Agricultural Labour

There is an urgent need to issue a policy resolution to ensure the social security and safety of sugar cane migrant labourers in the light of Covid-19 crisis. A failure to do so would lead to an absurd situation for the state, sugar industry, farmers and, more so, for the migrant labour.

Based on the restudy in 2012-14 of Jamgod in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh, which was first studied by Adrian C Mayer in the 1950s, an overview of changes in landownership and use, and the relations of labour and production are presented. Locating the analysis at the intersection of land and labour, the aim is to explore how local power structures and personal aspirations have transformed.

On May 30 irate workers of a tea estate in Assam's Sonitpur district hacked and burnt to death the estate's deputy manager and senior assistant manager. Trade union leaders from the tea industry have unequivocally condemned the incident. But they have also drawn attention to the fact that tea garden managements in Assam have been systematically ignoring the demands of the workers, especially for welfare measures. Successive governments in Assam have failed to force managements to implement the Plantations Labour Act of 1951. Managements now claim that the industry is passing through a recession, but during the tea boom of the 1990s the same managements did not share even a minuscule part of their prosperity with the workers.

Real productivity of small farms has been found to be higher than that of large holdings. So much so that institutions such as the World Bank now propagate the view that redistribution of land to small farmers would lead to greater overall productivity. A compelling reason, if one were needed, to hasten the process of land reform in India.