136

CHAPTER 4 MODERN BHILWARA

The objects of this particular section of this present chapter are to describe economic and social developments which have occurred since 1947, to contrast the social structure of the town as it existed at the time of India's transition to self-government and to trace and describe the various influences which have contributed to the process of change over the past quarter-century with special concentration to the structure of economic activity as it has related to the emergence of a definitive labour force.

A picture of Bhilwara's demographic, commercial, religious and educational characteristics, as they were shortly before Independence, can be ascertained from Table 4.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

Table 5 displays the population variations occurring in Bhilwara

District and its "metropolitical" centre over the last 80 years. Today, out of 26 Rajasthan districts, Bhilwara District ranks as eleventh in size of population. Although the district's population has grown by

271% since 1901, it still only comprises some 30, (approximately) of Rajasthan's total population, which was 10.5 million (approximately) in 1901 and 34.1 million in 1981:

While Bhilwara District's growth rate over this 80 year interval was Rajasthan's eighth largest (Rajasthan's overall growth was 328.6%), it should be noted that this rate has continually exceeded the national Table 4 Bhilwara Tahsil - Population, commercial and educational characteristics, 1941

Urban Rural Khalsa Khalsa Thikana Bhilwara Pur Sanganer 138 estates app. Total M F M F M F M F Persons

Population by religion: Hindu 5,873 5,282 2,334 2,195 1,057 1,068 30,237 28,717 76,663 Muslim 1,767 1,631 360 311 334 316 361 324 5,404 Jain 493 430 274 234 38 30 84 76 1,659 Total 8,133 7,343 2,868 2,740 1,429 1,414 30,682 29,117 83,726 18.48 10.10 28.58 71.42 100

No. of literate persons 2,729 209 379 7 353 30 4,407 251 8,363 35.10 9.20 44.30 55.70 100

No. of shops 524 141 68 486 1,219 42.98 17.15 60.13 39.87 100

No. of schools 1 1 1 0 3

A little less than two-fifths of this number was located at Hamirgarh alone, an estate barely 10 km south of Bhilwara and situated on the Ajmer-Kandawa railway. Source: Census of Mewar, 1941. Table 5 Population variations in Bhilwara District, 1901-81

3 3 3 3 3 3 Year 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 19814

Bhilwara district population 352,627 436,110 463,154 530,025 632,128 728,522 865,797 1,054,890 1,308,500 % population decadal variation +26.67 +6.2 +14.44 +19.26 +15.25 +18.25 +21.84 +24.04 Population 1 density /km 21 42 44 51 60 70 83 100 125 Sex ratio 9/1,000 d 920 931 940 943 943 934 906 910 942 Bhilwara town population 10,346 8,736 9,100 10,402 15,169 29,668 43,499 82,155 5 122,338 % population decadal variation -15.3 +3.85 +14.31 +45.83 +95.58 +46.62 +88.87 +48.91 Population density/km 22 2,666 2,251 2,345 200 292 573 365 689 1,027 Sex ratio 9/1,000 d 902 927 944 959 943 924 868 853 889 Ratio Bhilwara population to remain- ing district population 1:33 1:49 1:50 1:50 1:41 1:23 1:19 1:12 1:10

1. Area = 10,450 km2 2. 1901-21 area = 3.88 km 2 ; 1931-51 area = 51.8 km 2 ; 1961-81 area = 119.1 km2 3. Excludes inhabitants of Pur and Sanganer in Bhilwara town's population. Assumed to include inhabitants it.- of Shapura Chiefship in district population. 4. Provisional figures only. 5. Total urban population of Bhilwara district (incl. Bhilwara, Gangapur and Shapura) was 116,307 - ,--, c.. 42% more than Bhilwara town's population. cx) Sources: Census Reports 1961-81 and Census of Mewar, 1941. 139

average since 1921. Nevertheless, the district's growth rate over 1971-81

was Rajasthan's lowest, the overall percentage growth rate of the state

being 32.4. 2

The population of Bhilwara Town has grown a hundred-fold since

1901, by half before Independence, and seven-fold after Independence.

The area of the town has expanded thirty-fold this century, twelve-fold before Independence and two-fold again afterwards.

The greatest population increase occurred during the Independence

period of 1941-51 when Bhilwara's population doubled the level which it was previously. It is also important to note that, during this same period, no fewer than three new urban areas (5,000 persons+) emerged in the district. In addition to Bhilwara and Shahpura, these new areas

were Jahazpur, Pur and Gulabpura. (Pur has since amalgamated with

Bhilwara and Gulabpura has lapsed to the censal status of rural village. )3

It is equally important to note that the rise of Bhilwara's urban populations coincided with a reduction in the growth rate in the district's rural sector. Hence, one could reasonably presume that a significantly sizable rural-urban migration occurred over the 1941-51 decade. However, with the opening of MTM in 1942, labour was needed to

maintain war production and was imported from Ajmer-Mewara,

United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) and Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh) . 4 Following the sub-continent's partition into India and Pakistan, a small number of Hindu and Sikh refugees from Sind and we st Punjab came to settle in Bhilwara Town. 5 Hence, migration from outside the district could have measurably contributed to the growth of Bhilwara's population. 140

At the height of urban nationalist agitation, Bhilwara Towns range of political activities encompassed a praja mandal, a trade union, and societies formed for the uplift of members of social minorities such as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Therefore, some growth can be attributed to Bhilwaras emergence as a centre of "pilgrimage" or

"refuge" for supporters of swaraj. 6

With the accession of the Rajput states to the new dominion of

India, constraints on mobility and trade lapsed. The dissolution of the earlier ties of serfdom enabled emancipated villagers to pursue economic activities untrammelled by place of domicile or despotic overlords. In fact, well before 1947, the local nationalist movement led by Manikya

Lal Verma was agitating very vehemently for the abolition of the thikana system.

In 1981, 9.3% of Bhilwara Districts population resided in Bhilwara.

(As 9.7% of Rajasthans population resides in the States district capitals, the proportion is comparable.) If the population of other urban centres Gangapur, Shapura and Jahazpur was included, the proportion would rise to 11.3% of the district population. Even so, the latter percentage is below the State averages (which are in turn below the national) of 17.98% for 1981, 17.61% for 1971 and 16.28% for

1961. 8 Furthermore, the growth rate of the district of the 1971-81 period, 24%, was the lowest in Rajasthan. 9 However, it is interesting that Bhilwaras intercensal growth rates between 1951 and 1971 were above the national averages of urbanisation rates."

141

Bhilwara Town An India 1951-61 44.62% 26% 1961-71 88.87% 38%

MIGRATION

According to the 1961 census, 95% of Bhilwara Town's inhabitants

had been born within Rajasthan and, of this proportion, 93% had been

born within the bounds of the district and, of that proportion, 83%

had been born within the township.

The fact that 64% of inhabitants of Bhilwara Town speak their

mother tongue, the local Mewari dialect, and a further 24% speak Hindi

as theirs, suggests further that immigration to Bhilwara from outside of the district and certainly from outside of Rajasthan is not numerous.11

DWELLINGS

In 1941, Bhilwara boasted but 2,716 residential dwellings (plus

524 shops). By 1971, this figure had more than quadrupled to 15,274.

While the ratio of residential dwelling to town population of 1:5

accorded with the ratio of district dwelling to district population, the corresponding Bhilwara Tahsil ratio was 1:4, one person lower.'2

VITAL STATISTICS

In 1981, the live birth rate of Rajasthan's urban sector was 29.8

(35.8 in the rural). The death rate of Rajasthan in toto was 14.4 over 1977-79, a reduction of 2.2 in comparison with the period 1970-72. One 142 can only speculate as to urban Bhilwara's comparison with these State- wide trends. However, it is known that Bhilwara Town's live birth rate for the period 1961-69 was 14.73 and the death rate 5.2. Hence, one might infer that, comparatively speaking, the town's birth and death rates are unusually low.

The district longevity rate for the period 1951-61 indicates that 39% of the population was below the age of 14 and that the percentages of persons older than 14 progressively decreased as age increased.

Malarial, typhoidal and enteric fevers have been the major causes of death, at least within the Bhilwara's urban sector. Epidemics of these diseases have coincided in the past with onset of sever drought, the last one occurring in 1963. The National Malaria Eradication Program effectively began its campaign in Bhilwara in 1969 and the incidence of malarial death has since decreased.13

SEX RATIO

At district level Bhilwara's sex ratio has not altered dramatically over the past 80 years. Although there has been a noticeable steady decline within Bhilwara township, among the cities of Rajasthan having populations in excess of 100,000 persons each, Bhilwara's sex ratio in 1981 was still third highest. (The lowest ratio of 764 belongs to

Jodhpur which contains a large cantonment of male military personnel and is also the seat of Rajasthan's High Court.) In 1971, Bhilwara township's sex ratio was slightly below the 1971 national average for the urban sector, 858. 1`` 143

The urban-rural difference in sex ratio is particularly important in the Indian context and suggests a number of possibilities: 1) worker participation in the urban sector is predominantly male; 2) considering this in relation also to the crude birth rate of the urban sector, females of the rural sector are having to bear the sustenance of children (and possibly adults beyond working age); and 3) where females can enter economic activity, the activity is likely to be either agricultural or cottage industry, and, as these sectors are largely unorganised, the nature of work is likely to be marginal.

The plausibility of these suggestions is enhanced by the general migratory trend among Indian females which is overwhelmingly rural-to- rural and urban-to-rural in direction, the reasons for migration being largely marriage purpose and family obligations rather than reasons of paid employment.

WORKERS AND OCCUPATIONS

This section is of special significance to the thesis and while the following Table 6 is perhaps the one best guide to the extent and nature of Bhilwara's worker participation, the data has been extrapolated from censal material, which for purposes of comparison, is not altogether compatible.

Foremostly, it must be remembered that a base 10% of workers in India participate in the organised sector of the national economy or, conversely, 10% of workers are permanently employed by, say, a Table 6 Working population by area, sex and occupation, 1961-71 1961 1971 Bhilwara, Gangapur, Shy' and Bhilwara District Jahazpur Towns Bhilwara District Bhilwara Tahsil Bhilwara Town

M F T M F T M F T M F 1 M F T

Population 454,253 411,544 865,797 33,957 29,476 63,433 552,393 502,497 1,054,890 90,740 80,530 171,270 44,330 37,825 82,155 Total workers 298,645 204,893 503,538 18,313 4,836 23,149 336,400 77,918 414,318 53,724 12,341 66,065 23,272 3,064 26,336 Agriculture-based Cultivators 224,369 182,451 406,820 2,864 2,192 5,056 237,767 57,083 294,850 25,797 2,059 27,856 3,766 1,266 5,032 Agricultural labourers 5,178 5,063 10,241 225 100 325 16,336 10,975 27,311 1,762 1,480 3,242 430 307 737 Livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting, plantations, orchards and allied activities No category 18,797 4,748 23,545 2,894 911 3,805 194 24 218 Sub-Total: Agriculture-based workers 229,547 187,514 417,061 3,089 2,292 5,381 272,900 72,806 345,706 30,453 4,450 34,903 4,390 1,597 5,987

Non-Agriculture- Based Mining Quarrying 11,332 2,905 14,237 713 214 927 2,629 461 3,090 357 102 .459 241 76 317 Manufacturing, processing, servicing repairs Household ind. 22,539 8,208 30,747 1,032 642 1,674 12,129 1,220 13,349 2,349 6,290 8,639 1,370 154 1,524 Other household industry 5,094 755 5,849 3,060 371 3,431 10,369 492 10,861 6,814 287 7,101 6,136 259 6,395 Construction 2,090 293 2,383 742 55 797 2,872 217 3,089 798 86 884 556 50 606 Trade commerce 10,013 395 10,408 3,169 88 3,257 12,714 289 13,003 4,762 161 4,923 4,129 150 4,279 Transport, storage and communication 1,589 4 1,593 935 1 936 2,671 19 2,690 1,653 9 1,662 1,169 5 1,174 Other services 16,441 4,819 21,260 5,573 1,173 6,746 20,116 2,414 22,530 ' 6,938 956 7,894 5,281 773 6,054 Sub-Total: Non-Agriculture- based workers 69,098 17,379 86,477 15,224 2,571 17,768 63,500 5,112 68,612 23,271 7,891 31,162 18,882 1,467 20,349 Non-Workers 155,608 206,651 362,259 15,644 24,640 40,284 215,993 424,579 640,572 37,016 68,189 105,205 21,058 34,761 55,819 145 corporate concern, and depend on regular receipt of standard wages or salaries for their mainstay of livelihood. In order to identify persons engaged in productive economic activity, with some measure of precision, the 1971 Census of India sought to divide persons into "workers" and "non-workers", a dichotomy based on the main activity that a person returned himself or herself as mostly engaged in. For this purpose the census used a dual chronological reference period as a criterion for assessing what constituted a main occupational activity - any one day of the week prior to censal enumeration in the case of regular workers, say, in trades, professions, business and full-time cultivation and an indication of main activity during the year preceding enumeration when a person was engaged in seasonal work.15

Although the census also attempted to differentiate "primary" from "secondary" workers (the "secondary" category stressing inter- mittent or marginal engagement in productive activity), the enumeration of "non-workers" probably includes "secondary" workers. (For reasons given at a later stage, it is highly likely that classification of "secondary"

workers as "non-workers" is likely to have occurred in the case of the compilation of the Bhilwara census.)

A similar dual reference period had been used in the 1961 census - regular workers could be so counted if they worked on any one day in the fortnight preceding enumeration. Seasonal workers were counted if they had worked in a particular activity for a substantial part of any given preceding season rather than a part of the preceding year.

While the difference between enumerated "seasonal" workers may make imperceptible difference in comparing 1971 censal data with that 146 of 1961, it may be that the shorter reference period used for enumeration of regular workers in 1971 contributed to the decline in worker participation rates over those of 1961 (including those of Bhilwara's district and town). However, contrasting these trends with worker participation rates tabulated in Table 8, census procedures adopted in 1981 (which used a one-year reference period for regular and seasonal categories of workers) were used uniformly but liberally. Although the extent of worker participation in 1981 may be susceptible to inflation, one reputable analyst concluded that a real decline has occurred over the 1971 - 81 period in the rural sector but that: 1) broadly speaking, no significant difference has occurred in the urban sector; and 2) rate of entry to worker participation is below trends set in the 1951-61 period.16

Notwithstanding possible bias in the comparability of data, a contrast of Table 7 with Table 8 suggests that: 1) as far as males are concerned:

a) at district (and predominantly rural) level, Bhilwara's worker participation rate slightly exceeds corresponding national and Rajasthan State averages for 1961 and

1971; and

b) at urban level, Bhilwara's worker participation rate slightly exceeds corresponding national and Rajasthan

State averages for 1961 and 1971.

2) as far as Bhilwara's females are concerned: a) at district (and predominantly rural) level, Bhilwara's

worker participation rates roughly accorded corresponding

national and Rajasthan State averages for 1961 and 1971 Table 7 Worker participation rates by area, category of occupation and sex

Workers by Workers by All workers Workers by Workers by All workers agrobased non-agrobased per 100 agrobased non-agrobased per 100 occupations occupations of total occupation occupation population (% all (% all population per 100 of per 100 of Year Area Sex (o) workers) workers) (%) total population total population

1961 Bhilwara M 65 (100) 50 (77) 15 (23) 35 26 9 District F 50 (100) 46 (92) 4 (8) 23 21 2 T 58 (100) 48 (83) 10 (17) 58 (100) 47 11

Bhilwara, M 53 (100) 9 (17) 44 (83) 28 4 24 Gangapur F 16 8 (50) 8 (50) 5 and (100) 8 3 Shahpura T 36 (100) 8 (22) 28 (78) 36 (100) 7 29

1971 Bhilwara M 60 (100) 49 (82) 11 (18) 32 26 6 District F 15 (100) 14 (93) 1 (7) 7 7 0 T 39 (100) 32 (82) 7 (18) 39 (100) 33 6

Bhilwara M 52 (100) 10 (19) 42 (81) 28 5 23 Town F 8 (100) 4 (50) 4 (50) 4 2 2 T 32 (100) 7 (22) 25 (88) 32 (100) 7 25

Source: Census Reports, 1961-71 Table 8 Worker participation ratios by rural-urban sector, sex, year and inter censal variation

Males Females

Variation Variation

1961 1971 1981 71-81 61-81 1961 1971 1981 71-81 61-81

All-India 57.3 52.6 53.2 0.5 -4.1 28.0 13.8 20.8 7.0 -7.2

Rajasthan 58.2 52.4 50.8 -1.6 -7.2 35.9 14.2 20.8 6.9 -14.8 All-India Rural 58.2 53.8 54.3 0.5 -3.9 31.4 15.8 23.9 8.1 -7.5

Rajasthan Rural 60.1 53.9 52.1 -1.8 -8.0 40.8 36.0 25.0 -11.0 -15.8

All-India Urban 52.4 48.9 49.7 0.8 -2.7 11.1 7.2 10.7 3.5 -0.4

Rajasthan Urban 49.1 45.2 45.9 0.7 -3.8 10.1 4.9 6.2 1.3 -3.9

Source : Census Reports 1961-81 (Provisional) 149

but well below the district average on both occasions - of special note is the exceptionally sharp decline over

the 1961-71 decade; b) at the urban level, Bhilwara's worker participation rate was above the corresponding national and Rajasthan State averages for 1961 and 1971 but well below district averages on both occasions - of special note is

exceptionally sharp decline in the rate over the 1961-71

period.

Looking at Bhilwara proper, it would appear that the proportion of the town's population classifiable as workers has consistently been a little less than a third. With the very slight rises in Rajasthan's male and female urban participation rates over the 1971-81 decade, the working population of Bhilwara has possibly increased correspondingly.

In 1961, four-fifths of the town's workers were engaged in occupations which were not related directly to agriculture and, in 1971, this proportion was still in excess of three-quarters.

From the functional occupational categories listed in Table 6, it is evident the proportion of workers engaged in agriculturally orientated occupations has lessened but slightly, 24% in 1961 to 22% in 1971. In the "non-agrobase" sphere, the largest increases have occurred in the following categories in the following ways.

150

Table 9 Bhilwara urban area, 1961, and Bhilwara Town, 1971 Variations in worker participation in select non-agrobase" occupations

Transport , Manufacturing communication Trade and other than Category of occupation and storage commerce household

% increase in workers , 1961-71 25.4 31.0 85.0

% of "non-agrobase" workers, 1961 5.3 18.3 19.3

% of "non-agrobase" workers, 1971 5.8 21.0 30.0

An account of the emergence of the prevailing structure of

Bhilwara's workforce is inextricably interwoven with the town's modern economic development. It would be logical, therefore, to treat the division of labour according to each broad economic sector, viz,

primary, secondary and tertiary.

PRIMARY SECTOR

Cultivators, persons who ostensibly farm their own holdings with

crops, have comprised over four-fifths of the local workforce engaged

in "agrobased" occupations. However, this proportion requires cautious interpretation. In the first place, about a third of the area of Bhilwara municipality is presently devoted to non-agricultural use and, although

an area in excess of 75 km 2 would still now be available for agricultural use, re-zonings and resumptions for industrial, residential and commercial purposes progressively reduce the availability of land for

agricultural utilisation. In addition to the Industrial Area and

Industrial Estate reserved on the western side of town, land has been 151 re-zoned outside of Sanganer for the purposes of the construction of a rubber factory. There is a perennial shortage in the town of shops and godown space.

In some cases, farms have been used for the cultivation of cash crops such as sugar cane, peanut, cotton and, especially at Pur, tobacco. In others, farms have been used for market gardens, raising poultry and dairy cattle. It must be borne in mind as well that , given the prestige which traditional Hinduism has attached to the status of landowner-cultivator, it is conceivable that a significant number of seasonal agricultural workers could have claimed in the censuses that their occupations were those of cultivators when, in fact, they could have been, say, either agricultural labourers or sharecroppers.

While the municipal vicinity of Bhilwara is adequately irrigated

(save in prolonged drought) and would permit a double crop of cereals, the cultivation of regular saleable surplus to the extent where agriculture of this kind could emerge as an area of significant economic growth would be precluded by factors additional to the progressive reduction in area zoned for agricultural purposes:

1) in general, the size of an agricultural holding in Bhilwara Tahsil is sufficient only for the sustentation of the

cultivator's family;

2) division of holdings among male heirs exacerbates fragmentation of holdings which already exists;17

3) while lands consolidation is a long-term policy espoused by successive state and union governments, the policy has not

yet been implemented in Bhilwara District ;18 152

4) the opportunity to expand holdings to economically efficient

sizes is obviated by the progressive enforcement of land

ceilings;

5) with regard to cultivation of cash crops and garden

vegetables, expansion would be difficult for the foregoing

reasons and also because of the fiercer competition of

superior produce grown at Mandal and Hamirgarh; 6) leasehold of agricultural land other than by sharecropping is rarely practised within Bhilwara Tahsil and, in the case of agricultural land vested in members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, private alienation of any kind is illegal - hence, rationalisation of holdings by leasehold

rather than purchase would likely be a slow development which would be impeded further by practical difficulties .19

It must be recognised too that profitable private speculation in agricultural land has occurred in anticipation of rezoning. Azad nagar itself is a case in point where speculation, subdivisions, and building construction proceeded as a planning fait accompli the official notification of re-zoning occurred when nearly half of Azadnagar was occupied by houses. 20

Given that, in both the 1961 and 1971 censuses, more than 90% of Bhilwara's cultivators were enumerated as illiterate, one is led to suspect that speculation in agricultural land would have taken place to the long-term detriment of vendor cultivators . 21 Good agricultural land elsewhere in the municipal bounds would be difficult to come by and within the tahsil area, also at a premium. 153

Mention must be made of purchases of agricultural land as a retirement interest or hobby farm. The author visited two small farms in the vicinity which had been taken-up, in the first case, by a retired military officer and, in the second, by a civil engineer in public employment in the neighbouring Chittorgarh district. The extent to which such purchases are taking places is not immediately known."

Where a substantial community of cultivators may be affected by either resumption or purchase of land instituted by a governmental authority, the community is usually resettled intact elsewhere. An isolated single cultivator would be in a less advantageous position when faced with official resumption or purchase and would be decidedly vulnerable if enticed into negotiations with private speculators. It is suggested that a noticeable increase in the number of proportion of agricultural labourers enumerated in Bhilwara Town's census of 1971 over that of 1961 could be in part attributable to the progressive displacement of landowner cultivators.

The fact that the Bhilwara Collectorate netted, in one day, Rs 1.5 lac alone in receipt of fees payable on the registration of a portion of the land titles of Azadnagar , indicates the extent of demand for residential and commercial plots on the periphery of the city proper.23

SECONDARY SECTOR

In 1961 the proportion of Bhilwara Town's population enumerated as active workers was the highest of any urban centre in Rajasthan.

While Bhilwara superceded Kota and Bharatpur, the position is now 154 reversed. Of the "non-agrobased" working population in Bhilwara township in 1961 and 1971 (apart from those in "Other Services"), the largest proportions were engaged in mining and quarrying and in manufacturing. 24

Mica

Apart from the cotton gin and press set-up by the Mewar Durbar in 1889, mica mining is Bhilwara District's oldest surviving industry.

The principal promoters,Bihari Marwaris, Duduwala and Co., who were given leasing monopoly over Mewar's khalsa areas and Seth

Pusa Lal Mansinghka who was given leasing monopoly over thikana areas. 25From Table 6 it will be ascertained that the numbers of persons (at district level and urban level) who were engaged in mining and quarrying underwent an exceptionally sharp decline over the 1961-71 decade.

In 1957, the district's production of crude mica was 4,593 tonnes. By 1969 production dropped to 3,269 tonnes and, by 1977, production had dropped again to 688 tonnes. However, the labour engaged in mica production within the district rose dramatically from 6,749 persons in 1957 to 23,128 in 1966 and began to plummet in 1969.

In 1980, about 3,500 persons were employed in the industry. 26

As a producer of crude mica, Rajasthan has ranked as third largest in India with 90% of Rajasthan's production originating from

Bhilwara. The following table illustrates the extent of Bhilwara's contribution to India's mica production. 27 155

Table 10 Production of crude mica in India and Rajasthan by sector

1976 1977

No. Produc- Value No. Produc- Value of tion in in Rs of tion in in Rs mines tonnes lacs mines tonnes lacs

India Public 6 9.494 22,146 5 9.332 23,577 Private 333 59 90 297 66 99

Rajasthan Public Private 93 814 2,005 67 860 2,462

Bhilwara Public District Private 82 759 1,853 53 668 2,194

Source: Table 11-485, Indian Bureau of Mines, Minerals Yearbook, 1976-77.

The progressive drop in production in Bhilwara in the 1970s, in contrast to the 1950s, is partially attributable to depleted mica deposits but the industry is fraught with various other difficulties. First,

Bhilwara mica tends to be ruby-stained and therefore suitable for splitting rather than for condenser film. Secondly, extraction is difficult on account of the erratic nature of mica pegamites. Thirdly, in comparison with recovery rate of crude mica in Bihar (vis a vis recovery of debris),

Bhilwara mines recover but 2% of crude whereas the I3ihari recover 15%.28

Fourthly, historically, economic mica production was hamstrung by exhorbitantly high royalties levied by the Mewar Durbar (10% in

1934 and 16% in 1940, c.f. 5% in Madras and Bihar). Even in modern times, overheads such as royalty, "dead-rent" payable on surface of mining leases, sales tax, excise, octroi, and miners welfare contributions have collectively impeded the profitability of mica production in Bhilwara.29

Fifthly, inadequate transport routes, inadequate supply of electrical power, and an inadequate supply of skilled miners and dressers have 156

disadvantaged the development of the industry. 30

Sixthly, the Bhilwara trade in crude mica, finished mica, and waste mica has been dominated largely by Bihari interests. Lastly,

at government level (u nion and s tate), there has been a lack of an integrated policy which would enable co-ordination, direction, and regulation necessary to put the industry on a more efficient footing. 31

Until very recently all crude or fabricated mica was sold to Bihar based dealers but only 25% directly so. The remaining three-quarters of Bhilwara's production was channelled through a hierarchy of local middlemen. 32

Costs of transport of the material to Bihar claim 2%-5% of the value of mica produced. Whereas in 1962, 85% of mica could be transported to Bihar by rail, road is now the most economical means. The transfer of produce from metre-gauge rolling stock to broad-gauge stocks wasted time, as well as money, where rail transport was used. 33

If dressed and fabricated, the value of Bhilwara's crude mica would increase four-fold but local fabrication has been chronically bereft of skilled dressers and even an interest among local inhabitants in taking-up dressing as a cottage craft.34

Although the quarrying of building-stone slabs has overtaken local mica production in terms of weight and value of royalty, mica is an exportable mineral, the national production of which earned India in excess of Rs 22 crores in foreign trade between 1979 and 1981.35 Furthermore, as the result of research developments at the Indian Defence Research Laboratory and the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, the dielectric properties 157 of stained mica are now better known and, furthermore, applications of scrap mica to building insulation and the manufacture of mica insulation bricks for furnace and foundry construction have also been devised. Whereas, prior to 1960, these latter manufactures required importation, Indian technological advances now enable local production. On a local scale, mica may have lapsed in economic importance but, in the context of the national economy, it retains some importance.

The boom years for the mica industry within Bhilwara Town and its surrounding district came, first, with the indigenous development of a manufacturing process for the production of mica insulation bricks. The previous absence of an indigenous manufacturing technology had necessitated the importation of bricks from European producers. The second impetus came with the construction of Hindustan Steel Corporation's new steel works at Bhilai in Madhya Pradesh. Hindustan Steel's orders were exceptionally large and totalled 2.5 million bricks between 1958 and 1967. These orders were supplemented by others from steam locomotive works and ordnance factories.36

However, by 1970, orders had dropped to the extent where the annual production was reduced to 50,000 bricks and the plant operated only one shift per day. By 1974, orders came for mica insulation bricks for another new steel plant (this time Bokaran, Bihar) not only stimulated production but also the establishment of local competition. Mahavir Mica Insul brickworks opened further along the Pur Road and Victory Mica established new kilns in Gangapur Tahsil. Although the total output in 1980 reached 4.5 million bricks (value Rs 113.67 lacs), a point is bound to be reached in the future where mechanisation and automation will have to be adopted by manufacturers 158

if they are to remain competitive. Because of its superior manufacturing technology, the Soviet Union is able to export mica insulation bricks at a rate Rs 0.50 per brick more cheaply than a brick can be made in

Bhilwara. 37

Bhupal Mining Works is also facing a crisis in relation to water supply. Water stored at Kothari and Meja Bunds is not of sufficient quantity to supply industry in Bhilwara and the ground water table on the works' site is drying-up.38

In 1973, the Indian Government set-up the Mica Trading Corporation of India (MITCO) which in turn opened a branch at Bhilwara in 1978. It has been the corporation's policy to procure mica, be it crude or scrap, from small mica producers (i.e. those producing mica of an annual value of less than Rs 70,000), thereby providing small producers with access to a wider range of markets and eliminating the chain of local middlemen. Local mica (mostly scrap) purchased by MITCO is now transported by truck directly to Bombay, shipped to a European country and eventually re-exported to another country (which could be India) as an ingredient of a batch of mica insulation bricks.

MITCO has also instituted a training program in Bhilwara in mica splitting, dressing and fabrication. Fifty persons at a time are trained for a period of six months free of charge with Rs 220 per mensem payment by MITCO for sustenance. The prime object of the program is to stimulate the local production of more fabricated mica and thereby enhance the value of the produce. The second object is to stimulate mica processing as a cottage craft in rural communities close to mines and pitheads .39 159

However, there remains a critical lack of mining expertise at the mine face and, although legal penalties exist to deter practices which would damage potential mineral yield, the size of the penalties are so insignificant as to render prosecutions useless. In fact, mining is proving to be progressively more difficult because quality pegamites are no longer found close to the surface, tunnels and shafts must be sunk more deeply below ground, anything up to 250 metres."

Despite inadequate roads, credit supply, power, technical skills and depleting deposits, mica production will have an assured future at least in the rural sector of Bhilwara District. The manufacture of mica-based commodities such as mica insulation bricks as a continuing industry in Bhilwara township is jeopardised, first, by competition from abroad for infrequent large orders, secondly, emerging local competition for small orders; and, thirdly, the remote chance of Bhupal Mining Works either developing or importing the engineering technology which would assure the firm's continuing place on the domestic market. It is important to remember that improved technology in the manufacturing process would probably be so efficient as to lead to a reduction in the labour necessary to the bricks' manufacture.

It must be recognised as well that, by virtue of its raison detre, MITCO will progressively displace the enclave of local mica traders which has long been established in the city.

In the absence of policy coordination between state mineral authorities and central bodies such as the Bureau of Mines and the Geological Survey of India, mica mining exploration in Bhilwara has occurred in a haphazard way and the lack of control has in turn led 160 to mica mining ventures being regarded as high risk investment. Hence, although commercial banks have advanced loans for mica mining develop- ments (Rs 62 lacs between 1961-65), local money lenders (whose lending rates sometimes soar to 36% p.a.) have been major sources of finance for mining entrepreneurs .41

Of the 317 Bhilwara town inhabitants enumerated as workers in mining and quarrying in 1971, 100 approximately would have been associated with Bhupal Mining Works, a further 100 associated with the crushing of soapstone, and the remainder spread over smaller mica concerns and sandstone dressing. While the production of crushed soapstone continues to rise in Bhilwara, competition with neighbouring

Udaipur District exists and, in terms of capital investment and the size of the workforce employed, the importance of soapstone powder production has never exceeded that of mica insulation bricks' production.42

Textiles

MTM is the oldest textiles mill in Bhilwara (in the town as well as the entire district). After the Mansinghka and Duduwala mica concerns,

MTM is the oldest industry in Bhilwara and has continued to be one of the town's two largest manufacturing employers. Its average number of daily employees has, since 1970, fluctuated between 1,700 and 1,900 4 persons. 3

In 1942, MTM began operations with 15,036 spindles and 976 looms. It is one of 20 large textile mills in Rajasthan. Its spindles represent about half of one per cent of those installed in Rajasthan and its 950 looms about one fifth of those installed throughout the state.

The manufacture of hosiery began in 1954. At full capacity the mills 161 can produce 45,000 of cotton cloth per day.44 However, MTM has had a markedly chequered history economically and industrially.

In 1949, the mills' annual profit had reached its highest since operations began, Rs 4.5 lacs. Until 1955, profitable operations continued with the aid of a post-World War II boom in sales of manufactured cotton. But losses accumulated between 1955 and 1959 and, at the end of 1959, MTM closed for six months.45

The Government of Rajasthan headed by veteran nationalist politician, Mohan Lal Sukhadia, intervened in 1960. It resumed MTM's management under the provisions of the Indian Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, and appointed, as manager, an IAS officer who continued in the post for the ensuing seven years. (Similar government intervention was also necessary at Edward Mills in Beawar at the same time. ) 46

The reasons for the collapse were numerous. First, in common with many Rajasthan textile mills which were established under the authority and protection of erstwhile native states, the states' absorption and abolition removed monopolies and exposed the mills to wider competition. Secondly, little, if nothing, of the profits of the post-war boom was ploughed back into the factories to enable renovation and rehabilitation of capital plant. Thirdly, labour, employment practices such as 54 hour working weeks were no longer legal and, fourthly, trade unions could no longer be ignored. One of the new manager's first acts at MTM was to negotiate a loan of Rs 6.7 lacs as urgently needed working capital.47

The period of government resumption was marked by industrial 162

peace and increases in production. Although MTM operated profitably during this interegnum, the rate of profit was still continuing to decline.

Even in the 1970s profitability was erratic. A profit of Rs 12 lacs in 1973 crashed to a loss of Rs 32 lacs in 1975 which, in turn, escalated /Lacs to a profit of Rs 29 in 1976. Since then, MTM has been struggling. For instance, in 1978, sales of production of cloth reached a record Rs 6.3 crore but production costs equalled Rs 6.7 crore .4e

The principal sources of difficulty are numerous. The first difficulty is MTM's isolation from coalfields and the necessity for coal

for thermal power generation to be transported 700 km by rail. Cost of transportation adds 10% to the cost of the fuel and deliveries of coal are unreliable as to cause the mills to close occasionally. Secondly, the plant is obsolete. The obsolescence extends to the power generation.

If electrical supply from the public system were unavailable, the cost of supply would be but half the cost of factory generation. The purchase of a new generator would be prohibitively expensive. In fact, a new turbine generator was purchased in 1978 but sold again within 12 months because of MTM's perennially tight liquidity." (Indeed, it was twice announced during the author's stay in Bhilwara that local banks had stopped extending credit to MTM.)5°

Thirdly, notwithstanding their obsolescence in any event, the number of spindles installed at MTM are 5,500 below the number deemed necessary for an efficient mechanical spinning mill. Fourthly, the unique social characteristics of local labour also pose difficulties

(but this will be dealt with more generally at a later stage) . 51

Fifthly, MTM relies very heavily on loans to sustain its liquidity. 163

About one-half of its borrowings derive from sources in the public

sector. A further third derives from loans advanced by directors or other private sources. 52According to a 1981 press statement Rs 1.5 crore would be required to bring the repair of plant alone up to

standard. 53

Lastly, as the asset value of MTM is only in the vicinity of Rs 3

crore (c.f. Rs 22 crore value of Rajasthan Spinning and Weaving Mills

Limited one half kilometre distant) and with only the value of the site

appreciating, maintenance of liquidity will inevitably prove more

difficult. 54

Why then should MTM's continuation be permitted? First, MTM produces cheap durable cloth for rural inhabitants of western Rajasthan and those of neighbouring states. Secondly, via the numerous small- scale "feeder" cotton gins operating in Bhilwara town and its vicinity,

MTM is able to absorb a substantial amount of raw cotton cultivated in Chittorgarh District as well as in Bhilwara (even though the quality of the local raw produce is inferior). 55 Lastly, it is able to supply cash wages up to 1,100-odd permanent workers and to a further 1,100 temporary and badli workers who would work casually to supplement an income from another source.

The history of Rajasthan Spinning and Weaving Mills (RAJSPIN)

(which stands virtually as a neighbour to MTM) is an example of modern commercial success. On assuming office as modern Rajasthans first Chief Minister, Mohan Lal Sukhadia,was acutely aware of the state's political and industrial backwardness and that of Mewar most of all. As part of aconcerted program of industrialisation, with perhaps an eye to the progress of a previously strong centre of 164

pre-Independence nationalism, Sukhadias government sponsored the

promotion of RAJSPIN with Sukhadia himself laying the plants foundation

stone in 1960.

The promotion of the venture was a Marwari, Seth Laxmi Narain

Jhunjhunwala, who has continued as the firms chairman and managing

director. RAJSPIN began operations in 1962 with 13,200 spindles.

The total installation in 1978 was 26,672 spindles (which is considered

to be an economically efficient level). (At Gulabpura, close to the

Ajmer District border, RAJSPIN has installed 450 looms.) The firm

has operated profitably since its inception - in 1979 profit, after tax,

came to Rs 146 lacs and, in 1980, Rs 57 lacs (the lowest in six years).

(The production of woven cloth at its Gulabpura works began only in

1978.) The post-Emergency year (1977) was marred by serious industrial disputes which contributed to a substantial drop in cotton yarn production but RAJSPIN nevertheless continued to operate at profit. 56

As in the case of MTM, RAJSPIN absorbs, via local gins, a sub -

stantial amount of locally produced raw cotton. On a given day under optimum conditions, RAJSPIN too can employ up to 1,100 permanent

wage-earners and a further 1,100 badli, temporary workers, and probationers. Again, like MTM, RAJSPIN relied previously on its own coal-fired thermal power generator for energy but, with its expansion, has employed power from the public service. Because of unreliability of coal deliveries and public power supply (which will

also be discussed later), production of yarn has been dropping

since 1980 and workers have therefore had to be laid-off. 57

In addition to the advantage of more recently developed plant and 165 equipment, RAJSPIN has secured foreign markets for its yarn - these stretch from Egypt to Hong Kong. Its weaving looms produce quality fabric which is marketed in the affluent western-orientated urban centres of northern India.58

The commercial success of RAJSPIN over MTM can be judged by making other comparisons. For instance, MTM's joint stock is 70% owned by the descendents of Seth Sobhag Mal Lodha, the mills' purchaser and managing agent following the original promoters' bankruptcy. There are only eight directors (including the present major shareholder Sampat Mal Lodha) the majority of whom are local to Bhilwara. RAJSPIN's share holdings are more widely distributed. Of the paid-up capital of Rs 22 lacs, 57% is owned by the promoter and the public and 43% is owned by government, semi-government, and other public sector interests. RAJSPIN's directors are all drawn from Jaipur and the major national metropolises, represent a wider range of industrial expertise and interests, and, including Laxmi Narain Jhunjhunwala, are 12 in number.59

The physical environments of each plant make a blatant contrast. Whereas RAJSPIN's factory is landscaped, architecturally attractive, neat, clean, well-maintained, well-lit, and well-ventilated, MTM is positively "Dickensian" in appearance and atmosphere: while the minimum of workers' amenities, as prescribed by Indian and Rajasthan factories legislation are provided and while periodic official inspections are obligatory to ensure working conditions and safety precautions are observed, machinery is oftimes left unfenced or uncaged, pools of condensed steam are scattered on floors of the spinning sections, smells of the dyeing section are quite pungent, the canteen is filthy, 166

and the hosiery section a typical sweat-shop. Needless to say, the

grounds are unlandscaped and the architectural style of buildings typically British Edwardian "blood and bone". The chimney stack is a redbrick stalk of 50 metres and trails of its smoke dominate the townscape of the surrounding neighbourhood.

By way of light relief, the most attractive feature of MTM is the

sanyasin who has made his home beneath a tree opposite MTM's main gate where he has vowed never to sit down until Sampat Mal Lodha

subscribes to the cost of constructing a new temple that the sanyasin

wants to build. The sanyasin has been ensconced for 10 years and is never without a group of devotees.

The public corporate image of RAJSPIN also rates highly. Just as the author was leaving Bhilwara, RAJSPIN was issuing debenture

stock of Rs 3 crore value. The issue was in competition with 20 other

large companies across India and the public response was unexpectedly warm even though the Rajasthan's power problems were widely publicised."

So far as Bhilwara's large-scale textile firms are concerned, one concluding comment needs to be made. Although the total complement of Rajasthan's active workers engaged in textiles exceeds those of other manufacturing industries in Rajasthan (an observation reinforced in the case of Bhilwara Town), the working efficiency of textile mills is less than generally desired. For instance, when the All-India average of hands per 1,000 spindles is 9.5, the Rajasthan average is

50. Whereas the All India average of hands per 1,000 looms is 62.5, the Rajasthan average is 95. Just as the application of improved technology could place Bhilwara's mica insulation bricks industry on a more competitive footing, weaving mills' adoption of automation would 167 reduce the ratio of hands per loom from a maximum of 1:4 in the case of non-automated looms to a minimum of 1:60 in the case of automated ones. The implications of such a development in the maintenance of existing job opportunities and the creation of new ones are obvious. 61

Vanaspati

Rajasthan Vanaspati Products Private Limited was inaugurated in 1967 for the production of vegetable oil extracted from cotton seed. The company was set up by the Mansinghka family and, at full capacity, can consume 20,000 tonnes of cotton seed per day and produce 100 tonnes of vanaspati per day.

It was the first such factory to have been established in Rajasthan and, when it first commenced, it could employ up to 220 workers per day on average. Daily employment has since dropped to 162.

Smaller vanaspati units have mushroomed not only in Bhilwara Town and surround district but elsewhere in Rajasthan where cotton is produced and the industry is now exceptionally competitive. Because Rajasthan Vanaspati relies on public power for its energy, production has been constantly interrupted by the erratic local power supply. 6 2

The promoter has also set up a similar plant in Madhya Pradesh State where wages are less than those payable in Rajasthan and abundant quantities of cotton are cultivated.63

Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries

The large-scale factories involved with the textiles and vanaspati works account for the permanent, casual or seasonal employment of an 168

average of 4,250 daily workers in 1978. As these factories underwent no overwhelming expansion between 1971 and 1978, one could presume that the same level would have held true for the 1971 census, in which case the figure of 4,250 would have accounted for two-thirds of workers in Bhilwara Town's manufacturing sector. (The opening of RAJSPIN and Rajasthan Vanaspati would have accounted for the rise in the 1961-71 intercensal period.)

The growth in small-scale manufacturing units in Bhilwara Town and Tahsil has been quite prolific. In 1970, there were 151 units which employed 1,400 workers. At the end of 1981, registered units had increased to 186 (eight closed) employing a daily average per year of 2,500 persons. Table 11 summarises the units by industry, employment, provision and horsepower capacity.

Banking

1. Commerce and Trade Given Bhilwara's history as a commercial emporium, one would expect occupations in trade and commerce to retain a particularly important place in the economic and social life of contemporary Bhilwara.

In earlier times, mahajans, banias, seths and sharafs provided indigenous banking for credit purposes, advancing loans for purchase of seed, payment of land revenue, purchase of livestock, purchase

of land, and conduct of social ceremonies. Originally seths and sharafs acted as money-changers, exchanging precious metals, imperial currency, foreign currencies and currencies of other native states into local Mewari currency. They then became money-lenders and, in the course of time, fledgling bankers 64 At the 1951 census, Bhilwara 169

Table 11 Factories registered in Bhilwara Tahsil by industry, average number of daily employees, and horsepower capacity at January 1982 No. of Ave. no. daily workers factories Machinery horsepower Industry (%) 0-9 10-19 20+ 0-19 20-49 50+

Cotton ginning, oil, bailing and flour mills 28 (16) 21 1 6 14 7 7 Wool bailing 3 (2) 3 3 and pressing 3 (2) 3 3 Cotton mills 57 (31) 39 11 7 50 4 3

Cardage, rope and twine 2 (1) 1 1 1 1 Saw mills and joinery 45 (25) 44 1 41 4

Woodwork 2 (1) 2 2 Printing 25 (13) 25 25 Stone pressing and crushing 2 (1) 2 1 1 1 1

Asbestos products 1 (i) 1 1 Mica 4 (2) 1 1 2 4

Tubes and wire 1 (1) 1 1

Steel products and metal 9 ( 5) 8 1 6 3

Containers, plastics 3 (1) 1 2 3

Others 3 (1) 1 2 3 186(100) 143(76) 21(12) 21(12) 146(78) 24(13) 16(9)

Source: Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers in Rajasthan, Jaipur and District Inspector, Bhilwara (Raj). 170

Town could boast of more than 150 money-lenders but, within a decade, this number had dropped to 28.65

The first joint-stock bank to open business in Bhilwara was the Bank of Rajasthan Limited which opened in 1943. This was followed by the Bank of Jaipur (now the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur) in 1946 and the Punjab National Bank in 1947. The Central Cooperative Bank opened a branch in the 1950s and, in the 1960s, the Land Mortgage and Central Banks opened branches. The State Bank of

India and Bank of Baroda each opened a branch in 1981. The Bank of Rajasthan has has a particularly important role in servicing the credit needs of the various Mansinghka enterprises in mining and manufacturing.

On 30 June 1969, Indian private banks were nationalised and this would now mean that bank employees could be considered as a division of the government sector.66

2. Cooperative Societies Agricultural cooperatives were established in various parts in Bhilwara District as early as 1923 (immediately following Bhopal Singh's assumption of ruling powers and the peak of the Bijolia agitations). Non-agricultural cooperatives were slower in starting.

In 1956, there were but 194 cooperative societies in the district. Collectively these had 14,374 members, a share capital of Rs 5.39 lacs and a working capital of Rs 26.66 lacs. There are now 672 cooperatives throughout the district which collectively have 77,371 members, a share capital of Rs 64.68 lacs, and a working capital of Rs 3.13 crore.67 171

3. Insurance Before 1956, there were five general and life insurance companies

with branches at Bhilwara. As with banks, insurance is a nationalised industry and this too will be treated as part of the tertiary sector.

4. Financial Corporations

RIICO is the one financial institution in Bhilwara which provides

large and medium long-term credit and, as this body is also govern-

mental, it will be treated in the next section.

Mercantile Trade Historically, exports from Bhilwara were largely agricultural

produce such as cotton, wool, afim, ghi , livestock, cooking utensils, hand printed cloth and surplus cereals. Imports were salt, tobacco, sugar, piece-goods and coconut. In modern times exports cover mica,

soapstone, hosiery and cloth, imports being grain, pharmaceuticals

and general merchandise.

Since 1965, trading in cereals and grains has been confined to

the district borders. In 1960 there were over 100 wholesale produce commission agents and over 100 wholesale traders in agricultural produce: there are now but eight agents and 20 traders. The reduction is attributable to government regulation in food-grain exchange and distribution, the growth in agricultural trading cooperatives, the growth in government-sponsored "fair-price" shops, and the establishment of a government operated produce market.68

Licensed hotels, dharmshalas, and shops selling manufactured merchandise together with thelas and godowns, also engaged in general 172 mercantile trade, would number in excess of 1,100. Taking an arbitrary average of three persons operating each outlet, approximately 3,300 persons would be engaged in occupations allied to retail mercantilism.69

TERTIARY SECTOR

The rate of growth of occupations associated with union govern- ment, state government, local government and public corporate enterprise has been an explosive one. Union government authorities encompass Central Excise, Posts and Telegraphs, Labour Enforcement, Workers Education, Mica Mines Welfare, Mines Safety and Western Railways, all of which collectively would employ 135 persons on a permanent basis.

At the state level, the growth of government offices and the number of personnel engaged by them has been singularly spectacular. What Bhilwara has lacked in large-scale industrialisation, it has not wanted in the way of public administration. Administration reforms which were introduced very quickly after Independence affected Bhilwara's rural sector more than they did the township.

The first major reform was the abolition of the thikanas under the provisions of the Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagir Act, 1952. This particular statute reappropriated proprietorial and revenue rights over the agricultural soils by transferring the rights from the thakurs to the occupying tenant cultivators as inheritable alienable property. The process of resumption covered 948 thikana villages and 627 khalsa within Bhilwara District and occupied the energies of a team of 20 government officials most of whom are still engaged in this work. 173

As land revenue is now deposited directly by the proprietor- cultivators rather than through a feudal overlord, collection necessitates the appointment of a small army of tahsildars, naib tahsildars, patwaris and sub-treasury officials. Chenevix Trench's settlement of 1925, and which was based on the fertility / irrigability of soil as the index of payment, was not completed in all khalsa and thikana areas and is still underway.

Under the inspiration of Manikya Lal Verma and negotiation of Mohan Lal Sukhadia, Rajasthan was the first Indian state to introduce panchayati raj, a system of local self-government which aims to maximise full popular participation in development activities in the rural sector. The system operates in three tiers, viz: the village panchayat, a sub-district panchayati samiti and, at the district level, the zila parishad. In rural development policy, panchayati raj has a particularly influential role to the extent where the zila parishad requires a bureau of its own.

Education, health and welfare are areas where expansion has been particularly noticeable. Every village in the district has a primary school and middle, secondary and higher secondary schools are increasing in number and size. Bhilwara also boasts two government degree colleges (MLV Government College and MM College for girls) and an Industrial Training Institute (ITI). Administration of public education has mushroomed.

The ravages of smallpox, tuberculosis, polio, typhoid fever, malaria, high incidence of infant mortality and high incidence of maternal mortality, all of which were commonplace in the 1940s, stressed the necessity of accessible dispensaries, hospitals and medical services. Mahatma Gandhi 174

General Hospital began in 1950 and, to this, there has been added a

maternity hospital, a TB hospital, a state employees insurance hospital, numerous homoeopathic dispensaries and ayruvedic chikitsalyas.

The legislative removal of untouchability in 1955 and combined

with legislative programs intended to advance members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, has necessitated the establishment of a permanent welfare office to administer these programs.

Growth has occurred too in deployment of police in Bhilwara not to mention the institution of a corps of traffic police. (It is interesting that the Mewar Bhil Corps,raised in 1849,still exists and operates in times of emergency as a police militia.)

Road works, water works and electricity supply have necessitated permanent government offices in Bhilwara. Industrialisation has brought the appointments of a factories and boilers inspectorate, an assistant labour commissioner, and an employment exchange.

Participatory democracy in a federal republic, first , makes government servants indispensible as returning officers for elections

(be they held for either the houses of the union parliament or the local panchayat) and, secondly, necessitates the maintenance of current electoral rolls. A cell within Bhilwaras collectorate is therefore devoted to electoral administration.

A tabulated resume of central and state government authorities with district headquarter establishments in Bhilwara and the estimated number of employees deployed within Bhilwara Tahsil is provided in Table 12. Table 12 Distribution of government employees in Bhilwara Town by administrative field and government sector, 1982 Government district HQs by year of establishment Est. number of and number by government sector employees in Bhilwara Town 1947-59 1960-69 1970- No. of HQs 1982d Administrative function of Central State Central State Central State Central State State Central government HQ Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt. Govt.

Agriculturea 5 5 313 Commerce and industrial develop mentb 3 1 4 65 Communications and public transport 2 1 2 1 108 20 Energy supply 1 228 Inland revenue and supply, rural develop- ment and judicature° 15 1 1 1 16 18 204e Labour and industry 2 3 1 2 30 95 Police and justice 2 2 230E Public education 1 1 1 1 20 750g h Public health 1 1 1 27 287 Public welfare 1 1 23 Public works 3 3 1121 Town planning 1 2 6 35 2 6 1 4 28 208 2,339 2,547 Table 12 (Contd)

Source: District Collectorate, Bhilwara, 1982, Bhilwara District Gazetteer, 1975, Telephone Directory, Bhilwara, 1979, and Individual HQs, Bhilwara

NOTES: a Includes fisheries, soil conservation and forests. b Includes economic statistics and weights and measures. c Includes administration of panchayati raj. d Includes gazetted officers, non-gazetted officers, class III, class IV, ministerial appointees, peons, couriers, chaprassis, chowkidars, cleaners, sweepers and similar permanent /quasi-permanent employees e Includes naib tahsildars, village patwaris, girdawars and gaanungos based at Bhilwara Town. f Includes estimate of proportion of district police force (all divisions and units (including railway)) deployed in Bhilwara Tahsil. Also includes staff of Bhilwara sub-jail. g Includes administrative staff of district inspectorate, colleges, ITI and schools Also includes academic staff of colleges and ITI, and estimate of academic staff of government subsidised schools. h Excludes 6 contractors and 250 sub-contract labourers employed at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital.

1 Excludes 24 sub-contractors and 3,250 contract labourers employed throughout Bhilwara District. 177

Taking into account peons, class IV employees (i.e. petty clerks, attendants, couriers and chowkidars) and sweepers, the employees of

Bhilwaras municipal office would exceed 500. To these previous figures, one must add numbers of employees in the local branches of nationalised banks, the local office of the :Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), and employees of quasi-governmental authorities such as MITCO, RIICO and the Food Corporation of India (FCI).7

To illustrate the growth of institutionalised banking in Bhilwara, the following comparison is helpful.71

Table 13 Deposits (D) and Advances (A) by year in two main Bhilwara banks, 1968-70

No. of branches 1968 1969 1970 in Name of Bhilwara D A D A D A bank Tahsil Rs lac Rs lac Rs lac Rs lac Rs lac Rs lac

Bank of Rajasthan Limited 2 29.05 72.28 27.97 75.18 31.69 91.53

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur 2 22.61 55.20 39.26 86.87 43.71 124.21

Source: Sehgal, K.K. , Bhilwara District Gazetteer, 1975, pp.204-205. 1 opened 1969 1 opened 1970

What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that, whereas the

Bhilwara Tahsil branches of each of these banks had their advances exceed more than twice their deposits in 1970, the reverse was true in the case of branches in the rural tahsils of Bhilwara District. With regard to loans, the Bank of Rajasthans branches at Bhilwara and

Hamirgarh accounted for 96% of advances made by branches throughout 178

Bhilwara District in 1970. In the case of the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, the proportion was 98%. While these ratios need not imply that the rural sector was totally excluded from the benefits of bank credit and while a decade of nationalised control on bank lending policy in the rural sector has yet to be evaluated, the urban-rural discrepancy in the provision of public banking services and credit is too obvious a one not to conclude that the city's position has been highly advantageous. 72

Unfortunately there is no readily available breakdown of current deposits and advances by branch but, district-wise, in 1978, Bhilwara banks collectively received Rs 5.02 crore in deposits and advanced loans of Rs 16.73 crore. Including peons, sweepers and class IV employees, the number of persons working in banks within Bhilwara

Tahsil would number at present 500.73

The Bhilwara Branch of LIC has also prospered. In 1966-67, the branch office issued 2,290 life insurance policies with a total premium value of Rs 1.238 crore. In 1980-81, the office issued 3,387 policies of premium value Rs 4.00 crore. LIC built and occupied in 1977 what is Bhupalganj's most prestigious office building and where LIC now maintains a staff of 40, including peons and class IV employees .74

General insurance is available through the nationalised Oriental

Fire and General Assurance Co. which currently maintains an office of 10 persons. Up to date information on business is unavailable but, in 1966-67, the Bhilwara office issued 281 policies (premium income

Rs 15,349) and in 1969-70, 690 policies (premium income Rs 24,183).75

RIICO's financial commitment in Bhilwara Tahsil by way of loans 179 to privately owned small-scale industrial units alone amounted to Rs

3.94 crore as at the end of January 1982. RIICO was also responsible for the management of sheds on a 20 acre Industrial Estate and of factory sites on a 60 acre Industrial Area. Administration of a branch office

employed a staff of 12 persons. Administration of MITCO's branch

office also occupied a staff of 12. 76

Warehousing of perishable items in Bhilwara is administered by

FCI using storage leased from the Rajasthan State Warehousing Corpora- tion. FCI maintained six staff at its Bhilwara office.

RECAPITULATION

In relation to the economically active population of Bhilwara Town

over the 1981-82 period, one might reasonably assume that:

1) the ratio of worker to non-worker which prevailed in the 1961 and 1971 censuses would still prevail in 1981-82;

2) the ratio of agricultural workers to non-agricultural workers which prevailed in the 1961 and 1971 censuses would still prevail in 1981-82.

Drawing on this assumption and moderated by the foregoing material on the three major sectors of economic production, one can sketch a structural outline of economic relationships for just over half the people within this active population in terms of the economic sector to which their occupations belong and their relative status as

employer, self-employed or employee.

In 1981, Bhilwara Town had a population of 122,338 persons of 180

which an estimated third (41,000) would be economically active in the sense of being either in a position to regularly employ other people, regularly self-employed, or regularly employed by somebody else or all three. Of this third, one quarter (10,500 approximately) would be employed in the primary sector of which one fifth (2,050 approximately) would be regularly employed for wages and the remainder (8,200 approximately) would be agriculturalists, pastoralists or huntsmen who either employed outside assistance or were self-employed.

Three-quarters of the economically active population (30,750 approximately) was distributed over the secondary and tertiary sectors:

. regular private employers and self-employed persons would

comprise at least a quarter (7,500) of the 30,750;

. permanent and badli industrial workers would comprise at

least another quarter of the same number ;

. thelawallahs, rickshaw wallahs, and regular construction

workers would collectively constitute an eighth;

. employees in the public sector (those of all government offices,

utilities, banks, etc) would constitute a little less than a

tenth of the total active population and almost an eighth of that portion of the active population engaged in the secondary

and tertiary sectors combined - in effect, these proportions

mean that in terms of numerical comparison, the tertiary sector would be exceptionally small;

. a quarter or whereabouts of non-agricultural workers need

to be systematically accounted for. 181

UNEMPLOYMENT

The extent of unemployment in Bhilwara may be judged on the basis of information, first, from census data and, secondly, from the records of the district employment exchange. With regard to the census, only the 1961 district returns have provided detailed breakdowns of non-workers. Though dated, the material provides some interesting contrasts. For instance, in the rural sector of the Bhilwara District, 76% of non-workers (321,975) were in the 0-14 years age bracket but,

at the urban level, this age group (40,282 non-workers) accounts

but for 58%. In the 15+ years age group, Table 14 provides a

percentage distribution of non-workers by sector and sex.

Table 14 Non-workers over 15 years of age in Bhilwara District by sector and sex, 1961

Total (% male (% Fe- non - over male > 0 Sector workers % Male 60 yrs) Female % 60 yrs)

Rural 74,299 100 12,007 16.0(100) (38) 62,292 84.0(100) (24) Urban 16,700 100 3,261 19.5(100) (14) 13,438 80.5(100) (10)

Source: Census of India, 1961

These data strongly suggest that care of children and the aged is having to be borne by Bhilwara's rural population to a slightly greater

extent than the urban. It is also worth noting that the Government of Rajasthan s Rajasthan itself is prepared to concede that up to 60% of ruraldwellers of working age are unemployed.

It is equally evident that the overwhelming number of non-workers of working age are female. While the census revealed that 95% of urban 182 non-working females of working age were engaged in household domestic duties and 90% of rural non-working women of working age were engaged in household domestic duties, it would be likely that rural women

would be directly involved to a significant extent with agricultural production and, depending on a number of considerations (including participation in either forms of sharecropping or dairy herding or, in the case of dholis, playing processional music at marriages) could be regarded as being in receipt of wages. By contrast, the urban female non-worker would be occupied with traditional household supervision and housekeeping.

The following table underlines more strongly the extent of the exclusion of urban females from regular occupational employment

the percentages have been extracted from raw data in Table 6 •

Table 15 Non-workers in Bhilwara District by percentage of population , 1961-71

Male Female Non-workers non-workers non-workers as % of as % of as % of total male female Year Sector population population population

1961 District 41 34 50

Urban 63 46 84

1971 District 61 39 84

Bhilwara Town* 68 47 92

* Percentages for Bhilwara Town are the same as those for Bhilwara Tahsil.

Source: Census of India, 1961-71 183

In the case of Bhilwara Town and other urban areas, the existence of government degree colleges, an industrial training institute, and gaols would contribute to the higher percentages of non-workers in comparison with those of the district as a whole and particularly the rural sector.

Lower infant mortality in the urban sector) very likely due to the ready accessibility of public medicine l would also contribute to the higher urban percentage. Intercensal change in the definition of worker would in part account for the 1971 jump in the number of female non-workers at district level.

However, it is important to note that the overall female worker participation rate in Rajasthan dropped a dramatic 15% between 1961 and 1981 and therefore between 1961 and 1971, the percentage rise in female non-workers reflected a real reduction in the availability of paid occupations open to females. 77

In Bhilwara's large-scale manufacturing sector, about one-tenth of badli workers at MTM were female. 78 RAJSPIN had an express policy of not employing female labour.79 In neither plant has any female ever been employed at executive and technical levels. Among small-scale industrial units female employees are thinly spread and tend to be concentrated in plants manufacturing woven plastic goods, building construction, and mica insulated bricks. One female was observed to drive an auto-rickshaw during the period of the author's stay and only in the public vegetable markets were female shopkeepers seen.

With regard to the public sector, one female munsif magistrate sat periodically on the bench at Bhilwara general sessions. Two women 184

vakils practised at the Bhilwara bar. The State Bank of Bikaner and

Jaipur had one female on the staff of its main branch in Bhupalganj but no other branch of any other bank employed women. In government establishments, female staff were very thinly spread 8° Even female nurses at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital were a minority but about one- quarter of the medical staff were female. Female teaching staff of

Bhilwaras Higher Secondary School for Girls complained of the encroach- ment of male teaching appointments over female during the past decade.

Female sweepers and a very small number of female malis were employed by the Bhilwara Municipality. About one-half of navvies employed on drought-relief roadwork projects were female. In households with incomes of Rs 900 per mensem or more each, female char and scullery maids were frequently employed casually or part-time.

A particularly interesting trend was the extent to which men were displacing women in jobs that had been, in earlier times, exclusive to the female domain. A prime example of intrusion of males into traditional female occupation was womens tailoring. Now, with the major exception of infants apparel, all forms of tailoring were done by men, some of whom were nevertheless taking up the tailoring of infants' apparel as well as knitting (by machine) .81

The author can recall that, as recently as 1975, significant numbers of women were working as manual labourers on domestic and large-scale building construction (usually fetching water, white washing, carrying bricks, mixing cement mortar and crushing stones).

In 1982, female construction workers were a very rare sight.

According to the district employment exchange (which covers 185

Chittorgarh District as well as Bhilwara District), 13,438 persons were available for employment at the end of 1981. The growth of persons in search of employment can be ascertained from the following table.

Table 16 Bhilwara Employment Exchange: persons available for employment by year and sex and vacancies notified, 1977-81

Year 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981

Males 7,796 7,248 8,673 9,036 12,804 Females 506 640 585 570 634 Notified vacancies 1,096 1,445 1,696 2,106 n.k.

Source: Bhilwara District Employment Exchange

The proportion of notified private ("secondary") sector vacancies has approximately equalled that of public ("tertiary") sector vacancies except where the proportion of private sector vacancies was considerably below that of the public sector.

Assuming that:

1) notifications would originate predominantly from urban areas; 2) by virtue of its comparatively greater industrialisation, Bhilwara District would generate thrice more notifications than Chittorgarh District;

3) within Bhilwara District, Bhilwara itself would generate as many notifications as Gangapur, Jahazpur and Shahpura

combined; one could estimate that approximately one-third of notified vacancies would be generated within Bhilwara town. Thus, in 1980, a possible

702 jobs were available in Bhilwara proper. 186

Notwithstanding that number of registered unemployed for 1981 is four times that of 1961, the total number of notified vacancies for 1981 is barely double that of 1961 (1,150). Nevertheless, the number of annual vacancies over the number of annual registrations was 1:3 in 1960, a ratio which increased only to 1:4 in 1980 and was a modest reduction over those of the preceding three years.82

These statistics still require cautious interpretation. Firstly, those who have utilised the services of the employment exchange are predominantly persons with either matriculation qualifications or educational qualifications superior to matriculation. Those most likely to obtain employment would be those possessing directly vocational or technical qualifications. Those likely to be unsuccessful would account for nearly 75% of registrations and would be persons who have either graduated in a non - vocational field in Arts or have obtained a secondary or higher secondary school qualification. The very small number of females who register is worthy of note." The success rate of females in comparison with males in obtaining employment is not known.

It must also be pointed out that recruitment of unskilled and semi-skilled hands in large plants such as MTM and RAJSPIN is left to "jobbers" who were known to demand dastur from their recruits. Only technical staff of these firms were ever recruited through the local labour exchange ,84 1S7

TRADE UNIONS85

In the nineteenth century cotton textiles was one of India's first large-scale manufacturing industries and, along with railways and jute, has historically constituted one of the main pillars of India's organised labour movement. Trade union activity in Bhilwara also commenced on the floors of MTM.

Before looking at the contemporary structure and role of Bhilwara's trade union movement, it is desirable to overview briefly the develop - ment of Indian organised labour in order that the present situation in Bhilwara might be better understood. The origins of organised labour in India can be traced to sporadic labour unrest which occurred in 1877 at the Empress Mills in Nagpur (Central Provinces - now part of Maharashtra) when employees went on strike in response to a wage cut imposed by the employers. Documented descriptions of factory and labour conditions which existed in the post-mutiny period leave one in no doubt that exploitation of labour, especially that of women and children occurred on a widespread scale, rapacious in its economic purpose and inhumanity. However, improvement in working conditions, which culminated in the passage of the first Indian Factories Act in 1881, resulted not from the political pressure of organised labour but from the intervention of the Lancashire and Manchester Chambers of Commerce whose members had been economically disadvantaged by the competitive prices of Indian cotton manufactures. Regulation of working hours and female employment were the chief gains of the 1881 Act and amending legislation which followed in 1891.

Whereas organised labour in Britain was decriminalised in 1871 188 by the passage of the first trade union legislation, trade union legis- lation did not appear in India until 1926. Indeed, historical ties between British and Indian labour were exceptionally tenuous. James Keir

Hardie, at the time the only labour member of the British Parliament, toured India in 1909 but, while supportive of Indian self government, was oblivious to any notion that the obvious poverty of the country's urban and rural masses could be caused by anything other than "plague and hunger".

In 1911, the British Labour Party and the British Trade Union

Congress discussed a scheme for a consolidated trade union organisation in India, but the proposal subsequently lapsed. However, in 1919, the formation of the International Labour Office (ILO) prompted the formation of the first federation of Indian trade unions in 1920 (All

India Trade Union Congress - AITUC) for the purpose of nominating an ILO delegate. The first session of AITUC was presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai who was also the president of the Indian National

Congress of that year. It was ironical nonetheless that Indian trade unions were, at that time,illegal.

The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants of India and Burma and Bombay Postal Union appeared before World War I but, in objects and organisation, were more akin to welfare agencies and friendly societies. The Bombay Millhands' Association was the first workers' organisation in India drawn from employees of privately owned concerns. It was also the first labour organisation to connect itself openly with nationalist politics and, in 1908, its members went on strike in protest against the conviction of B.G. Tilak (founder of the Home Rule League in 1916) of sedition. 189

The first workers' organisation to be formed on the basis of a modern trade union was the Madras Labour Union which was founded in 1918. The Madras High Court declared the union an illegal conspiracy against trade and, until the 1926 legislative enactment, trade union activities remained subject to restraint. The declaration of the court

led to an international outcry and this was one reason prompting Indian

trade unions' legislation.

But there were other reasons necessitating recognition of labour organisation. One will recall that devaluation of the rupee and inequitable tariffs in favour of British textiles prevailed in the wake of World War I. In 1917 Gandhi himself intervened on the behalf of striking mill workers in Ahmedabad. These events were symptomatic of India's economic crisis of the post-War years, a crisis linked too with nationalist political agitation into which Indian labour was becoming merged.

The 1920s saw AITUC split on political and ideological issues. In 1929, AITUC, under Nehru's presidency, affiliated with international communist forums until 1940. With nationalists, such as Gandhi and

Nehru, gaoled during World War II and communists (from 1942), supportive of the war effort, AITUC was again communist-dominated and has remained affiliated ever since with the Communist Party of India (CPI). INTUC was formed in May 1947, by trade unionists in sympathy with the Congress Party and it has been INTUC affiliates which have tended to dominate the growth of trade unionism in

Bhilwara.

Notwithstanding Bhilwara's geographical proximity to the cotton 190 mills of Ahmedabad, the initial inspiration of trade union organisation in Bhilwara came not from migrant workers of Ahmedabad but workers who had migrated from the mills of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Ramesh Chandra Vyas was a political collaborator and follower of Manikya Lal Verma who, like Verma himself, originated from Uttar Pradesh and also shared imprisonment as a result of the

Mewar nationalist movements first attempt to establish a praja mandal.

Vyas entered MTM's employ in 1940 and was instrumental in organising Bhilwara's oldest workers' association, Mill Mazdoor Sangh, which espoused Gandhian social philosophy and was connected with a wider federation of workers called Gandhi Mazdoor Sevalya. Vyas' own social philosophy is reflected in the following extract of one of his early speeches:

the worker who toils and sweats and suffers in silence to sustain the life of the community must occupy a distinct and exalted place in the sound order of our dreams, an order based on the dignity of labour. 86

Though the Mill Mazdoor Sangh was not officially recognised until

after Independence, it did succeed in securing a 48 hour working week for MTM employees in 1946. In 1950, with the support of Rajasthan's

then chief minister, Mohan Lal Sukhadia, the Mill Mazdoor Sangh secured from MTM, as a condition of labour employment, a bonus of

the equivalent 84 days basic wages, standardised wages, and 15 days

holiday for every 180 days worked at the mill. These privileges were

already established in textile factories of former British India.87

In the same year, the mazdoor sangh opened as an experiment in labour welfare a cooperative store to benefit MTM workers but the 191 experiment was a failure. At the same time, a faction (of which MTM's management may have been perpetrator) began to emerge. The conflict resulted in an inquiry by the Ahmadabad and Indore Branches of INTUC and the registration of a rival Hind Mazdoor Sangh headed by Roop Lal Somani and affiliated with the socialist Hind Mazdoor Sabba (HMS) federation of labour. Vyas and 200 of his supporters were suspended from MTM but later reinstated.

In 1955 Somani's followers entered a rapprochement with Vyas'

Mill Mazdoor Sangh. Together, both parties successfully obtained, first, an annual bonus equivalent to a sixteenth of the workers' basic wage, secondly, the reopening of MTM in 1958 after its six months' closure, and, thirdly, the reinstatement of previously retrenched hosiery workers. Under management appointed by the Rajasthan Government in 1960, MTM granted a "dearness allowance" on condition that no dispute occurred for the remaining five years and that outstanding disputes were withdrawn.

The development and growth of trade union organisation within

Bhilwara Town and Tahsil has been as spasmodic as it has been belated. A list of trade unions based in Bhilwara and the date of each union's registration is tabulated in Table 17. The list is not an exhaustive indication of the extent of trade union activity in Bhilwara. For instance, the list does not encompass branches of trade unions which represent employees in nationalised and central government bodies such as banks and railways. State-wide trade union organisations like the Rajasthan Mine Managers Union and teachers' associations are also omitted. Table 17 List of registered trade unions in Bhilwara Tahsil as at 31 December 1981

Federated labour Political Number of Place and movement party workers date of Name of union Industry affiliation affiliation represented registration

Mica Labour Union Mica mining HMS INC /CPI 600 Jaipur, 1957

Hind Mazdoor Sangh Textiles HMS INC/CPI n .k. Jaipur, 1952

Mill Mazdoor Sangh Textiles INTUC INCa 400 Jaipur, 1955 (approx.)

Khan Mazdoor Sangh Mica mining (Muslim) AITUC CPI 800 Jaipur, 1961 Udaipur, 1973

Electricity Board Employees Union Public electricity supply INTUC INC 165 Jaipur, 1965

Rashtriya Dal Karamchari Sangh Miscellaneous workers INTUC INC 18 Jaipur, 1965 Jaipur, 1968

Khanij Udhyog Mazdoor Sangh Mica mining AITUC CPI 500 Jaipur, 1965

Bharatiya Suti Mill Mazdoor Sangh Textiles BMSb JSc 100 Jaipur, 1968

Bharatiya Khan Mazdoor Sangh Mica mining AITUC CPI 500 Jaipur, 1968

Vyavasayik Karamchari Sangh Agriculture INTUC INC 800 Jaipur, 1968

Mudran Karamchari Sangh Printing INTUC INC 40 Jaipur, 1969

Chikitsay Evam Swasthya Karamchari Union Public hospital INTUC INC 150 Jaipur, 1969 Table 17 (Cont'd)

Federated labour Political Number of Place and movement party workers date of Name of union Industry affiliation affiliation represented registration

Rajasthan Metal Workers Mazdoor Textiles and workshops, Sangh bus workshops AITUC CPI 20 Udaipur, 1973

Textile Technical Staff Association Textiles INTUC INC 30 Udaipur, 1973

Mica Bricks Mazdoor Sangh Mica Insulation Bricks AITUC CPI 100 Udaipur, 1973

Press Workers Union Printing and stationery INTUC INC 120 Udaipur, 1974

Rajasthan Rajya Vidhut Meter readers, public Karamchari Sangh electricity supply INTUC INC 50 Udaipur, 1976 Janata Mill Mazdoor Sangh Textiles BMS Janata 1000 Udaipur, 1977

Suti Mill Mazdoor Sangh Textiles INTUC Cong(I)d 500 Udaipur, 1978

E.D. Dak Karamchari Sangh Postal services INTUC Cong(I) 150 Udaipur, 1978

Sarvajanik Nirman Veebagh Mazdoor Sangh Textiles INTUC Cong(I) 250 Udaipur, 1978

Bhilwara Krishi Upag Mandl Cooperative marketing Samiti Karamchari Sangh authority INTUC Cong(I) 30 Udaipur, 1978

Insulation Bricks Mazdoor Union Mica insulation bricks INTUC Cong(I) 150 Udaipur, 1978

Bhilwara Bidi Udhyog Mazdoor Rolled tobacco, bidi Sangh manufacture INTUC Cong(I) 30 Jaipur, 1979 Table 17 (Cont'd)

Federated labour Political Number of Place and movement party workers date of Name of union Industry affiliation affiliation represented registration

Rashtriya Mill Spinning Mazdoor Sangh Textiles INTUC Cong(I) 400 Jaipur, 1979

Rashtriya Jal Praday Karamchari Sangh Public water supply INTUC Cong(I) 100 Bhilwara, 1980

Bhilwara Dairy Karamchari Fed'n Regional milk collection INTUC Cong(I) 75 Bhilwara, 1980

Synthetics and Ceramics Union, Zila Bhilwara Synthetics and plastics INTUC Cong(I) 500 Bhilwara, 1981

Class IV and Bill Vitrak Public office peons and Vidhyut Karamchari Union Class IV employees INTUC Cong(I) 250 Bhilwara, 1981

Zila Jalday Karamchari Sangh Public water supply INTUC Cong(I) 150 Bhilwara, 1981

Rashtriya Modern and Sunil Mill Mazdoor Sangh Textiles INTUC Cong(I) 450 Bhilwara, 1981

Notes: Indian National Congress Bharatiya Mazdoor Sahba Jana Sangh (Rightist) db Indian National Congress (Majority Faction supporting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi) Sources: 1) Office of Chief Labour Commissioner, Jaipur, 1982 2) Deputy Regional Labour Commissioner, Udaipur, 1982 3) Deputy Regional Labour Commissioner, Bhilwara, 1982 195

Moreover, the number of workers which a union may ostensibly claim to represent may not reflect the extent of union membership either at the time of the union's initial registration or at any time since. In fact, even at the time of workers registration, the proportion of workers in the industry to which the union is related who are fully paid-up union subscribers might only be 5% of the total number of workers engaged in the given industry or employed in a given factory. Sometimes the reverse is claimed and the union membership proliferates either as the industry grows or as enthusiasm is generated among union leaders.88

While no deregistrations of any unions have taken place, records of activities are non-existent and sometimes the union office-bearers are nominee agents whose occupations are unrelated to the industry to which the union is related. Hence, the number of dormant trade unions is likely to be significant and more recent incorporations "revivals" of previously defunct organisations.

Members of some unions would not necessarily be permanently based in Bhilwara proper but be scattered district-wide. Employees of the public waterworks and mica miners would be such examples. It is obvious too that many unions are exceptionally small.

In broad summary, most of Bhilwara's 31 unions are connected with textile industries. Most unions are affiliated with INTUC and therefore supportive of the ruling Congress Party. Unions connected with the State Roadways buses and mica mines have tended to support AITUC but not necessarily the CPI.

The numerical strength of total membership would seem grossly inflated. Of the 8,000workers claimed to be represented by the 31 196

registered unions, it would be exceptionally difficult to obtain a reliable figure as to the actual size of total union membership. Furthermore, given that very few mica miners were domiciled within the Bhilwara

Tahsils borders, up to half the number could have been dispersed through the rural areas of the district. The picture is further blurred by the cycle rickshaw-wallahs who, while having no registered union of their own, all seem to profess allegiance to CITU.

Over the period 1965-1981, industrial disputes were confined predominantly to mica extraction and textile industries, MTM and RAJSPIN being the textile plants in which most of the disputes arose. In the cases of mica and textiles, disputes which have developed as strikes have arisen originally from alleged non-payment of outstanding dues owed by employers, holiday entitlements, wrongful dismissals, delays in payment of wages, or non-payment (or delayed payment) of allowances.

Strikes appeared to be of short duration (one to three days) and only in the rarest of cases would any one strike have occupied a period of more than 20 days.89

The two-year period of Emergency Rule (1975-77), industrial disputes in Bhilwara were curtailed by virtue of the central government's invocation of the provisions of the First Schedule to section 2(n) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, whereby cotton textiles, mining, and some other industries were declared "public utilities" and any grievance arising in these industries was compelled to be put to conciliation in lieu of disputes arbitration. Militant and outspoken union activists were targets of deliberate repressive measures taken by government 197 authorities during the Emergency, these measures being usually arrests and prolonged detention. Secondly, AITUC, INTUC and HMS collaborated in the imposition of the Emergency, their officials obtaining the accreditation of individual unions for purposes of industrial representation on condition, first, that internal opposition to the Emergency regime was suppressed by the unions and, secondly, that the unions complied with Emergency restrictions such as prohibition on assemblies, strikes, layoffs and closures."

In the third place, at the time of Emergency, Bhilwara's seat in the Lok Sabha was held by an opposition right-wing Jana Sangh member.

The city's seat in the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha was held by an INC member who, although openly uncritical of the Emergency regime, was latently hostile to the growing political influence of Sanjay Gandhi and even more hostile towards the quite inhumanitarian excesses which the younger Gandhi's influence perpetrated during the Emergency.91

The previous Lok Sabha member had been the local nationalist labour leader, Ramesh Chandra Vyas, who was defeated at the elections of 1971 by a very narrow margin (and whose son, Kailashan, a political associate of Sanjay Gandhi and candidate for election to the

1980 Vidhan Sabha, was denounced with such deprecation by the pre-1977 Vidhan Sabha member and Cong(I) party colleague that the constituency returned the Janata candidate).92

During the Emergency, the majority of Bhilwara's trade unions were allied to the Congress government's ruling at the centre and state, either through the INTUC-INC connection or through that of the AITUC-CPI, the CPI being supportive of the Congress government's 198 institution of Emergency Rule. The unions' defence against the

Emergency's industrial circumscriptions was submission and collaboration with the local established INTUC-INC cadre.93

The Bhilwara political representatives and the constituencies which supported them were either (in the case of the district's Lok Sabha member) opposed to the ruling central Congress government or

(in the case of the Vidhan Sabha member) disillusioned with it. Further- more, besides being in opposition to the government, the local right- wing Jana Sangh was diffident in its attitude towards organised labour

(but not necessarily labour welfare) even though, at its central policy level, the Jana Sangh had sought to cultivate for itself a labour wing in the form of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha. Given further that many local Jana Sangh activists were gaoled, support of opponents to the

Emergency would promise no material gain for local unionists 94 Hence, there was virtually no option but for local unionists to align with the governing party's local supporters. After all, Ramesh Chandra Vyas had enjoyed a long association with local trade unionism, INTUC and INC, and, as such, had long drawn on support of communal minorities such as scheduled caste members and Muslims who, at the time, probably formed a substantial core of the labour force in the urban textile factories and rural mica mines of Bhilwara. 5

Industrial opposition to the Emergency regime within Bhilwara could have come but from two sources. In the first instance, the city's rickshaw-wallahs, although supportive of CITU, were neither within a recognised trade union nor effectively organised. In the second, there was but one BMS-affiliated registered union which could have boasted of a very small membership only and, in actuality, was possibly either 199 dormant or otherwise inactive if not bogus.

The last point which needs to be made in relation to the Emergency period is that pending local disputes were frequently diffused through the direct intervention of the Bhilwara INTUC office and subsequent reconciliation, at least when the affected employee belonged to an

INTUC-affiliated union. However, it still must be remembered that gaoled trade union activists lost the right to approach judicial authority concerning either the reasons behind their detention or for industrial purposes.

A statutory wage freeze which was implemented in June 1974, had also initiated a principle of docking up to half of cost-of-living increases and "dearness allowances" in "compulsory deposits" and three months after the proclamation of Emergency, a presidential ordinance forced a cut-back in industrial wages. This followed a percentage cut in the statutory rate of minimum annual bonus bounty payable by employers to industrial labour. Across India, the net effect of these cuts was to increase profitability in the private sector. Within the

Bhilwara textile mills, MTM's profits slumped but, in RAJSPIN, the value of production rocketed from Rs 46.35 lac in 1974 to Rs 6.15 lac in 1976 and profits jumped from Rs 49.78 lac in 1974 to Rs 94.06 lac in the same period. To be fair, the value of RAJSPIN's sales also doubled and the firm also took on extra hands (30) during these years and in 1977 ( 100) .96

Shortly after the election of Morarji Desai's Janata government in

March 1977, industrial demands began. In RAJSPIN, workers began agitating for wage and bonus increases in the following July with strike action which spasmodically receded to go-slow campaigns and 200 culminated eventually in the destruction of machinery and lock-out

Following the intervention of the Government of Rajasthan, workers received a bonus payment based on half the value of the preceding year's production but were obliged to accept the minimum bonus percentage rate payable in 1978 (8.33% of declared profit). Given that the political sympathies of Bhilwara textile unionists had traditionally been Congress-orientated, the possibility of the RAJSPIN dispute being politically motivated is not implausible. It is equally interesting that the Janata-supported BMS-affiliated Janata Mill Mazdoor Sangh appeared at the point when the RAJSPIN confrontation was at its height.98

The labour movement in Bhilwara has not at any time been entirely bereft of leadership at its apex and the "executive" of

Bhilwara's INTUC office, as well as the office premises itself, is a focal point which enables the social and cultural integration of the local trade union movement (for instance, Ramesh Chandra Vyas' cenotaph lies within the INTUC-compound on the spot where his body was cremated).

The leadership previously exercised by the late Ramesh Chandra Vyas has since been assumed by Gidhari Lal Vyas of Badnor (Asind Tahsil) who, since 1980, has been Cong(I) member for Bhilwara in the Lok Sabha and, before his election, worked at the Bhilwara bar specialising in industrial cases. The earlier Vyas lost mass electoral support on account of his neglect of the rural electors to the extent where the Bhilwara constituency was lost to a Jana Sangh candidate in 1971. Gidhari Lal Vyas is more attentive to his rural electors but 201 has also made Bhilwara's INTUC office his constituency headquarters. (The extent of the younger Vyas' political acumen is indicated by his recent election to the All-India Congress Committee.) Vyas' patronage of INTUC extends to the presidencies of the town's main textile unions,

Mill Mazdoor Sangh, Rashtriya Spinning Mill Mazdoor Sangh, Sarvajanik

Nirman Mazdoor Sangh, and Rashtriya Modern and Sunil Mazdoor Sangh.99

In his union responsibilities, Vyas was aided by Vishan Singh Yaday . As his surname suggested, Yadav was of scheduled caste origins. He entered MTM's employment in 1948, having migrated originally to

Bhilwara from Uttar Pradesh, and retired from MTM in 1978. Yadav is a qualified vakil and Congress veteran. He advised on the formulation of constitutions for new unions which are applying for registration as well as grievances which individual workers and unionists bring to his notice. In keeping with Gandhian precept, he preferred to see conciliation sought before any dispute or grievance is referred to arbitration.

At rank-and-file level, especially in mica and textiles, union leadership was spectacularly undynamic. The bane of the INTUC office was the ploy used by the management of various textiles factories of entering "sweetheart" deals directly with workers in discrete sections or departments thereby circumventing union consultation altogether.

Among mica miners, union leaders remained unchanged for years at a time and misappropriation of union funds in 1982 had left miners so disillusioned with their leadership that they abandoned their historical link with AITUC and sought the protection of INTUC 202

was commonly claimed among textile workers that union officials in

MTM and RAJSPIN were actually dastur who used their positions by

"selling" jobs or exercising preferment.

The confused and nebulous state of trade union politics in Bhilwara

can be illustrated by local labours reaction to a nation-wide bandh

which AITUC, CITU and BMS had called on 20 January 1982, in support

of wage demands. Even though stoppages were opposed by INTUC,

MTM was closed for the nightshift. AITUC activists in neighbouring

Udaipur paralysed public road transport for the day but buses freely piled to and from Bhilwara. The president of the BMS-affiliated Janata

Mill Mazdoor Sangh issued no directive to this particular union as to whether or not its members should participate in the wave of strikes which were being called as part of the bandh. (However, the same person remonstrated very forcefully when the author suggested that there might not have been, in actuality, a union to give a directive to!

INDUSTRIAL MILITANCY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

One of the most efficiently organised, sustained and concerted wage campaigns ever launched in Bhilwaras history was part of a state-wide strike of Rajasthan Government non-gazetted officials and class IV employees. Strikers in toto numbered over 300,000 and their stoppage lasted for 23 days, a period spanning 17 March to 23 April

1983. The campaign culminated in more than 1,711 arrests of strikers who were charged with breaches of either the Essential Services

Maintenance Act or the Indian Criminal Procedures Code.

In Bhilwara, only gazetted officers were present for duty. 203

Appeals by the government for retired public servants to appear for

duty on casual pay rates failed. Striking peons and clerks picketted

gates and doorways of all government buildings in Bhilwara. The

reserve police militia (the historic Mewar Bhil Corps) patrolled the

streets.

At 11 oclock every morning, the peak business period, a jalus

of strikers paraded through Bhilwaras main thoroughfare starting

at Gulmandi, proceeding through Bhimganj and Bhupalganj, and

terminating at the railway choria where an effigy of Rajasthans

Chief Minister, Shiv Charan Mathur, would be set alight. These daily

rallies not only attracted over 1,000 persons but up to a tenth would

be women.

By 31 March, 354 strikers had been arrested in Bhilwara. Six

days later the number of arrests had swollen to 608 and continued

to rise. Some 55 of those arrested were women. On 25 March, hospital

staff, save medical officers and trainee nurses, joined the strikers

(in spite of the penalties) and gaol warders joined-up on 1 April.

In traditional Congress style, strikers flaunted their incitement to other workers in order to court arrest and flood the local gaol,

a tactic which succeeded. However, there was some provocation.

First, a lathi charge by police in Jaipur had been particularly savage.

Secondly, a partially blind and deaf municipal worker in Bhilwara who

(with his fellow employees of the municipality) had joined the strike, was arrested for no other reason than carrying a banner. Not only was the gaol crammed, physical conditions were so bad as to prompt the arrested strikers to begin a hunger-strike in protest. By the time the strike ended, over 400 persons were detailed in Bhilwaras gaol. 204

The strike had been precipitated by increased wage demands made by government servants. In 1981, a special commission chaired by a puisne judge of the Rajasthan High Court (Beni Commission) had inquired into public service pay scales and had recommended increases for all divisions. The Government of Rajasthan had only partly imple- mented the recommended rises and was genuinely hard-pressed to meet its employees' demands. In the first place, Rajasthan had been in the grip of drought for four consecutive years with the result that the state's expenditure over the 1981-82 fiscal year was Rs 340 crore in deficit. This sum represented 28% of a total unprecedented overdraft of Rs 1,215 crore which Indian states had collectively accumulated with the Reserve Bank of India. (In the preceding fiscal year, the states' total overdraft amounted to Rs 700 crore only.)

The fiscal crisis was exacerbated further by economic constraints at the national level. The central government was desperately trying to curb credit in all government sectors by squeezing credit provided to the private sectors, a policy which, if allowed to compound, could have strained money supply to the extent where investment in industrial undertakings would be undermined for want of working capital. The situation was worsened by the announcement in January 1982 of a reduction in interest-free aid allocated to India by the World Bank and its "'soft-arm' loans window", the International Development Association. The reduction was attributable partially to a reduction in the United States of America's commitment to World Bank funds and partially to the ,global economic recession.1°3

The dispute between the Rajasthan Government and its employees was eventually resolved in the employees' favour. However, increases 205 in minimum pay rates plus payment of additional instalments of "dear- ness allowance" (to take account of rises in the cost of living) cost the government an outlay of Rs 52.50 crore. A further five instalments of "dearness allowance" were impounded in the employees' provident fund and these amounted to Rs 25.50 crore. All-up, the cost of the new pay scale entitlements added a further Rs 126 crore to Rajasthan's already crippling overdraft, an outlay which would have to be offset by a corresponding reduction in the central government's forthcoming quinquennial planning allocation to Rajasthan. As part of the agreement with its employees, the Rajasthan Government withdrew disciplinary action and police charges against arrested strikers. 104

These events had an interesting twist for Bhilwara's inhabitants. Chief Minister, Shiv Charan Mathur, was a native of Bhilwara District. Mathur's wife, Sushila Devi, was a daughter of Manikya Lal Verma who, with her brother, sister and husband, was a founding member of her father's institution at Bhilwara, Mahila Ashram for girls, and had long served on the ashrams board of management.

The Mathur house was in a respectable quarter of Gandhinagar (and was currently on lease to the central government's Mica Mines Welfare Fund). Shiv Charan Mathur's own blood relations were not only marching in the daily jalus of strikers but also consigning the premier's effigy to flames at the end. Gidhari Lal Vyas was busy in making press statements about drought relief, anti-casteism, and new central government initiatives in the region in order to deflect the impact of detailed press reports on the strike and dilute the political embarrassment which the Rajasthan's governing Congress(I) party was suffering through the apparent widespread support for the 206 strike in the state premier's "home town".

The local Janata Party (which held the Bhilwara city seat in Rajasthan's Vidhan Sabha) capitalised politically on the breakdown of essential services by providing volunteer relief at the Mahatma Gandhi General Hospital and the city's gaol. Indirectly, the gazetted officials supported the strikers by discreetly "going slow". Like pensions of retired public servants who did not respond to appeals to provide casual relief, the salaries of gazetted officers would increase if the recommendations of the Beri Commission were fully adopted.

The strike involved no other sections of workers in Bhilwara save the municipal workers. On the day before the strike ended, representatives of Bhilwara's INTUC and AITUC unions convened in the Mansinghka Dharmshala to contemplate supporting the state public servants. Public servants employed by the central government and employees of nationalised enterprises were unaffected by the strike.

Municipal workers' wages did not come within the purview of the Beri Commission's terms of reference and these workers did not receive the wage benefits which accrued to the state employees when the strike was settled. Understandably the municipal workers were very distressed at the state employees' betrayal of them when the strike was over - the municipal workers were left to continue very feebly a further period of strike. 207

SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL BACKDROP

Wages

Minimum wage levels payable to various categories of workers together with procedures to regulate the fixation and periodic (five yearly minimum cycle) review of these levels are guaranteed by the

Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Frequent and regulated payment of wage entitlements is guaranteed by the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the provisions of which require that wages, inter alia:

1) must be inclusive of all remuneration including house allowance;

2) must be expressed in terms of money;

3) must be due at times prescribed in terms of the contract of

hire; and

4) must be payable when the terms and conditions of the

contract have been fulfilled.

The Minimum Wages Act permits differentiation according to:

1) the nature of scheduled employments;

2) classes of work within these same employments;

3) adults, adolescents, children and apprentices; and

4) locality.

In addition, the Act exempts trucking under special circumstances.

Historically, the object of the Minimum Wages Act was to eliminate exploitation of labour in industries where sweat-shop conditions were the most rife, e.g. salt, carpet-weaving, tobacco and flour-milling.

Minimum wages are fixed for a two-fold object: first, to guarantee subsistence and maintenance of the worker and his family and, secondly, 208 to provide a level of remuneration which maintains the efficiency of labour.

The Act further provides for the fixation for the payment of a "dearness allowance", the common term for an adjustable cost of living allowance. The central government or state government may make separate determinations for a basic wage and dearness allowance. In either case, the cash value of concessions may be included and an all-inclusive rate may also be determined..

Minimum wages payable in Rajasthan were last determined in 1982 and, in the Appendix jithe current rates of pay are tabulated against those set down in 1970. Dearness allowance eligibility is separately set on a sliding scale and varies also according to locality. By rule of thumb, the rate of dearness allowance payable in Bhilwara township approximately doubled the basic wage.

The statute which legally enforces regular payment of wage entitlements, the Payment of Wages Act, is restricted in its application to employers of wage earning employees in registerable factories and recognised industrial establishments. The administrative enforcement is a responsibility borne by factories and boilers inspectors. Moreover, any employee earning a wage or salary of Rs 1,000 per mensem falls outside the purview of the Act. Consequently, there are whole ranges of private non-industrial concerns exempted from Payment of Wages legislative provisions and, furthermore, self-employed occupations are left untouched. And in times of drought and scarcity, the Rajasthan Famine Relief Works Employees (Exemption from Labour Laws) Act, 1964, completely suspends the application of Minimum Wages, 209

Payment of Wages, and Industrial Disputes legislation to participants

in drough relief public projects.1°5

Results of documented surveys taken among samples of employees at MTM and RAJSPIN within the last five years serve as indications

of the extent to which minimum wages payable to textile workers barely cover the cost of living. Of a sample of 100 skilled and unskilled

labourers at MTM which was surveyed in 1979, 56 reported regular

monthly deficits in their household budgets. Twenty-six reported that they "made ends meet" and 18 reported obtaining surpluses. Sixty-five reported having their wages absorbed entirely on food purchases and,

in 50 cases, food consumption was restricted predominantly to grains

and pulses. Consumption of citrus fruit, eggs, meat and dairy produce

(other than ghi ) seemed rare. For those 26 workers obtaining balanced budgets (and remembering that some 15 were sole earners with five

to eight dependents to support), the monthly wage packet was divided as follows:

Item of Expenditure % Monthly Wage

Food 59 Apparel 15 Accommodation 7 Light and Fuel 3 Health and Education 3 Social and Religious Ceremonies 5 Miscellaneous 8

A similar survey taken at RAJSPIN the same year yielded a

similar result. Both surveys also suggested that few labourers were out of debt. The size of debt was usually between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. Where possible, workers borrowed from relatives but, where this was impractical they would borrow from banias of their native villages.106 210

Reasons for indebtedness varied from sickness requiring expensive

treatment to the cost of childrens marriages but the reasons could

also include indulgence in gambling and addiction to deshidaru.

Given the social stigma attached to indebtedness, it would not be

surprising if the amounts of debt reported in the surveys were

exaggeratedly low nor would it be surprising, given the recent

protracted period of drought, that the incidence of indebtedness had

increased .10

With an annual population growth rate of 4,000 over the 1971-81

decade, the housing supply of Bhilwara town was approaching the

point of critical shortage. In the period 1956-59, as part of a central

government initiative to establish industrial housing estates, a labour

colony of 500 tenements was built by the Government of Rajasthan to

house local factory workers at nominal rent. These tenements constituted

about half of one per cent of the amount of accommodation which was

actually needed.

MTM had built 50 challs along the northern wall of its compound for its employees. The challyan was perhaps less congested than the labour colony tenements but the challs interiors were very pokey and ill-ventilated and were not serviced with running water.

Gazetted government servants were provided with quarters in the Radhakrishna Colony. Class III and class IV government employees obtained rental subsidies as part of their dearness allowances.

School teachers tended to be concentrated in the new Bapunagar public housing estate. Teachers of the higher secondary schools had begun to invest in property in Subashnagar and Azadnagor which, 211

although building construction was illegal, was also a colony favoured

by senior police officers.

Some factory managers permitted workers to sleep on the factory

site. Construction workers (sometimes for security) camped overnight on construction sites. Cycle rickshaw-wallahs and thelawallahs would

sleep at dharmshalas or any place offering shelter. Shop assistants invariably slept in the shop or beside the stall where they worked.

From interviews the author held with separate groups of 10 factory workers, construction workers, thela wallahs and rickshaw -

wallahs it was ascertained that there was not one individual who did not own or have an interest in agricultural land somewhere in Bhilwara

District and did not derive some portion of his livelihood from the cultivation of that land. In all cases it was customary to return to the villages where lands were held to help with the seasonal harvests -

March for the rabi crop and October for the kharif. 108

It was interesting to note that the rickshaw-wallahs were younger and, by their own admission, reckless in the way in which they spent their earnings (frequently Rs 800 per mensem) on liquor, cinema and the Gulmandi brothels being their favourite indulgences). The thela

wallahs were older and infinitely more frugal and industrious in their attitude. All reported that they saved regularly and some could boast of having purchased residential property in Bhilwara. However, pushing loaded handcarts or carrying building materials up precarious

scaffolding entailed a risk to health and, indeed, to life, against

which no statutory indemnification could meet.

An important feature of the factory workers economic conditions 212

was not only partial reliance on proceeds of agricultural produce from rural holdings in which they had interests but also the need to pursue second occupations. Two factors compounded this need. First, the drought had reduced agricultural productivity and, second (in the case of badlis) frequent suspension from factory duty on account of power shortages.

The favoured form of additional occupation was tailoring but sometimes bicycle repairing or motor-winding were done also as sidelines.

The higher incidence of absenteeism in day shifts of factories was attributable to some extent to pursuit of sidelines in daylight hours.

However, as the worker grew older, fatigue, family obligations and care of agricultural interests tended to displace ones capacity to work at two jobs.

Investment in residential real estate was commonplace among

Bhilwaras public service cadres. Male nurses of Mahatma Gandhi

Hospital all had purchased residences by way of mortgage loan and had found it more economical to let their houses and themselves take rented accommodation elsewhere. Many academic staff of

MLV Government College had purchased land in adjacent Kasiquri and had constructed dwellings portions of which were invariably let.

Private nursing outside normal hours of duty was frequently done by male nurses. Private coaching of school pupils was frequently done by school teachers. 213

The "Unorganised" Sector

Smuggling contraband and consorting were illicit activities occasionally carried on by factory workers. The extent of these activities would be difficult to estimate but they certainly occurred and, if the activities went unapprehended at law, they did not necessarily escape the notice of the police. Deshidaru, fermented in illicit rural distilleries, was smuggled into city liquor shops but the popular commodity was afim, whose poppies had been cultivated for generations in plantations along the Chittorgarh side of the Banas

River. Sometimes the afim would be mixed with ganja and smuggled as charus.

The destinations of the contraband were ultimately Jaipur and

Delhi but the pilgrimage centre of Pushkar near Ajmer was on growing lucrative market and Karachi in Sind Province of neighbouring

Pakistan was known to be another. Smugglers of quantities of afim in excess of one kilogram seemed to get caught for more frequently than those contented to trade in small quantities.

Receiving stolen goods was the other popular sideline. During sowing and harvest rural villagers are rarely at home. With tholas and ornaments of gold and silver horded in these dwellings, thieves, virtually unnoticed, are able to steal jewellery in broad daylight from village homes during these busy seasons. Factory hands act as middlemen between the local thieves and the city purchasers. It was alleged that these operations were overlorded by the same trade union officials who acted as factory "jobbers" or (for a more apt description) "job-brokers". 214

Participation in bribery and other forms of public corruption was acknowledged by police officers and public servants with whom the author came into personal contact. Policemen alleged that receipt of bribes for writing false reports, suspending investigations, devising means of misfeasance, or corrupting the normal course of justice was invariably imposed by the intervention of superior officers.

The author had personal knowledge of a bribe of Rs 3,000 being taken by a group of police in return for the police withdrawing a charge of receiving stolen property. A bribe of this size was usually shared amongst the train of subordinate police and officials whose collaboration was required. It was alleged too by a reliable source that the bench of Bhilwara's general sessions was not indifferent to offers of bribe.

Labour administration was similarly corrupted. One official of the Deputy Regional Labour Commissioner's office confided that he regularly took small discreetly delivered sums of money from apparently anonymous sources when dealing with a current dispute, the intention of the donor being that the dispute should be resolved in the employer's favour. The management of factories which were situated outside of the municipality and had motor vehicles at their disposal always sent a chauffeured car to fetch labour office officials when a dispute required investigation or settlement. The resources of the INTUC office did not include a motor vehicle and INTUC was therefore disadvantaged when it came to extending hospitality to the local labour commissioner and his officers.

The author was obliged to make an "under-the-counter" payment 215 of Rs 300 to secure the completion of an electrical connection to his rented bungalow in A zadnagar. Extraction of data from official archives for the purpose of presentation in this work necessitated the payment of bribes.

One could only presume that illegal subdivisions and attendant residential construction at Azadnagar was permitted to occur through payment of illicit commissions. Likewise, the salubrious bungalows being built by police inspectors required levels of finance which monthly police salaries would be hard-pressed to meet.

At the labour colony and at the public housing estate at Bapuhagar illegal sub-letting of housing units was commonplace. A factory labourer who could lease a labour colony tenement for a token Rs 7/- per mensem could sub-let the tenement for Rs 50/- per mensem without difficulty. Sometimes he could charge up to Rs 1,000 just for "key money".

Many of these illegal tenants were employed in either local banks or government offices and found that their economy achieved in taking distant low-rent accommodation outweighed the modest discomfort of spartan tenement housing. One could confidently conclude from all of these belaboured assertions that public corruption in Bhilwara was rife and that the ancient custom of dastur applied to all, but the very exceptional, administrative quarters. 216

BONUS BOUNTY, GRATUITY, DISPUTES AND COMPENSATION

Literally, bonus has meant a boon or gift above an amount of remuneration ordinarily due to the recipient. Payment of bonus to Indian workmen historically dates back to the World War I era when the Ahme dabad and Bombay textile milles, having earned sizable profits during the war, began to pay bonus to their employees but

discontinued the practice after 1923 when a down--turn in trade led to employers' inability to pay.

Payment of bonus has been variously promoted as a concept embodying partnerships between labour and capital and as an incentive to greater productive effort. Within the Bhilwara context these aspirations are belied by the fact that only a few establishments obligated to pay bonus and, where the obligation does exist, it is popularly, if not legally, regarded as a form of deferred wage entitlement .109

In the case of Bhilwara nearly 130 registered factories (almost three quarters of all registered factories employing in toto a daily average of an estimated 1,300 workers) would be exempted either, first, from the provisions of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, because each factory employed a daily average over one year of less than 20 workers or, secondly, from the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, because less than 10 workers were employed on daily average over a year. Moreover, neither Act covers workers in non- competitive industries in the public sector nor does either cover workers in an industrial concern which has been established less than five years unless the concern, in any of those years, traded profitably.

As most of Bhilwara's registered factories which employ daily either 217

10 to 19 workers or 20 or more workers have been registered since 1976 only, liability to pay even a statutory minimum bonus has emerged only very recently.

Bonus claims depend essentially on a concern's relative prosperity which, in turn, would be best demonstrated by the amount of the concern's annual residuary trading surplus. The formula for fixing this surplus is embodied in the Payment of Bonus Act and was devised originally by a labour appellate tribunal in the 1950s. In brief, bonus may be distributed from surplus proceeds outstanding from a firm's gross profits once prior charges such as: 1) provision for depreciation; 2) reserve for rehabilitation; 3) a return of 6% on paid-up capital; 4) a lower return on working capital; and 5) an estimated tax liability have all been deducted.

A minimum bonus payment of 8.33% of a worker's annual wage is required irrespective of whether or not a firm traded at a profit. A maximum ceiling of 20% (or Rs 750 per merisem over a year) also applies. (During Emergency Rule a minimum level of 4% and maximum of 10% had been imposed. ) 110

In retrospect, permanent workers of Bhilwara's largest and longest established factories such as MTM, RAJSPIN, Bhupal Mining Works, and Rajasthan Vanaspati would constitute the category of worker most likely to derive income from bonus bounty. Badli workers who, in MTM and RAJSPIN, comprised approximately half 218

the regular workforce would have to work continuously for one year before qualifying for permanancy and, given the frequency of lay-off owing, say, to lack of power in addition to the fact that badli labour is unprotected by legislative provision in the event of lay-off, the completion of a year's continuous service could prove difficult.

Current power shortages in Bhilwara's factories would have the effect of reducing production and thereby reducing allocable surpluses for bonus distribution. It must be recognised also that 4% to 20% of a monthly income of Rs 500 at most (minimum wage plus dearness allowance) in the case of a permanent worker is still somewhat minimal (especially when dearness allowance is only payable when every working day of the month has been actually worked!)

The provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, have limited application in Bhilwara. The Act compels the application of conciliation procedures where industrial disputes arise in public utilities. It permits conciliation as an option where a dispute arises in a private concern. Prevention of illegal strikes and lock-outs, relief to workers affected by lay-off, retrenchment and closure, and the recognition of collective bargaining are covered in the Act as well. However, the provisions relating to lay-off and retrenchment in industrial establishments extend only to registerable factories employing either more than 20 workers or more than 10 workers and using power.

Furthermore, badli workers are also exempted. Relief of workers in the event of closure applies only when the industrial establishment concerned employs more than 50 workers and, again, badli workers are not protected. Supervisory personnel earning in excess of Rs 500 per mensem also remain outside of the Act's purview so do all, with 219 minor exception, cadres of government or quasi- government employees.

While the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, enforces the pro- vision of relief to workers (or, in appropriate circumstances., their dependents) who are accidentally injured or killed in the course of duty, only workers who are employed in factories with 20 or more workers are entitled to medical, hospital, maternity and disablement benefits provided for in the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948. Again, the eligibility of workers in Bhilwara's numerous smaller factories for these benefits is eliminated.

As an instrument to facilitate the progressive improvement to workers' economic condition in Bhilwara, the Industrial Disputes Act is of limited use on account of the relatively large numbers of badli workers in employment among the large-scale factories and the large number of workers employed in a large number of very small and widely differing industries with presently limited productive capacity.

An industrial dispute qualifies for judicial notice only when work- men as a body (or a considerable section of them) have a common cause among themselves (or a common cause with an aggrieved individual workman and take-up or sponsor a given grievance or dispute. Judicially, three criteria must normally be satisfied, viz: there must exist a real and substantial dispute, the dispute must be supported by an appreciable party of workmen, and the dispute must be connected with either the employment, non-employment, or conditions of labour as a particular worker.

The diffusion of jobs over numerous small diverse industries would tend to mitigate opportunities for appreciable numbers of Bhilwara 220

workers to find common causes which would qualify as industrial disputes. The incidence of badli labour too would militate against industrial cohesion and, in the case of permanent industrial workers, the majority of this category was employed in large-scale cotton textile mills and dominated by INTUC-affiliated unions whose policies favoured conciliation over militancy and whose political sympathies laid with the party in power at both union and state levels.

As a post scriptum to this section, in its administration of drought relief work, the state government is empowered, by virtue of the provisions of the Rajasthan Famine Relief Works Employees (Exemption from Labour Laws) Act, 1964, to suspend normal entitlements not just under the Minimum Wages and Payment of Wages Acts but the Industrial

Disputes Act as well.

LITERACY AND EDUCATION

In 1941, the literacy rate of Bhilwara town was 15.22% of the population (including children up to four years of age). Of the

23,000-odd persons residing in Bhilwara, Sanganer and Pur, barely

3,000 males could read and write. Sanganer had but 30 literate females and Pur had but four. Hamirgarh, just to the south, had no

112 literate females at all.

According to the 1951 census, general literacy at district level was only seven per cent - 11.95% among males and 1.72% among females. In the urban areas, however, the literacy rate had risen to 28% - 43% for males and 11.4% among females .113

221

Over three decades, literacy rates have continued to increase but, in 1981, both Rajasthan and Bhilwara District were below the national average of 36%. Between 1971-81, the literacy rate of Bhilwara District jumped from 15.1% to 19.8% but quite profound

differences between sex and rural and urban sectors continued to exist. Table 18 illustrates the point.

Table 18 Literacy rates in Bhilwara District and Tahsil by sector and sex, 1971 and 1981

Persons o Males Females Sector (100) Literate (10(J) Literate (100) Literate

1971 Bhilwara Total 1,054,890 15.10 552,393 23.17 502,497 6.23 District Rural 938,584 11.83 490,207 19.21 448,377 3.77 Urban 116,306 41.46 62,186 54.36 54,120 26.65

Bhilwara Total 171,270 26.53 90,740 36.44 80,330 15.36 Tahsil Rural 89,115 11.16 46,410 18.14 42,705 3.57 Urban 82,155 43.20 44,330 55.59 37,825 28.68

1981 Bhilwara District 1,308,500 19.77 673,550 23.17 634,950 8.98

Bhilwara Town 122,338 48.47 64,749 60.91 57,589 34.48

Source: Census of India, 1971 and 1981.

These tabulations include persons aged up to four years. Account needs to be taken of the fact that concentrations of school pupils and tertiary students whose family roots were normally outside of urban

Bhilwara would tend to inflate figures for Bhilwara Town. 222

Although the overall intercensal growth rate between 1971-81 exceeded 30% and although the growth rate in female literacy exceeded 44%, Bhilwara District's population remains one of the least literate in Rajasthan and the proportion of females who are developing literacy has hardly changed at all. 114

For the organisation of labour, illiteracy raises numerous implications. First, past surveys among workers of Bhilwara's textile mills all conclude that the incidence of illiteracy was high. In his survey of MTM labourers taken in 1979, Ramesh Chandra Kogata claimed that he had found it exceedingly difficult to explain the concept of "household budget" 1. 15 Secondly, Vishan Singh Yadav claimed that the prevalence of illiteracy in the local workforce was the singularly most important factor which militated against local trade unions' ability to protect workers' statutory rights and left workers extremely vulnerable to exploitation by employers.

Over half of the inhabitants of Bhilwara District speak only Mewari and these speakers are concentrated predominantly in the rural sector. In Bhilwara Town, Hindi is not only spoken more frequently but is also the lingua franca of officialdom. Hence, a Mewari-speaking labourer is at a disadvantage when presenting a grievance or giving evidence before the local labour commissioner and the commissioner himself confirmed that difficulties in the inter- pretation of Mewari speech occurred frequently. Local police who were native to other parts of Rajasthan were also conscious of difficulties in coping with idiomatic Mewari speech. 223

The difficulties in communication which Bhilwara people who were only familiar with the Mewari dialect could experience is illustrated by the fact that the town's largest medical practice was conducted by the town's only Mewari-speaking doctor who did not have outstanding medical qualifications but his ability to speak excellent Mewari (as a native of Maveli in Udaipur District) enabled a highly fruitful clinical rapport with patients, a reputation which spread far and wide. 116

An inability to read and comprehend conditions of employment and official notices disadvantaged workers in Bhilwara who were not literate. For trade unionists, the medium of disseminating information or cultivating knowledge about union movements was restricted to time-consuming person-to-person contacts because printed literature was in most cases unintelligible to workers.

Job training too was difficult if the worker had little or no education. For example, prospective mica dressers whom MITCO's Bhilwara branch were training were better able to acquire the art and techniques of dressing mica if they had first obtained a primary school education. Textile factory supervisors too claimed that instruction of workers in the operation of mill machinery was an exasperating task if the workers had little or no education and the problem was exacerbated by the predominance among workers of Mewari speech.

Educational opportunities in Bhilwara appeared to advantage the children of families who had higher paid salaried jobs (which only tertiary sector employment tended to provide) or who were self-employed. For instance, Pratapnagar Higher Secondary School for boys was one of four higher secondary schools in the town and had an enrolment of

224

630 pupils. The success rate of pupils who presented at class 10 and class 11 (matriculation) public examinations in. Commerce and Science

outshone those who presented in Arts (see the table below).

Table 19 Percentage of successful candidates of Pratapnagar Higher Secondary School at public examinations in 1978-81 by class and course

Course Year Class 10 Class 11

Commerce 1978-79 70 70 1979-80 86 60 1980-81 75 43

Science 1978-79 63 62 1979-80 68 82 1980-81 66 77

Arts 1978-79 69 41 1979-80 42 41 1980-81 50 31

Source: Principal, Pratapnagar Higher Secondary School, Bhilwara

When questioned about the discrepancies between the groups of

candidates the school principal explained that Science and Commerce

candidates required prerequisite subjects which rural middle schools could rarely offer because, in the case of Science, the rural schools had neither facilities for teaching natural science nor could they attract science teachers who were in scarce supply anyway. In the case of Commerce, the demand for Commerce enrolment was high and

qualified Commerce teachers, again in short supply, were absorbed

by the city secondary and middle schools. City teaching appointments were also prized because of the high rate of dearness allowance which

was payable. 225

Rural schools were consequently restricted to Arts curricula and oftimes discontented and indifferent teaching staff. Hence, Arts candidates at Pratapnagar Higher Secondary School (largely drawn from the rural sector) were vulnerable to keener scholastic competition, strangers to the urban social and cultural environment, and lacked the parental drive and ambition which motivated urban-based pupils. All of these circumstances compounded to produce a poor scholastic performance among the Arts students.

Even though employment prospects for females were bleak, an increasing number of pupils at the Girls Higher Secondary School were appearing for Class 10 and Class 11 examinations with success rates in Science and Arts superior to those of Pratapnagar. However enrolments were drawn from girls who were domiciled in the municipal bounds - a pupil from a rural background was extremely rare.

Bhilwara's most expensive private school was Vidhya Niketan which Seth Sanpat Mal Lodha had established by trust deed in the MTM compound. The school used English as medium of instruction but taught only to Class 9 standard. Because of the social prestige (rather than its practical utility) which English medium education attracted competition to gain admission to Vidhya Niketan was intense. The school also accepted only the children of caste Hindus. Muslim and scheduled-caste Hindu children were, if not blatantly rejected, certainly were discouraged.

At the post-secondary level, MLV Government College (which began in 1951 as an intermediate government college affiliated with the University of Rajasthan at Jaipur), now prepared 226 candidates for bachelor's degrees in Arts, Commerce, Law (post-graduate), and Science and master's degrees in Arts and Commerce. The college was persistently afflicted with student unrest or strikes during the period of the author's stay. Although the college had over 1,000 enrolments over all courses, it was impossible to ascertain either levels of academic success or social characteristics of students.

As a subjective impression, the institution suffered from paro- chialism which originated from the fact that the majority of students and staff were native to Bhilwara District and tended to suppress intellectual innovation and exploration among its members. Rarely was higher learning pursued for reasons of personal or social development. The prevalent attitude appeared dominated by obsession with credentials.

College administration was fraught with vagaries of floods, strikes and student unrest in Jaipur which constantly interrupted student assessment and processing of results. In Bhilwara itself frequent student disruptions led to the college's closure. Students' intimidation of examination invigilators made academic assessment a farce.

The behaviour of the student body also seemed fickle and capricious in the extreme. For instance, skirmishes between groups of students over communal and religious differences were frequent . Vishan Singh Yadav bemoaned the indifference of college students towards the welfare of the city's workers. On one occasion, a student- at-law who was also a police inspector's son removed a book from the college library with authority and was apprehended in the act by the 227

library chowkidar on duty. In response to the apprehension, the student stabbed the elderly chowkidar causing him bodily harm.

Notwithstanding that a criminal charge was laid against the student

(who immediately fled the district), the college authorities were very tardy in suspending the student and, when they did, the rest of the student body went on strike in sympathy with the culprit!

MM Government College for Girls grew out of the city's higher secondary school for girls which occupied premises initially donated by a branch of the Mansinghka family. The college was established as a government degree college in 1971 but prepared Bachelor of Arts candidates only. Since 1978 enrolments had grown from 283 to 432 in 1982. Candidates reading for final examinations had a 95% success rate. The college administration could recall no recent enrolment of a scheduled caste female and was of the impression that enrolments were drawn entirely from the town.

The ITI at Bhilwara was established in 1962 and, by contrast, was a model haven of the Victorian work ethic: decorum, discipline, industry and diligence were all in evidence among students. Entry was confined to males and restricted to 120 students per year. Courses were of two years duration and required only sub--matriculation attainment for admission. They were confined to electrical, metal and mechanical trades but the curriculum was expected to expand into stenography and tailoring.

In previous years, an experimental advisory committee of people associated with local commerce and industry had been appointed with the intention that it should aid the institute superintendent in 228

devising curricula appropriate to local needs. As the committee's /cases attitude was found repeatedly to be diffident and, in some obstructive,

the experiment was abandoned.

Nine places in the institute were reserved for members of scheduled castes and nine for members of scheduled tribes and no difficulties had ever been found (at least in recent years) in having

these reserved places filled. The superintendent believed that salaries for new graduates of the institute were depressed but indicated that graduates faced little or no difficulty in obtaining

employment .117

Mention also needs to be made at this point about newspapers.

The oldest surviving local newspaper and that with the widest circulation

was Lok Jivan . In 1969 Bhilwara had no fewer than eight weekly newspapers but presently the local press is dominated by the traditionally

pro-INC (and now Cong(I)) Lok Jivan and the pro-Janata Tarun Desh.

Both papers now appear daily with Lok Jivan's editorial office being connected to national news agencies by teleprinter. Both papers were also published only in Hindi and concentrated largely on local news

events. In fact, it was alleged that Lok Jivan's popularity had

displaced that of the state Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika (the

foundation of which Vijay Singh Pathik and Ram Narain Vyas had been

associated with some 50 years ago).

English newspapers such as The Statesman, The Times of India

and the Hindustan Times were procurable from the railway station kiosk but were not widely read. Popular literature comprised Hindi cinema tabloids and "penny dreadfuls". Third-rate English or American 229 films were regularly screened to full houses each Sunday morning at

"Maharana Talkies" cinema. The existence of three cinemas (with a fourth planned for Azadnagar) with three daily screenings of Hindi films (which are mostly of a uniquely plebeian genre) indicated the popularity of the screen as amusement and cultural focal point.

POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR118

Between 1952 and 1977 Bhilwara Town consistently returned an

INC candidate to Rajasthan's Vidhan Sabha and the candidate always carried a clear 40% of the vote. Over this period, successive Bharatiya

Jana Sangh candidates offered the only opposition.

The Ram Rajya Parishad was a party which derived its support largely from the former feudal overlords, maharajas, jagidars , and thakurs and in the rural electorates of Rajasthan posed as a formidable opposition to the INC. Whereas, at Independence, rulers of India were endowed constitutionally with privy purses, jagidars and thakurs were prospectively faced with resumption of their estates and a fear of negligible recompense. It was not surprising therefore that, in

Rajasthans first Vidhan Sabha election, the INC won government by a bare majority and, although strengthened in its power by a faction-ridden opposition, Chief Minister Mohan Lal Sukhadia still had to make concessions to the former feudal order to sustain the domination of INC in Rajasthan.

The Ram Rajya Parishad had occasional successes in securing

Vidhan Sabha seats in Bhilwara Districts rural constituencies but, sharing little common interest with the pro-nationalist banias and 230

mahajans of Bhilwara city, the party avoided ever fielding a candidate in Bhilwara Town. However, by an overwhelming majority, the Ram

Rajya Parishad succeeded in capturing Bhilwaras seat in the Lok Sabha in 1952.

Given the despotism which undoubtedly existed among the thikanas of the district, it would seem reasonable to assume that the result could have derived from coercion and corruption on the thakurs part.

The Ram Rajya Parishads victory was short-lived and, in 1957, after resumption of jagir had been enacted and the Rajasthan INC had improved its organisation, Bhilwaras seat in the Lok Sabha was captured (again, by overwhelming majority) by the INC.

After 1957, the Ram Rajya Parishad dissolved and was succeeded by the Swatantra Party which was never able to muster more than a negligible following anywhere in Bhilwara District. Communist influence at Bijolia, the legacy of Vijay Singh Pathik, was still strong enough in 1952 to prompt the CPI to field Vidhan Sabha candidates for the

Mandalgarh seat over the next decade.

The INC continued to hold Bhilwaras Lok Sabha seat until 1971 when Ramesh Chandra Vyas lost it to his BJS rival. In the wake of popular reaction to the excesses of Emergency Rule, the Janata Party, the BJSs successor, retained the seat in 1977.

At the same general election the Cong(I) lost its Bhilwara Town seat in the Vidhan Sabha to the Janata Party which continued to hold the seat in the 1980 general election but, by a substantial majority,

Gidhari Lal Vyas won back the Lok Sabha seat of Bhilwara. 231

Local support of the right-wing Janata Party and its BJS pre- decessor has been nurtured historically by Bhilwaras urban entrepren- eurial and mercantile classes. The circulation of the pro-Janata newspaper Tarun Desh is confined to Bhilwara Town whereas Lok

Jivan is widely circulated throughout the district.

Having instituted panchayati raj at the same time as the abolition of jagir and thikana, the Congress movement in Rajasthan has been able to cultivate contacts and networks in the rural sector to the point where it has mass "grass roots" support. Hence, for Bhilwaras

Janata supporters would need to extend themselves significantly beyond urban boundaries in order to obtain :populist recognition.

It is also important to note that members of scheduled castes and members of scheduled tribes, who have long been a backbone of

Congress support in Rajasthan, are in less numbers in Bhilwara

Town (12.84% in 1971) than they are elsewhere in the district (16.11%

119 in the rural sector in 1971).

The INCs eventual consolidation in Bhilwara at both urban and rural levels was partly attributable to the absence of Maharana

Bhupal Singh from active regional politics in the immediate post-

Independence period and the absence also of his heir who succeded in 1955, Maharana Bhagwat Singh. In other regions of Rajasthan (and, indeed, in other parts of India, descendants of erstwhile princely rulers have been particularly active in state and national politics - Bikaner,Gwalior, Jaipur, Kota, Patiala, Bharatpur and

Kashmir being among the best-known rajvanshi families).

The Mewar royal house has given nominal support to right wing 232 parties such as Swatantra, BJS, and Janata, and, in 1970, vigorously opposed the statutory and constitutional abolition of hereditary princely privileges. It has also resisted political inducements by INC governments to forsake the right and support the INC but, not to have had some member directly involved in regional politics (either as a candidate for office or as a party spokesman) is even more unusual considering that the Sisodias ranked as the highest Rajput gotra and Mewar as the premier Rajput state.

There were several reasons underlying the retiscence of the survivors of the old princely house to participate in politics. In the first place, Bhopal Singh's physical disability and age restricted his energies. Secondly, because so little of Mewar was khalsa, the personal stake of the ruler in the consequences of post-Independence reform was less for the maharana than for the erstwhile rulers of other states. Thirdly, both Manikya Lal Verma and Mohan Lal Sukhadia were conscious of the opposition to democratisation which the Rajput princes could marshall and, until the first general election, the princes were partially "a-politicised" by being appointed constitutional guardians

- the Maharaja of Jaipur was made rajpramukh, the Maharana of Udaipur the honorary maharaj pramukh, and the remainder of the rulers, umrajpramukhs.

Lastly, on his death, Bhopal Singhs personal coffers were empty of cash and his accumulation of personal debts had been a sizable one.

Want of a financial base precluded Bhagwat Singhs entry into politics in the early post-Independence era and onerous taxation liabilities, which were his legacy of privy purse abolition in 1970, precluded his participation in politics. 233

The Jana Sangh s paramilitary wing, the Rashtriya Swayam

Sevak Sangh (RSSS) had at least three cells in Bhilwara Town but none either in any other urban area of the district or in any part of the rural sector. The RSSS appeared to be the only political movement in the town whose organisation was publicly active, disciplined and intent. A rally at the RSSS parade ground was a spectacle which could attract an audience of 2,500 persons1The Janata Party was rA quick to provide voluntary relief at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital when employees went on strike as part of the state-wide stoppage in 1982 over government servants' pay claims. Indeed, even Vishan

Singh Yadav complimented the local Janata Party on its active interest in social welfare.

The leader of the All-India Youth Federation, the CPI's youth wing, was found incoherent and inarticulate and the leader of the CPI only marginally better 1. 2 °Gidhari Lal Vyas himself seemed to be the only active pro-Congress leader at least in the urban sector.

RELIGION AND CASTE

According to an estimate calculated by Raj Mal Lodha in 1969,

Hindus comprised 85% of the population of Bhilwara Town, a remaining

14% being Muslim, with Christians and Sikhs comprising perhaps 1%. This estimate broadly corresponds with the district-wise distribution of religions in which, in 1961, Hindus accounted for 94%, Muslims 4%, and a miscellany of Christians, Jains and Sikhs, 2%.121

Lodha estimated also that just under half (47%) of the city's

Hindus were of 'business" caste which would imply that they belonged 234

to mercantile and trading jatis of the d vija vaishnya varna such as

agarawal, bania and mahajan. Gotra names of these jatis such as

Enani, Jain, Nanani, Somani, Oswal, Maheshwari, Vijayaragi and

Narsinghpura were common in the town. In large-scale business

circles Malwari "sethi" names such as Lodha, Ajmera, Chittora, Rakka

1 22 and Mansinghka were prominent . Trade names such as Derzi and

Soni were commonplace.

The religious outlook and practice of these "business" castes

emulated Brahminical orthodoxy. Consumption of liquor, meat and

eggs were taboo. Lacto-vegetarian diet was so strictly observed that

the lease of houses was usually conditional on tenants not consuming

on the premises eggs, meat and liquor. As soon as the Janata Party

was in government in Rajasthan in 1977, Bhilwara was declared "dry"

of liquor.

Commensality and jati endogamy were also strictly observed.

The pervasive orthodoxy was such that a bania or mahajan was more

often seen wearing a dhoti and distinctive Mewari saphad than was

any Brahmin.

While the RSSS is in fact a right-wing political extremist movement,

many of its local members saw the role of the RSSS not as a political

one but as a religious one, protecting Hinduism against the traditional enemy, Islam, secularism and the influence of liberalist theosophy.

It might not have been unreasonable to have expected a younger

generation to exercise moderation but religious and cultural xenophobia

seemed solidly entrenched among bania and mahajan communities irrespective of age. 235

A seth saw his spiritual superiority deriving, first, from his place in the caste hierarchy and, secondly, from a devotion to the dharma of his jati in which was subsumed a devotion to Brahminical ideals. As visible prosperity was presented as a divine act of grace in recognition of a life of esteemed piety, divine favour was acknowledged by philanthropic works such as construction of temples, construction of schools and construction of dharmashalas. The most recent project which Bhilwaras industrial seths were promoting was a public stadium to commemorate the late Mohan Lal Sukhadia.

In attitude to their workers, Bhilwara's seths could be unpardonably scornful. Seth Sanpat Mal Lodha was, in his behaviour towards his supervisors, possibly more abusive than he was towards his workers and occasionally coupled physical abuse with verbal abuse. Similar arrogance was displayed by other local factory owners who were not only contemptuous of their employees because they were illiterate cultivators but also because it was the dharma of these workers to toil manually just as it was the owners dharma to pursue wealth - a wall painting of the Hindu goddess of wealth, Laxmi, was never absent from a factory office or boardroom.

The social consequences of such a structure manifested themselves in a multitude of ways. On the one hand Brahmins were inclined to resent the bania and mahajan plutocracy but, on the other, were equally resentful of the aspirations of scheduled castes who qualified for various concessions in public education, public welfare and public employment. In order to maintain the status which they had enjoyed under the protection of the thakurs and to which the varna hierarchy had accorded them, Brahmins were compelled to be as 236

conscientiously religious as their fellow bania and mahajan townsmen.

In efforts to counteract ostracism which had traditionally been

levelled at them by savarna jatis, members of inferior jatis sought to

disguise their inherited jati status by assuming surnames which were

popularly associated with superior jatis. For example, a daroga teacher

who might have been called Udai Lal Daroga in the village of his birth

used the name of "Udai Lal". Darogas in the state police frequently

substituted either the Rajput appellation "Singh" or names of Rajput

gotras such as "Rathore" or "Chauhan". As a surname "Nai" was

dropped in favour of "Verma". Families of the scheduled caste

bhambhi, who lived in the challs of MTM, had adopted the surname

"Rathi" after the name of the founder of Edward Mills at Beawar from

where these families originally came. "Sharma", "Singh" and "Verma"

seemed to be in such abundance as surnames, it was questionable as

to whether or surname was of any further use as a guide to the users

caste origins.

Inferior castes aspirations for religious prestige did not end with

adoption of surnames. Rituals such as the jarula for infant sons and

post-cremation observances such as tehrawin and bapsi were adhered to.

Marriages within any caste community were expensive and lavish

spectacles. Scheduled castes were as concerned as banias that the

marriages of their members were celebrated on astrologically auspicious

days and in accordance with phera ritual.

A growing burden in arranging marriages of daughters was that of dowry. Whereas the accumulated wealth of the seths, banias and

mahajans enabled families of these jatis to meet dowry expectations, 237

members of other jatis who sought respectable marriage settlements for their daughters were invariably under greater financial constraints.

Factory absenteeism peaked not only at the time of harvest and the religious festivals of Holi, Dipawali and Shivratri, but also during marriage seasons (i.e. monthly full moon over Spring and Summer).

In fact, it was frequently impossible for factories to recruit even badli replacement labour over these periods and the extent of absenteeism necessitated factories temporary closure.

It was not just for individuals bare survival, indulgence in luxury, or wanton avarice that illicit commerce and public corruption occurred on such a grand scale. One of the prime reasons for

generating "black money" was to finance daughters marriages and to meet the costs of performing other religious exercises which were felt to be socially, if not spiritually, obligatory.

The general manager of the RIICO office declined to provide any precise information as to the success of the local small-scale business enterprises which RIICO finance had helped to establish. The manager made one poignant statement that those businesses which traded profitably were those which were owned and operated by individuals whose families had had historical involvement in trade and commerce.

In effect, these individuals were banias, mahajans and marwaris.

This situation had two corollaries, the first being that religious and historical factors restricted members of other jatis from entering trade and commerce and, secondly, members of those jatis at the foot of the varna hierarchy would be most disadvantaged in this respect. 238

Manual labour in Bhilwara was performed by jats, gadaris, kirs,

sadhus and various other non-scheduled castes. On the other hand, one never observed a bania installing a hand--pump and a Brahmin seemed best suited to working behind the railway station tea-stall.

There were reasons therefore to believe that the areas of urban economic activity among scheduled castes were limited.

Certainly there were concentrations of scheduled caste workers at MTM and RAJSPIN and, what was of exceptional interest in this regard, was the tendency for labourers who had served the longest periods of employment were more likely to be of scheduled caste than those labourers who had been employed, say, in the last five years.

For instance, occupants of MTMs challs were all permanent workers at MTM.

Of a sample of 10 workers at RAJSPIN, six were of regar, khatik,

rawal or balai jati and all but one had seen more than 10 years service.123

The absence of scheduled caste employees in recent permanent recruitment could be explained by two possible factors. In the first instance government concessions to children of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes by way of education and welfare coupled with reserved posts for adult members in the public services have enabled the younger generation of scheduled caste members to secure employment in avenues other than in manual labour. Secondly, the economic impact of protracted drought in the rural sector and the level of unemployment in the urban has prompted members of superior jatis who have been in need of wage labour to be less selective in their choice of jobs and, as a consequence, technical and intensified 239 competition if not for skilled jobs then for menial and unskilled ones. If the latter assumption were correct, it could also be that schedule caste members were being displaced from the workforce of select industries and from select areas within those industries.

The association of scheduled castes with menial occupations was reinforced in the cases of cycle rickshaw-wallahs and thela-wallahs. About 70% of each were estimated to be of scheduled caste. One

Brahmin rickshaw-wallah came from Jaipur and was at pains to keep knowledge of his occupation from his family. Construction workers in the city tended to be drawn from balai jatis. Residentially, members of scheduled castes were in most number and concentration in the oldest part of Bhilwara, Gulmandi and in the industrial area, the labour colony, the industrial estate and Pur.

Vis a vis superior Hindu castes, the social position of Muslims was no better than that of scheduled castes. However, on one hand, Muslims owned some substantial properties in Bhilwara (including "Maharana Talkies" cinema) and were influential in local Congress affairs (the zila pramukh of Bhilwara District panchayat samitis (the zila parishad) was a Muslim)1;4Muslims did not qualify for statutory concessions as a backward class in the same way as scheduled castes did.

A social problem of particular prevalence in scheduled caste quarters was alcoholism. Despite the religious protestations of the mercantile and trading castes, even Brahmins would privately consume liquor and drinking among Jats, gardaris and Rajputs was tolerated. The prevalence of drunkenness among scheduled castes which were 240

domiciled in Bhilwara drew more reproach from the citys bania and mahajan communities.

The historical cycle of religious and social discrimination, poverty, illiteracy, manual toil, would contribute no doubt to widespread addiction to liquor within this particular social group and its moral condemnation by a religiously and economically superior group would aggravate the problem further. However, consumption of drink was indisputably rife in the labour colony as well as in the MTM challs

The consequent domestic and economic disruptions preoccupied both scheduled caste leaders and the labour colony welfare officer.

The Protection of Civil Rights (formerly known as the Untouchable

Offences) Act, 1955, outlaws "untouchability" and discrimination of scheduled castes in the sphere of public religion, public economic transactions, public employment, recruitment to employment, pursuit of employment, and provision of public education and public amenities.

The Act also suppresses public molestation of scheduled castes and incitement to the practice of "untouchability". Moreover, while, in

Rajasthan, the number of convictions arising from reported offences of

"untouchability" are comparatively few when compared with the number of reports, the policing of "untouchability" in Rajasthan is probably more effective than in any other Indian state.125

Nevertheless, discrimination against scheduled castes occurred in Bhilwara and occurred in covert and overt ways. Vidhya Niketan, for instance, had an express policy of not admitting scheduled caste children. Gidhari Lai Vyas was frequently prompted to make public appeals for toleration of scheduled castes. The action of some 241 sections of interior castes and scheduled castes in disguising their caste origins was attempted amelioration of the social disabilities under which members of these sections perceived themselves to be placed while ever they were visibly identifiable as belonging to castes of low prestige.

While knowledge and astuteness in commerce and trade accumulated over past generations and modern education may have advantaged the business competition of Bhilwara's banias and mahajans, it is equally important to remember that a member of a scheduled caste intent on entering trade must ask not "From whom can I buy?" but, for fear of inflicting religious contamination on a prospective purchaser, "To whom can I sell?", i.e. while a vendor's provision of retail goods and services without respect to the caste of the purchaser is legally compulsory, a purchaser is not compelled to buy from particular categories of vendors nor is one compelled to avoid discrimination of caste in private social celebrations and business dealings. Hence, while statutory guarantees of access of scheduled castes to economic resources (such as education, public employment, self employment and capital finance) and to participation in wider social milieux are con- siderably more than a political charade, the areas of economic activity within urban Bhilwara in which members of scheduled castes can participate are still subject to subtle but real constraints.

PROSPECTS FOR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN BHILWARA

Immediate prospects for rapid industrial growth in Bhilwara are bleak. In the first instance, growth potential is inhibited by the impact of the region's arid climate on infrastructural development. The present 242

water storage capacities of the Meja and Kotri bunds have proved inadequate to cope with demands of agricultural irrigation and commercial, industrial and residential consumption in a time of protracted water shortage. But Rajasthans Sixth Five Year Plan envisages the construction of a feeder canal from each bund to enable, in combination, the irrigation of a further 7,000 hectares not only in

Bhilwara District but in Chittorgarh and Udaipur Districts as well. 126

These projects once completed would seem doomed to redundancy in long droughts. Hand-pump tube wells sunk in the city as part of

Rajasthans current drought relief program have had a barely palliative effect on the impact of water shortage because of the incidence of pumps technical breakdown and depletion of subterranean water.

Drought relief works on road improvement in Bhilwara (at district , tahsil and town levels) have enabled easier surface conveyance on main arterial roads but have ignored the myriad of katcha thoroughfares to mica mines, stone quarries and satellite rural villages.

A second infrastructural problem is that of the metre-gauge rail link. Kota, which is situated on a broad-gauge line 125 km east of

Bhilwara, is situated on a broad gauge line which gives that particular town access, by surface rail transport, to every major port and industrial centre the length and breadth of India. Kotas "on-line" access to broad-gauge rail is one reason why it has outpaced Bhilwara in industrial growth. Without broad-gauge rail, Bhilwara continues to be inconvenienced by bottlenecks in the import of coal for local factory generation, kerosene and fuel. Conversion of the metre-gauge railway to link with broad-gauge rail would entail the conversion of over 800 km of line, a task which would in turn entail a major policy 243 decision on the central government's part.

The third area of infrastructural difficulty is that of electrical power supply. Of Indian coal reserves there is an abundance in suitable industrial quality but no coal deposits exist in Rajasthan. Moreover, Indian coal production per man hour shift ranks as one of the world's lowest because of inadequate mining technology, deplorable conditions of mining labour, and distribution hampered by inadequate surface transport and black marketeering which thrives on chronic shortages of coal stocks. 127

About a half of India's electrical energy is produced by thermal coal fired power stations and satellite diesel boosters. The efficiency of thermal systems is impeded by problems of indigenous coal production and distribution and also by the superior efficiency of imported thermal generation plants over indigenously manufactured ones.

Until Independence, Indian electricity generation and supply was privately owned and developed. As late as 1960, ownership of 28 out of 37 of Rajasthan's power houses was in private hands. While nationally, some 90% of India's electrical generation capacities are now in public hands, state electricity authorities are not the quasi-autonomous enterprises which their counterparts in the West might be. Not only do these authorities depend on government capital for expansion, their supply cost structures have been devised in a way which act as incentives for industrial promotion at the expense of agricultural, commercial and domestic users. Given that electrical energy costs in India have been artificially low in any event and given too that , under optimum conditions of production, power absorbs little more than 3% of production costs, the rationale for the present concessions to industry 244 can lie only in the desire to induce entrepreneurs to invest anew or to continue existing investments in hitherto undeveloped regions. Low energy costs in production will offset other areas into which potential surplus profit might otherwise be absorbed.

The fragmented development of power generation and transmission which was inherited at Independence was such that three decades had to pass before viable regional grid systems were set up and a national grid system could be contemplated. Present-day losses of electrical energy in transmission and distribution are large and are growing year by year (the loss incurred nationally in 1976-77 alone was a fifth).

Rajasthan shares a hydroelectric power generation scheme on the Chambul River at Rana Pratap Sagar in Kota District with Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan has coal-fired thermal power stations at Kota, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Alwar and Bharatpur. Faced with an annual per capita electricity consumption rate a third below the national average (64 kw in Rajasthan c.f. 101 kw over All-India), inadequate natural water supply for hydroelectric power generation, no local coal deposits for thermal power generation, and high operational and capital costs for thermal power development, Mohan Lal Sukhadia successfully lobbied the central government to build a nuclear power station for Rajasthan. (This was Sukhadia's second great political triumph, the first being the construction of the Rajasthan Canal through the Thar Desert.) General economic and geographical reasons favoured the installation of nuclear power but, because nuclear energy was a central government responsibility rather than a state one, Rajasthan would be relieved of capital investment in power generation and able therefore to direct its capital resources to 245

other areas of development.

The original rationale adopted by India in its consequent adoption of nuclear energy for power generation was prompted by considerations of self-sufficiency in power, conservation of foreign exchange, and a desire to stimulate rapid industrialisation of vast areas, which like

Bhilwara, were grossly underdeveloped. The inception of India's nuclear power program was inspired by Homi Bhabha, whose family had strong ties with the politically magnate Nehrus and the industrially magnate Tatas.

The first Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-1) was approved in 1960. Its construction was by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited but the Canadian concern defaulted on the delivery of the necessary 230 tonnes of heavy water coolant (the deficiency eventually being met by the Soviet Union)and RAPS-1 came into commission in 1974.

A second station for Rajasthan, RAPS-2, was approved in 1964. Its construction began in 1967 but it was not commissioned until 1980 again for want of heavy water - this time the West cut off supplies on account of the underground atomic test which took place at

Pokharan in Rajasthan in 1974 and supplies of heavy water from the

Soviet Union were limited as well as a drain on India's foreign exchange.

To compensate for the loss of heavy water supplies, indigenous heavy water processing plants have been built including one at Kota itself. The Kota plant is uncompleted and the operation of others has been hamstrung by explosion, labour dispute or technical breakdown. Uranium supplies in India are also not sufficient to guarantee supply of reactor fuel. 246

The economic inability of RAPS-1 and 2 is debilitated by a malaise not just of prospective future undersupplies of local and imported heavy water and reactor fuel, the stations leak heavy water in significant amounts. But the immediately crucial problems are the

cost of station operations (the costs of electricity supplies from RAPS-1

are double those of Tarapur Atomic Power Station in Maharashstra) and Rajasthan's primitive electrical grid system. RAPS-1 alone was

built to serve a grid five times the size of that of Rajasthan with the

result that when the grid collapses or breaks down, the RAPS stations' reactors have to be shut down for at least two days at a time.

The supply of capital for industrial investment is another factor of importance to Bhilwara's development. An asbestos cement insulation pipe works, planned with Italian collaboration, is a local project under

contemplation. A rubber factory, also promoted with international

collaborative assistance, is currently being planned as well.

Local private capital is in the hands of a very few families whose

dissatisfaction with returns on Bhilwara investments was evidenced, in the

Mansinghkas' case, by moves to invest in Madhya Pradesh where wages were lower. Seth Sampat Mal Iaodha had invested in commercial and industrial property development in Kota where rental on industrial property was even double that of Bhilwara.

Eighty per cent of finance for industries assistance under Rajasthan's five-year plans derived from central government, World Bank and International Development Association sources, channelled through the Indian Industrial Development Bank, Indian Industrial Finance Corporation, the Rajasthan Finance Corporation, and RIIC0. 128Austerity in international 247 lending to India would inevitably curtail local loans concessions in Bhilwara as it would all over India.

According to a matrix of determinants developed and applied by Prem Kumar Durani for ranking the suitability of different regions in Rajasthan for different kinds of industrial development, Bhilwara's strength lies in textile manufacture but only because of the size of the number of persons locally employed in that industry when Durani undertook his research in 19701 29 However, even if a reliable, cheap and substantial supply of power were readily available, competitive and efficient large scale textiles production would rely in the long term on the introduction of more technologically sophisticated machinery and a consequent reduction in labour-intense operations.

MTM, RAJSPIN, Bhupal Mining Works and two other small spinning mills were the only five industries in Bhilwara to rate references in the 1977 edition of the central government's national industries directory. 130

Rajasthan's sixth plan also envisages increased public outlays on factories and boilers inspection, labour welfare research and administration, industrial training institute education, and establishment of more employment exchanges but the efficacy of these proposals must be questioned seriously.131If inspection of factories and boilers were permitted to increase arithmetically in parallel with the rate of registration, inspection would not necessarily result in increased manufacturing efficiency. On the other hand, if the rate of inspection were to increase geometrically in relation to registration and were to be done scrupulously, costs of the implementing factory improvements 248

(from the point of view of light, atmosphere, sanitation, hygiene and safety) could prove unduly onerous for factory management.

Legislative change to bring labour of all small scale enterprises within the ambit of the administration of labour law would seem necessary if effective improvement to conditions of labour at all levels in the primary and secondary sectors were to be achieved. There is a serious problem of urban undernutrition which the Government of

Rajasthan has recognised (an estimated 48% of urban labour has a daily calorific intake of food less than 2,100) the alleviation of which public labour welfare might be attentive l."However, there is an educative problem subsumed within the general one, the solution to which simple relief would not suffice. Moreover, the wide dispersion of labour within widely dispersed small-scale factories and casual employment would militate against a comprehensive welfare program that would penetrate the ranks of labour in this nebulous "twilight" zone. At least in technical and executive levels of private industry and commerce, personal introductions are as likely to secure employment as an employment exchange referral.

While Arts graduates and matriculates comprise significant numbers of India's legendary "educated unemployed" and while provision of more vocationally relevant industrial training institute education, greater concentration on the development of science and engineering faculties might seem economically the more useful planning

strategems if intellectual and technical talent is to be attuned to industrial modernisation. Portents for future employment of these categories of graduates are not encouraging given the fact that 249

certificated and diploma technicians, together with Science graduates, constitute the largest category of Indias "educated unemployed". At menial levels, job opportunities will continue to be searched out by 133 word of mouth. Hence, enhancement merely of the number of existing employment exchanges will neither enhance registrants employment prospects or remove the "dastur-jobber".

Even though literacy rates in Bhilwara Districts rural and urban sectors are increasing in both sectors and for both sexes, the pattern of growth rate approximates one already well established in the industrially more advanced states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in which the primary school participation rate of urban boys from well-off families exceeds, by as much as 70%, the primary school participation rate of girls from poorer background, a trend that still conversely applies in relation to the respective participation rates of urban girls of richer families and rural boys from poorer families, despite the fact of participation rate of all girls being lower than that of all boys .134

Similarly, the discrepancy between sectors and sexes in relation to comparative work participation rates (in which urban males are

favoured diametrically over rural females) can apply as much in

Bhilwara District as it can and does state-wide in Rajasthan and in other parts of India.