World of Industries

With the changing industrial landscape of the country, growth of new industrial township and dispersal of activity a process of "industrial culturalization" of workers has set in. New working class areas have come into being and old ones are expanding. In the new areas, adaptability to this culture depends on the extent and strength of the workers link the rural areas. Yet assimilation with the new way of life has not been slow. The national Comission on Labour has Observed "Our visit have revealed changes in workers day to day life and these we consider worth recording. Though somewhat ikpressionistics and lacking in quantative predision, they are borne out by the writing of a cross section social observers of the Indian scene as a whole.

Earlier, the labour force in factories, mines and plantation was generally provided by the lowest castes, depressed classes and the unfortunates in the society.For example, in coal mines, the largest single group was that of Bauris of very low social rank followed by the santhals. In factories, the workers were drawn from Dosad, Maharas, Kolis, Julhansa, Lunyas, Kunbis, Gonds, Pasis, Panchansams, Mochis, Saibbs, Mali, Dheds, LOhar, Kumbhars, and many other schedule cast people. Now the workers come even from other communities and castes such as Brahmins, Rajputs, etc. Though caste and occupation have always interacted and the relation between the two has been elastic in our society, social mobility today accounts for the emergence of mied work force. Though caste and ocupation always interacted and the relation between the two has been elastic in our society social mobility today accounts for the emer- gency of mixed work force.

The national comission on Labours view are worth noting " what ever the reasons, their has developed a greater sense of equality amoung workers inter se and also as between the supervisory group on the one hand and workers on another. In fact, hte workers in some industrial town ship are getting conscious of the distinction shown between the workers and other staff in the matter of company transport or medical and recreational facilities. As more and more workers send their children to school and colleges, instances where the children of factory workers come out as engineers, doctors, accountants and teachers or on the increase. All this have contributed to a kind of social amalgam.

The old social barriers are being rapidly broken.It is no wonder to find a son or daughter of spinner or a weavier working side by side in a chemical or pharmacetuical factory with the son/daughter of an earlier generation of factory worker. Similarly, the old distate among the so called high class people of manual work is gradually weaning away because the group themselves have no retained their seprate identity as of old because the jobs are no longer wholly manual. This change is visible not only in the work place, but also in homes where earning members have established parity with elders in the family and see and reciprocate social call from co workers in the work place. Higher skills, better education and better wage levels have also helped in removing this distinction between the manual and non - manual workers.

In earlier stages, only male workers predominated in the working force in factories. But know women workers are increasingly taken to industrial work both skilled and semi - skilled. Formerly they were mostly confined to plantation and the textile industry. Now young girls from middle class families are working in factories in incresasing numbers. This is evidence from the fact that the number of women workers has increaed from 37,000 in the factories 75,000 in mines and 377,000 in plantation in 1971 to 495,000 , 90,000 and 416,000 respectively in 1977. Regarding eemployment of women the national comission on labour said "In some cases it is the economic compulsion which makes them take to work but in several others it is the desire to improve their standard of living and to posess ' extra ' goods that drive both husband and wife to work." Similarly child labour is also found in factories, shops, and establishments, small scale industries and in un organised sector through their number is on the decline.

The tribal labour has emerged in sizeable proportion to industrial labour. Observes the national comission on labour. "The process which started towards the end of the 19th century with the exploitation of forests wealth and minerals like coal, mangenesa and iron ore gathered momentums since Independence with the location of factories in the tribal belts. The process has led to the urbanization of tribal areas as families as a result of their lands being aquired for developing industrial complexes were no longer satisfied with the member to be absorbed in industrial employement." These tribal youths have adapted rhemselves to the changed way of life. Tribals may know be seen working side by side with others in mining area iron and steel industries and in other unorganised industries like construction and building etc.

In view of the fact that the percentage of literacy in total population is very low ( 36 % acording to 1981 census, as against 29 % in 1971 ) it is very quite natural that the industrila workers also have a very low percentage of literacy. A comission on plan projects ( Mehta comission on literacy ) set up by the government of India reported in 1964 that in five sectors of organised industry ( tea plantation, coal mining, jute, cotton and iron and steel ) more than 71 % of the workers were illiterate and that there have been variation from the region to region and state to state in the same industry. But the fact of the situation is that the extent of illetracy amoung industrial workers is very high.

Industrial working class has not been a homogenous class for the reason that people of different castes, communities, ethnic groups, religious beliefs with different languages and regions come to work in factories, where every one find the other a total stranger. It is difficult for them to confide in the fellow workers. The result is that the Indian labour force is sharply divided between 'high class' and 'low class', ' skilled ' and ' un skilled ', ' southerner ' and ' northener' ' hindus ' and ' muslims ', ' bengali ' or ' gujrati '. this artificial division has affected the collective bargaining capacity of the workers in the absebse of oneness. Atmosphere has not yet fully developed for what one may call vertical organisation in which all elements could stand together in a collective barganing effort to force improvement in wages and hours and conditions of work. Even a rather good trade union has not proved very effective with relation to basics economic problems of labours.

The Indian working class has yet remained undefferntiated as a class owing to the low degree of industrialisation, the presistence of traditional atachment to the village and joint family (for whatsoever reason), the caste and other social institutions, the low wages and its low composition in the overall population of the country. Expcept for few big industrial centres, where the workers have acquired substantial degree of stability, by and large, the worker has remained a peasant at heart. Oranti has rightly observed, "workers in zIndia do not constitute a wage earning class corresponding to the factory workers of the Western countries. Employment relations are less clearly defined. One can speak of an industrial and "commercial" labour force dependent upon wages and employment from others only in a limited number of localities ande only for the most recent past of India's economic history. Indian workers alternate from being unemployed and available for work to being self-employed in a trade and not available for hire, to activity on land or in their native village, and then back to industriial or commercial employent or unemployment." The remark made in 1955 holds true to the present day.

One of the important characteristics of Indian workers is that they are in the habit of abstaining from work and similarly they have a greater propensity to change the factory than the workers in the countries. The rate of absenteeism ranges from 13 % to 30 % and it varies with the seasons in the year, the highest being during March - june every year. Absenteeism is largely concered with authorised and un authorised reasons. Under authorised reasons include (a) sickness which cocontribute to about 3 percent of the total percentage of absenteeism; (b) accidents ( 0.2 to 0.4 percent ) (c) leave (3.0 to 3.5 percent ) which may be availed for visiting villaes attending to marriages festivals and social functions or for inability to attend the work place as it is far off include (1) fatigue of the workmen (2) bad habits like drinking (3) indebetness (4) punishment for absenteeism (5) gambling and (6) local festivals etc.

Another notable characteristic feature of the industrial labour in India has been its migratory character indicating that majority of the workers are in migrant from the adjoining rural areas and even now maintain connections with their rural homes. They visit the villages as often as possible because the village is an infinitely better place than the city for the young and the aged, the maimed and the exhausted the unemployed and the unemployable. The partially commited character and instability of workers not only retards economics development of the country but also adversly affect the strengths of the traid union. In the paragraphs that 3 follow the problem of migration has been discussed in detail.

The evolution of the working class in India has been direct outcome of the country's industrial development and a considerable increase in its population. This increasing number put a heavy pressure on land forcing many landless persons to seek alternative employment elsewhere. The British-induced land tenures implied high taxation and insecurity for the tiller of the soil which made them indebted. The growing indebtedness and the diminishing capacity of the land to sustain them, pushed them to nearby cities for urban employment. The number of such job seekers further increased on account of the devastation and disintegration of the cottage and village industries under the impact of competition generated by British imports. Thus, unlike the West, industrial labour in India has mainly been drawn from amongst the landless agricultural labourers. The immediate causes of this city - ward migration of the rural people have been : (i) increasing pressure of population on land on accountof the decline of cottage industries ; (ii) increasing number of land-less agricultural labourers which froce them to earn their livelihood elsewhere ;(iii) the ill-treatment of the high caste people towards the scheduled castes and other depressed classes, and the social disabilities from which these later people suffer ; (iv) family quarrels and worries ; and (v) indebtedness of the people. These confirm the views of the Royal Commission on Labour that labourers do not come to the cities for ots attraction or a betterway of life but economic pressures in the village force them to mover The Commission observes, "the driving force in migration comes entirely from one end of the channel that is the village end.

Migration of workers from the rural areas to urban areas in most cases is of a temporary nature. The labour Investigation Committee found that only 30 percent of the industrial work force lived in the cities premanently. This has induced an instability in the labour force, which, many a time, mainfests itself into labour shortages. The main cause of this instability of labour force is the workers' link with the village. He is "pushed: out city, of the village mainly because of low income, and "pulled in the city, "by attraction of better prospects. In the event of better propects in agriculture he may leave his job in the factory and go back to his village. During the sowing and harvesting seasons the preasure of agricultural work may force his presence in the village. Besides, hard life in the cities and strenuous conditions of work in the factory may also compel him to go to the villages for a while and regain fressness. In times of unavoidable difficulties such as continued illness, epidemics, strikes, unemployment or old age, the village provide a rescue to people. He also visits the village to meet his relations and friends and to attend to certain social or religious ceromony.

Recent studies have revealed that workers" link with the village as a cause of instability in the labour force has become more of less a matter of history and now the workers do have their link with the village but they do not go there for any economics pursuit. They gto mainly for relaxation or attending social cermonies and spending lone holidays. As observed by the Labour Investigation Committee, "the factory workers retained their contacts with the villages more for rest and recuperation than for attending to cultivation. The workers have almost lost their economic interests on land and have adhered to the way of life or occupation they have chosen. The factual survey conducted by the Committee has revealed greater concentration of working class in industrial areas and this led to a rise of an industrial proletariat in most cities. It noted greater stability in labour force in these centres where the employers have looked after their labour by paying a decent living wage, providing good housing accommodation and making pension for the future. The committee was of the view that "village nexus need notbe encouraged as most of the workers are landkess labourers and have no stake on land.

Labour commitment has been defined as "involving both performance and acceptance of the behaviour appropriate to industrial way of life." According to American authors, a committed worker is one "who stays on the job and who has severd his major connection with land. He is a permanent member of the industrial working force, receiving wages and being dependent for making a living on enterprose management which offers him work and directs his activities at the work place. " These authors trace labour commitment to four broad categories, viz.,
(a) the "uncommitted worker", who is only a temporary member of the industrial society and accepts industrial employment to tide over some temporary difficulty and goes bvack to the village after working for a short time;
(b) the "partially committed or semi-committed worker" is one who looks at industrial employment as something permanent but at heart he is a villager and maintains his contact with the village;
(c) the "specficially committed worker", who is permanently attached to particular enterprise and a particular occupation.
(d) The genarally comitted workers is one who has adjusted himself to the industrial way of life, who depends entirely upon industrial employement for his livelihood and does not have any contract with the village.