Sir Manilal B. Nanavati Vice-Presidents: 1

OFFICE-BEARERS FOR 1947

President: Sir Manilal B. Nanavati Vice-Presidents: 1. Prof. D. R. Gadgit 2. Sardar Bahadur S. Kartar Singh 3. Dr. T G. Shirname.

Hon. Secretary & Treasurer: Prof. M. L. Dantwala.

Memb,Is of the Executive Comniittee 1. Prof. K. C. Ramakrishnan 2. Dr. A. I. Qureshi 3. Dr. D. K. Malhotra 4. Mr. B. R. Shenoy 5. Mr. J. P. Bhattacharjee 6. *Dr. B. N. Ganguli 7. Prof. S. Kesava Iyengar 8. Principal N. K. Bhojwani 9. Rao Sahib P. D. Nair 10. Hon. 'Secretary & Treasurer.

Members of the Advisory Committee: 1. Sir Manila! B. Nanavati (Chairman) 2. Prof. D. R. Gadgil 3. Mr. Dinkar Desai 4. Prof. C. N. Vakil 5. Mr. R. G. Saraiya 6. Dr. N. S. R. Sastry 7. Mr. V. L. Mehta 8. Mr. Sher Jang Khan 9. Mr. N. C. Mehta 10. Prof. M. L. Dantwala (Hon. Secretary). PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY

( 3rd edition) by THE INDIAN RURAL PROBLEM . .. Rs. 12 Sir Manilal B. Nanavati & J. J. Anjaria

. LAND TENURES IN INDIA Famine Enquiry (Reprint from the Report of the supplied by Commission 1945, including information • • . Rs. 2 Provincial Governments) IN WESTERN COUNTRIES ILl . AGRARIAN REFORMS Refotms and their (An appraisal of European Land .. • • .. Rs. 3 suitability to Indian conditions) IN MADRAS, by STUDY OF PANCHAYA-TS . A- Rs. 5 K. Jayaraman, M.A., M.Litt.. OF THE SOCIETY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCES Third, Fourth and Fifth First (Out of StOck), Second, • • • • . Rs. 5 each available • • • • AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS . THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF Conference Number). . Rs. 3 each Vol. I, Nos. 1 & 2 (2 being Sixth Conference Number) Rs. 3 „ Vol. II, Nos. 1 & 2 (2 being Seventh

. RURAL LIFE SERIES:— PROBLEMS IN (1) MONOGRAPH ON RURAL by the MADRAS (Prepared and published .. Rs. 5 Government of Madras, pp. 545) ..

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 can be had from: Ltd., Messrs. VORA & CO., Publishers, 3, Round Building, Kalbadevi. Road, BOMBAY: from: Nos. 4 to 7 (1) can be had THE HON. SECRETARY, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, Gandhi Road, 46-48, Esplanade Mansions, Mahatma Fort, BOMBAY.

No: 7 (1) can also be had from: THE SUPERINTENDENT, Government Printing Press, MADRAS _

elANJ VAITAIiANN 32 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS community men and women to undertake these kinds of labour at distant places. There is finally the casual labourer whose distress is great in periods of unemployment and is in no way fully relieved by the high wages he de- mands for days of work. The wage of an independent labourer has gone high, where the price of food grains is high and is hardly available, parti- cularly in absolutely deficit areas as Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar. The daily wage during seasons of pressure work goes up to even Rs. 3. Normally in South India it is Rs. 1-4-0 per day. The system of giving good food has gone into disuse. The landholder wants to pay only cash wage. But the agricultural labourer in certain areas is vocal and strong enough to insist on a grain wage. Landholders too cannot refuse in his case as they want his labour for all agricultural operations. A reform of the system of wage payment in agriculture mainly depends on its re-organisatioñ as a profitable industry. The parasitic elements that burden the agricultural economy should be eliminated by State action, by providing cheap .credit, by supply of agricultural requisites at a fair price and by fixing fair rents and fair land revenue. Immediate legislation is neces- sary defining a tenant and a labourer so that rent legislation may not be evaded by calling a crop-share tenant as a labourer, and labour legislation too may not be equally evaded by paying a labourer on a share of produce which will vary from year to year. The law of tenancy legislation should declare that any person who is paid his wages as a share of produce is a tenant. The labourer should be paid--his wage irrespective of the yield from lands. Labour is getting conscious. Agrarian disputes have increased in. all the wet land areas. Though minimum wage legislation may not be pos- sible at present, it should be preceded by legislation providing for divisional wage boards to decide labour disputes. The data collected by these boards regarding wages for different kinds of work and the awards given by them ,will form useful material for introducing minimum wage legislation later on.

,x"IAGRICULTURAL LABOUR AND WAGES IN BIRBHUM BY J. P. BHATTACHARJEE Visva-Bharati Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Sriniketan PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR The greatest single fact about agricultural labour in India is its size and growth. The 1931 Census of India enumerated the number of this 'floating' labour on the land at 33 million, as compared to 18.7 million in 1891. The 'number of labourers per 1000 cultivators increased from 254 in 1911 to 411 ,in 1931. , Because of changes in classification, however, the Census figures for the different years are not strictly comparable. That is why we find that though the number of agricultural labourers in Bengal increased by .about 50 per tent between 1921 and 1931, it decreased by about 27 per -cent .between 1931 -and 1941, the figures for 1921, 1931 and 1941 being 1.8, 2.7 .ancl 2.0 -millions respectively. It may be mentioned here that the figures AGRICULTURAL WAGES AgID SYSTEMS OF PAYMENT 33 at for 1941 have been estimated from those of the random samples, given in the Census Report of 19411. If these estimated figures for 1941 are left out of consideration, it will be seen that the is percentage of agricultural labourers in Bengal to the total persons engaged in "ordinary cultivation" e- increased from about 16 in 1921 to 29.2 in le 1931. It appears therefore that the number and proportion of agricultural labourers have been on the in- ti- crease for the last few ae decades in Bengal. Among recent estimates, men- tion must be made of the enquiry conducted by the Bengal Land Revenue ly Commission (Floud Commission) in 1938-39. as The Commission found that 22.5 per cent of the agricultural families in Bengal live mainly or entirely ie on agricultural wages2. ist nt The sample survey conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute to study the after effects of the Bengal famine of 1945 reveals, however, that 17.48 Per cent of all families in rural Bengal belonged to the category of "Agri- ds cultural May at Labour" in 1S44, against 15.72 :Jer cent under the category "Agriculture and Labour".3 Numerically, therefore, agricultural labour by forms single group ce one of the largest of occupation in the country and includes something between one-fourth and one-fifth of the agricultural po- Pulation. The very strength of this class and it growth constitute (me of be the on gravest problems facing the Government as well ns this industry. ce But this problem does not effect the labourers directly. While it is for tld the Government to tackle and solve it successfully, the agricultural work-. a ing class is very well oblivious of it. More urgent to them are the problems of wages, cost of living and standard of living. A comparison with in industrial labour in these respects presents an interesting picture. While 3S- both these classes of labourers are faced with similar problems and stand lal almost on the same footing so far as improvement of their material condi- ids tions is concerned, the good of the country requires an urgent reduction in ?In the number of agricultural labourers simultaneously with a rapid increase )n. in the strength of the industrial labour population. The supply of labour is elastic and almost unlimited; but their demand in industries is inelastic and highly restricted. This gives rise to peculiar problems. While there is always an impact of agricultural labour on industrial working class—a force of considerable dimensions—the reciprOcal effect of the latter on the former is almost negligible. The level of agricultural wages, in other -Words, serves to lower the scale of industrial wages; but the latter, in its turn, does not operate to raise the former. The inter-actions arél not reciprocal. Agricultural labour lives in an almost water-tight compartment of the Country's economy.

AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN BIRBHUM . Birbhum is one of those districts of West Bengal in which the 'agricul-' tural labourers form the largest section of the population. According to the Ind Bengal Land Revenue Commission, families living mainly Or" entirely on ng' agricultural Wages 'constituted 39.6 per cent of families in Birbhum in 1938- 39. This percentage is lowest, 4.1, in Jalpaiguri and highest, 40.8, in Mur-, 117 shidabad. The district of Khulna could however claim a higher figure, viz. res 419, but it is now included in East Bengal. According to the census of ind by 1. Census of India, 1941, Vol. IV, P. 121. ent 2. Report of the Bengal Land Revenue Commission Vol, II, P. 117. • -. 2.7 3. Famine & Rehabilitation in Bengal,-P.C. Mahalanobis, R. K:Mukherjee,Ambiea Gho-se, and K. P. Chatopadhyaya, P. 31. .res a - L 34 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

1931, there were 1.10 lakh agricultural labourers in Birbhum out of 2.21 lakh persons engaged in "ordinary cultivation" and 3.62 lakhs engaged in all occupations, the total population of the district being 9.48 lakhs. Thus agricultural labourers formed 39.4 per cent of the total persons in all occupations and 49.9 per cent of people engaged in "ordinary cultivation". Com- parative figures for 1921 and 1931 are given below in the form of a table. AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS IN BIRBHUM (in thousands)

Number of Year persons No. of Percentage Percentage engaged in Ordinary Agri. of (4) to of(4) to All occupations cultivation labourers (2) (3) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) . 1921 229 99 43.2 - 1931 362. 221 110 30.4 49.9 Percentage variation —3.5 + 11.1 + 6.7 (Figures for the earlier census are not comparable) It appears from the above table that (i) agricultural labourers constitute a very large section of the rural population of Birbhum and (ii) upto 1931 the tendency in the district has been for the number of these labourers to increase. Different parts of the district, however, show some variations with regard to the proportion of agricultural labourers. A survey conducted by Sriniketan in South Birbhum reveals that agricultural labourers formed about 26.5 per cent of all rural families in 1939-40. Another survey conducted in 1944 in the same area shows that this percentage stood at the figure of 25.1. Regional difference is not however the sole cause of these variations. The difference in time is also a factor to reckon with. What- ever that may be, the importance of the problem of agricultural labour in Birbhum cannot be mink-nised. Agricultural labour is a term which is very flexible. It includes not only workers on land, employed on a daily wage basis, but also those getting a share of the produce or payments in kind as remuneration for labour. Daily wage is not therefore the sole criterion of agricultural labour. Rather the criterion is ownership of the factors of production. Viewed from this angle, the Krishans and the Mahindars in Birbhum belong to this group. Agricul- tural labour in Birbhum can therefore be classified, according to the nature of remuneration, into (a) Krishans, (b) Mahindars and (c) day-labourers. There is also another class, called Bagal, which means a cow-boy. It is a form JA child labour utilised for the purpose of grazing cattle, maintenance of the herd and upkeep of cowshed. Though it is a form of labour, it cannot, strictly speaking, be classed with the others mentioned above. The main classes of agricultural labour in Birbhum are therefore Krishan, Mahindar and day-labour. The term Krishan signifies contract labour. A Krishan is a field labourer who gets a share of the produce as remuneration. He usually cultivates land with the help of the tenant's bullocks, implements, seeds, ma- nures, etc., and receives one-third of the grains as his wages. He contributes his labour only to the production. A Mahindar is a permanent servant of an agricultural family. He receives a small sum of money as his annual wages, either in one lump sum or in several instalments. He gets his daily food from the master's house and also receives garments and cloth from him. He is a sort of domestic servant and is utilised by his master not only for AGRICULTURAL WAGES AND SYSTEMS OF PAYMENT 85

Cultivation work but also for household duties. He is thus tied down. to - the family. The day-labourers are rather independent in this respect and get daily wages as remuneration for their work. The Bagals, i.e., cowboys, are not an independent class of agricultural labourers, because most of them are young boys and belong to the category of working dependents of their family. It may be mentioned here that Bargadars have not been included in the group of agricultural labourers. They form a separate class by them- selves. The strength and proportion of these classes reveal some interesting features of the agrarian economy of Birbhum. It has been found from sur- veys conducted by Sriniketan in South Birbhum that Krishans, Mahindars and day-labourers accounted for 13.6, 4.9 and 8.0 per cent of all families in 1939-40. The figures for 1944 were 9.9 in the case Of Kirshans and 15.2 in the case of Mahinders and day-labourers. It, therefore, appears that agriculture in Birbhum is highly dependent on landless labourers. Krishans form the largest section of these labourers followed numerically by day-labourers and Mahindars. There has however been a Change in these proportions between 1939-40 and 1944. The stress of the -war and the consequent calamities have tended to increase the proportion of day- pto labourers. The Indian Statistical Institute in their survey referred to ers Previously, found that the percentage of agricultural labourers to the total )ns families changed from 17.07 in January 1939 to 16.86 in January 1943,.and Let- 17.48 in May 1944‘ ers The system of .cultivation by Krishans is a peculiar feature of Birbhum rey Without parallel in other districts of West Bengal. It is, of course, a form the of produce sharing or metayage. But Krishans differ fundamentally from. ese Bargadars. It is obvious that labour has been given certain economic ad- .at- vantages under this system. But that is not accidental. Uncertainties, of in Weather and soil in Birbhum have given rise to such a system. In effect, -therefore, the desire on the part of the tenants to shift part of their risks to Lily -the labourers is the underlying reason behind the wide prevalence' of this t a system. The weakness of the labourers with regard to such contracts are Lily more than apparent. They play the losing role and in addition are tied the down to the land and family of the tenants. In addition to cultivatiori., the ;le, tenants very often force the Krishans to render other service to them at _very ul- low rates of wages. ire AGRICULTURAL WAGES IN BIRBHUM 3 a ice Agricultural wages are everywhere at a much lower level than* Indus- Lot, ;trial wages. The systems of payment are not uniform. The rates 'vary amn widely in different 'districts and are determined mainly by the fertility- of lar the soil, risks in agriculture, supply of labourers and of course, the 'price level. The cost of living has got very little relationship with the rates .at- least directly. The condition of agricultural labourers is, therefore;; .most ab- lniserable. constitute the lti- They . poorest section- of our population.-. ,:They :are. poorer even than the village artisans in some respects. It is a trange fact in India that rural industries are dying out and the village artisans ,who tes are supposed be better', off than agricultural. labourers losing Alleir of to are occupations and falling back on land only to swell the class of field labcturers. Jai *The few Wage Censuses in Bengal. ily that have so far' been carried out bear out some of these facts. The following table gives some figures of agricul-, an. tura]. Wages in 'different Eor parts of West Bengal.' 36 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

AVERAGE DAILY RATE OF.AGRICULTURAL WAGES IN BENGAL (in annas)

Agricultural labourers Blacksmiths Carpenters

1908 1911 1 1916 1925 1938-391 1911 1916 I 1925 1908 1911 1916 1925

Bengal ...... 8.83 9.84 10.38 3.75 8.59 11.06 16.84 3.21 10.08 11.3 17.3 Burdwan Division.. .. 5:i4 4.41 5.84 9.48 •• 8.09 10.53 16.47 8.37 8.41 9.9 17.3 Blumlwan ...... 5.25 7.25 11.0 4.63 8.0 11.25 18.0 8.5 9.25 11.25 20.0 Birbhuni ...... 4.50 3.38 5.00 7.0 3.25 8.0 9.0 13.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 12.0 Bankura .. .. 4.88 3.75 4.75 9.0 3.0 8.25 8.25 13.0 8.5 7.75 8.25 15.0 AUdnapore .. .. 5.38 4.25 5.25 8.0 3.5 7.25 8.0 16.0 8.5 7.88 8.5 14.0 lbwrah ...... 5.5 5.38 6.75 12.0 5.0 8.5 16.0 16.0 8.5 8.38 10.5 20.0

It appears from the above table that (a) the rate of wages of agricultural labourers has always been lower than that of blacksmiths and carpenters in Bengal, (.13) the general trend was for all types of wages to increase from 1911 after a short fall from 1908 and to make a recovery after the steep decline during the depi ession and (c) there is considerable variation in the wage rates of all classes of' labour between different districts. The low level of agricultural wages as well .as uncertainty about its course is at once apparent. Let us now examine the , problems of agricultural wages in Birbhum more closely. It is, first of all, -useless to talk of a single rate of wages in agriculture. The different, classes of labour get varying rates of remuneration and in different form. The Krishans, for example, does not get daily wages, nor does the Mahindars. The daily rate can, however, be worked out for each and when that is done, it will be found that the different rates are not the same. The Krishan performs all the labour operations of farming and usually gets one-third share of the grains (not straw or other by-products) produc- ed as his remuneration. On an average, therefore, he gets his wages about four- to six months after he has worked. He is not given any benefit like interest for the period of non-payment, in return. On the contrary, the tenant takes full advantage of his economic difficulty and gets various things done by him for a nominal rate of wages. The worst part of the story is that the Krishan has to approach the tenant for paddy loans for consumption purposes, the rate of interest on such loans being something between 371 and 50 per cent. Once the Krishan takes the loan, he is tied down to the tenant for ever. The principal and the interest are deducted from his share of the grains which are his wages. The little that he gets is too small to maintain him and his family all the year round and he is forced to approach the, tenant for more loans. The result is that he ekes out a miserable exist- ence and cannot easily improve his position. This is more so in years of crisis. And agricultui e it Birbhum suffers from crises and failures almost 'every three or four years. It is this uncertainty of agriculture in Birbhum, that is responsible to a great extent for the hard lot of the Krishans. Uncertainty about crop con- ditioris also means -uncertainty about the rate of wages. That is why this -rate,' circulated per day would show wide fluctuations unrelated to the price -lev0. It can be directly correlated, however, with the average yield of :erops. in different years. Leavng out this uncertainty, the wages of Kri- Awls have a good feature in this that it is related indirectly to the price 1. Prepared from the figures given in the Report of the Bengal Land Revenue Commission Vo!. II, P. 117. AGRICULTURAL WAGES AND SYSTEMS OF PAYMENT 37 ,$) level. Because the wages are paid in kind, the rate of wages becomes higher or lower with higher or lower prices of agricultural produce. There is, therefore, an indirectly sliding scale behind the wages.

25 In years of average crop, the rate of wages of Krishans is slightly higher than the rate of day-labourers. It has been found on enquiry that a 3 Xrishan usually cultivates about 15.12 bighas (i.e. 5.93 acres) of paddy land 3 in South Birbhum.1 The 0 different cultivation operations from preparatory 0 tillage and sowing to harvesting require on an average 167.7 man-dayS of 0 0 labour for 5.03 acres of paddy. In return for this labour, the Kritshan gets 0 one-third of the paddy harvested. Assuming the average yield of paddy in tirbhum to be 17.50 maunds per acre for Krishani areas as estimated by al- Dr. Sudhir Sen,2 the remuneration that an average Krishan gets, for. 167.7 days of labour is 26.67 maunds of paddy. Valued at the present market tse rate of Rs. 7 per maund of paddy, the total wages come to Rs. 186.11 and the ep average daily rate stands at Re. 1-1-9. That is the daily rate in 1947. In he 1945-46, this rate was found on enquiry to be Re. 1-6-3 per day. The rate )1AT of wages of the Krishans, calculated on the basis for the last few years are ice given below:—

WAGES OF KRISHANS in SOUTH BIRBHUM in Average wages per ra- 'Years Yield of paddy Price of paddy working day of ily per acre per maund Krisban )ut Aids. Srs. Its. a. p. its. a. p. 1935-36 ...... 11 4 1 13 0 0 3 3 1936-37 .. .. 20 16 1 13 0 0 5 11 1937-38 ...... 19 23 1 10 0 0 5 1 1938-39 ...... 18 39 2 1 0 0 6 2 1939-40 .. •• .• Figures not available 113r 1940-41 ...... 8 39 3 0 0 0 4 4 1941-42 .. .. 8 4 3 14 0 0 5 0 1942-43 •• •• • • 10 29 12 13 0 1 6 9 yut 1943-44 .. 20 10 8 12 0 1 12 0 1944-45 .. 18 0 7 4 6 1 4 10 1945-46 •• •• 18 3 7 2 0 1 6 3 .ke 1 ,he 946-47 ...... • • • • 7 8 0 1 1 9 igs iat The uncertainty and fluctuations in the rate of wages of Krishans are Lon at once apparent. The rate follows the resultant of the yield of paddy and 37 its price. It must be added here that these rates represent the remuneration :he of Krishans engaged only in paddy cultivation. But paddy is not the only ire crop that is cultivated on Krishani Jote. Sugarcane, potato, and other crops to (rabi) also give employment to the Krishans. These crops, however, account tch for only 7 per cent of the cultivated lands. Only a few Krishans can there- .st- fore find such employment. Even a few who are engaged in such cultiva- of t.ion get wages more or less on the above scale. The Krishans, it may be ost nientioned, belong to the category of skilled agricultural labourers and include in their ranks some small holders who have got sufficient land to go )a round. )fl The condition of Mahinders is the worst among agricultural labourers. his They are the most ill-paid and may be classed as unskilled labourers. The ice cash wages are fixed as a lump sum for the year and this sum amounted, of On an average, to Rs. 25 per year before the war against Rs. 45 in 1945-46. :ri- Their cash -wages have therefore increased from about Rs. 2 per month ice 1. Vide Cost of Production & Size of Farms in west Bengal—By J. P. Bhattacharya (V.B. on, con• Rec. Pub. No. 4)—P. 9. 2. Land and Its Problems—By Dr. Sudhir Sen (V. B. Econ. Rec. 13u1. No. 3)—P. 55. g8 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS before the war to about Rs.-3-12 in 1945-46. In addition to this, they are provided with food, clothing and the minimum miscellaneous articles like pan (betel), tobacco etc. The clothes they usually get consist of 2 dhoties, 2 napkins and in some cases 1 banian. The food they get is the barest minimum to keep body and soul together. Obviously, their condition has not improved even a whit during these years. The increase in cash wages is not proportionate to the increase in prices, so that the wherewithal for maintaining their family—abnormally low even before the war—has shrunk further, after the war, in terms of the purchasing power. Their condition is unthinkable and inhuman. In 1945-46, their wages amounted to Re. 0-12-1 per day, as compared to Rs. 1-6-3 of Krishans and Re. 0-14-0 of day- labourers. We next come to the daily labouring class. This is quite a heterogeneous class in rural areas and consists of landless labourers, tenants with very small and uneconomic holding and even non-agricultural classes de- pending on land. These groups give rise respectively to the categories of permanent and temporary labour working on land. Their wages vary considerably in different seasons, according to the normal law of supply and demand. The rates are high in times of sowing, transplanting and harvesting. As Birbhum may be called a "paddy" district, the time schedule of paddy cultivation influences the fluctuations of these rates. From the rate of wages of these labourers, the price of paddy and the rate of wages of labourers in the local rice mills during' the last fifteen years, it appears that the rates vary considerably within each year. The difference between the highest and the lowest rates in a year is some- times as high as 50 per cent. Secondly, the recovery of wages following the depression has lagged behind the recovery of price of paddy by more than three years. Thirdly, the present price of paddy in Birbhum is rather low and an increase in the daily wage rate of agricultural labourers cannot be effected without increasing the price of paddy. This will be apparent from the fact that while the rate of wages in 1947 was 257.1 of that in 1925-26, the price of paddy was only 174.0 per cent. Fourthly, the rate of wages of ricemill labour is lower than that of agricultural labour. This difference has always existed and seems to be a regular feature. The real explana- tion for this difference lies in the fact that most of these mill hands are women recruited from amongst the local Santals. The difference therefore reflects the difference in efficiency between male and female labour. Nor- mally, woman labour in agriculture is about 25 per cent cheaper than male labour and child labour is cheaper than adult male labour by more than 50 per cent. Making allowances for these differences, it appears that there is not much difference of any significance between the wages of ricemill labour and those of agricultural labour. This fact supports the view of Harold Butler who in his book 'Problems of Industry in the West' writes, "As long as village remains as backward in these respects, as it is at present, it is difficult to see how the wages and manner of life of the urban worker can be substantially improved" (p. 8). Dr. Radha Kamal Mukherjee in his book 'The Indian Working Class' similarly says "Wherever the connection between agricultural and industrial work is the most intimate, the wages and the manner of life of the individual workers are the lowest" (p. 6). The observation made in the first part of the paper may therefore be repeated. Industrial wages do not affect agricultural wages, but are in their turn affected by them. Agricultural wages cannot therefore depend on the increase of its industrial counterpart for its own improvement. AGRICULTURAL WAGES AND SYSTEMS OF PAYMENT 39

are REHABILITATION like How then are wages in agriculture to increase? Natural forces ties, of economics -go against them in India. But that does not mean that lini- agricultural labourers are to be left to their fate. Their wages at present not are undoubtedly very low. They are under-employed so that the rate of S is Wages does not measure their economic condition properly. For four for months in the year they have got no employment, while they have only part- unk time employment for another two months. Their living conditions and tion standard are abnormally low. There is no guarantee of any minimum wage Re. for them. lay- The reform measures may be briefly enumerated as follows. (1) The Krishan's position is rather anomalous. He is neither a full-fledged tenant ero- nor a labourer. His condition cannot be improved unless his position is vith made clearer. If he is to continue as a produce-sharer, his condition cannot de- improve unless his share is increased to about 50 per cent of the produce. of Obviously, he cannot be degraded to the rank of day-labour. That will 2on- only worsen his position. (2) The wages of agricultural labour require to be and protected against declines and set-backs. In England and other progressive -est- countries of the world, minimum wage legislation for agricultural labour- of ers serves to give such protection. England passed such a law in 1924.1 It e of will, however, be difficult to enforce a minimum wage for the whole of Ben- lab gal. The rates of wages in different districts vary. The minimum wages it should, therefore, be fixed only for each heterogeneous araa. Different "wage The areas" should be *fixed for this purpose. At the same time there should be me- a regularisation of the method of payment of wages. (3) In order to increase the productivity of agriculture, labourers should be protected against disease, han ignorance, idleness, and squalor. In other words, they should be given low 'Social security'. That this can be given has already been proved by Sir : be William Beveridge in his book "India and Four Freedoms." That they ronl should be given such protection has already been recognised. • The list can be extended further. But the above three are sufficiently S of comprehensive and will go a long way towards ameliorating the condition !nee of agricultural labourers. It is needless to explain that the urgent need of in- ma- creasing the productivity of Indian agriculture makes these reforms some are of the first steps to be taken in agricultural reconstruction of the country. Fore Tor- iale (> -AGRICULTURAL WAGES AND SYSTEMS OF han Lere WAGE PAYMENT IN BIHAR nill 1 BY of tes, PROF. LAKSHMAN PRASAD SINHAI, M.A., Aurangabad ent, 5.6 per cent of the rural ker Bihar, like India, lives in the villages. Only 16.67 per cent own between 5.1 his families own more than 15 acres of land; acres of land; 49.59 per cent below 5 acres and 29.34 per cent of the agricultural population is completely landless. The density of agricultural po- iges land. rhe pulation is something like 40 persons per 100 acres of the culitvated typical village in North Bihar reveals ted. An enquiry into the condition of a the same old tale. According to the report of this enquiry, the most numer- urn 72 per cent of the in- ous class is that of the landless labourers forming nearly total population of the village.