoped, will be automatically removed. The Provincial Governments have passed in some shape or form legislations banning begar system. In the draft constitution of India there is a provision for making agrestic serfdom, or any serfdom for the matter of that, a penal offence.
We also strongly feel that these evils should be immediately eliminated. We recommend that forced labour should be a cognizable offence and taking of service in repayment of loan should be a penal offence. But we are very doubtful whether mere legislation alone would be of much use especially in a country where there are 25 million aboriginals who are today “forbidden to hunt and cultivate in the forest, exploited in the village and who have become servile, obsequious, timid and of poor physique,” (Verrier Elwin, “The Aboriginals”, p. 2) and where the agricultural labourers ridden with illiteracy and conservatism, are scattered over regions almost inaccessible because of ill-developed means of communication and are not looked after by any organisation of their own.
Housing of Agricultural Labour.— In the course of our enquiry into the living conditions of the agricultural labourers, specially of those whose status verges on some form of serfdom, e.g., the Halis in Bombay and the Panneyals in Madras, we felt that the stranglehold of the landed peasantry over this socially and economically backward section of the community was largely possible because of the absence of any provision of house sites for these people in the village abadi (settlement). We have already recommended that the village community should own abadi (cultivated land), waste lands, forests, village tanks and pastures. This would make it possible for the village community to provide free house sites and building materials like mud, wood and thatching materials like grass etc. to the agricultural labourers from the village abadi, tanks, forests and pastures respectively. The landed peasant under whom the agricultural labourer would be working should also contribute towards building materials like bamboo and grass etc. Thus the housing scheme we recommend would operate under tripartite contributions—the community providing house site and a portion of building materials, the employer bearing a part of the cost of building materials, and the labourer himself contributing his own labour. No huge state expense would be involved in the operation of this scheme. A ten-year planned programme for housing and plantations of quick growing trees should be drawn up for provinces and states.
Organisation of Agricultural Labour.—While the growth and development of a fully organised village community would offer considerable protection to these exploited sections of humanity, yet, as we stressed earlier in the chapter, side by side with a well-planned agricultural labour code there must be an immediate countrywide organisation of agricultural labourers, not for bringing the Government into discredit by destructive propaganda, but for ceaseless constructive activity for lifting this huge mass of population from sub-human levels of existence... Tonybee’s warning that the movement from slavery to freedom is also a movement from security to insecurity should always urge these unions of agricultural labourers to bend all their energies for pressing their legitimate demands through peaceful and constitutional methods lest they should be thrown into worse plight.
In fact the need for such action on the part of agricultural labourers’ unions has been intensified because of the wartime structural change in the agrarian system of the country. Land has been further concentrated in fewer hands and there has been more and more proletarianisation of the small peasants. Agriculture is no longer, at least to a section of substantial peasants, a means of livelihood and a way of life but a source of profit. The sharp cleavage of interests of the landed peasantry and the agricultural proletariat would no doubt be reduced to a great extent if the existing agrarian pattern is replaced by the co-operative-cum-collective-cum-controlled private farming pattern recommended in Chapter 1. Yet the conflict remains. So far, against Landlordism and Sahukarism there was a united front of the peasants and agricultural labourers. With the abolition of landlordism and the regulation and ultimate elimination of Sahukarism, conflict between the landed peasantry and the landless sections of the agricultural population is inevitable unless the two interests are organised in time and directed by conscious and constructive leadership to harmonious progress. ...
The All-India Kisan Sabha maintained for a period unity between the peasantry and agricultural labourers. But as early as 1937, a Khet-Mazdoor Sabha was organised in Bihar which passed a vote of no-confidence in the Kisan Sabha. This Sabha demanded occupancy rights on all Shikmi (tenants-at-will) lands after one year of cultivation by the Shikmi; a maximum interest of only 3% to be charged on all their debts; penalisation of forced labour, supplying of house sites by the employers and protection against ejectment from such sites, employing ploughmen with registration on paying annual salary of Rs. 48 with two meals per working day; right to cultivate free of rent 1/12 of the employer’s land and paying 5 annas per day for each field labourer.
The conflict between peasants and labourers also expressed itself in the organisation of communal organisations like the Triveni Sangh in the U.P. The Ahirs, Kurmis and Kunbis, who constitute a very substantial proportion of the labouring classes in the U.P. villages, claiming to be the three main streams of the countryside joined together under the Triveni Sangh. This movement now comprises an even larger section of the labour population of the U.P. villages. Besides the Ahirs, Kurmis and Kunbis, the Shoshit Sangh (Association of the Depressed or Downtrodden) has rallied under its banner the Garariyas, Kachis, Kevats, Lohars, Telis, Kohars, Kahars, Naus, Dhobis, Chamars, Dharikars, Pasis, Mushars, Nats and Kols. And even the Ansaris, the Muslim depressed classes in the U.P. villages, joined the movement. The growing Shoshit Sangh which, shorn of its various strappings, is essentially a movement of the pure landless labourers with tiny allotments against the landed peasantry, gained notable success in the U.P. Gaon Panchayat elections. Their chief slogan, according to Shri Sampurnanand, U.P. Education Minister, was against Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Lalas, the classes who mainly constitute the landed peasantry:
Brahman, Kshatriya, Lala
Inka Muh kar do kala,
Inko de do Desh-Nikala
[Means: Blacken the faces of the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and the Lalas and exile them]
It is obvious therefore that unless suitable steps are taken in advance the countryside is likely to face an upheaval in the form of peasant-labour conflicts, which would have disastrous consequences on our already decadent agriculture. The exploited landless labourers and the agricultural workers with tiny allotments constitute a very inflammable material and forces are already working to make full use of them for political ends.
This leads us to the question of organisation of agricultural labour. Should there be a single organisation for the peasants as well as the agricultural labourers? We have already answered this question in a way. The social context which provided raison d’être for such unification of interests has yielded place to a new set up. There should be a separate organisation for the agricultural labourers, which should be linked up at different levels through suitable machinery. An equally pertinent question is: Should agricultural labourers be organised with the factory labourers in the same organisation? There is much force in organising the rural and urban labour under the same co-ordinating body. There is a close link between the two sections of the labour force in India as most of the factory workers are recruited from the peasantry. Collective actions in industrial areas cannot succeed unless there is a close co-ordination between the agricultural labour organisation and the factory labour organisation. In the absence of such co-ordination, any number of strike breakers would be available from the idle agricultural labourers. Again during periods of strike and lock-outs the industrial workers pour into the countryside and depress the already depressed conditions of agricultural labourers. Co-ordination of the organisation of rural and urban labour under a superior body would have the added benefit of broadening the horizon of the rural elements.
[The Agrarian Reforms Committee, consisting of 8 members (Prof. M.L. Dantwala, Shri S. Das Gupta, Shri T.V. Raghavulu, Shri O.P. Ramaswamy Reddiar, Shri N.G. Ranga, Shri Ameer Raza, Shri Phulan Prasad Varma and Shri K. Mitra), was appointed by then Congress President, Rajendra Prasad, on the suggestion of the Revenue Ministers’ Conference in December, 1947.]