Archaic Technology, Social Relations and Innovations in Brick Kilns Research Study as part of the Project: Empowering CSOs for Decent Work and Green Bricks in India’s Brick Kilns J. John Centre for Education and Communication New Delhi Archaic Technology, Social Relations and Innovations in Brick Kilns Research Study as part of the Project: Empowering CSOs for Decent Work and Green Bricks in India’s Brick Kilns J. John Funded by the European Union Archaic Technology, Social Relations and Innovations in Brick Kilns © Centre for Education and Communication March 2018 Published by Centre for Education and Communication (CEC) 2 173-A, Khirki Village, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi - 110017 T: 91 11 29541841 / 29541858 F: 91 11 29542464 Website: www.cec-india.org Copy edited and designed by The Information and Feature Trust (TIFT) Lakshmi (Kayyadam), Thondayad, Cheverambalam (PO), Calicut – 673017 M: +91 9526577902. E: [email protected] ISBN: 81-88160-22-9 This volume is part of a project, ‘Empowering CSOs for Decent Work and Green Bricks in India’s Brick Kilns, implemented in partnership with Prayas and Terre des Hommes (TdH) and funded by the European Union (EU). The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. ARCHAIC TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND INNOVATIONS IN BRICK KILNS “...Caste System is not merely division of labour. It is also a division of labourers. Civilized society undoubtedly needs division of labour. But in no civilized society is division of labour accompanied by this unnatural division of labourers into water-tight compartments. Caste System is not merely a division of labourers which is quite different from division of labour—it is an heirarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other. ..What efficiency can there be in a system under which neither men’s hearts nor their minds are in 3 their work? As an economic organization, Caste is therefore a harmful institution, inasmuch as it involves the subordination of man’s natural powers and inclinations to the exigencies of social rules.” Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste pp. 46-47 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................................................................5 Foreword .......................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Preface ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................9 Caste-based Division of Labour in Brick Kilns ...................................................................................................................................13 General Observations on Brick kilns in India .....................................................................................................................................13 The Technology of BrickMaking ............................................................................................................................................................14 Pre-firing Processes .......................................................................................................................................................................15 Firing-based Types of Brickmaking units in India ...................................................................................................................15 Results from the Case Studies .................................................................................................................................................................17 Summary of Observations from the Initial Case Studies .........................................................................................................18 The Problem Redefined ............................................................................................................................................................................19 Problems in Defining the Status of Brick Kilns ...................................................................................................................................19 4 Innovations and Their Impact on Society .............................................................................................................................................21 Brick Kilns and Social Relations in Ancient and Medieval India ....................................................................................................23 Harappa and Mohenjo-daro .........................................................................................................................................................24 Slavery in Ancient India ...............................................................................................................................................................24 Sultanate and Mughal Periods .....................................................................................................................................................25 Kumhars – The Potters and Brickmakers ...................................................................................................................................26 Bricks, British Imperialism and Innovations .......................................................................................................................................27 Irrigation Canals in British India and Requirement of Bricks ................................................................................................28 The Making of Indian Railways and the Requirement of Bricks ............................................................................................28 Innovations in the Organisation of Production of Bricks ........................................................................................................31 Innovations in the Sourcing of Workers in Brick Kilns ...........................................................................................................31 Advances as a means to lure workers .............................................................................................................................31 Operation in gangs and the phenomenon of gangers ....................................................................................................32 Caste-based gangs ............................................................................................................................................................32 Bonded labour in kilns ....................................................................................................................................................32 Rural Impoverishment and Management of Supply .................................................................................................................33 Bricks in 18th- and 19th-Century Britain ..................................................................................................................................35 Technological innovations in brickmaking in Britain ..................................................................................................38 The Bull’s Trench Kiln – The Imperialist Invention in India ...........................................................................................................39 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................................................44 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................................................................................45 ARCHAIC TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND INNOVATIONS IN BRICK KILNS Acknowledgments This researcher is deeply grateful to Pritom Saikia, Research Officer, CEC, for conducting the case studies of brick kilns in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Thanks are also due to Ruchi Gupta, Meena Sharma, Javed Mansouri, Javed Iqbal and Prasad R for assistance during various stages of the project. I gratefully acknowledge the comments and observations from S Gunasekaran and Pallavi Mansingh. Special thanks to Ms Arati Pandya, Executive Director of CEC, for her patience and valuable inputs. 5 J. John New Delhi 23 December 2017 6 ARCHAIC TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND INNOVATIONS IN BRICK KILNS Foreword here is no doubt that brick-making has been one of In this backdrop, Centre for Education and Communication the centuries-old practices in India with the history of (CEC) decided to explore the situation systematically, to making bricks can be traced back to the Indus Valley understand why innovations in brick kilns are rare and how TCivilisation. While there is no clarity on the technology used this is linked to industrial relations that are not different from then, the most commonly used technology in current-day caste-based social relations. In doing so, CEC rests itself on India is the fixed chimney bull trench kiln (FCBTK) technology the hypothesises that the brick-kiln manufacturers’ capacities and, to some extent, the clamp technology. History suggests to innovate depend on a) facilitating a labour