Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra 144387602X, 9781443876025

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Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra

Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra By

Kali Chittibabu

Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra By Kali Chittibabu This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Kali Chittibabu All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7602-X ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7602-5

To My Teacher Dr. Anindhita Mukhopadyay

CONTENTS

List of Tables, Maps and Photographs ..................................................... viii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... x Foreword .................................................................................................... xi Preface ...................................................................................................... xiii Glossary ..................................................................................................... xv Chapter I ...................................................................................................... 1 Introduction Chapter II ................................................................................................... 36 Public Works of Madras Presidency (Andhra) and Labour Migrations Chapter III ................................................................................................. 93 Famines and Labour Migrations Chapter IV ............................................................................................... 153 Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations Chapter V ................................................................................................ 202 Andhra Labour en route to Assam Plantations Chapter VI ............................................................................................... 257 Conclusion Select Bibliography ................................................................................. 261

LIST OF TABLES, MAPS AND PHOTOGRAPHS Tables Table 3.1: The Gain or Loss of Population percent of Kurnool district between 1871-1941 Table 3.2: The Gain or Loss of Population percent of Bellary district between 1891-1941 Table 3.3: The Gain or Loss of Population percent of Anantapuram district between 1871-1941 Table 3.4: The Gain or Loss of Population percent of Cuddapah district between 1871-1901 Table 3.5: The Gain or Loss of Population percent of Cuddapah district between 1901-1941 Table 4.1: Annual Cost of Cultivation and labour wages of Andhra Delta from 1942 to 1928 Table 4.2: Details of wages taken from the accounts of Yelamarti Ramana of Bhimadolu Table 4.3: Total Expenditure upon permanent and casual labour Table 4.4: Population of Godavari District from 1870 to 1900 Table 4.5: Population of East Godavari from 1911 to 1941 Table 4.6: Population of West Godavari from 1901 to 1940 Table 4.7: Population of Kistna District from 1871 to 1940 Table 4.8: Population of Guntur District from 1901 to 1941 Table 4.9: Number of Emigration from Madras Presidency to Hyderabad State Table 4.10: Important Hindu Castes (Indian emigrants) in Burma Table 4.11: Indians In Burma classified by race by 1921. Table 4.12: Classification of Indian Immigrants by Race by 1931 Table 5.1: Composition of Local Labour Force of Principal Tea District Areas. Table 5.2: Total Number of Emigrants to Assam plantations from 1885 to 1900. Table 5.3: Total Number of Emigrant Labourers to Assam Plantations from Ganjam and Vizagaptanam, 1902-1915 Table 5.4: Total Number of Emigrant Labourers to Assam Plantations from Godavari, Gunture, Nellore And Kistna, 1908-1915 Table 5.5: Total Number of Emigrant Labour to Assam Plantations, 19211931.

Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra

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Maps Map 1.1: Map of Madras Presidency of Andhra. Map 1.2: Map of East Coast North Division (Andhra) of Madras Presidency. Map 1.3: Map of Deccan Division (Ceded Andhra) Of Madras Presidency. Map 1.4: Map of Agency Division (Andhra) of Madras Presidency. Photographs Photograph 2.1: Sir Arthur Cotton with the vast assemblage of artisans and labourers congregated at the Dowlaiswaram in 1847. Photograph 2.2: Artisans, Bricklayers, Masons, Stone Cutters and Labourers at work on Godavari Anicut, 1847-1852. Photograph 2.3: Artisans, Bricklayers, Masons, Stone Cutters and Labourers at work on Godavari Anicut, 1847-1852. Photograph 2.4: Artisans, Bricklayers, Masons, Stone Cutters and Labourers at work on Godavari Anicut, 1847-1852. Photograph 3.1: The Great Famine of Madras Presidency, Distribution of food grains in the relief camp to the sufferers at Bellary, 20 October 1877. Photograph 3.2: The Famine in Madras Presidency: The Relief Camp at Monegar Choultry, Serving Out Boiled Rice, 1877 Engraving Photograph 3.3: The Great Famine of Madras Presidency, Scenes in The Bellary District, 1877 Photograph 4.1: 1832-1833 Guntur Famine and 1845 Godavari Cyclonewhich caused out-migration of labourers from Godavari and Kistna Districts. Photograph 4.2: Introduction of Admirable system of Irrigation in Godavari and Kistna districts the delta region of Andhra became very prosperous. Photograph 5.1: This picture shows the different stages in the process of making tea in Assam in 1850. Photograph 5.2: ‘Assamese Woman in costume, Picking Tea leaves in a field’ was taken at the end of the nineteenth century. The woman is having physical and costume similarities with North Coastal Andhra Agency women.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My heartfelt thanks to my doctoral research supervisor Dr. Anindita Mukhopadyay for constant guidance and encouragement for completing my research work. Special thanks to Prof. O.R. Reddy, Prof. Aloka Parasher Sen, Prof. K.P. Rao, Prof. Atluri Murali, Prof. G. Omkarnath. Prof. R.L. Hangloo, Prof. Rekha Pande, Dr. M.N. Rajesh and Dr. V.J Varhees for their valuable suggestions for completing this manuscript. A special thanks to Lloyd Barton for English corrections of my manuscript. I express deep gratitude to Dr. K. Syamala Devi, Assistant General Manager, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant; I owe my special thanks to Kasi Mohanvathi, Mr. G. Durga Prasad, Mr. Kasi Suresh, Priyanka, Gaganachandrika, Nayanachandrika, M. Rajkumar, M. Sridevi, Rajiv Kiran, Iswarya, Sandeep, K. Mohan Rao, K. Sampurna, K. Ratna Shekar, K. Padma, K. Babu Rao, K. Sarojini, K. Mani Raju, K. Sarita, K. Wilson, K. Annapurna, K. Kishore, K. Kumari. Most importantly special thanks to my parents Kali.Satyanandam and Mariyamma and to my brothers and sisters Anil, Sunil, Kiran, Ashok, Rajesh, Suresh, Karteek, Akhil, Ravi, Vinod, Ashis, Anitha, Kalyani, Chandini, Anusha. My friends G. Venkata Swamy, P. Murthy, V. Nagaraju, N. Madhava Rao, D. Srinivas, P. Yassir Arafat. Thank you also to the staff at Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Lastly my wife M. Neelam has brought great beauty to my life. She is a constant source of encouragement and strong pillar and support of help rendered to bring out this manuscript.

FOREWORD

Today India is a Democratic Republic and its people numbering 125 crores are its sovereigns. Yet majority of the sovereigns, who live in around 7 lakh villages, have been deserting their villages for urban towns like Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc or for Middle East Countries. Even smaller towns like Allahabad, Agra, Lucknow, Vadodara, Pune, Hubli, Dharwad, Coimbatore, Thiruvanantpuram, Guwahati, Imphal, Mednipur, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam etc attract quite a large number of rural people herd together early morning after travelling 20-50 Kilometre in search of work for a day. Even so-called lower and middle classes are being going from one place to the other in search of jobs. Question to ponder is: Why? Why do to the sovereigns of India have leave their place of residence/habitat? Why do they not stay on for enjoying their sovereignty over their lands, forests, rivers, mines and hills? Answer is most of the sovereigns have lost their sovereignty over their lands, forests, rivers, hills, mines during last over six decades of India’s independence. They are left with nothing except their bodies and Gutka to live on. There is no source of livelihood for them. This phenomenon of movement of people from their place of residence to other place is known as ‘migration’ in Social Science Literature. Question arises: Is migration of recent origin? Answer to it would be no, it is not of recent origin as everything that we see today has its past. Migration as a social process has its past; which needs to be well understood. Historicity of migration, therefore, calls for deeper investigation of social history of India during British rule. One has to look into a social process called impoverishment of the masses created by the British Raj and reinforced by the so-called democratic leadership in Democratic Republic of India. The present volume does the same with greater precision and rigour. It traces the genesis of poverty and migration of labour between 1845-1930 in one state of British India, namely, colonial Andhra. It establishes very high correlation between poverty and migration beyond doubt. The British rule set up four big sucking pumps called Bombay, Madras, Kolkata, Delhi networked with rails and roads for taking out the wealth of People of India. This they did first by making people poor and then by forcing them to leave their villages for working on low wages at distant places. Those who were taken to Assam Tea Gardens and Burma were seldom allowed to return and

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Foreword

those who returned had not become rich. Of course, those who were taken to Maritius, Maldives, West Indies, Malaysia, etc. never returned. Contrary to expectations migration of our people continued even after India’s independence. A new process called ‘Brain-drain’ was born in midsixties and continues till today. Migration of men and women from Kerala within and outside India topped the list in Democratic Republic of India. Now Middle East is full of migrants from all over India. So are USA, Europe, Australia and Africa. Now Bihari Migrants to Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and Punjab etc. are being subjected to all kinds of violence, torture and humiliation. Question arises: What does it mean or indicate? Answer to it may be left for the future historians as it does not fall within the purview of present research. However, small conjecture can be made and its verification can be left to the future researchers, particularly social scientists. It is quite (or most) likely that the departure of the British from India did not affect the system that they had built over 200 years. In other words, the British exploitation and anti-peoples, socio-political state system remained intact and perhaps became stronger in Democratic Republic of India. If so, no wonder, if large-scale poverty-led migration is seen continuing and growing day by day in Democratic Republic of India. Look at the Post-1991 LPG-based labour polices and labour laws. Look at the slogan of ‘Cheap Labour’ coupled with ‘Made In India’ like slogans. Viewed from this perspective Dr. K. Chittababu’s work on ‘Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Adhra 1845-1930’ is of great significance. It has made seminal contribution to our treasure of knowledge of Population, Poverty and Migration. He deserves our sincere appreciation and congratulations! Let us hope that he will continue his research on this issue in today’s Democratic Republic of India with greater scientific rigour and precision. Dec. 02, 2014 Allahabad

Dr. N.P. Chaubey Member-Secretary Indian Academy of Social Sciences 5, Iswar Saran Ashram Campus

PREFACE

The introduction lays out the general framework of my argument after first setting out, the meaning and definition of migration, theories of migrations, review of literature, including the way in which various economic theories have grappled with serious economic political and social phenomenon that culminated in migration. Importance of labour migration studies in the discipline of history. I have also indicated the economic historian’s interest in this area, as migrations changed qualitatively from the period of the pre modern to the colonial, as the mode of production sponsored by the ruling colonial power shifted from feudal to a capitalistic form of economy. Geographical variations of Andhra region, the pressure of population on land, unfavorable seasons, famines, rigid land revenues, wage differentials and the price movement of a modern capitalistic market developing in a lopsided mean therefore of the colonial policies on production markets and induce production. I have demonstrated here some factors responsible for migrations The first objective of the present study is to analyze public works these were largely carried out in a rural setting. And to know how the construction of irrigational canals, roads, railways and other infrastructural works stimulated labour migration during the last hundred years of colonial rule and those who worked on these labour intensive projects were huge armies of men, women and children- sometimes lodging for years in temporary camps on the actual work sites. The Second chapter deals with the public works these were carried out in rural areas. The construction of irrigational canals, roads, railways and other infrastructural works stimulated labour migration during the last hundred years of colonial rule and in fact made it necessary. The second objective is to see how famine and unfavorable seasons drastically impacted the distressed sections like small land holders, peasants and labourers were turning into poor migrants for a shorter period for survival. My Third chapter deals with famine and unfavorable seasons which drastically distressed all sections of small land holders, peasants and labourers. Famines could be complete or very extensive accompanied by general failure of food or water, or both, over a large area of country. For water famine there is but one remedy, i.e. migration to where there is water. Third objective is to know how agrarian expansions and commercialization of agriculture

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Preface

created new markets for labour migrants and to know what was the role of industrialization, urbanization and modernization in attracting the people to the urban areas. The Fourth chapter deals with agrarian expansions and commercialization of agriculture which created new markets for labour migrants; migration from rural to rural was a general phenomenon here. And the urbanization, modernization, trade, and industries that came in the wake of the colonial state had given new scope to rural to urban migrations. This chapter deals with changing structures of rural and urban spaces, and opportunities created by the colonial state, that again lead to migrations. I look at the different forms of “pull” that influenced a migrations pattern of demographic movement. The Fourth objective is to know how the tea industry from the first half of nineteenth century was the earliest commercial enterprise established by private British capital in the Assam Valley became the major employer of wage labour during colonial rule. Faced with acute shortage of labour, the planters had to seek labour from sources some hundreds of miles away. They resorted to a policy of organized recruitment of labour from tribal/ semi- tribal, non-tribal low caste peasant, communities inhabiting from the Andhra districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. Fifth Chapter is about Plantation labour in Assam, the tea industry from the first half of nineteenth century was the earliest commercial enterprise established by private British capital in the Assam. It had been the major employer of wage labour there during colonial rule. Finally I would like to argue, after showing these developments that Indian labour first responded in a fragmented, need driven set of migratory practices. They were circumscribed by very local, highly inadequate information systems, which could not allow rural populations to understand the change in the scale of the demand for labour the colonial state was efficiently systematizing and bringing under general economic policies. I through the IV and the V chapters will show how the various Acts of the Colonial Government was actually creating an organized labour market. The labourers were getting an understanding of the scale of labour movements across the Indian economy, and were bringing to understand their own bargaining power vis-à-vis the labour contract actor and the Colonial State. I stop before 1930, as on and after this date, the Colonial State, hit by global recession, offered a slew of Acts to curb industrial unrest brought in sweeping changes without labour, which the scope of my thesis cannot address. I would, however, like to explore these later developments in a different research project in future. Dr Kali Chittibabu

GLOSSARY

Ameen: The subordinate officer in the Revenue Police Department. Anna : A small denomination of money; being the 16 part of rupee. Anicut: A weir or dam of masonry across a river. Ayacut: The term signifies the whole taxable area in a village, or under an irrigation work Bandy: A wheel conveyance; most commonly used in the limited sense of a bullock cart Bund: The retaining bank of a tank. A river embankment. Calingulah: A masonry work in the bank of tank or channel, for the discharge of surplus water. Calwah: A channel. Choultry : A public shelter or lodging for native travelers. Cholum : A species of grain Chunam : Lime; also mortar. Circar: The Government. Conocapillay: An Accountant; duty involving the keeping of accounts. Cooly : A Colonial term for labourer who works for daily hire; or a man who does single jobs for hire Cumbly: A thin and coarse blanket; made of wool of Indian sheep. Curnam: A village accountant. Cutchery: The office of a Collector, A Tahsildar, or other Revenue Officer. Enam: Land held free, or partially free, of Government tax. Fusly: The revenue year; it begins on the 12 July. Fusly1263 began on the12th July 1852. Ghaut: A mountain pass. Gowdown: A store –house; also an outhouse. Gomastah: An accountant or writer in native language. Khoonds : A wild people inhabiting the hill country west of Ganjam. Kamma: A high Telugu caste composed mainly of agriculturalists. Kapu: A high caste of cultivators. kudi-Maramat: The clearance of smaller channels and similar petty repairs were generally carried out by the cultivators Maliahs : A hill tribe in Ganjam

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Glossary

Maramut: Strictly repaires. The whole department of Public works under the Board of Revevenue, is styled the “ Maramut Department” and the term “Maramut” was applied to all work which engages that Department. Maistry: A master workman in any trade; more particularly a head brick layer, carpenter, stonemason, &c. In Public Work Department, a subordinate officer employed to superintended building, &c. Mala: Telugu outcaste. Monigar: A head revenue officer of a village. A tank or channel Monigar is an officer charged with the custody of an important tank or channel. Mottah: A few villages held on Zamindary tenure; a small Zamindary. Mottahdar: The holder of such a property. Nizam: The ruler of the Hyderabad country is commonly so styled; his title being Nizam-ool-moolk, or Regulator of the Empire. Paddy: Un-husked rice Ryot: An occupier and cultivator of land. Ryotwar: The term used for the system of land revenue administration under which the Government officer deals with each Ryot. Sudr Ameen: A subordinate native judicial officer. Sudr Adaulat: The highest Company’s Court at Madras. Sudra: Member of the fourth or agriculturalist varna Tahsildar: The native revenue officer in charge of a Talook. Talook: A sub-division of a district or Collectorate. Wudder bandy: A kind of bullock –cart used by the tribe called Wudders; it is of excessively rude construction, and has low wheels rudely cut out of a solid plank of wood, with axels of the same material. Zamindar: One who holds a tract of country, and levies all the government revenues therein for his own benefit, paying a certain fixed amount annually to the Government. Zamindary: A tract of country so held by zamindar. Zillah: A division or part. A district or Collectarate, as being a division or portion of the Empire.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

The Meaning and Definition of Migration The word ‘Migration’ derives from the Latin word migrare, which means to change one’s residence1. The simple meaning of the word migration can be a shift in physical space or change of domicile by a man or a group of people. But it is remarkable to note that the meaning of migration has also been changing simultaneously with the passing of time. The contemporary meaning and scope of migration has become more complicated and only mobility across physical spaces cannot fulfill the definition of migration. The temporary movements of villagers towards towns during their active period, their return, the shift of people to hill stations in the summer, etc. are included in the study of migration. Scholars of different disciplines have tried to define migration from different perspectives. Geographers have emphasized the significance of time and space when mobility is concerned. While sociologists have laid stress on social consequences of mobility, economists give importance to the economic aspect of migration2. The term has been defined in the new Webster’s dictionary as “the act or an instance of moving from one area to another in search of work”3. Smith emphasized in his definition of migration a change in the occupation of physical space with the assumption being more or less implicit that a change of residence or domicile is involved4. According to Theodore Caplow, “migration is, strictly speaking, a change of residence and need not necessarily involve any change of occupation, but it is closely associated with occupational 1

International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, Macmillan and Free Press, Vol. 10, 1968, p. 286. 2 Dr. Sinha V.N.P. and Dr. Atullah M.D., Migration – An Interdisciplinary Approach, Seema Publications, Delhi, 1987, p. 5. 3 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Vol. II, Massachusetts, G&C. Mariam Company, 1966, p. 1432. 4 Smith, T.L., The Fundamentals of Population Study, Lippoincolt Publications, Philadelphia, 1960, p. 420.

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Chapter I

shifts of one kind or another. The principal directions of migration are illustrated by more or less continuous movements from rural areas towards the city, from areas of stable population towards [the centres] of cities to their suburbs”5. The migration/migratory patterns I am dealing with share a little of all these characteristics, and I will discuss these in detail in the introduction below. Further, I would like to state that the categories of labour are not necessarily that same as that of the peasantry. Therefore labour can be drawn from purely landless peasantry, or from peasants possessing a bit of land, or even the urban poor. My manuscript does not deal with the urban poor. However, the previous two categories, belonging to rural spaces, have to migrate for work out of necessity. Do they return? My data does not offer answers to this question, though it is an important one. I can only speculate on the fact that there is no inducement to return to their villages. Rural populations were and are rooted in land, and South India is no exception. They are so tenaciously conservative and so averse to movement of any kind that when we find large numbers of them leaving their homes, we have to conclude that they do so only by being compelled by push factors like poverty, discontinuity of employment, pressures of the population on the land, bad seasons (famines) and caste repressions. There are also pull factors such as higher wages and continuity of employment. The categories who respond to these pull/push factors are generally the poor communities, low caste labourers, and semi-tribal or tribal people who want escape routes from caste repression. The conditions of village life in India, however, are opposed to anything like permanent migration on a large scale. Every individual family in a village community has its own assigned place. If a man holds a puttah from the government, for ever so small a quantity of land, he has every inducement to remain on his land, and if he is a labourer hereditarily attached to his soil, he would prefer not to migrate. Migration, therefore, generally is a desperate choice.

Importance of Labour migration studies in the discipline of History The problem of migration is a prime example of a subject that requires the skills and approaches of scholars from several disciplines. It is clear that disciplines such as Anthropology, Demography, Economics, 5

Theodore Caplow, The Sociology of Work, The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1959, p. 6. * Push and pull factors discussed later on in the introduction.

Introduction

3

Sociology, Law, Political Science, and History, can all be developed for this human problem. I have attempted to understand why a historical investigation is required6. Migration between one area and another within the same country and also between one country and another can be traced back to the pre-modern period. It continues to be an important socioeconomic phenomenon in most parts of the world, in Europe, North America, Latin America, Russia, Asia, and Africa. More than the internal movement of people, the international angle has captured the global imagination of scholars interested in migration studies. In India, migration of both varieties is distinctly traceable back to the 19th century through the colonial archives. In contrast to the movement within the country, the country witnessed the mass migration of Indian labourers to overseas territories in the wake of the migration of surplus capital, an inevitable consequence to the Industrial Revolution in the West that required new areas for investment in the economies of underdeveloped countries. As the present study is not concerned with international migration, the discussion here is focused on the movement of people within the political boundaries of India. Internal migration has diverse facets; it is characterized by different, special types of movement: villagers moving to small towns, sub-divisions or districts, and small town dwellers moving to large ones. Many, again, are obliged to move like a floating population, under economic pressure, from a rural area to an urban area, or from one urban area to another. Among the different forms of internal migration – namely rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban, and urban to rural – rural to rural and rural to urban migration streams are considered more significant than the rest from a socio-economic point of view7. Internal migration has had a significant impact on the population growth of certain regions. People who declared themselves to be ‘immigrants’ formed about 1.8 percent of the total population of India in 1901, and 3 percent in 1931. In absolute terms, there had been an increase of about 5 million people who had moved long distances. The percentages varied between regions. For example, 12-15 percent of the Assamese population consisted of ‘immigrants’ in 1901-31. It is certain that in all of India, the percentage of immigrants was much smaller than 1.8 percent about 20 or 30 years before 1901. Internal migration in 1901 followed a pattern of movement of origin. The vast majority of migrants moved into specific occupations and areas of 6

Alan A. Brown, Egon Neuberger (eds.), Internal Migration: A Comparative Perspective, Academic Press, New York, 1977, p. 1. 7 Haraprasad Chottopadhyaya, Internal Migration in India: A case Study of Bengal, K.P. Bagchi & Company, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 1-12.

4

Chapter I

opportunities that had colonial origins, for example plantations, large scale industry, and service in Burma8. The primary object of K. C. Zachariah’s study is to measure and describe the pattern of internal migration in the Indian Sub-Continent during the period from 1901-1931. As a Statistician who gives only a statistical analysis of internal migration in India, he does not explain the reasons for internal migrations. He analyzed migration estimates by sex and age. These estimates have been prepared for regions, states, and to a limited extent, for towns with population of 20,000 people or more. These estimates are used to describe the contribution of internal migration to overall population redistribution, and whether there were any gains or losses. Two sets of migration estimates have been prepared: one uses the total population by age and by sex for each state, and the other uses the data on record for birth and by the location of residences. In accordance with K.C. Zachariah’s model, I have given the statistical details of internal migration in the third chapter9. According to Kingsley Davis, the population of India is comparatively immobile or static. He attributed this immobility to factors like the predominance of agriculture, the caste system, marriage, culture, and lack of education. According to the 1931 census of India, only 3.6 percent of the population lived in provinces or states other than those where they were born. Granted that the proportional movement was very small, the absolute numbers involved in internal movements have been very large. In 1931, about 12,000,000 people were enumerated outside the province or the place of their birth. Therefore the study of internal migrations in the Indian sub-continent is a study of the movement of millions of people who, for one reason or another, have changed their community or residence during the course of their lives. In my study, I have dealt with the internal migrants in Andhra who exclusively migrated only to their neighboring districts. In the Andhra region, migration was mainly seasonal in character10. Relevant to discussions of internal migration in Andhra is the question of whether the people of Andhra were normally inclined towards mobility or were averse to it during the period of the present study. The populations of Andhra were comparatively immobile. But what are the reasons for this 8

Tirthankar Roy, The Economic History of India 1857-1947, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000, p. 276-77. 9 K.C. Zachariah, A Historical Study of Internal Migration in the Indian SubContinent 1901-1931, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1964, pp. 1-9. 10 Kingsley Davis, The Population of India and Pakistan, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1931, appendix A.

Introduction

5

comparatively low mobility in Andhra? The people of India in general and of Andhra in particular, have a traditional attachment to their native locale. Besides the predominance of agriculture, carried on at a subsistence level, allowing little or no surplus accumulation to meet the cost of travel or a change of residence, there were other factors acting as a deterrent on people’s movement away from their birthplace or their usual place of residence, such as the impact of the caste system, which made it difficult to sever ties with one’s birthplace. Davis Morris states that though the mobility of the Indian population has been ‘historically limited,’ it will be ‘entirely inappropriate to deduce from this the proposition that the Indian social structure was responsible for this phenomenon.’ He assigns economic reasons for responsible mobility. Could it be that poorer classes of Indians were deterred from migrating as the place selected for migration were too distant from their usual place of residence? Could distance, in other words, be treated as a dissuading factor in connection with migration? It is clear that the Indian population is not wholly static; it is only less mobile as a population when compared to Western countries. The proportional movement might be small, but the absolute numbers involved in internal movements have been impressive due to the size of the Indian population when compared to Western countries. According to A. V. Ramanarao, the internal migrations in Andhra are basically rural–urban migration and rural–rural migration. He put forward the theory that the majority of the lower classes began to seek outlets to earn their livelihood. Large groups of people began to move from one district to another in search of seasonal employment or an occupation which would enable them to earn their livelihood. These internal migrations were mostly to the contiguous districts of the same province and the contiguous parts of other provinces as well, while migrations towards the non-contiguous parts of other provinces were very small. The causes for these disturbed features of moving populations, or inter-district migration, or coast-wise immigration, were the decline of the age-old agricultural communities with their self-sufficient economies, the extinction and forceful suppression of native crafts and indigenous industries because of the influence of cheap, machine made foreign commodities, and high rates of rigid land revenue11. According to V. Ramakrishna, the movement of the rural population to urban areas was largely due to the higher wages and freedom from caste repression, which the towns held out to the lower sections of the 11 Ramanarao A.V., Economic Development of Andhra Pradesh 1766-1957, Popular Book Depot, Bombay, 1958, pp. 1-9.

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Chapter I

population. The superior social and educational advantages and various amenities which the towns offered to the better-off classes served as another source of magnetic attraction to the upwardly mobile. Generally, railways increased the trade of the places where they reached and also created new trading centers along its tracks. Due to the famines, cheap labour increased; rich land lords and other similar classes started to live in the towns; for modern education, many people started migrating to the towns. New professional classes came into existence, with these towns providing the core of their access to new opportunities. The revenue settlements on the one hand, and industry and commerce on the other, failed to develop rural capitalists and strong commercial classes respectively. The colonial interests in importing cloth from England ruined the native handloom industry, and spinning as a separate profession rapidly disappeared. So millions become jobless and began to flock to agriculture or migrate to the towns which were growing12. A. Satyanarayan has argued that there existed a “mobile and free labour” in Andhra, and felt optimistically that his view was confirmed by labour migrations. Migration and mobility were an increasingly important feature of rural Andhra, not only rural to urban, but rural to rural. Many of the “ruined” peasants and artisans migrated to towns in search of work. As we have seen earlier, particularly during the depression years and after the “flight” of rural capital, there was also the “flight” of people to urban centres. In fact, the growing agro-industries to some extent provided employment to such immigrants. The fact that there had been an increasing degree of rural labour “exodus” to towns where the industrial activities were being established was overwhelmingly confirmed by our data. The jute mills in Vizagapatnam district, the rice mills in the deltas, and cotton presses and ground nut decorticating factories in the ceded districts certainly absorbed some of the rural proletariat. However, this kind of employment on a regular basis for a longer period of time, though their growth in Andhra was not very considerable when compared to the processing industries, did not go a long way towards ameliorating rural poverty. By and large, it is true to say that the process of urbanization and limited “industrialization” did take place. During the post-depression period, there were indications of an “exodus” of the rural populations to towns. More significantly, the phenomenon of migration on a seasonal basis from “backward” areas to more developed ones was on the increase. “Thousands move every year from Vizagapatnam, from [the] uplands of 12 Ramakrishna, V., Social Reform Movements in Andhra, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Limited, New Delhi, 1993, pp. 33-34.

Introduction

7

Godavari, Kistna and Guntur to the lands watered by the Kistna and Godavari rivers”. Poor peasants and landless labourers from Andhra also migrated to Assam, Burma and other contiguous provinces. Most of the emigrants generally had connections with land. They often returned to the village after accumulating some capital and usually began to lease a plot of land and purchased agricultural implements and cattle. Thus they became the budding small peasants13.

Colonial Perceptions on Bio-Power Theories of migration became a major area of enquiry in the nineteenth century, as it has been clearly understood by Western powers that biopower (human resource) was an enormous economic resource. Human labour, whether in the rural or urban areas, represented the effects of the new capitalistic markets and a new range of price fluctuations. The modern state machinery was intervening in rural economies at unprecedented levels and therefore unleashing economic changes, leading to a change in the scale of migrations. In the Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith became the integral core to liberal social thought, which advocated a drastic curtailment of the government’s role in the socio-economic process. The liberals of that time viewed the utility-of-poverty doctrines as morally unacceptable and as an impediment to dynamic human progress. Smith advocated the interplay of market forces without interference by government to allow free trade and free labour market wages which would be governed by demand and supply. Adam Smith, and later John Stuart Mill, provided a strong rationale for both internal migration, and colonial emigration and settlement. On the domestic front, Europe experienced a boom in internal migration to urban areas, largely in response to institutional changes and opportunities generated by the liberal political economic system, dominated by their colonial empires. Karl Marx argued that a free labour system was imperative for industrial capitalism’s growth and productive operation, as was the free movement of labour. This meant that the removal of obstacles to the free flow of labour was an economic imperative. Lenin had articulated the need for the dynamic role of labour flows in the capitalist development of Russia in the late 19th century. The diversion of the population from agriculture is expressed in the growth of towns, factories and commercial 13

Satyanarayana, A., Andhra Peasants Under British Rule: Agrarian Relations and Rural Economy 1900-1940, Manohar, New Delhi, 1990, pp. 130-136.

8

Chapter I

and industrial townships, as well as in non-agricultural migration. All processes are necessary components of capitalist development and are profoundly progressive when compared to the old forms of life, e.g. under feudalism. Internal migration, Marx argued, fulfilled rapidly expanding industrial capitalism’s rising labour needs. In addition, migrants created a consumer’s market for industrial products through the destruction of selfreliant rural industries. They also stabilized depressed wages, and consequently generated social surpluses through their participation in the economic system based on producing exchange values. Ironically, accelerating industrial capitalism was later accompanied by increasing unemployment and poverty. Consequently, migration to colonies and colonial settlements became necessary, and the colonies emerged as the logical solution for both (a) satisfying European resources and market demands, and (b) meeting the growing problems of unemployment and poverty by turning domestic supplicants for welfare policies into international imperial guards. Thus rural to the urban migration greatly contributed to European urban industrial development and accelerated the feudal economy’s breakdown, while promoting agricultural capitalism14. These trends in the Andhra region were also present to some extent, and thus promoted the geographic mobility of labour. The demand for factory workers strengthened local labour markets and weakened traditional production relationships. Much of the labour demand was male; in Colonial Andhra, they could be indentured labour or mill-hands, or workers in public government. This meant the disruption of traditional family units. The result was the creation of a population that was socially and economically uprooted and prone to migration.15 Even though Marx had specifically addressed the colonial economy and its effect on colonization, this intellectual trend was part of the later intellectual effort during imperial rule. Migration as the manifestation of economic and social factors was being researched and theorized in England by late 19th century. One such pioneering study was put forward by E.G. Ravenstein, a statistician who believed that numbers and a general numerical methodology should be employed to study migration. In two lengthy papers to the Royal Statistical Society in 1885 and 1889 demonstrating the patterns of

14

Robert, Cohen (ed.), Theories of Migration, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1966, p. 333. 15 Charles, H., Philip, K., Joseph D. Wind (eds.), The Hand Book of International Migration: The American Experience, Russell Sage Publications, 1990, pp. 35-47.

Introduction

9

migration, Ravenstein set out the “laws of migration”. These are regarded as the starting point of migration theories16. Lee E.S. developed “a general schema in which a variety of spatial movements can be placed”. Lee argued that the factors which influenced the decision to migrate and the process of migration may be summarized under four headings: 1) factors associated with the area of origin; 2) factors associated with the area of destination; 3) intervening obstacles; and 4) personal factors. The forces associated with the area of origins and areas of destination are in their own way governed by personal factors, which affect individual thresholds and felicitate or retard migrations. Lee’s theory was reflected in a broad range of studies that that dealt with the migrants selectivity and choice and also with the “Push-Pull” factors17. I use the first two factors to understand the geographical locations of the regions I have chosen in this study. For example, Ravenstein’s and Everett S. Lee’s theories produced scholarship on migration as a phenomenon, but it is important to note that these studies did not deal with the conditions leading to migration in a colonial economy. They explained only the general factors of migration, but left specific historical contexts out of the picture. Throughout the second half of the 19th century and the first half of 20th century, a debate has gone on between the two opposing schools of economists and economic historians on the nature of the economic processes India had undergone under British rule. The imperialist school of thought represented by John Stuart Mill and Morris D. Morris believed that India was growing more prosperous and was also undergoing economic development as a byproduct of Pax Britannica (the myth said that Pax Britannica had ended a period of long anarchy); law and order had fallen into place and an efficient administration ran an honest and efficient bureaucracy – the best in the world – and had taken backwards India towards progress. The development of irrigation, railways, growing commerce and an increase in the area of cultivation – all these indicated economic prosperity. The plunder of India was carried out in taxation. In order to maximize the revenue collections, the English carried out “Agrarian Revolution”, subverting the existing property relationships. They created various forms of private property in land – “the great desideratum of Asiatic Society”. But the real purpose was, by these means, to sustain or increase the tax

16

Ravenstein, E.G., “The Laws of Migration”, The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, LII (June 1889), pp. 241-301. 17 Robert, Cohen (ed.), Theories of Migration, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1966, p. 78.

10

Chapter I

paying capacity of the country18. Quite often, the British administrators put the blame for poverty on the size of the population by using nineteenth century economic theories perfected by Malthus and Ricardo. The Indian leadership rejected this connection in its entirety. They refuted the accusation that India was over populated or that the size and growth of its population were responsible for its poverty. They countered further with the fact that most of the European countries were more thickly populated than India, and yet were more wealthy. Unplanned and destructive economic policies had reduced the Indian people to poverty.19 Nationalist economists like Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G. Ranade, G.V. Joshi, G.S. Iyer and R.C. Dutt had made economic analysis their field of activity. These scholars described the “development” of India as a transition from traditional or feudal patterns, from pre-modern backwardness to colonial backwardness, where the limited modern economic development, especially in the fields of trade and transport, transformed the country into a raw material producing and processing economy, to the detriment of its traditional crafts and industries. It was also a capital absorbing country, leading to backward agriculture, repressed industry and foreign domination in economic life. The early Indian economists tried to frame this phenomenon within a colonial structure. Though they did not mention migration specifically, they examined economic consequences leading to the factors that can be understood as a migration20. Scholars like Richard Temple, Grant Duff, John Strachey and John Stuart Mill put forward the theory of comparative costs and the consequent international divisions of labour under the conditions of free trade, and thus said that foreign trade was enabling India to maximize the use of economic resources by producing and exporting goods, namely agricultural products, for which it was best suited. India, it was said, had plenty of land, water, other natural resources, and human resources (cheap labour), but it lacked capital, which was, however, to be found in plenty in Britain. Once British capital was invested in India on large scale, India’s development would be assured. This was perhaps because of their belief 18

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, On Colonialism, Progressive Publishers, Moscow, 1981, pp. 175-180. 19 Bipin Chandra, Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India, Peoples Publishing House, New Delhi, 1982, pp. 41-42. 20 Dadabhai Naoroji, Poverty and British Rule in India, Low Price Publications, Delhi, 1991, pp. 55-61. Ranade M.G., Essays on Indian Economics, Bombay, 1898. Ramesh Dutt, Economic History of India, vol. II, CIE Publications Division New Delhi, 1989, p. 346. Joshi G.V., Writings and Speeches, 1912, Poona, Iyer, G. Subramaniya, Some Economic Aspects of British Rule in India, 1903, Madras.

Introduction

11

that India should develop primarily as an agricultural country, as part of the international division of labour promoted by free trade.21 G.V. Joshi counterposed the theory of international division of labour: “India was being shifted from higher to lower form of economic activity, from thriving industry to ‘less remunerative agriculture’, rendering its labour less productive” by compulsory transfer from “fields of skilled labour to fields of unskilled labour” and consequently, undergoing “enormous losses in wages and profits”.22 Dadabhai Naoroji further argued that foreign capital appropriated everything arising from additional wealth. The foreigners monopolized nearly all of the high salaried posts in the construction and operation of foreign enterprises. The only gain for Indians was in terms of some additional employment opportunities as coolies and unskilled labourers. But most of the coolies were paid abysmally low wages. This virtually amounted to Indians being reduced to the status of “slaves”, the drawers of water and hewers of wood to the British and foreign capitalists, “a race of coolies under white masters”.23 Most of the nineteenth century nationalists agreed that existing social institutions, such as the caste system, were hampered the mobility of labour and capital24.

Labour Migrations of Andhra This study presents an analysis of some aspects of labour mobility in the Colonial Andhra region in the Madras Presidency, and especially of internal migrations in Andhra which are basically rural to rural and rural to urban, as I will demonstrate with data in this manuscript. There has always been migration in the sub-continent throughout history, but in the colonial period, these migrations were recorded as statistical data that the colonial state generated as part of its administrative strategy; certainly not as a help to future historians in their attempts to locate migratory groups in Colonial India. However, through these records, contemporary scholars do get a clearer and more detailed view of the migratory communities who have remained largely invisible in other kinds of historical sources. The data reveals large groups of people moving from one district to another in search of seasonal employment or occupations which would enable them to earn their livelihoods. These internal migrations were mostly to the 21

Bipan Chandra, Essays on Colonialism, Orient Longman, 1999, pp. 170-174. Joshi, p. 611, 645, 651, 682. 23 Naoroji, 398, 614. 24 Bipin Chandra, Essays on Colonialism, 177. 22

12

Chapter I

contiguous districts of the same province and the contiguous parts of other provinces as well, while migrations towards the non-contiguous parts of other provinces were very low. The main concern of the colonial state was to maintain the supply and flow of labour, at low wages. Even when its exploitative character was not directly and obviously visible to the migrants, it maintained the conditions of work and migration and also extracted funds from agriculture. The Colonial Government was interested in agriculture, as it was the site from which the maximum revenue came. The pattern of migrations in late 19th century colonial Andhra can be seen at four levels. These levels were correlated with the regional specificities of Andhra. We can divide the Andhra region into four sub regions, viz. (a) south coastal Andhra; (b) north coastal Andhra; (c) Madras Deccan (Ceded); and (d) Agency. Coastal Andhra consisted of two plain sub regions, viz. the agriculturally vibrant southern part, and the relatively backward northern part. There was also the un-surveyed Agency of Hill area25. (See Map 1.) Firstly, the Colonial Government in the Andhra region undertook many public works, chiefly major irrigational works like the Godavari Anicut, the Krishna Anicut, and the Cuddapah-Kurnool Canal for maximizing their revenues from these deltaic regions of high productivity26. These projects drew the rural masses in search of work to these rich regions27. These projects geographically come under the south coastal Andhra region. This region is very well situated and has very fertile land. It is agriculturally vibrant, with good irrigation sources. An interesting factor of note is that in the tract of country between the mouths of the Kistna and the Godavari, there was an illustration of the growth of the Delta lands marked by certain characteristic features. About half-way between the two rivers, there was a low swampy tract which, under the name of the Colair Lake, occupied the boundary region between the two Deltas. It represented the work which still remained to be done by the two rivers before the alluvial plain could be regarded as “perfect”. The total failure of the rains of 1833 affected the whole region. The district was very badly prepared for such a catastrophe as the total failure of the rains. The destruction of life as a result of the failure was frightful; it was estimated 25

Chittibabu, Kali, Migrations in Colonial Andhra, 1881-1911, Unpublished MPhil Dissertation submitted to the University of Hyderabad, 2005. 26 Chittibabu, Kali, Patterns of Labour Migrations in Colonial Andhra, 1845-1930, Unpublished PhD Thesis submitted to the University of Hyderabad, 2013. 27 Jan Breman, Labour Migration and Rural Transformation in Colonial Asia, Free University Press, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 12.

Introduction

13

from the statistical returns – which, though by no means free from critical observations, were still approximately correct – that no fewer than 200,000 people perished either from hunger, or as a result of the virulent fever that followed in the wake of the famine. At this particular juncture, the population of Guntur had not recovered from the effects of the Black Year. However, the government revenues also suffered a setback at the same time; a matter of concern for the colonial administration. The loss of revenue to the state was fairly calculated at a gross total of upwards of 90 lakhs of rupees, or £900,000. When the much greater losses sustained by the community were added to this amount, it seemed to government that a sum of 2½ crores of rupees, or the same number of millions of pounds sterling, would not be an exaggerated estimate of the aggregate loss of property due this deplorable calamity. It was to prevent the recurrences of such a sacrifice of life – and the means of life, on the part of the native community, and of revenue on the side of the state – that the works on the river Kistna was designed. The effects of the famine of 1833-34 were felt with great severity throughout the districts of Rajahmundry and Masulipatman, which were traversed by the Godavari. The few irrigation works existing in that period were wholly inadequate for the prevention of suffering. That, anyway, was never the aim of the dam, but only to mitigate the scale of suffering a little28. In 1830, land had little or no value throughout the greater portion of the presidency. In the rich deltas of Kistna and Godavari, transfers of land by sale appeared to have been almost unknown till about 1850. In 1853, Sir Walter Elliott, the commissioner of Northern Circars, reported that in the Kistna district, land was generally unsalable and that in the only instances which had come to his notice, the area sold was 15 acres of dry and 56½ acres of wet land, the price obtained being Rs 203. Again, the same officer reported in 1854 that the only case of sale of assessed lands occurred in Guntur, where ten acres of dry and two acres of wet land, yielding a gross outturn of Rs 55 and bearing an assessment of Rs 34, fetched a price of Rs 78. Only in the Deltas of Kistna and Godavari, lands which were unsalable had during the last 30 years acquired a high value, thus making these an exception.29 In the District of Guntur on the other hand, all irrigational works were utterly 28

Baird Smith, R., The Cauvery, Kistnah and Godavary Being a Report on the Works Constructed on these Rivers for the Irrigation of Province of Tanjore, Guntoor, Musulipatanam and Rajamundry, in the Province of Madras, London, 1856, pp. 53-55, and pp. 84-85. 29 Srinivas Raghavaiyangar, Memorandum on the Progress of Madras Presidency During Last Forty Year, Printed by Superintendent Press, Madras, 1903, pp. 109110.

14

Chapter I

neglected, and in one year, a famine occurred which swept away 250,000 out of 500,000 people and caused a loss of revenue of eighty lakhs over the next ten or twelve years; while not an acre of land could be sold30. “Do you think England could pay revenue of fifty millions, if she had no public works or Machinery, no Roads, Canals, railways, Ports, Steam and Water Power, and nothing that enables the human power of the community to accomplish a hundred times as much though it could not pay a tenth of it without those aids?” to this question, was posed the answer “She certainly could not pay a tenth of it, without those things31”.

Instances occurred of common roads, canals, irrigation works, etc., producing an annual return to the country of more than 100% of the outlay; and as any amount of money, for making every sort of improvement in India, could be obtained at 5 percent, the practicability of these essential works was undeniable32. It was still a complete mistake to suppose that its officers had nothing to do but to collect revenue, and that the people, with or without any aid, could procure the means of paying the taxes. If only a thousandth part of the time and labour expended on adjusting and collecting the revenue were bestowed on the means to best calculate and enable the people to easily pay it, the government would be rolling in money33. There was a simple assumption behind this. These were all “Englishmen” who knew that England’s national prosperity and strength were the result of the enormous economy of human labour by means of public works. Because of this, whereby only a few were actually employed in providing the mere necessities of life (food, clothing, and shelter), this left a large number of the people at liberty to promote learning and the arts, which had contributed to the British economic growth34. One of the first and most fundamental things to do, by means of public works in India, was to increase the income of the country. The government felt that this was entirely within its reach, since any amount of money could be obtained from other services, for the execution of improvements which would pay ten or twenty times the interest of the capital outlay. 35 The question was asked,

30

Sir Arthur Cotton, Public Works in India, p. 25. Ibid., p. 33. 32 Ibid., p. 33. 33 Ibid., p. 41. 34 Ibid., p. 46. 35 Ibid., p. 47. 31

Introduction

15

“Why are the people so poor at present? Because, being entirely without any means, excepting bullocks, which can be substituted for human labour, it is as much as they can do to feed, clothe and shelter themselves; or rather, I should say, more than they can do, at least while they have to keep their rulers in Luxury. And this is not peculiar to one country; for, if besides the labour of 140 million in India, we had the work of another 500 million performed by means of Roads, Canals, Railways, Water steam, &c., there would be in India also abundance of labour available for other things beyond the necessaries of life, and, consequently, abundance of wealth36.

The report did not see any difficulty? Regarding the financing of these projects, thousands wanted to lend money at 4 percent interest, while thousands of Europeans and “natives” wanted employment as the superintendent of works. Meanwhile, thousands more iron manufacturers and other individuals in England wanted sales for their goods. There were lakhs of people in India who wanted employment as labourers; millions of ryots wanted water for their millions of acres. There were tens of thousands of miles of communications infrastructure and the means of carrying all kinds of produce needed to be constructed, and thus millions might be expended so as to yield ten to twenty or fifty times the interest paid for them37. The point of this exaggerated estimate was that, for an initial capital outlay, the returns would be very high, and the colonial government and the colonial economy would be the clear winners. Thus a rosy picture was presented: “Since the introduction of the admirable system of irrigation famines is unknown. The people are prosperous and contented. It is the garden of the great Northern Province. Its population has more than doubled; the material prosperity of its inhabitants is proved by their being better fed, better clothed, and better educated than formerly; its commerce has flourished, its trade has developed to [a] marvelous degree. And it may confidently be asserted that it is in as peaceful, happy and prosperous [a] condition as any part of her Imperial Majesties’ dominions”38.

Since the second half of the nineteenth century – roughly from 18501900 – labour migrations took place from the adjoining districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, due to the construction of railways. The 36

Ibid., p. 50. Ibid., p. 50. 38 George T.T. Walch, The Engineering Works of Godavari Delta, Madras, 1896, pp. 154-156. 37

16

Chapter I

railway construction was heavily labour intensive as it depended on an adequate supply and effective use of labour. Hence railway construction in nineteenth century India required a great mobilization of workers with different kinds and levels of skills. The greater part of the earth work on the railway in the Madras Presidency was done by Oddes: a community who were a significant component of the ethnic groups who migrated over long distances to work, who moved more effectively than any other group, and who helped to free railway companies from labour shortages (see Chapter II). At the Second level, during the whole course of the period from 18501900, north coastal Andhra (Ganjam and Vizagapatnam) and the Ceded Districts of Andhra (Cuddapah, Kurnool, Anantapur and Bellary) suffered drought and famine, which resulted in the second level of migrations towards relief-work areas. The major famine-induced labour migrations occurred during the great famine which lasted in the Madras Presidency through 1876-78 (see Chapter III). North coastal Andhra: in north coastal Andhra, Vizagapatnam and Ganjam covered the entire area. The total number of agricultural labourers in Vizagapatnam district was 3, 52,142 or 12% of the total population in the region. Agriculturally, this sub-region was characterized by a deficiency in rainfall and crop uncertainty, determined by its geographical location. The socio-political features like zamindari rack renting, the high population density, and the high proportion of landless labourers, led to food shortages and large scale out-migration from various areas within the region and also in an outward direction, i.e. this region witnessed both internal as well as external migratory patterns. In Vizagapatnam, the crops which were most extensively grown were paddy (35%), both Cumbu and Ragi (22%) and Gingily (13%). Nearly half of the area cropped in Palkonda was under paddy, owing to its numerous river channels and tanks. Next was the east taluka of Sarvasidhi, which also contained the best wet lands in the region. Golconda had an irrigational river system running through it – the Varaha river system. Sarvasidhi also shared the Varaha river system. Palkonda had the Nagavalli river system and also the Swarnamukhi river channels39. The population in Vizagapatam in 1851-52 was 12, 54,272. This increased to 14, 15,652 by 1861. From 1871-1881, this number had increased to 21, 59,199. The Vizagapatam area had the highest absolute increase of population. The population in 1901 was 29, 33,651. The total increase of the district’s population from 1850-1900 was nearly 17, 00,000 lakhs. As 39

Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, pp. 53-60.

Introduction

17

the population increased in Vizagapatnam, the increase in the dry region under cultivation in 1871-81 was 63,549 acres40. This was the beginning of the mapping of the land by the colonial state: man ratio. This increased to 1, 06,224 acres in 1900-1901. The west land under cultivation between 1871-72 and 1900-01 increased from 25,021 acres to 61,347 acres. The land under cultivation in this region – both wet and dry – was very small when compared with the southern coastal districts. The actual rate of increase was also very slight41. Madras Deccan (Ceded districts): As for the Deccan districts, certain features are very specific to this region. The land was generally infertile. However, two events left a deep impression on the local economy. Firstly, there was the failure of Cuddapah – the Kurnool canal (1860-80) – and secondly, the region had sustained heavy losses to its population and cattle during the periods of famines (1866-1876). The failure of the canal project symbolized missed opportunities for agricultural growth. There were three major districts which covered this area – Cuddapah, Kurnool, and Anantapur in the Ceded districts42. In Cuddapah, the total number of agricultural labourers was 1, 72,890 (13%). In Kurnool, the total number of agricultural labourers was 1, 54,899 (17%). In Anantapur the total number of agricultural labourers was 1, 27,108 (16%)43. By 1901, in the case of Cuddapah, the population had actually decreased from 14, 51,921 in 1851-52 to 12, 91,267. Kurnool registered a population increase from 2, 73,199 to 8, 72,055 between 1851 and 190044. When the census was formally taken in 1871, the population of the presidency was found to be 31¼ million. Owing to the famine of 1876-78, the total population had dropped in 1881 to 30¾ million. The loss of population was heavily located in the districts of Kurnool, Bellary, Anantapur, Selam and Cuddapah45. In the case of Cuddapah, in the eastern section paddy, there was a very important crop being raised on about 15% of the total crop area. In the northern section of the region, paddies sank into comparative insignificance. The area under Cholum was 43%. The southern section, Cumbu, accounted for 37%. Black soil, even though it was considered to be excellent soil, remained a mere 19% of the total 40

Imperil Census of Madras Presidency, Vol. III, 1901, Vol. XV-B, Part 3, p. 3. Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, p. 72 (Henceforth, SAMP). 42 Rao, G.N., pp. 122-133. 43 SAMP, 1908, p. 177, 266, 136-137. 44 Imperial Census of Madras Presidency 1880, Vol. III, 1901, Vol. XV, B, Part 3, p. 2. 45 Srinivas Raghavaiyangar, A., Memorandum on the progress of Madras Presidency, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1988, pp. 43-44. 41

18

Chapter I

cultivable land in the whole district. The whole district was drained by Penneir and its affluents, the Chitravati and Papagi; the Cheyyeru also watered it. In Cuddapah, the Kurnool canal was giving water to the Cuddapah region, while the river was draining Prodhutore, Jammalamadugu46. In Anantapur, the principle food crops were mostly cereals. Cereals covered 55.6% of the total cultivated area of the district. Rice was sown in a greater area in Anantapur than in the remaining districts. In case of soil, Tadipatri had the highest percent of black soil at 42.1%. Gooti had 33.2%. The chief rivers that traversed the district were the Penneir which entered through the taluks of Hindupur, Penukonda, Kayana durgam and Chitravati, and flowed in to the Bhukhamvaram taluk47. In Kurnool the principle crops of the district were Cholum, Korra, Varagu, Cumbu and paddy. The Cumbum tank formed a dam across the Gudlakamma river and drained into the northern part. The source of these rivers – the Sagileru and Penneru – was in the Nallamala hills. The Cuddapah, -Kurnool canal passed down the centre of the valley and commanded a large area for irrigation purposes. Tungabhadra, the major town of the Kurnool district, was situated to the north on the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers48. The dry land under cultivation in Cuddapah totaled 11,87,909 acres in 1871 but decreased to 11,83,594 acres by 1900-1910. However, in Cuddapah, the wet land under cultivation was 1,14,958 acres in 1871 and increased slightly to 1,28,469 acres in 1900-1901. In Cuddapah, therefore, dry land decreased under cultivation and wet land increased by only 14,000 acres, as shown in the census records. In the case of Kurnool, the dry land under cultivation was 11,60,180 acres in 1871-72 and increased to 12,61,188 in 1900-1901. In 1871, the wet land totaled 26,866 acres under cultivation and increased to 28,783 acres in 1901. In Kurnool, as census data shows, the cultivable dry land increased by only one lakh from 1870-1900, while wet land increased by 2,000 acres only49. There are five reasons for the economic backwardness of this region: (1) Right from the beginning of the 19th century, assessments under the Ryotwary settlements were much heavier in the Ceded districts compared to the cotton districts of Coimbatore and Tinevelly. This heavy assessment on the land had injected forces of instability and inertia within the Ceded districts. (2) In the late seventies, when the Datakaruvu (famine of 187678) struck these districts, the agrarian system was thrown off gear. The 46

SAMP, 1908, pp. 257-261. SAMP, 1908, pp. 227-232. 48 SAMP, 1908, p. 166. 49 SAMP, 1908, 278, 282. 47

Introduction

19

region could not recover from this till the early 20th century. (3) In Rayalaseema, the agricultural technology remained static for quite some time. For instance, due to the unfavorable climate, the introduction of the long staple and high yielding varieties of cotton in the third quarter of the 19th century failed miserably and slowed the progress of recovery. (4) The cotton trade in Cuddapah and Kurnool was already saturated by the presence of the Aryavaisyas and Marwaries, leaving fewer entry points for the local rich peasants. Therefore there was only a partial fruition of the commercialization of rural entrepreneurship in the region50. (See Map 3.) Lalita Chakravarthi’s ideas focused on ecological factors, which according to her, determined the wage rate or the reserve price of labour in an area. This led to the migration of people, due to the decline in native manufactures and trade. Also, due to a lack of alternative employment opportunities, the small cultivators, mostly belonging to the lower orders of society, were forced to migrate. The revenue demand of the British was heavy at least initially, as well as inelastic in terms of both the amount and timing of its collection. Poverty and unemployment was closely connected, and one leads to, and is reinforced by the other. What is crucial is the existence of a large section of the population in precarious conditions of existence. This situation can be created by many different combinations of factors and relations51. In his article, “Famines and peasant mobility: changing agrarian structure in [the] Kurnool district of Andhra, 1870-1900”, where he analyses the demographic changes in the agrarian economy of the district during the period 1870-1900, D. Rajasekhar brings out the impact of famines on peasant mobility. He emphasized the out-migration from Kurnool: the migrating stream either migrated to the neighboring deltaic districts of Kistna or to the Nellore district to work on the construction of the Bukingham canal. The proportion of out-migration in the total population was 5.27% in 1881 and declined to 4.3% in 1891, mainly due to the increase in the total population. Moreover, the majority of the outmigrants were found in the neighboring districts, implying marriage migration. It could also have been rural–rural migration52. According to B.M. Bhatia, the causes for the rural to urban migrations, the expansion of commercial activity and the rapid construction of public 50

Rao, G.N., pp. 113-114. Lalita Chakravarthi, Emergence of Industrial Labour Force in Dual Economy: British India 1880-1920, IESHR, Vol. XV, no. 3, Jan-March 1978, pp. 252-303. 52 Rajashekar, D., “Famines and Peasant Mobility: Changing Agrarian Structure in Kurnool District of Andhra 1870-1900, IESHR, 28, 2, 1991, pp. 122-150. 51

20

Chapter I

works created employment for labour in the rapidly expanding urban areas. This helped to raise wage rates there, and the wage rates in the urban areas were more elastic and rose with the rise of prices. In some cases, the prices rose even more on account of the growing competition for labour in these areas. Since the textile industry failed in Andhra, it led to a surplus of labour that had to shift to agriculture. The increasing labour force, competition for employment, and consequently the forcing down of the rates of wages for male workers, became a main feature of agrarian depression with this seasonal nature of agricultural employment. He showed how internal migrations were taking place in Bihar and Orissa, and the regularity with which agricultural labour migrated every year to other parts of the same province or neighboring provinces for temporary service during the agricultural slack season. Following this study, I have given detailed accounts of famines and famine migrations in my third chapter, with the way in which opportunities for employment guided the movements of the migrants53. In his article, “Famine in peasant consciousness and peasant action: Madras 1876-78”, David Arnold gives causes for the migrations as immediate sources of food and water disappeared, as employment vanished and local charity failed. Peasants individually, in family groups, or in gangs, set out in search of work and subsistence elsewhere. For some, this may have been a desperate bid to escape from destitution and starvation. For those weakened by hunger and sickness, evacuating the villages might have led only to confusion and aimless wandering, exhaustion and death by the wayside. In the main, these mass movements, involving several million people over the course of the Madras famine, were purposeless flight from a famine stricken countryside. They were directed towards places where, from past experience or hearsay, peasants believed that they could find relief from their distress. Towns were an obvious objective; the temple towns of the region were renowned as places of charity for pilgrims and the mendicant poor. The towns were reservoirs of the precious grain that had vanished from the countryside, the haunts of the merchants and officials. The railway junctions and sea ports, where grain was stored and imported or transshipped, were similarly magnetic attractions for the migrant peasants. In the hills and irrigated coastal plains

53 B.M. Bhatia, Famines in India, Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 1991, pp. 144.

Introduction

21

and even abroad, there was a hope of escaping from drought and dearth to find food and work54. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya’s, working paper to the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, “The Laboring Poor and their Notion of Poverty: Late 19th and Early 20th Century Bengal”, explores other forms of socioeconomic subordination. Moreover, in our permanently transitional postcolonial economy, the term ‘laboring poor’ is more suitable than ‘proletariat’. The focus on the oral culture of the laboring poor will help us to go beyond sterile intellectual abstraction and pragmatic policies. The songs and tales about famine from Bengal reveal that for peasants, famine disrupts their moral universe. This disruption is as feared, if not more so, as the subsistence crisis. Hence ideas of charity at times of disaster are intimately and inextricably connected to a collectivist ethos which holds that all the community must be together in poverty and in plenty. It is a different world-view from the colonial laws which understood charity as encouraging sloth and poverty.55 In the article “Orissa Famine of 1866: Demographic and Economic Consequences,” Bidyut Mohanty also discusses the demographic, social and economic consequences of the famine of 1866, one of the most decisive events in the economic history of Orissa. He shows the differential impact of the famine on various classes and caste groups, and on men women and children. This discussion is of some relevance to the contemporary discourse on famines, which asks questions relating to the structural deprivation of social groups and their entitlement profile. The famine of 1866 was due to both the decline in agricultural output and decline in the income of many classes of people. Prices rose four to five times compared to the pre-famine years, but were not very much higher than those of the neighboring famine-affected districts like Midnapur and Ganjam. The Famine of 1866 occurred at a time when Orissa was quite isolated. Still, it did generate a lot of mobility, though no accurate figures were available. The emigration statistics for the famine of 1866 were collected in June and July 1867, along with the mortality statistics. The Zamindars were given forms to fill in information on the emigration statistics along with the death statistics. The data on emigration relating to the number of emigrants who left at the beginning of the famine did not 54

David Arnold, Famine in Peasant Consciousness and Peasant Action Madras 1876-8, Subaltern Studies III, (ed.) by Ranjithguha, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1989, pp. 63-115. 55 Sabyasachi Battacharya, “The Labouring Poor and their Notion of Poverty: Late 19th and Early 20th Century Bengal,” Working Paper, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, 24 July, 1998.

22

Chapter I

include distress migration during the famine of 1866. According to the authorities, on an average, 4 per cent of the estimated 1865 population of Orissa emigrated during the famine period. Orissa received some special attention from the British Raj after it lost more than a million people. A steamer service was opened in 1871 and roads were constructed, linking Orissa with Calcutta and Madras. Labourers got additional employment in public works, canal works and finally in railroad construction till 190056. I have given a detailed account on famines and famine migration in my third chapter, along with the way in which opportunities for employment guided the movements of the migrants. At the third level, more significantly, patterns of migration changed in the early 20th century in colonial Andhra. This occurred in four categories. Firstly, the phenomenon of agricultural labour migration on a seasonal basis from “backward areas” to more developed ones was on the increase from the early twentieth century. This led to seasonal migration. Thousands moved every year from Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, the uplands of Godavary, Kistna and Guntur, to the lands watered by the Kistna and Godavary rivers. For the cultivation of land under various crops, there were the Godavari and Kristna Anicuts. The land under cultivation was proportionately much larger than the other districts of the Andhra region. The exception was Nellore. In south coastal Andhra, dominated by the Kristna river system, agricultural labourers numbered 3, 16,755 (14%) and in the Godavari region, the total number was 4, 30,312 (18%). However, in Nellore, the total agricultural labourers numbered 2, 24,666 (15%), and were dependent entirely on agricultural works57. In Godavari district, paddy was the chief wet crop and was raised mostly by transplantation. There were a variety of double crops. Sometimes even dry crops grown successfully were more profitably than paddy58. These words are from the concluding paragraph of the Godavari District Manual written by Mr. H. Morries, whose connection with the district gave him special knowledge on the subject. In Sir Henry Montgomary’s report of 18th March 1844, the population of the district showed that it had decreased from 7,38,308 in 1821-22 to 5,61,041 in 1842-43. These figures were probably rough approximations, as no demographic survey of the people was under taken with accuracy till 1851-52. The census of 1861 returned a total of Rs 13,66,831 whilst the 1891 census gave 20,11,982 as the figure (Bhadrachalam-Rekapally Taluk and Kottapalle Taluk were not included 56

Bidyut Mohanty, “Orissa Famine of 1866: Demographic and economic consequences”, EPW, Vol. 28, No. ½ (Jan. 2-9, 1993), pp. 55-66. 57 SAMP, 1908, pp. 96, 138, 299. 58 SAMP, 1908, p. 89.

Introduction

23

in the count of 1861), thus making for an increase of slightly over 47 percent in thirty years, by 1893-94. The area of irrigated land in the Delta had therefore increased from less than 150,000 acres of poor cultivation from 1861 to 640,744 acres of first crop and 80,966 acres of second crop by 1893-94. Therefore the growth of revenue saw a huge jump as the total amount of revenue raised in the district had increased from 24 lakhs to 88 lakhs in forty years59. Gail Omvedt has put forward a particular model of the way in which imperialism worked with respect to the Indian economy. The model assumes that though imperialism acts to transform agriculture, there is disintegration and disordering of the traditional village structure. Colonial imperialism distorted the industrialization process in India. The backwardness of agricultural technology and economic dependence were maintained: the transformation of agrarian relations of production was contested with the stagnation of industrial growth, and held to be the causal factor. Against this, Omvedt argued that an examination of colonial migration revealed both the specific characteristics of the colonial working class that it produced and the continuing existence of feudal ties of dependence in agriculture. This generally implied the sexual division of labour between the sectors, in which women and families remained in villages, while the men migrated to become workers. It also implied the lack of a family wage, which was the main mechanism through which cheap labour, and thus cheap raw materials and consumer goods for developing European capitalism could be maintained. It was these continuing ties to the land, inducing ties of feudal dependence, which made this possible. Thus imperialism in its colonial phase maintained a situation of dependent and blocked production, not only through the direct thwarting of native industry, but also through the maintenance of agrarian feudalism. In terms of internal migration, census statistics from 1881-1931 showed approximately 90-91% of all Indians as being born in the districts they were enumerated in; of the remainder, two thirds were born in contiguous districts. What is significant is that, just as much as with seasonal work as with migration, the workers maintained their connection with the land; their family members remained on it. They returned home periodically, once a year or more frequently, and often at the times of harvest. The Colonial State, in fact, maintained a constant concern about the supply of labour, even while it did not actually legislate for this. This was in line with its image of the paternalistic government, while its do-nothing 59

Ibid., p. 154-156.

24

Chapter I

attitude when it came to labour laws made it a passive supporter of the capitalist employers and contractors who were employing labour at the cheapest possible rates when it came to the unskilled sector. The main concern of the colonial state was to maintain the supply and flow of labour at low prices, which the migration system made possible, and with as little governmental trouble and expense as possible. Thus the main role of the colonial state was clear: even when it was not directly and obviously visible to the migrants, it maintained the conditions of work and migration as much as it served to hamper the development of native industry or to extract funds from agriculture.60 Agricultural labour in colonial India came from two chief sources of supply. One was the traditional landless group or ‘menial’ (often untouchable or tribe) castes, who were bound to dominant cultivators by custom, sometimes on a hereditary basis and often reinforced by debt bondage. This group of ‘farm servants’ were clearly defined in many regions before the British conquest, and they probably remained the only major group without any access to land at all throughout the colonial period. The terms under which such labour was employed varied over time as different systems of agricultural production evolved. Periods of growth provided employment opportunities that gave traditional labourers fresh bargaining power, although, as cultivation became more profitable and prices rose, land lords also had an interest in substituting casual cash employment for fixed obligations to provide grain. The second source of rural labour came from the large numbers of deficit cultivators: families that did not have enough land to provide employment or subsistence for all their members. This was supplied both directly, through casual employment at harvest and other times of high seasonal demand, and indirectly, through debt-bondage, sharecropping arrangements and hypothecation. A 2.5 acre plot in the ‘dry’ region absorbed perhaps 125 labour days a year, most of which could be supplied by women and children, leaving the male family members free to seek seasonal employment elsewhere.61 The extent of wage labour and migrant labour employment increased in colonial India. The neo-Marxist historiography cites a variety of ‘push factors’ to explain the trend: new property rights to land, the decline of handicrafts, high risks associated with grain exports, and the consequent peasant indebtedness and wage labour. The census occupational data 60

Gail Omvedt, Migration in Colonial India: The Articulation of Feudalism to Capitalism by Colonial State, Journal of Peasant Studies, 7 (2), 1980, pp. 184-209. 61 Tomlinson, B.R., The Economy of Modern India From 1860 to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2013, p. 68.

Introduction

25

shows a significant increase in the proportion of agricultural occupations in the workforce between 1901 (19.5%) and 1930 (36.3%).62 A revisionist account has argued that landlessness as such did not increase in rural India, but older forms of landlessness associated with caste gave way to new forms associated with wage work.63 A recent reappraisal of the census data offers an account of the transition in the labour market based on the perception that the supply of labour was a family decision rather than an individual one.64 A certain segment of the migrants from rural to urban occupations consisted of rural labourers who had formerly been part of a caste based ‘attached labour’ relationship. These customary long term contracts in agriculture had been male biased and there were few women in these arrangements. These systems were in decline in the late nineteenth century. As attached labourers were replaced by those hired in casual wage-labour markets, the entry into rural markets increased. On the other hand, rural women were less likely to move to cities because they married early and had children to look after. It was the men who migrated to into new industrial jobs in large numbers. The majority of the women who stayed behind reported themselves to the census as agricultural workers. An increasing supply of migrants reduced the employers’ need for labour hoarding. From the late nineteenth century, certain poverty-stricken areas provided a seasonal agricultural workforce. Large numbers migrated every season from the uplands of the Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, and Vizagapatnam districts to the Krishna-Godavari delta for farm work. Every cotton season, many labourers from Chhattisgarh went to the Berar cotton fields and gins. The wheat fields of Narmada valley – that is Jubbulpore, Saugor, and Damoh – received migrants from UP in the North and Rewa, whence the Gonds descended from the hills during harvests. Bihar workers migrated to Bengal in the jute harvest season. Azamgarh workers were recruited for large scale earthwork in Bengal. From Ratnagiri, many went to work in the cotton fields of Broach. Panjab Canal Colonies received migrants from Rajaputna. When rural labourers left their villages, they left their customary contracts to take part in wage 62

S.J. Patel, Agricultural Labourers in Modern India and Pakistan, Bombay, Asia, 1952; J. Krishnamurthy, “The Growth of Agricultural Labour in India”, Indian Economic and Historical Review (IESHR), 9 (4), 1972, pp. 327-32. 63 Dharmakumar, “Land and Caste in South India: Agricultural Labour in Madras Presidency in the Nineteenth Century”, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965. 64 Thirthankar Roy, Rethinking Economic Change in India: Labour and Livelihood, London: Routledge, 2005.

26

Chapter I

labour. Therefore migration also hastened the break-up of the customary terms of employment65. With labour becoming more mobile than before, markets should have integrated and wage rates should have converged across markets. A test conducted for the nineteenth century finds evidence to suggest an absence of convergence in wages.66 In the coastal Andhra region, there is evidence suggesting that real wages in the 1920s were higher than those in the 1900s.67 In districts (especial in Madras) where commercialization combined with net emigration, there was a rise in wages.68 Secondly, the migration of labour to Hyderabad State for agricultural works also occurred, though reverse migratory movements from Hyderabad State generally did not take place, as social traditions and customs had a powerful hold upon the inhabitants. Thus the migrations from the Dominions (Hyderabad) were mostly of the casual type. In the article “A survey of rural migration and land reclamation in India, 1885”, D. Rothermund argued that the population pressure may lead not only to an intensification of cultivation, but also to migration and land reclamation, if there was some capital available. On the other hand, where there was scarcity of labour in areas which otherwise invite reclamation, such scarcity is an impediment that cannot be overcome by migration, although a mobility of labour may be noticed in a different context. This mobility of labour is either of a seasonal kind and involves peasants who are prepared to work elsewhere before or after their own harvest, or it transcends the bounds of peasant economy, the peasant becoming an urban worker. Though he might return to the peasant fold once more at a later stage, he does fit the definition of a migrant. In both cases, this mobility is not conducive to a large scale shift of the peasant population from overcrowded areas to the regions which offer a greater scope for land reclamation. Therefore a country may show a rather uneven distribution of population, and it may supply labour to other countries while there are large tracts of land which could be opened up if labour could be sent there, 65 Tirthankar Roy, The Economic History of India 1857-1947, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000, pp. 131-133. 66 W.J. Collins, ‘Labour Mobility, Market Integration and Wage Convergence in Late 19th Century India’, Explorations in Economic History, 36 (3), 1999, pp. 246277. 67 K. Atchi Reddy, ‘Wages Data from the Private Agricultural Accounts, Nellore District, 1893-1974’, IESHR, 16 (3), 1979, pp. 301-21. 68 Dharmakumar, ‘Agrarian Relations: South India’ in Thapan Raychudari and Ifan Habib (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume I, Cambridge University Press, 1983-9.

Introduction

27

instead of abroad. I have demonstrated Rothermund’s notions of pressure of population on land and land reclamation in the second chapter69. Thirdly, Andhra labourers migrated to Burma. Burma was in a stage of industrial transition, rapidly developing into an industrial zone. Mining areas were being enlarged and new mills were being built, capital was being sunk into opening up new industries. Hand in hand with this industrialization, however, agriculture remained the predominant occupation for the vast majority of the people. Larger areas were being brought under rice cultivation, the staple article of food for the Burmese. Other food crops and non-food crops, such as oil seeds, cotton and rubber were also expanding in the area. For the successful continuation of these varied enterprises, a sufficient amount of labour was a necessity. Every important commercial and industrial country in the world depended on the adequacy and free supply of labour for its progress and prosperity, and in this respect, some countries were more dependent than others on immigrant labour. Burma was greatly dependent on immigrant labour, as the indigenous population was unable to meet labour demands. The employers of labour were obliged to draw on external markets for the necessary supply to India. India, on account of its proximity and accessibility, was the chief contributor. This was especially important in Burma, where labour could be divided into two broad classes: (a) immigrant Indian labour; and (b) the floating indigenous Burmese labour. The first class may again be broadly divided into two heads: (1) labour recruited under agreement or contract; and (2) free labour, in the sense that a very appreciable portion of Indian immigrants came to the province of their own free will in search of employment. Such people took their chance to find what employment they could get, either in Rangoon or in the districts, though it was a fact that a number of them easily found employment in various agricultural pursuits and casual occupations. European mills, public bodies and shipping companies invariably recruited labour through the Agency of Labour contractors. These contractors undertook to supply the labour required at certain prescribed rates and recruited people in the principal Indian recruiting centers, such as Ganjam, Godavari, Vizagapatnam and the Kistna Districts, as well as the Tamil districts in the Madras Presidency. The greater proportions of the labour recruitment consisted of Telugus (Corighees or Andhras) hailing from Ganjam and the adjacent districts. The people were recruited either directly by the contractor or through his agents. In the article “Labour 69 Rothermund Deitmar, A Survey of Rural Migration and Land Reclamation in India 1885, Journal of Peasant Studies, 4 (3), 1977, pp. 212-247.

28

Chapter I

Migration from the United Province, 1881-1911”, Pradipta Chaudhary has argued that the eastern part of the United Province sent a large number of labourers to the principal centres of industry and trade in India as well as to many overseas sugar colonies from 1881-1911. In particular, the districts of Azamgarh, Ballia, Banaras, Gahjipur and Jaunpur were the major sources of labour supply to Assam, Bengal, Bombay, and Burma, while Basti and Gonad were the principal sources for sugar plantations in the West Indies – Mauritius, Fiji, Natal and Dutch Guiana. This paper analyses the process of international and internal migration from the seven major labour supplying districts of U.P. In the first section, the pattern of migration is discussed and some principal characteristics of the process are delineated. In the subsequent section, the socio-economic roots of the emigrants are studied with the help of direct and indirect evidences. In the third section, an attempt is made to analyze the major cause of the large movement of labour from the seven districts. The high population density in the United Provinces was considered in many government reports and elsewhere to be a major cause of emigration70. In his article, “Caste and the Evolution of the Industrial Workforce in India,” Morris David Morris provides examples of the way caste relationships influenced the mobilization of a labour force for the modern factory system, and the influences that such a factory system had upon the structure and functioning of caste. Despite the ubiquity of caste and the intense interest the phenomenon has generated among scholars, virtually no attention has been paid to the relationship of caste to the process of industrialization in India. Certain generalizations have been made about the caste groups that flow into industry, about the impact of industrial employment on caste coherence and about the caste composition of industrial entrepreneurship. Although some widely-held notions exist, it is strange that these conclusions have not undergone a detailed investigation. Unfortunately, as many of these ideas are mutually contradictory, it is impossible to locate the correct propositions. My chapters discuss the article, seeking to address issues such as: (1) the character of the population that migrated; (2) the extent to which caste influenced factory occupation, either by the choice of the worker or selection by the employer; and (3) the degree to which caste affected the character of worker cooperation against employers71. In Peter Robb’s (ed.) “Dalit 70 Pradipta Chudary, Labour Migration from the United Provinces 1881-1911, Studies in History, 8, 1, n, s. 1992, and pp. 31-41. 71 Morris David Morris, Caste and Evolution of the Industrial Workforce in India, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Apr. 19, 1960), pp. 124-133.

Introduction

29

Movements and the Meanings of Labour in India”, contrasting views of workers are provided by British rulers of India, or more recent officials; some by social reformers; others again by scholars, lawyers and development economists. There are, too, changing contexts, and several kinds of movement. Arguably there has been, first, a move towards larger and more certain or stable categories, especially over the last hundred years. Secondly, there have been physical movements of people, and movements from one activity and type of production to others. Over the last two hundred years these movements appear to have changed significantly in character. They pre-dated colonial rule and continued during it; for example, in the form of the temporary migration of harvest labour, or seasonal expansions and intensifications of workload. But the proportions of casual labour seem to have increased in the workforce as a whole, and the social and economic implications of such employment seem to have altered. Thirdly, in relation to both work and status, there have always been movements of protest; these too, though perennial, may be increasingly organized, and changed in content and significance.72 In the fourth category, migration was from rural to urban areas, which could be seen in the migrations to Vizagapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Madras city, which were the chief urban centers during this period. People went in search of their livelihood in the small scale industries, ports, rice mills, etc. in these cities (see chapter IV). K. Lakshminarayan attempts to consider the nature of the growth of metropolitan centres in India with special reference to the streams of migration. He considered metropolitan development in its historical context of colonial capitalism – both commercial and industrial – and the notion of centre-periphery relations. This political economy framework helps us to understand the nature of metropolitan development and that of migration streams, which contributed to its development. During the postcolonial period, the administration required consolidation; land settlement acts were passed and new sources of revenue introduced. There was a tremendous growth in the field of communications. The railways, which were started mainly for military reasons during the colonial period, now helped in the economic development of an independent India. New roads were constructed, connecting various parts of the country and postal and telegraph facilities became available. The country was gradually “drawn within the orbit of the capitalist system” and several cities, important for their commerce and manufacturing, decayed because they could not 72

Peter Robb (ed.), “Dalit Movements and the Meanings of Labour in India”, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1993, pp. 1-2.

30

Chapter I

compete with the cheap European manufactured goods that had been dumped in India by the British government. The import of manufactured articles hindered the economic development of the country. The exploitative colonial economy did not allow technological advances in the field of agriculture and the growth of a self-sustaining industrial sector. The decay of indigenous industries and a stagnant agricultural sector forced millions of rural unemployed and under-employed people to go to big cities which did not have the capacity to absorb them. My fourth chapter has a similar argument, where I discuss the growth of towns as an important factor influencing migration.73 At the fourth level, labourers migrating to plantation areas increased as the tribal/semi-tribal bonded labourers, landless labourers and poor peasants were recruited to Assam tea plantations from Ganjam, Vizagapatanam, Godavary agencies and the upland areas of Godavari, Kistna, and the plain portions of Guntur and Nellore. Agency (Unsurveyed Hill Area): In Ganjam Agency, the north and south tips have a much higher density than the centre and the central fringe. The Parlakimedi Maliahs in the extreme south, with 196 people to a square mile, have a population density greater than that of quite a few plains taluks in the presidency. This is an illustration of the impression one receives, that the Saora Agency is much more densely populated than the kond. In the Agency, a denser population is to be found in closer proximity to important communications. Udayagiri and Parlakimedi Maliahs illustrate this aspect. The former surrounds the broad road, which in one form or another has for ages been a through route to Sambalpur for the salt of Circars coast. Parlakimedi Maliahs cover the last stage of the southern exits from the Agency to its southern focal point in the plains, Parlakimedi. The same tendency is observable in the Vizagapatnam Agency, where population densities of over 100 are found in Jeypore, Koraput, Pottangi, Parvatipur, Rayagada and Gunupur. The first three of these carry the main road from the plains through into Bastar State. The second group lies on the two great lines of penetration from the south, which follow the river valleys of Nagavali and Vamsadhara. Taluks which come close to having a population density of 100 are Naurangpur and Padwa, of which the former comes next in the matter of proximity to main communications. It is on the fringes of this Agency that the lowest densities are recorded. From Malkanagiri round to Salur, the density does not exceed 40 anywhere. The distribution of population in Godavari 73

Rao, M.S.A. (ed.), Studies in Migration: Internal and International Migration in India, Manohar, Delhi, 1986, p. 84-95.

Introduction

31

Agency is much the same, with Polavaram being twice as high as its nearest successor. This Taluk is on the south bank of Godavari and has a considerable area, though not very distinguishable from the adjoining plain tracts.74 (See Map 4.) Poverty, other employment opportunities, and desire to escape from the law generally induced men to migrate. Still, poverty, in its relative sense, must be held to be the basis of every kind of migration which was undertaken with a view to increase one’s earning capacity. The classes that made up migrants both to nearby towns and far off plantations and estates were: (1) the landless class, which depended wholly on the agricultural labour work that was available in villages for its livelihood; and (2) the class, though categorized as land owning, that still faced economic hardships and migrated, even leaving their land behind.. This brings us to the first cause of migration, which was the pressure of the population on land. In other words, the quantity of land and the income from it was unable to support the number of people dependent upon it, and this pattern is clear in my chosen regions (see chapter V). The second cause of migration was bad seasons, which further aggravated the population pressure on the land. Emigration figures show that the immediate and certain results of a bad agricultural season was a large, sudden and otherwise unexplained increase in the numbers that migrated, because labour became scarce and the income from land failed. Late or insufficient rains in parts of the recruiting area meant at once an increase in the total number of labourers migrating to other areas. The third cause of migration was not necessarily from poverty – the attractiveness of higher wages and continuity of employment contributed to migration. The attractiveness of the higher wages paid by industrial interests in towns and by plantations thus was the third cause of migration for unskilled labour, which moved from agricultural work in the country to industrial occupations in towns. They also moved to the special kinds of labour available in plantations and estates. In the paper, “Introduction: Proletarianisation and Deproletarianisation on the Colonial plantation” by Tom Brass and Henry Bernstein, they analysed in overall terms deproletarianisation as an outcome of the class struggle between capital and labour on Asian plantations during the colonial era and raised some important issues concerning class formation in these contexts: specifically, in terms of parallels with current developments in the global economy and possible alternative trajectories under imperialism. To begin with, current arguments about the new 74

Census of India, 1931, Vol. XIV, Madras, Part 1, p35.

32

Chapter I

international division of labour find echoes in, and simultaneously emphasize the contemporary relevance of, debate about the developmental role of the colonial plantation. There is a parallel between the need and ability of capital invested in both colonial plantations and contemporary export processing zones to force down wages, since both produce for export and do not require a local market for their commodities. Second, deproletarianisation as the outcome of class struggle suggests that a proletarian class consciousness may have been present much earlier than is generally supposed in colonial contexts, and also that it may have been developing among those more usually characterized as alleged backward ‘peasants’.75 In the article, “Tea and Money versus Human Life: The Rise and Fall of the Indenture System in the Assam Tea Plantations 1840-1908”, within the narrative of colonial discourse, Rana P. Behal and Prabhu P. Mohapatra generally ascribe the reversal of policy to the realization by an increasing number of colonial state personnel that special labour legislation had failed in its objective of developing genuinely free emigration and free labour in Assam. The indenture system fell largely because of its inherent contradictions. It became economically untenable and politically costly to maintain. It was altered substantially in a phase of acute crisis, when the colonial state stepped in to rationalize the labour system. The gradual dismantling of the indenture system marked the transition from a system based on the physical coercion of labour to one based on its rational exploitation. In one sense, it was an immensely successful system, in so far as it laid the foundations of the tea industry by permitting a large expansion in the acreage under cultivation; yet this success was achieved at the expense of no fewer than half a million lives, and in the end this proved a little too much, even for a system that looked at coolie deaths merely as ‘depreciation en bloque’76. In the article “Plantation Labour in Colonial India”, Ranjit Das Gupta makes an attempt to analyze different types of capitalist plantations in colonial India. While there is considerable controversy over the definition and essential characteristics of plantations, in the present paper, plantation in colonial conditions are viewed as a particular type of ‘capitalist’ 75 Tom Brass and Henry Bernstein, “Introduction: Proletarianisation and Deproletarianisation on the Colonial Plantation” Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 19, numbers 3/4, April/July 1992, pp. 1-40. 76 Rana P. Behal and Prabhu P. Mohapatra, “Tea and Money versus Human Life: The Rise and Fall of the Indenture System in the Assam Tea Plantations 18401908” Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 19 numbers 3/4, April/July 1992, pp. 142172.

Introduction

33

enterprise with the following basic features: an agro-industrial enterprise raising one or several crops on a large scale under tropical or semi-tropical climate conditions; an international market orientation; the launching and subsequent maintenance of plantations under the ownership and control of foreign capital with the backing of the colonial state; the employment of a large number of producers and labourers doing hard manual work under conditions of a primitive labour process; the use of a migrant and/or immigrant labour system; and the mobilization and control of direct producers through economic and extra-economic coercive methods with the direct and indirect support of the colonial state77. According to Rana Pratap Behal in his paper, “Forms of Labour Protest in Assam Valley Tea Plantations, 1900-1930”, by the end of the nineteenth century, the Assam Valley witnessed the growth of plantation structures woven around the obnoxious indenture system. Within this structure, the workers were subjected to physical and social control which severely restricted their mobility within and outside the plantations, and isolated them from the outside world. The workers expressed their protest against this arrangement in different forms over time. Beginning with individual acts of desertion, their protests became collective. In the post-World War I period, workers’ protests became somewhat organized and distinctly political in nature. The years 1920-22 witnessed an increasing articulation of workers grievances and an intensification of protests in the form of strikes. The tea garden workers’ struggle did not, however, crystallize into a unified and organized labour movement in the Assam Valley. The major constraining factors were the various features of the plantation structure such as restrictions on mobility, enforced isolation, and social and physical control of the workers. These, along with the oppressive state machinery, prevented the emergence of a political leadership from among the workers themselves. And the possibility of outsiders providing a political leadership was severely limited because of the general indifference of the nationalist leadership to the whole question of workers’ protests vis-à-vis the planters. The hindrances to the development of class consciousness among plantation workers cannot be fully understood without reference to the nature of the work, which primarily was agriculture. Thus organization as well as consciousness could develop as it might in the agrarian sector and not in the modern industrial sector. However, such a possibility was aborted over a long period because the colonial regime allowed the

77

Ranjit Das Gupta, “Plantation Labour in Colonial India,” Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 19, numbers 3/4 April/July 1992, pp. 173-197.

34

Chapter I

planters to keep workers under control through various legal and extralegal means78. Kalyan K. Sircar’s paper, “Labour and Management: First Twenty Years of Assam Company Limited (1839-59)”, enquires into the prevailing conditions in the plantation industry during its formative years, 1839-59. In those days, the Assam Company was the sole representative of this industry in India, and recruits from the Kachari tribe of Assam accounted for most of its labour force, unlike in later times. Because of ethnic homogeneity, the proximity of the plantations to their home districts and the free mobility they enjoyed, the Kachari labour force was often able to fight back and gain important concessions from the company’s management. Though themselves illiterate, they made continuous efforts to settle wage rates and disputes through collective bargaining and to obtain written undertakings from the management. Keen on pushing the wages further down and on resisting labours combining, after 1859, the Assam Company therefore decided to recruit the bulk of its labour from outside Assam and to keep them bonded. To facilitate this, the colonial government introduced restrictive labour legislation, thereby permitting the planters to restrict free mobility and the right of their labourers to combine. Kacharis opted out of the new indenture system, even as faminestricken people by the thousands were recruited from new labour catchment areas outside Assam during the decades that followed. Among, such new recruits were various groups of tribesmen, designated in the records as ‘hill cooli’, dhangar and boonah (jungle-dwelling), etc.79 After laying out the literature reviews, from where the analytical models have been used in the manuscript, this chapter then maps the physical layout of the regions under analysis.

Period of Study and Area The research period covers between 1845 and 1930. 1845 was the year the Public Works Department was established in Madras Presidency. By 1930, many developments were taking place towards labour welfare. The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, provided compensation in the event of disablement or death through accidents in certain occupations. The Trade Disputes Act, 1926, provided for the constitution of boards of 78 Rana Pratap Behal, “Forms of Labour Protest in Assam Valley Tea Plantations, 1900-1930,” EPW, Vol. XX, No. 4, January 26, 1985, pp. 19-26. 79 Kalyan K. Sircar, “Labour and Management: First Twenty Years of Assam Company Limited (1839-59)”, EPW, Vol. 21, No. 22 (May 31, 1986), pp. M38M43.

Introduction

35

conciliation or courts of enquiry to deal with industrial disputes. The Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926, which proved an important instrument in promoting the organization and consolidation of the strength and power of collective bargaining of the working people in the country, was in operation by 194780. Further, the effects of the Depression in 1930 also created a totally different attitude in labour. Study, therefore, halts at 1930. I note that Indian labour, taken from a position of collective understanding of the bargaining power of labour vis-à-vis a modern state structure which had a clear policy, actually began to realize this by the early 1920s. My thesis stops with this new development in the laboring classes, which would give a very different attitudinal slant to migration. The area covered under the Andhra region of the Madras presidency districts were Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kistna, Nellore, Cudapah, Kurnool and Ananthpur. The Madras Province is the southernmost province of the Indian Dominion and almost surrounds the State of Mysore and the province of Coorg. It is bounded on the east, from Itchapuram to Cape Camorin, by the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar, and on the west by the Arabian Sea. To the north, the boundaries from east to west are Orissa, the central Provinces, the Nizam’s Dominions and the southernmost districts of Bombay Province.

80

5.

Labour Welfare in the Madras State, Government of Madras, Madras, 1961, p.

CHAPTER II PUBLIC WORKS OF MADRAS PRESIDENCY (ANDHRA) AND LABOUR MIGRATIONS Introduction This chapter combines the rhetoric of the colonial state, liberal and philanthropic, with its actual hard headed policy towards poor migrants. The rhetoric of philanthropy was largely centered on Public Works, which to a great extent were carried out in a rural setting. The construction of irrigational canals, roads, railways and other infrastructural works stimulated, and even made labour migration necessary, during the last hundred years of colonial rule. Those who worked on these labour intensive projects were migrants. They were often lodged for years in temporary camps on the actual worksites.1 The Public Works were carried on under three distinct departments; viz. (1) The Public Works Department of Board of Revenue; (2) The Superintendent of Roads; (3) The Military Board. The Board of Revenue had control of all the irrigation works, all civil buildings in the province, and all roads and bridges, not including the “Trunk Roads,” or military cantonments and canals. The Superintendent of Roads had the sole responsibility for the great lines of communication which had been classed under the term Trunk Roads. He proposed all new roads on these lines, as well as all repairs and improvements, and he and his subordinates executed the greater part of the work. The Military Board had superintendence of the construction and repair of fortifications; of all public buildings at the Presidency, both military and civil; the government roads, and all public buildings, both military buildings and forts in the provinces2.

1

Jan Breman, Labour Migration and Rural Transformation in Colonial Asia, Free University Press, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 12. 2 First Report of the Commission on Public Works, Printed at Saint George Gazette Press, 1853, p. 1. (Henceforth First Report on Public Works.)

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History of Public Works The history of the Public Works Department in Madras Presidency divides naturally into two periods anterior to the formation of a regular public works department in 1858, and later.3 But the subject of the necessity for commercial roads was raised, dated 3rd September 1817, and it appeared that the subject of internal communications had then been under investigation for some time. “The importance of an easy and secure communication by land, in a political point of view, as well as to the commerce, the revenue, and the general prosperity of the country, was sufficiently obvious; but to create and maintain good roads through these territories, would involve the disbursement of [a] large portion of the revenue of the government, and considering the existing state of inland commerce, would appear perhaps [to] be as unnecessary as it would prove expansive”. It was resolved in 1831 that no further attempt was to be made to keep up the great lines of road through the country. The collectors had to do what they could, each in their own district, and the pioneers were to work without any pecuniary aid from the government. At the close of the same year, 1831, it was determined that the corps of pioneers should be reorganized under the name of the “Sappers and Miners” and officered by engineers. From the year 1846, a new era commenced in the history of the roads of the country, and the operations and expenditure became somewhat larger. The European form of the wheel had been introduced on the roads. But the extensive use which was now made of the common cart (or bullock cart) for the traffic between the inland districts and coasts was only to be accounted for by the improved condition of many hundreds of miles of road. From the returns sent in by the collectors of districts in 1848, it appears that there were at that time about 90,000 bullock carts in use in the presidency4. The Department of Public Works under the Board of Revenue for the conveyance had designated it as the “Maramut Department”. The early English collectors necessarily assumed the charge of the irrigation works, along with that of collecting revenues. It was essential to the security of revenue that the works should be kept in repair, and large sums were in fact expanded on that account, but being without any professional assistance whatsoever, the collectors were compelled to entrust the 3

Maclean, C.D., Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Delhi, 1987. Previous to the year 1858, all public works were carried out under three distinct and independent departments; Viz. (1) The Maramut Department of Board of Revenue; (2) The Trunk Road Department; (3) The Military Board. 4 First Report on Public Works, p. 37-46.

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expenditure to native revenue officers. Over the course of time, this state of matters attracted official attention. Engineer officers were appointed under the title of superintendents of tank repairs, to aid the collectors in this branch. Still, for many years, they were too few to produce much effect. There was at first only one superintendent in 1809; a second was added, but the principal subject having attracted the special notice of the honorable court, the department was reorganized in 1819. Now there was an Inspector General of Civil Estimates who communicated between the revenue and engineers. In 1825, the Inspector General himself was placed on the Board of Revenue. The department continued on this footing for a number of years. In 1836, a decision was made to give the Civil Engineer a seat at the Board of Revenue. The office of the Inspector General of Engineers was abolished and a Secretary to the Board of Revenue in the Department of Public Works was created, to whom all the administrative duties were devolved5. The Public Works Department was first organized on a definite basis in 1854 in succession to the old military boards of the three presidencies – constituted mainly for the purposes of carrying out military works – which were done away with. In 1866, in order to meet the demands for public works, three separate branches were also formed: the military works branch; the civil works branch, including irrigation; and the railway branch. In 1870, the public works accounts branch was added to these. In 1893, in accordance with the recommendation of the Atchison Commission on the Indian Public Services, the provincial services were created for the purpose of providing more employment. By 1895, the public works department had become a purely civil department after the separation of the military works branch, and in 1905 the railway branch was turned into a separate department. Since this date, the public works department was responsible only for civil works including irrigation. During the same period, with the development of local self-government, certain classes of public works had been entrusted to different provinces, within the control of district boards and municipalities. In 1910, the public works accounts branch was abolished as a separate entity and merged into the civil accounts department.6 Why were these administrative changes put in place? My conjecture is that, as the colonial state became more stable and public works were no longer a military requirement, this particular activity of the state was shifted to the civil side so that it was not confused with military activities; the possible public works still had some of the funding, which the military could demand for its own constructions. 5

First Report on Public Works, pp. 2-3. Report of the Public Works Re-Organization Committee, Vol. I, Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printers, India, 1917, p. 4.

6

Public Works of Madras Presidency (Andhra) and Labour Migrations

39

Convict Labour In “Indian Convict Workers in South Asia in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries”, Anand A. Yang looked at the convicts transported from South Asia to Southeast Asia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This phenomenon was part of a global system of forced migration. His essay tracks the history of “convict workers.” That is, it examines their roles as members of a labor force that was recruited and organized to service the projects of the emerging British Empire in South East Asia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Important in this historical context is an understanding of the conditions and circumstances that generated a pressing need for their labour as well as for the roles these convicts played – literally and figuratively – in extending and consolidating the frontiers of colonial rule. Significant also to this study is the larger framework of labour in all of its more coerced and less forced varieties, ranging from slavery and serfdom that “have generally been permanent conditions”, to “unfree labour” that is essentially temporary. Convict labour falls into the latter category, as does “indenture, military service, debt bondage, and apprenticeship, as well as the systems used to enforce types of agricultural and mining labour in various parts of the world”. Slavery, by contrast, is generally not “limited in duration” and often entitles “the rulers [to have] the right and ability to exploit labour and to control not only the serf or slave, but also their offspring.” Labour in Southeast Asia tended to be organized by slavery, bondage, and dependency. In the words of one scholar, “the labour system of Southeast Asia through most of its recorded history … [was] based on the obligation to labour for [a] creditor, master or lord”.7 The practice of employing convicts in detached gangs under the public works department was discontinued in the Madras Presidency in accordance with orders from the Indian government. This was because similar employment of convict labour in Bengal had been very unhealthy. That experience did not appear to have been supported by the results. However, convict labour was of little importance as the assistance towards economizing costs would be insignificant. The returns for the first half of the current year gave the entire number of convicts under sentence of labour throughout the districts of this presidency as 5,705. Of this number, 3,215 were employed on the public roads and streets; 781 were in hospitals, attending on the sick, cooking or cleaning; 451 were employed inside jails, 7

Anand A. Yang, “Indian Convict Workers in Southeast Asia in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries”, Journal of World History, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 2003), pp. 179-208.

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some on very necessary work; and 1,258 were employed outside, on work other than the roads and streets. On the actual number and distribution of the convicts, the rules which restricted the employment of certain classes of convicts to labour within the jail, we think allowed no more than 2000. This could be made permanently available for employment under the public works department, without neglecting the station roads and streets very much. But against this was to be set the extra cost of lodging and guarding convicts in temporary jails, over and above what it would be in the permanent buildings. Moreover, the task of marching them over long distances, backwards and forwards, to and from their own Zillahs, for exchange and release, etc. would negate all the economizing of costs. Thus it would further reduce the net value of the work obtained, and it would became so trifling in comparison with the whole amount of work actually done in the public works department, the colonial state dismissed convict labour as unviable. Further, in a retrospective move, the officials felt that if the assistance received from convict labour on public works had always been thus valued, and in particular, if it had been customary to balance the value of work done by gangs stationed in temporary jails against the extra cost of employing them in this way, it would have never been practiced. The colonial government, now seriously considering the net costs for employing convict labour in aid of certain works, further directed the officers proposing to use the convicts that they should enforce discipline and observe the rules laid down for their employment. The convict labour requirement of Nellore as demanded by the district engineer thus could only be, if it could be done with due regard to discipline and the jail rules. The employment of convicts by executive officers and works designed by them were particularly favorable to the enforcement of hard labour and discipline. In the Public Works Department, the Chief Engineers were requested to instruct all District Engineers before calculating the aid of convict labour, to ascertain from the Inspector General of Jails whether the work in each instance was of a suitable kind to admit convicts being employed, and whether convicts could be spared for it8. Therefore we find the colonial state carefully weighing cost options against the employment of even supposedly cheap labour for constructing public works.

8

Proceedings of the Madras Government in the Judicial Department, G.O. No. 84, 24 January 1860; G.O. No. 96, 10 April 1860; G.O. No. 513, 25 April 1860.

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Labour for Road Construction Firstly, the Road Department, the lowest level of the public works department, was constituted in 1845, as the labour required for road construction was only “labourers or labourers”, according to colonial state logic. The “Pygust” had charge of the lining out, raising, metaling and draining of the road. He was also charged with the measuring of work, and disbursing of tickets to the labourers for work done. The “Conacapillays” were men of the same qualifications who superintended the quarrying and preparing of materials and the carting of it to the road, and also disbursing the tickets for such work. The next grade was that of the “Maistries”, who were employed on masonry works only while a road was being constructed. There was one maistry to each bridge of considerable size, one to several smaller bridges, and one maistry to the construction of one or two roads that connected the districts. After a road was completed, there were no maistries permanently employed on it. Above all these subordinate grades and immediately under the executive officers were the “Overseers”, one to every six, eight or ten districts. They were generally Europeans, but one or two were Anglo-Indian brick layers, carpenters and stone cutters, who were always on smaller districts. The plan of paying laborers by means of the tickets had been adopted by many officers who were in charge of the construction of ghats or other works where large bodies of labourers were collected, as a means of preventing the labourers from being cheated. There were four sorts of tickets in common use; viz. the man’s ticket, the woman’s ticket, the cart ticket and the quarry ticket. As workmen of these classes do not stay away or change from one work to another like common labourers, the tickets were cashed immediately on being presented to the overseer of the division, no matter by whom they were presented. This instant and unfailing payment had given the tickets the value of money; they were readily taken and they passed from hand to hand as a medium of exchange. Tickets were issued to secure prompt and full payment to the labourers. The Overseer of each division periodically visited every station where work was in progress, as already said, and cashed all the tickets whenever presented. However, the holders did not have to wait for the visits of the overseer, for the tickets could be cashed whenever or wherever presented. In point of fact, the workmen found it far more useful neither to retain the tickets till the overseer’s visit, nor to lose their time in going after him to get them cashed. They used them in exchange for goods in bazaars, thus articles of their daily consumption. Further, the tickets were readily taken at a small discount by the people selling every day articles in the bazaars. This conveniently covered the

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delay and trouble of getting them cashed. We therefore see the colonial state – or rather, the colonial officers – putting in place a system of exchange, which served in lieu of hard cash, as ready money. It was also very important as a strategy for establishing trust for the state amongst the labourers who worked for the public works. There was a certain method of setting the labourers on a task. When work began at any spot, the executive officer or overseer would set some good workmen to work. Good work was extracted by a promise of rewards. What is specific to my thesis is that apparently, large bodies of labourers were collected or invited from the villages or adjoining villages to work at these sites, with assurances that there would be no rolls of names or arrears in wages. There was a promise, further, that tickets would be instantly delivered on the performance of a day’s work. Labour was therefore always forthcoming on these terms. The colonial state therefore held out very consciously the hope for labourers that good workmen would always earn more. It also promised that the excess would be gladly paid. This was the logic of migration – the expectation of good pay on a public work which could be of a short duration. This was possibly also the reason why the colonial state found its own statistical data on migrant labour useful. It could form some approximate idea of the numbers it could siphon off from rural areas to develop its construction works. The officers of the colonial state had a dual strategy: they earned the trust of the labourers (migrant or local) by promising good and immediate pay for the deserving. Then, there was systematization of the varieties of pay that the officers had to make on the sites of construction. Thus the detailed accounts of the categories of work were all entered separately in different books. The Quarry Book showed the number of labourers employed each day at the quarry for each heap, the number of heaps prepared, and the tickets that were received and issued. The Cartage Book contained corresponding particulars, viz. the description of material; the quarry from which, and the mile to which, the material was carried. The Road Book showed the total number of men and women employed daily in a “District”, their distribution on the various sorts of work taking place, and the quantity of work performed by them. It showed also the number of tickets that were received and issued daily. The various types of work were arranged in columns. They were as follows: earth work, spreading jelly, spreading gravel, watering and ramming the surface, clearing channels, hedging trees, removing earth, and so on. The Roller Book showed the miles in which the roller worked each day, and the number of trips it took. The Receipt Book was kept by the Overseer from all parties, to whom he had to pay money for “sundries”; that was for charges not

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included in the various station books. There was also the necessity of taking signatures on the receipts. Under the heading of “Sundry labour” came the category of pay of labourers of various kinds (not just daily wages but also monthly payments). Under this heading, too, the categories also included the deputy roadmen, who were employed while the work was in active progress. Therefore the labourers who were paid in this way were, for the most part, those employed during the dry season in watering trees planted along road sides and other locations. The Cash Books were an integral part of the Station books: they contained whole detailed accounts of the expenses of the establishment and also of the expenditure under the category of “sundries”. When the overseer visited a quarry or road work – and cashed the tickets for the work done – he entered the particulars in the Station book. At the same time, he also entered the disbursement of money in his Cash book.9 The officers in charge of the public works were aware that there was a very thin line between the category of “Compulsory Labour” and “Voluntary Labour” for the making of roads. Thus the Civil Engineer, Lieutenant Rundall, who was stationed in Waltaire, stated that when the road from Vizayanagaram to Bimlipatnam was being constructed, a mere 100 to 200 people daily could be obtained through compulsory labour. But as soon as it became known that the hire was paid regularly every evening, the people came in crowds and within ten days, there were 2000 “voluntary labourers” every day.10 Roads were not the only construction that were wanted, irrigation was also necessary in Madras Presidency. However, no irrigation would bring the country to a state of prosperity without the means of conveying the produce to market; therefore, cheap communications had an immense effect, even in enabling one part of the country to help another in the matter of food redistribution in the eventuality of any local crop failure11.

Irrigation and Construction Labour Meaning of Irrigation: Irrigation is a method of producing or increasing fertility in soil by introducing an artificial supply of water. This is by aid of the action of gravity and irrigation by natural flow is the result. 9

Second Report of the Commission on Public Works, Printed at Saint George Gazette Press, 1853, p. 32-36. 10 First Report on Public Work, pp. 291-292. 11 Sir Arthur Cotton, Public Works in India, Higginbotham and Co., Madras, 1885, p. 22. (Henceforth Sir Arthur Cotton, Public Works in India.)

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Channels are constructed which lead the water from the source of supply, be it a well, reservoir or stream; and they are so aligned and graded that the water flows through these and from them into minor channels, and from these again, they are led by ploughed furrows through the fields. Value of Irrigation: Of the incalculable benefits derived by a country from irrigation, not to be undervalued are the increase of revenue and protection from famine. Irrigation works are consequently classed as Productive or Protective accordingly, as they conspicuously fulfill one or other of these great functions. In a productive work, the revenue not only pays the cost of maintenance, but in addition, it also pays a percentage on the capital expended. This percentage is a profit to the colonial state. In the case of a protective work, the revenue is generally insufficient to yield a profit, but the construction of the work is undertaken to protect the inhabitants of the district from scarcity and famine. The full advantage of irrigation works cannot, however, be estimated by their direct results. Works are indirectly profitable in improving the condition of the people, in promoting trade, and in developing the resources of the country12. The Tahsildars were then responsible for the execution of the work. They engaged the workmen, making advances to them. The tahsildars’ responsibility for engaging the labourers was a necessary part of all ordinary works of moderate size. They were the officers of the villages where the works were to be carried out. After the first advance had been expended, a second was made, and so on till the work was completed. The work was marked out and explained by the taluke maistry, who also visited it from time to time while it was in progress, and gave reports on it. It was also visited by officers of the Civil Engineering Department, while monthly or bi-weekly progress reports of the works were also sent to the Collector by the tahsildar13. In the case of earth or rough stone work, they produced workmen before the Tahsildar, who executed agreements and received advances. In the case of masonry, the village officers generally undertook to provide materials, and also received advances for this purpose. A copy of the estimate was also given to them, as well as the list of the materials required, the latter drawn up from the estimates by the taluk maistry. In larger works, the tahsildar himself made agreements with brick makers, lime burners and tradespeople for the supply of materials, and advances of money on bond and security. He also engaged workmen, aided by the village officers. As for masonry work of small amounts, such as was executed by the village officers, the accounts were kept by the 12

Reynolds, R.E., Irrigation Works in Madras Presidency, Government Press, Madras, 1906, p. 1. 13 First Report on Public Works, 1853, p. 11.

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Curnum or village accountant; in larger works, there was generally an officer specially appointed by the tahsildar to the work, who kept the daily accounts. In such large works, the accounts were required to be sent to the Taluk Cutchery every day, every five days, or every ten days, according to the district practices, but the there was no particular time frame. It was from these accounts of expenditure that the accounts of the cost of the work were ultimately made up. The latter were prepared by the Tahsildar and forwarded by the Collector, with a measurement and survey report by the Tahsildar, or some of his department, and the maistry. In the case of earth and rough stone work, the measurement and survey report alone was sent. In the collectors office, the accounts were examined, compared with the district data, and with any remarks that may have been made on the work or the materials by the Civil Engineer; they were sent back to the Tahsildar for correction if errors were found. The officer examined the quality of the work and took its measurement; he also investigated the rates charged for materials and labour, and the quantity of the both. His report was given to the collector.14 It was in this manner that the British understanding of a modern state structure, with highly segregated categories of finance management and the practical management of large construction projects, delegated the management of bio-resources to the lower end of the “native” collaborators. These collaborators were obviously subservient. They also could not appreciate the way in which the colonial state built its memory bank of records with the enormous quantity of developmental projects it fashioned in the period that I am looking at. In short, the Indians were given the charge of a very small fragment at this historical juncture: a holistic, cohesive cognition of an administrative totality was lacking; however, Indians would eventually understand this principle of governance.

Maistri System in Public Works We see the same principle operating in the case of maistries as well. They constituted a very important branch of the executive department. In the early period of the department, they were simply head-bricklayers who superintended the execution of the few masonry works, and probably often accompanied the tahsildar when he went to measure earthworks. As the department grew, and became more effective and better organized, the duties required to be performed by the maistries became more extensive and more important. The number of maistries in the 14 irrigation districts 14

First Report on Public Works, 1853, p. 20.

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was 79; besides which, 12 superintendents of Maramut were of recent creation. They had almost invariably progressed upwards in the Civil Engineering Department, and served for some time as maistry to a civil engineer, thus being in immediate and constant communication with him. They were the native head of the department under the Collector. The maistries were stationed out in different parts of the district; each one on average was in charge of the work in two and half Taluks, this in total being about 1,280 square miles in size and containing about 1,000 works of all kinds, besides hundreds of miles of road. Again, as to the execution of the works, it was still the tahsildars’ duty to provide materials and work labour, and to make other necessary arrangements. However, Maistries were responsible for the materials and had to ensure that the works were done in accordance with plans and estimates. The principle of dividing responsibility through a hierarchy of power, with a very fragmented picture of men, materials and finances at the lower levels, was clearly apparent with maistries. Thus the maistries were not to be employed in the estimating or overlooking work, but they should be chiefly confined to executing the work, making surveys and working under the immediate direction of superior officers15. The irrigation works administered by the government may be divided into three main classes. In the first of these come what were technically known as ‘major works’, the outlay which was met with imperial funds. These included the great delta systems in the deltas of the Godavari, Kistna, Penneru, and Kaveri, and other important undertakings such as the Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal and Periar Project. The delta systems depend upon great masonry Anicuts or dams, which had been thrown across the rivers at the head of the deltas, and consisted of a network of channels to distribute the water which was so rendered available. The second class of irrigation works was financed using provincial funds for ‘minor works’. These chiefly included the systems which were dependent upon the dams across the rivers and a few ‘tanks’ and artificial reservoirs. The third class included thousands of smaller channels and tanks throughout the presidency, for which no capital accounts were kept. The clearance of smaller channels and similar petty repairs were generally carried out by the cultivators themselves, by what was called kudi-Maramut or Customary labour.16 In this level of developmental activity, we see that the colonial state threw its resources into big projects, while the indigenous systems of irrigation were entrusted to rural communities. We 15

First Report on Public Works, 1853, pp. 23-31. Imperial Gazetteer of India Provincial Series, Madras, Vol. I, Reprint, Usha, Delhi, 1985, pp. 50-51. 16

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also see the colonial government, in its records, carefully demarcating what areas of activity would be controlled by Western technology and know-how, and what would remain in the hands of indigenous knowledge systems.

Immigrant Labours of Godavari The delta systems, which depended upon great masonry Anicuts or dams, were in the hands of the Colonial State. The execution of the Godavari Anicut head works commenced in 1847 and had ended by 1852. The origin of the Godavari project was proposed at the close of the eighteenth century. An Engineer, Mr. Toping, had observed the ease with which the Godavari might be made to irrigate the district on its banks, and had brought to the notice of government how desirable it would be to throw an Anicut or dam across the river. The Civil Engineer, Captain A.T. Cotton, first made a general report (12th August, 1844) on the feasibility of the project and the probable results of having such a dam. He was directed to collect and submit more specific information, and he made a second and more detailed report on the 17th April, 1845, with the detailed estimates of the cost of an Anicut across the Godavari River17. For construction of such a great masonry Anicut, local labour would not be sufficient, and so immigrant labour was required to complete the project. At first, only a few hundred people assembled, but by the arrangements by of the Collector, about 4,000 people were collected in the short term. After a few weeks, they began to come in a considerable numbers, amounting to thousands. However, we see that the colonial government carefully noted the behavior of immigrant labour drawn from predominantly agricultural economies. They noted that the members fell sharply when the monsoon set in and the immigrant labour returned to cultivation. The numbers had fallen sharply to about 3,00018.

17

George T. Walch, The Engineering Works of Godavari Delta, Madras Govt. Press, 1896, p. 34; and also see G.N. Rao, “Canal irrigation and agrarian change in colonial Andhra: a study of Godavari, c.1850-1890,” Indian Economic and Social Historical Review, No. 25, 1, 1988, pp. 26-30. 18 Letter from Major A. Cotton, Civil Engineer, 1st Division. To The Secretary, Revenue Board, Department of Public Works, Camp at Dowlaiswaram, 18 August, 1847: Reports, Correspondences and Original Papers, on Various Professional Subjects Connected with the Duties of the Corps of Engineers, Vol. III, Madras Presidency, Printed in Madras, 1854, pp. 65-66. (Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers.)

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A detailed report from H. Forbes, Sub-Collector of Rajahmundry, was given to T. Prendergast, Collector of Rajahmundry, about the procurement of labour to execute the head works of the Anicut. Operations were first vigorously commenced in April 1847, so many labourers and artificers were employed between April and July of that year. During the progress of preparatory works, as many as 10,200 labourers, 500 carpenters and 500 smiths were employed. The preceding season had not been very good and the pressure of want sent large numbers of migrant labourers to the work. Many of them, however, were women and children, who, although able to perform the common earth work then required, could not be employed when building operations had commenced. Since the first season, men alone had been employed at work during the seasons of 1848, 1849 and 1850; the average number had been 6,500. The colonial government had recorded that despite its policies of employing only men, after two bad seasons, there were women and children who also arrived on the project sites, ready to work. Therefore, this thesis assumes that under ordinary circumstances, the women and children would have continued to work on the fields, while the men worked on the public worksites. However, consecutive bad seasons had pushed even women and children – who were generally agricultural labourers – to seek work on these public projects. We can also see that, once the colonial policy laid them off, these women and children would either return to their villages or remain on the site with the men. In the season of 1848, the Dowlaiswaram and Moddur Anicuts were built, and a good deal of work was also done to the Dowlaiswaram and Vijayaiswaram sluices. From July till November, a party of labourers was constantly employed in the quarry, repairing and relaying the railroads and preparing stone for the operations of the ensuing year. During the nonworking part of 1849, or from July to December, a large party had been engaged in the quarrying and in the preparation of stone. As soon as the river water ceased to flow over Dowlaiswaram and Vijayaiswaram, the operation of laying it commenced. A large number of stone masons had been collected from Chicacole and Vizayanagaram, and many had been found within this district. The average number at work throughout the year had been about 360. From the 1st March 1848 to 1850, a total cost estimated at 2,39,130 rupees had been expended among the labour working for hire. The total number of daily labourers employed was 30,54,414, or the total population of the province multiplied by five. In addition to this, there had at all times been a large number of people on regular monthly wages, particularly those constantly present in the quarry. In 1850, when the building operations were the most extensive, there were 641 bricklayers and 365 stone masons in constant employ. Of these, this

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district supplied 308 bricklayers and 231 masons; 172 bricklayers and 12 masons came from Vizagapatnam; and 177 bricklayers and 15 stone masons came from Chicacole. Of the labourers who worked on a parallel system of daily hire and the average turn, they ranged from approximately 6,500 to about 12,000 and came from Musulipatnam. Another 5,300 came from Rajahmundry. In this district, each taluk had been called upon to supply a fixed number with reference to its size and population. The village officers had arranged among themselves the details of the quota from each village and also for the regular relief of the parties at intervals of one month. This system worked well and gave little trouble, once fairly introduced. However, the result was still very much dependent upon the activity and energy of the Amildar of the taluk. We see again the uneasy relationship between the colonial government’s clear view of the administrative, financial and technological requirements of completing these projects, while retaining doubt and skepticism of the indigenouslymanaged lower end, which would have to mobilize its only area of control – the local populations. Further, there was also the implication that the indigenous amildars did not have too much to do; they may have provided information, but the migrant labourers were obeying an economic imperative: they would have to go where there was work and wages available. On the Collector’s establishment, of those who had been employed on the works, none had exerted themselves more constantly, more carefully or more usefully than Jagadava Atchuta Naidoo, the Murmut superintendent, the Report noted appreciatively. “I [H. Forbes] should be unjust to a very meritorious public servant if I did not record my own high sense of his value. Cunchee Ramaiah Amildar of Caupavaram, Abdul Rahman the late and Auchunta Lukchmeputee, the present Amildar of Rajahmundry; S. Ranga Rao, Amildar of Ralle, D. Venkateswarao, Amildar of Nugauram; Meer Shabha Alli and D. Timmarazu Amildars respectively of Biccavolu and Amalapuram, were those among the servants of this division, with whose conduct I have expressed myself [well] satisfied: Their merit was in the order in which I have placed their names. G. Chetambaram, Amildar of Ralungy in Musulipatnam; V. Ramana Rao, The present Doroga of Gootala and S. Venkataswamy Naidoo, Deputy Tahsildar of Musulipatnam whose services were placed at my disposal by the collector of that district, have exerted themselves efficiently”.19 19

Letter, H. Forbes, Esq. Sub-Collector of Rajahmundry. To T. Prendergast, Esq. Collector of Rajahmundry, 8 June 1850: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, 1854, pp. 146-149.

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The English officer in charge of the important position of superintending the public works, however, also had sever words of censure for the Indians who were slackers, or just inefficient. First in the list of those who were careless idle and inert, must be placed the name of C. Sooba Rao, the Amildar of Ramachandrapoor, and his conduct was inexcusable. “He was a servant in the Tanjore Collectorate, and introduced in this district by myself, in the hope that he would bring with [him] some of the Muramut energy so conspicuous in that province”. In this, the SubCollector had been wholly disappointed: no less than 38 orders had been addressed to him in this session alone, but labourers from his taluk did not fulfil his quota on one single day. Coopa Rao, the Amildar of Peddapore, had been most lax in his duty and caused much inconvenience and delay; as did Appa Rao; Narsimha Rao, the Amildar of Woondy; P. Ramdass, Tasildar of Kykaloor; and T. Siddy and Ganapathy Dass of Ellore: both were in the Musulipatnam Collectorate had but ill-fulfilled the orders they received from their Collector. The Sub-Collector regretted that to this list, he must add the names of the Zamindars of Ellore and Pittapoor: the conduct of the latter, he had already on two occasions laid before the Collector; and Apparao of Ellore: far from affording any aid to the work, he had used every underhanded means in his power to thwart and oppose its programme20. The Governor in council had not failed to notice the very valuable work rendered by Mr. Forbes, the late Sub-Collector of the Rajahmundry, during the progress of the work. This again demonstrated how the various layers of the colonial government were linked with its constant archiving of its activities. All of the triumphs and failures, the reasons for them, the minor difficulties and major complications, and above all, the collaboration with the indigenous element to pull off major projects, were part of its every-day production of knowledge for governance. Thus it was noted that, by the vigorous execution of the responsible duty assigned to him, the constant requirements of the engineering department were supplied; and his judicious arrangements, order and regularity were preserved among the vast assemblage of artisans and labourers congregated at the Dowlaiswaram21. 20

Letter H. Forbes, Esq. Sub-Collector of Rajahmundry. To T. Prendergast, Esq. Collector of Rajahmundry, 8 June 1850: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, 1854, pp. 146-149. 21 Letter from the secretary to the Board of Revenue in the Public Works Department. To The President and Members of the Board of Revenue in the Department of Public Works, Extracts from the Minutes of Consultation, under date the 27th May, 1852: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 191.

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In his letters to the Board of Revenue, Major A. Cotton, Civil Engineer, 1st Division, gave information about how he had procured labour to complete this Anicut, He said, “As far as labour was concerned, we can do almost any extent of works. [It] will be distributed over so great a pace, and the people came freely to works within a moderate distance of own village; so that everything will depend upon the means I had for planning, marking out, and superintending”22.

There are clear references to the local agricultural economies surrounding the Anicut responding swiftly to this promise of temporary public work that was being carried out – perhaps for several years. The local government and its officers who managed huge projects were certainly assured of a steady and continuous supply of labour. The management of large bodies of unorganized and community-oriented labour, with perhaps even their caste prejudices, may have caused the colonial government a few problems, but these, until they actively led to riots and disorders, were not the concern of the colonial state: they remained the indigenous superintendents’ concerns. Possibly some of the Amildars, who went on government records as inefficient and uncooperative, were reluctant to handle these inter-community troubles. For the government, however, these works were only opening up great opportunities, for the people had greatly believed in the energies of the people. “I have been greatly roused by the execution of these works: the employment of large portion of the population, at different times, on the Anicut and other works had shown them the practicability of doing many things that they never thought of. Some distress and annoyance had of course been caused by the collection of large bodies of the people at one spot for the works. But I am sure that upon the whole this stirring up of the people had been exceedingly beneficial to the people themselves. But much more had the works effected in giving them hope: before, they were in a state of stupor and despondency; the efforts of the government to give them water [and] improve their condition had already greatly inspirited them. And every day we have increasing proofs how alive the people are to

22

Letter from Major A. Cotton, Civil Engineer, 1st Division. To The Secretary, Revenue Board, Department of Public Works, Camp at Dowlaiswaram, 11 October, 1850: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 155.

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There was therefore an enormous amount of self- congratulating at the teeming sources of labour that poured in endlessly: Cotton observed, that he had every officer at his post, eager for instruction to proceed and 16,000 volunteer labourers constantly at his disposal24. The officers in charge of the public works were thus assured of the project being constantly flush with labour supply, and therefore there was nothing to fear from a possible stoppage of the work. The presence of labour made it a sure-shot project, with no chance of government money being concentrated on a project that would grind to a stop through lack of labour. There was therefore confidence: “The improvement in the management of the works was manifest in every respect, but perhaps the most satisfactory point was [a] thoroughly healthy state into which it had been brought in respect of obtaining workmen. All difficulties on [an] engineering principal had been to get rid, as far as possible, of the least experience; so that the workmen should not only really be free to work when and where they liked, but that there should be nothing to cause them to fear that they might be interfered with”25.

The government’s decisions were occasionally delayed and the works stopped, therefore people were employed continually and the labour pool remained on site, because they were confident that they would be paid. There was a comparison with a previous experience of public works that had been stopped, resulting in no labour. The officer even optimistically predicted that these public works would ensure a good income for the Indians:

23

Letter from Major A. Cotton, Civil Engineer, 1st Division. To The Secretary, Revenue Board, Department of Public Works, Camp at Dowlaiswaram, 22 December, 1851: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 182. 24 Letter from Major F.C. Cotton, Civil Engineer, Godavari Division. To The Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Department of Public Works, Fort Saint George. Camp at Dowlaiswaram, 23 February, 1851: Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 202. 25 Extracts from the report of the Chief Engineer on the works on the Godavari and Kistna Rivers, inspected by him under the orders of Government, dated 23rd February, 1853: Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 204.

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“The consequence was that when I arrived, though several works had been stopped in consequence of the refusal of the estimates by the government, there were 13,000 men employed. There had been many more when the civil engineer was compelled to stop some of the works: several thousand workmen continued to work at their contracts, till they were starved out. The change in the district was induced; wonderful works to the extent of 5,000 to 6,000 a year could not be carried out or could not be executed under the old system; the collector was always reporting of many works, “not executed for want of labour”. Now in the same district, notwithstanding the demand for labour for the sugar works, and other things and the great extent of cultivation that was now carried on in the dry season, the civil engineer found no difficulty in executing work to the extent of 50,000 Rupees a month. I was convinced that this prodigious change may be taken as a specimen of what may be effected in every branch of the social condition of the people of India”26.

The extension of public works through huge territorial stretches seemed to suggest that this meant the limitless expansions of opportunities for the indigenous rural population; yet there was a problem as the colonial government occasionally failed to appreciate these projects and would not sanction funds, thereby causing major set-backs to this unending potential: “On the line of the Coringha channel the Alamoor lock had been nearly completed and the channel cut from it three miles towards Coringha. The continuation of this work with its tunnels and locks, which had been stopped when the government refused further funds, will now be prosecuted”27.

The officer in charge, however, after the difficulty and confusion caused by the sudden determination of government to stop the works was afraid to proceed vigorously with them; lest, when he had collected four or five thousand people, he should again have to disperse them. Such government action could never kill official initiative, which could affect the actual purposes of these public works. Further, the dispersal of labour without any pay would successfully destroy the trust that labourers 26

Extracts from the report of the Chief Engineer on the works on the Godavari and Kistna Rivers, inspected by him under the orders of Government, dated 23rd February, 1853: Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 204. 27 Extracts from the report of the Chief Engineer on the works on the Godavari and Kistna Rivers, inspected by him under the orders of Government, dated 23rd February, 1853: Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 205.

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had developed in the good faith of the government, and this could be an unfortunate fall-out of such a government decision. “If an officer was made to feel that all his plans and arrangements were liable to be confounded by a sudden determination of the local government to stop his proceedings, it was impossible that he could proceed with vigour and economy; and artificers and laborers know that to think or what to calculate upon. They hear, perhaps, 100 miles off, that there was work going on which will last for years and where [they] were sure of employment; and [a] few days after they had been taken into pay, they were told that they cannot be employed any [longer]. I did not mean to say that circumstances may not occur to compel the authority who had ordered a vast work of this sort, to abandon it; but I could not say less in this present case, than that there really was not in the state of the project a shadow or aground for such a proceeding”28.

The same point was made by Captain, C.A. Orr, Acting Civil Engineer, 1st Division, in a letter to the Board of Revenue: “I must also point out [the] injustice to them and injury to ourselves that we shall commit by discharging the workman collected from all parts, and from great distances in the expectation, and some cases obtaining permanent employment. For instance, among the artificers are [a] few Bengalis, who were brought down from Calcutta on a positive agreement that under any circumstances they would not be discharged within 12 months, and a promise of obtaining permanent work. Again, in the quarry most of the best workmen have been brought from Vizagapatnam”29.

The same officer was quick to cite other disastrous examples when British officers could not trust the colonial state to give them financial support: occasionally, British officers made personal advances to the labour they employed, confident that the government would give them their money back, but realized too late that the government would not cover their expanses on the field. Capt. C.A. Orr was clear about these

28

Extracts from the report of the Chief Engineer on the works on the Godavari and Kistna Rivers, inspected by him under the orders of Government, dated 23rd February, 1853: Henceforth Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, pp. 204-205. 29 Letter from Captain, C.A. Orr, Acting Civil Engineer, 1st Division. To The Secretary, Revenue Board, Department of Public works, Camp at Dowlaiswaram, 1 September, 1847: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 83.

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breaches of trust between the British officers and the British colonial government: “Lieutenant Haig, one of the principal assistant in charge of the first division, made great advances to the labourers and gave up his own time and that of his subordinates almost entirely to laying out the channels and regulating their discharge over the land. We had hitherto had no difficulty in getting the buntadars to work out honestly their balances, and I had no doubt that the whole of the contracts will be fulfilled when the harvest was gathered in. At present our work was not so popular as it was and for good reason, which is, that the high prices of grain makes the ordinary payment for harvest work higher than the usual earnings of a day on the canals. This is all as it should be; and though it was very aggravating to the officers engaged in the works to [find] the number of their labourers decreasing, while they had advances out, I could not regret the cause, and I was disinclined, till after the harvest is over to raise the rates; feeling sure, that when the present demand for labour diminished, we shall [have] the buntadars at their work again in as great numbers as ever”30.

Because of the conditions of labour change, and if agricultural activities drew off an unpaid labour force, unless the project site gave a further raise to daily wages, the labour could not be hired back. Thus the officer was implicitly warning the government that the stoppage could be counter-productive and hit at the people’s faith in a benevolent government. Sir Arthur Cotton had ensured that the ordinary people had this faith. “Few English men are better entitled to be regarded as benefactors of India than Sir Arthur Cotton, of the Madras Engineers. Of a daringly inventive genius, an ardent temperament, in exhaustible energy and unflinching selfreliance, fertile in expedients, prompt to devise, and eager to execute; sanguine in his anticipations of success and a little too apt perhaps to exaggerate the success achieved”31.

He could even afford to have coercive strategies for the recruitment of labour, so secure was he that the surrounding village communities around

30

Letter from Major F.C. Cotton, Civil Engineers Office, Godavari Division. To The Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Department of Public Works, Fort Saint George, Camp at Rauzole,1854: Reports, Correspondences and Professional Subjects of the Corps of Engineers, p. 220. 31 William Thomas Thortan, “Indian Public Works and Cognate Indian Topics”, Macmillan, London, 1875, p. 102.

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the public works would benefit by it, and the layer credit of the government as a benevolent one would increase hugely. “The substitution of voluntary for forced labour had been introduced by Major Cotton towards the later end of 1852. It was a most important and telling innovation upon the system that had hitherto been practiced. Formerly labourers were always sent, a certain appointed number from each village, by the Amildar, under orders from the officers in charge, to whatever works they were required for. The System [commenced] during construction of [the] Anicut, much against the will of Colonel Cotton, who felt himself compelled to resort to it to secure a sufficient number of work people”.32

Thus, though such coercion was not good in principle, it created the reputation of the labour-pool, which made Cotton’s voluntary scheme of drawing labour become an immediate success. “It had been continued by the younger officer, when carrying on the subsidiary works, long after even experience had shown that might be dispensed with and a more wholesome system substituted. It was not till the close of 1852 that Major Cotton abandoned it, and ordered it to be discontinued throughout the works under the executive charge of the Engineer department. The voluntary system introduced, the people flocked in numbers to the works. In [a] few months, the number of labourers employed amounted to 20,000. The system followed was simply give advances to all who asked for work and when necessary to provide them with tools”33.

However, too liberal a pay scale meant its misuse, as Captain Orr warned through his own experience. “In one part of the Delta, that under my own charge, the advances were given too indiscriminately, and without a sufficient watch being kept on the amount of work performed by those who received them. The consequence had been that a good deal of money was still due from many who abused our liberality, and it was possible that we may not succeed in recovering the whole of it, though the greater portion had been already paid up”34.

32

Selections from the Records of the Madras Government: Reports on Important public Works for 1853, Printed in Madras, 1857, p. 26. 33 Selections from the Records of the Madras Government: Reports on Important public Works for 1853, Printed in Madras, 1857, p. 26. 34 Selections from the Records of the Madras Government: Reports on Important public Works for 1853, Printed in Madras, 1857, p. 26.

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Even this kind of misuse of money had an advantage, for labour was attracted to the site by certainty of payment. “The Engineering department, therefore, needed to be independent of all Executive Department’s restraints in order to be truly effective: This however was a matter of very trifling importance compared with the great benefit that part of the district had arrived from the rapid extension of the irrigation works, in consequence of the large numbers of people that were attracted by the large amounts of advances given. I think the introduction of this system of voluntary labour especially worthy record. It was, indeed, part of a complete and most beneficial change in the manner in which the works had, up to that time, been conducted, and to it is owing, in great measure, that we were enabled to command the great amount of labour required for the extraordinary exertions made that year to secure the crops endangered by the failure of the monsoon. The Engineer department was from this time forward released from any dependence on or connection with that of the Collector in the execution of the works”35.

Immigrant Labour on Canal Works in Godavari and Kistna Districts By 1892, nearly 43,800 miles of main canals and distributaries had been constructed in British India, irrigating 13.4 million acres at total capital costs of Rs 382.6 million, and returning net revenue annually at a rate of 4 to 5 percent on the investments. Rs 1,544 million had been increased on the system at an average rate of Rs 47 per acre, making the land which was irrigated by public works the most valuable agricultural land in India.36 Canal construction in colonial Andhra gave huge employment opportunities to the migrant labour force. In Chapter Four of the public works code, 1861, Rule 11 set out that the district engineer should use all his utmost endeavors to ascertain the exact cost of labour and materials of all kinds, in different parts of his district37. This was further extended in 1870 with the public works department code, when under the general rules of execution of works, Chapter Thirteen, Section I, Rule 17 set out that Executive Engineers would make their own arrangements for supplying labour and materials, without having recourse to civil authority. Further, Rule19 set out that 35 Selections from the Records of the Madras Government: Reports on Important public Works for 1853, Printed in Madras, 1857, p. 26. 36 Flynn, P.J., Irrigation Canals and Other Irrigation Works, San Francisco, 1892, p. 4. 37 Government of Madras: Public Works Department Code, 1860, p. 6.

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Executive Engineers must be careful that labourers and artificers were not forcibly brought to work, that they were well treated and punctually paid, and that they suffer no deduction from the full rate of wages due to them. Rule 20 further protected migrant labourers: labourers and artificers brought from a distance may, when it was expedient, be allowed wages for the number of days consumed in the journey to and from the site of the work. This expanse would of course have to be covered by the estimate, in which any such probable expanse must consequently be provided for38. We therefore see that by 1870, both the Engineering Department and the Labour Force (local and migrating sources of labour) had been tied together, with no shadow of the executive threatening to cut off funds. A letter from Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, Assistant Engineer in charge of the Western Delta Division, Godavary District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, No. 47 showed: “His progress report on the more important works in this division during the late closure of the Ellore Canal. The Ellore Canal earth work, up to about the 10th March had made good progress, in the words of the officer, I then had little doubt of being able to finish it off before the 15th of May. In March small pox broke out on the work site and there was [an] immediate stampede of buntadars. Two hundred men, who with considerable difficulty had been [brought] from the Central Delta, returned to that delta at once and steadily refused to return. The only buntadars left on the work were the local tank- diggers, who are very poor and could not afford to leave till they obtained employment elsewhere. This they were gradually obtaining and their numbers had diminished from about 350 to 150”39.

The agricultural economy immediately exerted its own pull, and labourers turned to an alternative source of employment, with a psychological advantage: They could now compare rates and tell the public works officers that in agricultural works, they stood to get higher wages. The options for the public work officers would be to either raise their wages, which might or might not bring the labour back, or they could ask the tahsildars to ask the labour to return. The tahsildars either would not or could not persuade the labourers to return. 38

Government of Madras: Public Works Department Code, 1870, p. 217. PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 39

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“They were being employed by ryots in manuring and lowering fields and in digging field channels. They say the ryots pay them very much higher rates than we do, but he did not consider raising our rates would do much good, as the ryots would not allow their labourers to leave their own works. The Ellore Tahsildar issued notices to the ryots pointing out the state of affairs and asking them to assist in getting labour for the canal. This they have not done, he had again brought the matter to the notice of the Revenue Department. Small-pox was now very prevalent on the work, and all the labourers employed on it will leave as soon as they were assured of work elsewhere. Under these circumstances he [sees] no chance of the canal work being finished by the 15th of May”40.

There were more such examples and the British public work officers occasionally conferred, for they did not understand the labourers and just giving them wages might not keep the labourers happy. There could also be the counter-pull of agricultural work and possibly, therefore, of the interplay of several reasons. The public works department officers had begun to lose optimization of the 1850s. “The Lutchmipalem weir foundations had given great trouble, where [there was] scarcity of labour and frequent strikes that took place among labourers. In dealing with [the] foundations where much water was met with, an ample supply of labour was essential, as the excavating work should go on as quickly as possible to save expense in baling. Till well into March a sufficient supply of labour could not be procured. In February a good many labourers were got from Coconada and Rajahmundry, but they disliked the slush work and left after a few days. The reasons for the strikes of labour that took place he did not quite understand. The work was dirty and labourers were in the water more or less all day; but they were getting ample rates and regular payments [my emphasis]. The weir foundations were put in nearly 6 inches higher than intended. Throughout the range great difficulty had been experienced in getting labour. This was partly due to our sanctioned rates being insufficient to purchase it, the price of labour as well as of every other commodity had been raised by the famine, and partly to [the] fact that ryots were employing labour in much greater quantity than usual in lowering and manuring their fields and in excavating their channels”41. 40

PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 41 PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the

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There could also have been a raise in agricultural productions: “Many ryots, who in former years were obliged to come on works for some months in the year, now found it no longer necessary to do so, and many men who were almost [solely] dependent on works for food had become cultivators on a small scale and had earned enough from their crops to allow of their remaining idle between the irrigation seasons, or of employing their time in preparing new land for cultivation. We had hitherto attempted to prevent any general rise of rates in expectation that the effects of the famine would pass way and normal rates be reverted to. I think it was now [quite] time to recognize that we can no longer carry out work at rates hitherto found sufficient, and that a permanent rise of rates of wages had taken place owing to the great quantity of money which the famine had thrown into the district”42.

We thus see that migrating labour could no longer be employed at very low wages. Even the miserly public works department officers were forced to concede that wages had to be permanently raised. Without offering labour more attractive terms of hire, the labour would remain where it was. Statistical data was produced to show cause and effect, for the labourers had learned to bargain collectively – they had learned to strike at work: “None of the labourers seemed at all willing to work at Latchmipalem. Although very high rates were paid and many advantages offered them which they would not [have] got on other works, yet they could not be induced to come of themselves. Most of the labourers, who were brought to the works, after staying for [a] few days and then receiving their pay, ran away and were never heard of again”43.

The officers were also trying to gauge the impact of state aid to the local economies after the famine of 1876, that had given migrating labour other options:

Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 42 PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 43 PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47.

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“It was perhaps too soon yet to form any conclusive opinion as to the effect of the famine and of the consequent high prices realized for agricultural produce on the labour rates in the delta. Labour had been becoming scarcer year by year owing principally to extension of cultivation and to the professional work people taking to cultivation on their own account. Increase of rates for work may therefore be considered inevitable, especially as it was essential that the great bulk of annual work should be done in the short period between the middle of January and the beginning or middle of May. The requisite increase will, however, require very careful consideration, for there will be considerable risk of paying more for work done without obtaining any material augmentation of labour. It was difficult to induce those, who found it easy to obtain a living otherwise, to take up earth work for which most labour of labour was indeed”44.

There was a distinct need to get labour from districts that did not have high agricultural productivity. Also small-time labour contracts would have to be employed, while permanent settlements of migrant labour were looking like good for the public works department, who would then have an assured supply of labour, raised through a commission paid to the contractors: “No reasonable increase of rates will attract such labour and the delta will have in some way to get labour required from neighboring and less favored districts. Recruiting by the aid of petty contractors will probably in the long run be the most successful means. Kurnool for instance contains thousands of people who greatly need remunerative work, and that district was at no great distance. If some of these people could be induced to take up work in the Godavari and Kistna their circumstances would be here long much improved, and no doubt many would settle permanently. It will, it was thought, be better in every respect to seek to attract outside labour than to induce the local labour, which had found more remunerative occupation to resume delta canal work” [my emphasis]45.

These difficulties were soon garnered for policies, and there was an official order to the public works department based on these proceedings:

44

PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 45 PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47.

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Chapter II “These proceedings will be communicated to the revenue department with reference to the remarks contained in the papers on the prosperous conditions of the ryots and with a view also to the aid of the revenue authorities in Kurnool being given in widely notifying, especially in the Cumbum and Markapur Taluqs, the demand for labour in the Kistna districts”46.

In a letter from the officiating Superintending Engineer, 2nd division, to the Secretary to the Government, regarding the importation of labourers for a more vigorous pursuit of the works under construction from the extraordinary grant in Kistna district, there was a detailed account of the need to attract migrating labourers. “I had the honour to solicit permission, as an experimental measure, to offer a commission of 10 percent on all work done, at the present estimated rates, to parties willing to collect labourers and to undertake similar contracts on these terms. If this arrangement succeeds, it will be more economical than the direct importation of labour by executive officers of the department. A considerable addition could very likely be made to the working parties here by sending agents into the Hyderabad country and the adjacent zamindaries to collect people. In proposing to offer a premium of 10 percent on work done under the extraordinary grant to persons willing to undertake the risk and trouble of collecting labourers (there is no risk). Purpose of this experiment would be for the widening of main canals only, as the time available for working economically at these ducts was limited to about three months annually, and, of course, every possible precaution would be taken to prevent our usual labourers taking work under wealthy ryots and influential persons; I believe the premium referred to would attract the contractors47.”

As the irrigation sites were identified as really important, labour was no longer available at next to nothing wages. We see this acknowledgement in the note by the Acting Chief Engineer for Irrigation to the Superintending Engineers. “They were informed that if the labour within the Kistna and Godavari districts proved to be insufficient to admit of extraordinary works in those districts being pushed on with sufficient rapidity to admit of all allotments 46

PWD (I) G.O. No. 504, 17 June 1878: From Lieutenant A.R.F. Dorward, R.E., Assistant Engineer in charge, Western Delta Division, Godavari District, to the Superintending Engineer, Godavari District, Dated Ellore Canal, 28th April 1878, no. 47. 47 Proceedings, Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 326, 16 December, 1872.

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being fully expanded they should endeavor to import labour from neighboring districts. That there would be no guarantee that any labour was imported, and that an increase of rate [of] 10 percent for one class of works would soon render it necessary to increase the rate for all; that it was believed that much might be done in the [way to] increase the labour of the district were it notified in the less wealthy portions of the neighboring districts that continuous work, or work for a stated number of months, might be obtained at particular localities, and that, before applying for an increase of 10 percent to the rates, a clear and concise account should be submitted of all circumstances connected with the deficiency of labour and of the steps which had been taken to attract labour to the district”48.

Further there was the difficulty of undertaking large public works, like Godavari and Kistna with no certainty of labour availability. Moreover, canal work could be carried out for widening of the main canal, in which work could be carried out only during three months in the year, which made labour very important. Every possible precaution had to be taken to prevent the usual labourers taking the work, for they had become conscious of this importance. However, this kind of selective choosing of groups of labour was not easy. The usual labourers, conscious of their chances of getting higher wages, and also of the importance of finishing their work in the “dry” period, when the waters of the canal would be low enough to allow the widening of the channel. Yet for the moment, rates had to be compulsorily raised to attract and keep labour, and the usual labourers would also arrive. There was an anticipation of a great deal of complicated haggling: “It was difficult to conceive what precautions could be taken to prevent the labour in the neighborhood from flocking to the single work on which an abnormal rate was being paid for work turned out; if the neighboring labour was not received, rumour would get abroad that labourers had been refused work, and labour would not be attracted from distances”49.

Mr. Smith, chief engineer for irrigation, stated that he was addressing the principal Zamindars on the subject of labour, and suggested that the Resident at Hyderabad should be requested to notify that the officers in the Kistna district were prepared to employ 3,000 labourers permanently, and that a further 6,000 could be provided with work from March to June. He 48

Proceedings, Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 327, 16 December, 1872. 49 Proceedings, Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 327, 16 December, 1872.

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further suggested that notices had to be issued relative to the requirement of labour in the Kistna district in the Local Gazettes of Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kurnool, and Cuddapah. However, there was an imperative need for caution as large sums of money were involved. Before permanently increasing the rates in Kistna district, it was important for the effects of such a proposed notice to be assessed, and a limited range of the available labour would therefore be mobilized initially to actually assess if there would be a surge of labour supply, that the public works department would find very difficult to effectively harness for the project, while keeping it cost-effective. Thus it was suggested that the Resident at Hyderabad should insert a notice in the Local Gazette for a number of labourers for whom permanent employment was to be provided. Further, the rates for labour which prevailed in the neighborhood in which the labour was required had to be furnished by the Superintending Engineer. The Madras Presidency Governor would ask the Resident at Hyderabad for these details before conducting the measures and publicizing the demand for labour on the Kistna works. Thus the district Engineer of Kistna, public works department, furnished the Resident at Hyderabad with a statement of the rates for labour which prevailed in the neighborhood50.

Emigration of Stone Cutters to Burma Coast This was the time for having a clear policy on migrating labour as the developmental plans of the colonial government began to explore the outreaches of the subcontinent, especially the demands of various coasts. In one such plan, it was found to be important to have a lighthouse on the Aluguda Reef. The government had been approved its construction. The necessity of a lighthouse on Aluguda Reef seemed to be sufficiently established51. Lieutenant J.M. McNeile, Assistant Engineer of Aluguda Reef House, wrote a letter to Colonel Marshal, Military Secretary to the Government of Madras, stating his need to have labourers of a specific set of skill: “I have the honor of enclosing an extract of Captain Fraser’s, Executive Engineer of Aluguda Reef Light House, about getting stone cutters in 50

Proceedings, Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 327, 16 December, 1872. 51 Selections from the records of the government of India (Public Works Department): Selection of the Papers Regarding the Construction of a Light House on the Aluguda Reef, Calcutta, 1858, p. 2.

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Madras for employment on [the] Burmah Coast. Requesting him to render me assistance as he may [have] in his power, as I think, I shall be obliged to proceed to Coringha to procure stone cutters, the number here, willing to go, being very small. The Governor of Madras [authorized] Lieutenant McNeile to draw on [the] garrison Engineer of Fort Saint George to the amount of Two thousand Rupees and on the District Engineer of the Godavari Division, Dowlaiswaram, to the amount of Rupees Three Thousand to enable him to engage labourers for Aluguda Reef Light House. The District Engineer of the Godavari Division will be instructed to afford Lieutenant McNeile all the assistance in his power, in procuring men. The Government of India will observe that government had authorized Lieutenant McNeile to draw on the Presidency Garrison Engineer to the amount of 2,000 Rupees, and on the district Engineer of the Godavari division to amount of 3,000 to enable him to engage labourers for Aluguda Reef Light House; and that they have also instructed the latter Office to afford Lieutenant McNeil all the assistance in his power in procuring workmen”52.

There was a follow-up of this initial demand with mere reflections on the nature of “labour”. In a letter dated 6th September 1860, No. 675, the district Engineer, Godavari, reported that the first month’s allowance to the families of the stone cutters who had proceeded in June 1860 to the Aluguda Reef House had become due. Though the promised remittance had not arrived, he had advanced to these persons from his cash-chest a sum of Rupees 737; he had also addressed the superintending Engineer, Captain Fraser, on the subject. In addition to the workmen engaged from Godavari district, Captain Rawlins, the district Engineer of Godavari, then stated that about 50 other labourers were taken from Madras, and that family certificates were left by each of them prior to their departure. Three individuals out of those who had left family certificates had addressed a petition to Captain Rawlins on the subject of their allowances. “Rawlins, aware that he had to move the higher authorities, requested some personal authority to pay the stipends to the families, authority may be granted to the district Engineers of Godavari and Madras Presidency, to pay the monthly stipends as they become due. But the colonial state tied the simple solution in red tape and directed the district Engineer, Godavari, to submit a detailed statement of the payments made by him which, on receipt, will be submitted to Government for commutation to the proper authorities, and the district Engineer, Presidency will be requested to adopt

52 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, GO No. 144, 145, 146, for the month of May, 1860.

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Chapter II the same course immediately on his being authorized to meet the demands of the families of the men who had proceeded from Madras to Aluguda”53.

Finally, the Government did authorize the district engineers of Godavari and the presidency to pay monthly stipends as they became due. This meant the amount of the family certificates left by the labourers who had proceeded to the Aluguda Reef. The lists containing the names of labourers and the particulars of their families, the amounts payable under the certificates and other details had to be furnished for the information of the Government. In this manner, all payments made under the above order had to be reported to the Government on a monthly basis in view to their being debited to the Government of India54. The colonial government was therefore making a great deal of funds for the disbursement of pay to the families of labourers who had been sent out of India. Yet the need for migrant labour was on the rise, as more and more public works projects were planned to be constructed.

Immigrant Labour for Upper Godavari Project One of the projects was opening up the navigation of Upper Godavari in the Dummagudem region of Godavari district. In 1851, the Government of India was influenced by Sir Arthur Cotton, a vigorous advocate and promoter of water carriages, to consider the project. Cotton had hoped that it might be possible to provide ‘still-water steam navigation from [the] sea to Berar,’ which would be, he said, ‘the cheapest line of communication in the world.’ It was decided in 1853 to investigate the costs and requirements of the project. Careful and repeated examinations of the river were duly carried out. The project was warmly accepted by the Government, and on their strong recommendation, was sanctioned by the court of directors in 1861. In 1863, when Sir Richard Temple inspected the works, no less than 700,000 pounds had been spent. He recommended that the works, at the first and second barriers and up to the foot of the third barrier, should proceed with an estimated cost of 225,000 pounds, so that navigation might be opened up to a certain distance in October 1871, at the request of the Government of India; however, the whole scheme was abandoned on the grounds that it involved an expenditure which did not give a promise of adequate returns. A vast amount of money was 53

Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, GO No.79, 80, 5th October, 1860. 54 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, GO No.79, 80, 5th October, 1860.

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expended on it, but it was eventually pronounced too expensive to be remunerative and had to be was abandoned according to the logic of the colonial government.55 Captain Haig, District Engineer, Upper Godavari Works, had faced many problems in the case of procuring labourers to construct this project, and he perhaps felt that the project was too difficult to complete or that the workers were becoming quite aware of a large demand for labour throughout India. The Resident of Hyderabad professed his inability to help Captain Haig, District Engineer of Upper Godavari: “The extracts from [the] report from Captain Haig, District Engineer, Upper Godavari, regarding the prohibition of the Minister to further export labourers and carpenters from Hyderabad to the Godavari works fell of the enormous problems he faced for recruiting labour owing to the large number of public works now in progress at Hyderabad, he [regrets] it was not in his power to enforce export of the labourers from His Highness the Nizam’s dominions, contrary to the wishes of the ministers, who [were] averse to workmen being sent out of the Hyderabad territory, owing to the scarcity of labourers in Hyderabad and its vicinity. He was himself anxious to use my best endeavors to supply Captain Haig with as many workmen [as] practicable, but the agency [was] employed for the exportation of workmen from Hyderabad and Secundrabad to the Godavari, without the knowledge or orders of the Nizam’s Government. This had almost merged itself into a system of crimping, which the Minister requested me to cause to be discontinued. The workmen, moreover, who left Hyderabad had, he was given to understand, suffered from the unhealthiness of the Godavari District, and many had either died or were still suffering from its effects, and he was further informed that the labourers themselves, even on the enhanced wages offered, were now averse to leave Hyderabad and go to jungles on the banks of [the] Godavari. He had already informed Captain Haig personally, that he could not assist him in procuring workmen through the minister, and it occurs to him that Captain Haig might with less difficulty and inconvenience obtain the workmen he requires from the British territory”56.

Captain Haig, rather differently, repeated the Residents reasons for failing to secure labour from Hyderabad.

55

Godavari District Gazetteers, 1915, p. 128. Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 49, 3rd June 1862. 56

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Chapter II “Owing to the large number of works in progress at Hyderabad, he was unable to enforce the export of labourers from that country contrary to the wishes of his Excellency the Nizam’s Minister, who was opposed to the measure in consequence of the scarcity of labourers in Hyderabad and its neighborhood”.57

Captain Haig, the District Engineer of Upper Godavari, was also called on by the government of India to explain the circumstances under which his agents induced work people to leave the Hyderabad territories, and also to transmit at the same time any reply that he might have to offer regarding the remarks made in the Resident’s letter. Captain Haig’s explanation of the circumstances under which he requested labour from Hyderabad was contained in the letters herewith, forwarded for the information of the government of India. He stated that he had not communicated to the late resident subsequent to his refusal to procure labour. However, in November 1862, when he had sent one of his European supervisors to Hyderabad to collect labourers, he had addressed the acting resident Captain Thornhill on the subject again. He was induced to repeat his request as Upper Godavari works were progressing very slowly, owing solely to the paucity of labour. Captain Haig explained that labour could not be procured from the Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Rajahmundry and Musulipatnam districts or even from Nagapure, owing to the increase in cultivation in those districts, consequent to the extension of public works undertaken by the government. But in Hyderabad, 2,000 labourers were available and could be procured, if the present restrictions were removed. The closing use of the Hyderabad market was one of the most serious impediments that were thrown in the way of important works now in progress in the Upper Godavari district. The Resident and Nizam’s ministers were doubtful of the nature of the service and the contractual terms made with the labour. Captain Haig was under charge that the agency had persuaded the exportation of workmen from Hyderabad and Secundrabad without the knowledge or orders of Nizam’s Government. Captain Haig seemed to have become enmeshed in bureaucratic red tape because he took his job of completing the public work at Godavari very seriously. Captain Haig thought, while defending the changes of illegally taking labour from Hyderabad to the Madras government (and indirectly to the government of India), that His Highness should remove the restrictions 57

Public Works Department, G.O. No. 51, Government of Madras: Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Horsley, Secretary to Government, Public Works Department, Fort Saint George, to the Secretary to the Government of India, Dated June 1862, no. 1,241.

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referred to, and with them the great impediments which his policy posed to the progress of an undertaking as beneficial to his own territories as to those of the British Government. The officiating Resident maintained that the Ministers of the Nizam Government would not remove the prohibition. Further, the Government could not with justice be considered in any way responsible for the disappointment to which he had been exposed in the prosecution of his works. His main plea for refusing Captain Haig’s request was the scarcity of labourers in Hyderabad and Secundarabad.58 While a lot of letters were exchanged between Captain Haig and his superiors, the important fact that is central to my point here is that labour could, and did, halt the construction of public works: Migrating labourers, if not offered attractive returns, could reject employment on low wages, or development. This had not been observed in the 1840s and 1850s59. Captain Haig’s lengthy letters from this point has value for historians penning the history of migration and has to be cited in full: “Captain Haig wrote a letter to A.R. Thornhill, Acting Resident, Hyderabad, I have the honor to request that you will be so good enough to use your influence to obtain from the Hyderabad Government a reversal of the Minister’s order of February last prohibiting the engagement of labourers in Hyderabad and Secundrabad for employment upon the Upper Godavari works, and solicit your attention to the following statement of the circumstances under which this application was made. It was now nearly two years since the works intended for the removal of the obstructions to navigation presented by the 1st Barrier were commenced, yet although funds in abundance had been supplied by the government, only very trifling amount of progress had been made owing solely to the paucity of labour. The number of labourers employed had varied from 300 to 2,000 and had fluctuated to such a degree that the most important works were still almost untouched, and but little beyond mere preparatory operations had been accomplished. The demand for labour on the coast and on the inland districts was constantly increasing owing to the extension of public works and of cultivation, and careful canvass of the Rajahmundry, Musulipatnam, 58

Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. no. 338, 20 March 1863: Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel, S.O.E. Ludlow, R.E., Deputy Chief Engineer, Northern Circle, to Colonel W. I. Birdwood, R.E., Secretary to Government, Public Works Department, dated Chepauk, 3rd March 1863, no. 368. 59 Letter from Captain F.T. Haig, District Engineer, Upper Godavari, to Lieutenant-Colonel S .O. E. Ludlow, R. E., Deputy Chief Engineer, Northern Circle, Dated Dummagudem, 13th February 1863, no. 405.

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Vizagapatnam and Ganjam districts, shows that we can look for little more labour from them than we had already received. The case was much the same in Nagpure. From Hyderabad and its vicinity there seems to be little doubt that about 2,000 men might be procured, were present restrictions removed. We had at this barrier during the last hot weather more than 1,000 men from that place, and at the time that the minister interfered to put a stop to the supply another 1,000 were ready to come. Thus the closing of the Hyderabad labour market against us was one of the most serious impediments that could be thrown in the way of the important works now in the progress. I fear from the late colonel Davidson’s letter to the secretary to the government that some great misapprehensions existed in his own mind, and probably also on that of [the] minister, as to the nature of the service for which the former labourers were engaged and of the agreements made with them. Nothing I think, could be further from the fact, than that anything akin to ‘a system of crimping’ had been used in enlisting these men. It was true that the permission of the Hyderabad Government for their enlistment had, through an oversight, not been solicited in the first instance, a mistake which I should have been only too glad to rectify when it was pointed out to me, had it not been too late. But it was the greatest possible mistake, to suppose either that the labourers were exposed to very unusual hardships, especially sickness, during their stay on the works, or that they were permanently detained within British territories so that their engagement amounts to an actual drain upon the population of the Hyderabad states. It was true that for some months of the year fever was very prevalent, but the utmost precautions were taken to mitigate its effects and to prevent its attacks as much as possible. There was at this place a large and commodious hospital, with a resident Assistant Surgeon, and dressers under Doctor Huston’s constant supervision were placed in medical charge of the various working parties at this and other Barriers. The sick were also allowed half pay during the time they were on the sick list, and whenever it may be necessary sick leave was given in which case batta for the journey was always allowed. The labourers were provided with good houses, the floors well raised above the ground and well drained. The men with families had each separate [rooms] allowed them. The expense of providing this accommodation had amounted already to 10,000 or 12,000 rupees. Warm clothing consisting of thick cloth jackets and trousers to the knee was now being issued gratis at the cost to the government of 5 rupees a suit, and large numbers of cumblies had already been provided. Last year being the first of the operations, our arrangements in the above respects

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were not of course so complete as they [are] now. Yet the hospital returns show that when the fever was [at] the worst, not more than 8 percent of the population employed on the works were attacked at the one time, and that the deaths were only 1 percent of the admissions to hospital. The stories therefore that have been circulated regarding the mortality from fever were wholly without foundation. The supply of food was abundant and cheap, rice being provided at an invariable rate of 20 seers per Rupee. Neither, as I had above remarked was the case that the labourers employed from Hyderabad [would] settle permanently on this side of the river. None of those whom we had hitherto had would consent to take service for a longer period than six or at most eight months, and with very [few] exceptions indeed they had returned to Hyderabad on the completion of this term. To the above explanation I would beg to add, what I had on more occasions than one already urged, that the works now in progress were unquestionably benefiting the districts of his highness the Nizam bordering on the Godavari. They had not only created a demand for articles of consumption where before there was none, and this to an extent which may be measured by the fact that nearly 30,000 rupees were expanded in the Talooks between this and [the] second barrier during the past year in the purchase of food only but they have also opened a communication with the coast and the port of Cocanada where none before existed. Produce may now be expected to the coast by the government transit at a charge of one anna per ton per mile from any point between Eastern Ghats and Sirpoor during four to five months of the year. I need not say what immense advantages are thereby conferred upon a large tract of country where formerly there was no market for anything not required for home consumption and no means of communicating with the markets of the coast. When it was considered that his Highness the Nizam obtains all these benefit gratis, that a valuable communication is thus opened for a length of 300 miles in to his territories at the sole expanse of the British Government, it must I think be admitted that if his active assistance in the undertaking was not asked for it was not too much to expect that he should at least remove known and important hindrances to its successes. The prohibition on the export of labour from Hyderabad was and has been for nearly a year, the most serious cause of delay and consequently of direct pecuniary loss to the government, that the works had met with. I earnestly trust that on an attentive consideration of the facts and explanations above given, his Highness may be pleased to remove the restrictions referred to, and with them the great impediments which his present policy opposes to the

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progress of an undertaking as beneficial to his own territories as to those of the British Government”60. The post-famine period in the Madras Presidency thus reveals a migrating labour population that was becoming aware that their labour was a necessity for projects undertaking by the Government. They were also being given better wages by the agricultural sector. The exchange of letters between the Resident of Hyderabad and the Engineers of Godavari also shows that, (a) labour were suddenly being perceived as the human resource of a region as they were integral to the development; (b) the classes were unwilling to part with this human resource; and (c) the labour were also becoming conscious that if they moved, they could command higher wages. Captain Haig, in charge of the huge project, showed the difficulty of this shortage of labour, as he corresponded with all the officers who might solve the problem of reluctant labour. Thus, D.F. Carmichael, acting magistrate, Vizagapatnam, received a large packet from Captain Haig, District Engineer, Upper Godavari, who complained, “I have the honor to enclose the bonds (one hundred and twenty eight) of men belonging to Vizagapatnam, who after taking advances according to [the] bonds (to the amount of rupees 465-80) never arrived at this station, Dummagudem. I shall therefore feel obliged by your ordering the tahsildars to recover these amounts and by your remitting them to me.”61

Carmichael was clearly aware that Haig’s desperate appeal to at least get back his money, if not the labour he required, would have no easy solution. He felt that even legal readiness might be difficult, for the tahsildars possibly could not be held to their promise without bringing legal cases against them: “I am of [the] opinion that no means exist, short of Civil Suit in each case, of recovering these advances. I enclose [a] copy of the form of contract, translated in to English. Act XIII of 1858, as extended by the Government Notification of August 23rd of the year, does not apply because the

60 Letter from Captain F.T. Haig, District Engineer, Upper Godavari, Dummagudem, to Major A.R. Thornhill, Acting Resident, Hyderabad, dated Dummagudem, 8th November 1862, no. 277. 61 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 141, 142. 10 October, 1862: Letter from D.F. Carmichael, Esq., Acting Magistrate and Agent to the Governor, Vizagapatnam, to the Honorable T. Pycroft, Chief Secretary, Fort Saint George, dated 16th September 1862, No. 457.

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employer is not ‘Resident or carrying on business’ in any part of the territories to which that notification referred.”62

Carmichael also understood the complications that Haig would be involved in if he tried to at least recover the money from the bonds through ‘Civil Suits’ across the four districts, as Haig’s drive to recruit labour had been done across four districts. He sympathetically detailed the measures Haig would have to take, merely to file his civil suits. In his own words: “At least that is my opinion, but as the amount advanced in this district may probably [be] multiplied by four (for I believe Captain Haig recruits in all the surrounding districts) I submit the question, in case government should think proper to consult their High Court pleader, Section 492 of the Indian Penal Code punishes breach of a contract to serve at [a] distant place to which the servant or workmen is conveyed at the employers expense”63. “But by the 68th Section of the Code of Criminal Procedure, I cannot take cognizance of the offence, before taking the examination of the complaint. Captain Haig need not indeed appear in person, but as ruled by the (late) Sudar Court: ‘He cannot give another a power of Attorney to appear on his behalf, but the complaint may be laid and the prosecution conducted by any person acquainted with the facts of these and having an interest in the issue’’64.

Such methods, even according to a British official, were indeed difficult. An example of such a bond is given below. Yitapaka Gaddigadu, an inhabitant of Dondaparti Village, an extension of the Village Karnam, had signed a bond for working at the Upper Godavari Anicut had signed an undertaking: “I hereby agree to work, under the orders into the bonds of 62 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 141, 142. 10 October, 1862: Letter from D.F. Carmichael, Esq., Acting Magistrate and Agent to the Governor, Vizagapatnam, to the Honorable T. Pycroft, Chief Secretary, Fort Saint George, dated 16th September 1862, No. 457. 63 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 141, 142. 10 October, 1862: Letter from D.F. Carmichael, Esq., Acting Magistrate and Agent to the Governor, Vizagapatnam, to the Honorable T. Pycroft, Chief Secretary, Fort Saint George, dated 16th September 1862, No. 457. 64 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, G.O. No. 141, 142. 10 October, 1862: Letter from D.F. Carmichael, Esq., Acting Magistrate and Agent to the Governor, Vizagapatnam, to the Honorable T. Pycroft, Chief Secretary, Fort Saint George, dated 16th September 1862, No. 457.

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the District Engineer of Upper Godavari on the government Anicut there for 8 months from the date of my arrival at Dummagudem, in the said Dummagudem village or in any other locality of the district; and to receive wages at 6 rupees a month for each strong labour, and batta at 2 annas per 10 miles of proceeding with a family, or 2 annas per 15 miles of proceeding singly. If during the 8 months agreed on by me, I fall sick from fever, become unable to work and obtain a certificate from [a] doctor to return to my native country, there should no hindrance whatever to my departure. In case of my going in this manner, I shall take traveling batta at the said date. If, on the contrary, I go away for any other cause than fever during the said 8 months I shall not only forfeit such travelling batta, but also at once repay the batta drawn by me together with any balance of the advance taken by me which may be due to the Circar on the day”65. K. Bappaya, Gumasta, the supplier of labourers to the upper Godavari Anicut, was ordered to ask for the opinion of the government Pleader. The Pleader’s letter stated clearly, in answer to the letter from the acting and agent Governor, Vizagapatnam, that recovery of the bonds would be difficult. Also, prosecuting men who failed to work after receiving advances on bonds from the district Engineer, Upper Godavari, would prove difficult. The pleader further stated that in his opinion, no other measures apart from a Civil Suit in each case, was possible if the recovery of the advances was the ultimate goal of the official concerned66. This was therefore, in a larger reading, the Government of India filing cases against runaway labour. The matter did not stop with the Resident of Hyderabad, the acting Resident of Hyderabad, or even Carmichael. Even W.S. Whiteside, Acting Magistrate of North Arcot, reported that inquiries had been instituted into the manner in which labour for the Godavari works had been recruited by individuals named Abraham and Joseph in the District. As I have discussed in the Chapter Five, licenses were required by Act V of 1866. The labour supply for the Upper Godavari Anicut was so crucial that all means of individuals became involved in the labour-recruiting drive. Whiteside traced another such attempt from the Madras Presidency, where another official – The Protector of Emigrants – became involved in the dispatch of labour by two individuals who had not been issued licenses by the government for recruiting labour. It was a case of one section of the government tying another section of government in endless red tape for 65

Yitapaka Gaddigadu, an inhabitant of Dondaparti Village, attached to the Taluq of the Vizagapatnam District. 66 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Judicial Department, G.O. No. 3435, 6th October 1862.

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undertaking the dispatch of labourers from one part of the British territories to another. If the labourers died in transit, which had happened in this particular case, the matter could become complex. Questions of responsibility were asked; who had recruited the labourers became important. Thus, when it was discovered that the recruitment had been done by unlicensed men, there was official concern that finally affected Haig at the end of the recruitment drive for the Upper Godavari Anicut. Accusations and changes began to be thrown. It appeared that Abraham had entered into a sort of contract with Mr. De’ Grossileres, Executive Engineer, 2nd Barrier Division, to recruit and send labourers to the Upper Godavari works, and that, in fulfillment of that contract, he had sent off 100 labourers via Kurnool and Hyderabad. Of these, four had died on the road. The telegram of Murugasa Pillay to the effect that forty had died was incorrect. Mr. De’ Grossileres stated both in his letter to the collector of Kurnool and in his telegram enclosed in the superintending Engineer’s letter, that it was entirely his fault that Abraham was not provided with a license. The Protector of Emigrants had informed him that, if the labourers should proceed by land, they would be not emigrants, and the recruiting agent would not need a license. Mr. De’ Grossileres’ letter was forwarded to the Protector of Emigrants, who replied that there was no data or records in his office to show that Mr. De’ Grossileres had received any such information. Further, it was clearly laid down in the Government order, No. 1533, of 6th December 1867, that Act V of 1866 was applicable to the recruitment of labourers for employment on the Upper Godavari Works. The protector of emigration defended the recruiting agents as there was nothing to show that Joseph was in any way engaged in the recruiting of labour. Abraham, who had sent off the labourers, was ignorant, but a license was necessary. He had acted quite openly, under the orders of the executive Engineer, in whom, as a government official, he had full confidence. It was only possible to procure the attendance of one labourer, and he confirmed the statement of Abraham that four, and not forty, labourers died on the road. The labourers from Abraham’s statements seem to have received liberal advances, and to have been well taken care of. A Taliari (village servant) of Arconum, who was examined, stated that the labourers had received advances of two to three rupees each. Most of the labourers recruited were still in Godavari, so that it was not possible to learn much about the method of recruiting. However, as no complaints had been received, Whiteside felt that it may be concluded that there was no

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cause. “Under these circumstances, I do not think it necessary that Abraham should be put on trial under Section 17, Act V of 1866”.67

Customary Labour Now we have to turn to another angle of recruiting labour – an angle briefly mentioned in the same chapter. Communal labour had existed in India even before the colonial period. At the commencement of British rule, it was hoped and expected that all irrigation works would eventually be maintained by the village communities concerned without cost to the state, although from the first, it was clear that state funds must be advanced on loans to put them into a satisfactory condition to begin with68. We therefore see that the colonial state had identified the “village community” with its internal dynamics of inter-relationships of power, as the right recruiting agency for labour, though the funding would come from the colonial state. The colonial state even gave it a definition: “communal labour”, or labour which came from the community, had been identified by the British as a typical Indian custom without regional variations and colonial officials had also noted that this structure was on its way out. Across the subcontinent, there were village communities which comprised of castes and sub-castes with their specific occupations. These had been organized into an interlocking grid with patrons and clients demanding and receiving a large variety of labour and services, while the castes and sub-castes provided them, for subsistence and survival. It was clearly based on unequal terms, and with the colonial economy penetrating into the village communities, these traditional power structures which had organized labour, were being gradually phased out. This is also the observation in the Deccan, as the Balutedar system69. 67 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Works Department, GO No. 9, 8 July 1870: Letter from W.S. Whiteside, Esq., Acting Magistrate of North Arcot, to the Chief Secretary to Government, Fort Saint George, Dated Palmanair, 18th June 1870, no. 35. 68 A.T. Arundel, Irrigation and Communal Labour in the Madras Presidency, Lawrence Asylum Press, Madras, 1879, p. 29, and also see David Mosse, “Colonial and Contemporary Ideologies of ‘Community Management’: The case of Tank Irrigation Development in South India,” Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp. 303-338. 69 Hiroshi Fukazawa, “Rural Servants in the 18th Century Maharashtrian Village – Demiurgic or Jajmani System”, Studies in Economics, Annual Journal of Faculty of Economics, Hototsubashi University, No. 8, March 1966, pp. 91-215. The

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“It languishes almost everywhere, and is in many places almost in [a] state of suspended animation, has never completely died out, and exists in various forms and various degrees in different parts of the presidency”70.

The official report noted that there had been a neglect of all the customary services – both for the village as well as for the regional economy – by the ryots, for they were failing to clear out “rain-fed tanks”, an essential part of both community labour and village economy. This decline in service was recorded by various witnesses, who testified to the growing dysfunction of tanks, therefore to inadequate maintenance. In effect, village communities could not mobilize or regularize their labour supply or labour. The official gaze further noted that such communal labour communities could still be found along river channels, where heavy silting made it imperative that some sort of community labour was in use. The steady source of information for the colonial government about the rural area and the kind of labourers counted to be “wealthy farmers” gave a detailed account of the kinds of labours which were part the mirasidar system. At the enquiry of the Public Works Commission in 1869, four wealthy farmers holding lands in three different taluks or subdivisions of Tanjore District gave the following list of 14 items of communal labour (Kudi-Maramut). Within the boundaries of a village, they were as follows: (1) Clearing large irrigation channels; (2) branch channels; (3) minor channels; (4) channels connecting the irrigation with the drainage channels; (5) the drainage channels; (6) embanking or repairing the embankment around the village boundary; (7) embanking the blocks of fields; (8) embanking the fields; (9) embanking and repairing the small ponds used as seed beds; (10) repair and erection of earthen and masonry Japanese scholar says the Balutedar System was a servant system in Maharashtra. In India’s villages, some castes used to work for the farmers in their surroundings. The village servants who were useful to the community were known as balutedars. At the time of the old Maratha rule, there were twelve of them called Bara Balutedars. Some of them have either disappeared or are in the process of disappearing from the village economy, but others were still in existence with their usefulness reduced owing to modern conditions of life. Under the baluta system, the balutedars had certain rights and privileges at ceremonies, etc. Their services were remunerated by the cultivators in the shape of an annual payment in sheaves of corn and a few seers of other grain grown in the field, such as wheat, hulga, gram, Tur, groundnut, etc. For special services rendered on ceremonial occasions, payments were made in cash, corn or clothes. Sometimes food was given. The big cultivators who had occasion to indent their services more frequently than the small cultivators made larger payments. 70 A.T. Arundale, p. 29.

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dams and sluices in the channels through the fields. Beyond the boundaries of a village: (12) Slight clearing of the irrigation channels during low flows in the rivers; (13) erection of earthen dams in the rivers at the heads of the channels; (14) clearing the channels when the banks are injured by flows. The actual monetary value of the communal labour thus given is very difficult to estimate, seeing that most of the labourers are the farm hands or hands of the land holders or ryots, and work wherever their masters send them, receiving their wages in kind. The only legal provision for the enforcement of customary labour that the colonial government passed was in Section 6 of Act I of 1858, which stated as follows: “Whenever by local custom any work for the purpose of irrigation or drainage or connected therewith is usually executed by the joint labour of a village community, any person bound by such custom to contribute labour to such work who neglects or refuses without reasonable cause to comply with a requisition for such customary aid made to him by the head of the village under the orders of the Tahsildar or other superior Revenue officer, shall be liable to pay a sum equal to twice the value of [the] labour which he is bound to contribute. The amount so payable shall in case of dispute be determined summarily by a village panchayats prescribed in Regulation V and VII of 1816. Such [an] amount shall be payable on demand; and on non-payment, the same may be recovered by the same means by which arrears of land revenue are recoverable. All sums paid and recovered under this section shall be applicable to the expenses of any work for the purpose of irrigation or drainage executed for the benefit of the village communities to which [the] defaulters respectively belong”71.

However, it seemed that even with the legal compulsions that the colonial state exerted, together with the weight of custom, labour was becoming more and more difficult to extract through the customary networks. The Public Works Commission of 1869 recorded among the results of their enquiries that, (1) “Customary labour has not been afforded to the extent necessary or formerly prevailing,” and (2) “The difficulty of enforcing customary labour has increased.” There was an almost unanimous concurrence of the testimony in support of the proposal of the public works department that Customary Labour (i.e., Customary Communal Labour) should be enforced by legal enactment. But in the newly irrigated delta tracts of the Godavari and Kistna, where the distribution of water was efficient, and where, moreover, the water rate 71 A.T. Arundel, Irrigation and Communal Labour in the Madras Presidency, p. 29-35.

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was not a consolidated charge upon the land, but was charged at so much per acre as the water was used, it was surmised that the legal enforcement of labour would not be required. However, in more inhospitable lands, where irrigational facilities were far fewer, labour became crucial. Thus, half a million acres on account of the newly irrigated delta lands of these two districts would be deducted. On the remaining one million and a half acres, the full amount of communal labour was to be demanded. The colonial government computed the costs of communal labour on this area at Rs 1 per acre. A clear 15 lakhs of rupees (£150,000) per annum was thus calculated. With such an aid as this, it was confidently expected that the public irrigation works would be maintained in a state of the highest efficiency, and that a perceptible diminution of the state expenditure on the minor repairs might be expected. A larger expenditure of state funds could then be made to put inferior irrigation works into an efficient condition72. There was, therefore, a clear plan to integrate customary systems of mobilizing labour along caste lines, which had to be buttressed by the colonial legal system for maximum efficacy. Further, there should be a clear institutional structure that would combine colonial officers and the “native” non-official representatives. This would ensure that the Indian element would be both loyal and highly economical, as the Indian notion of status normally considered involvement in the state structure in any capacity to be very status-enhancing, and considered that such involvement need not require more payment. Upkeep and Control of Irrigation Works: In arranging for the detailed and systematic employment of communal labour upon the repair and maintenance of irrigation works, the guiding principal was decentralization. The colonial state was quite clear that the, “Local works [were] to be maintained by local means and must be supervised by the local knowledge and personal interest”.73 There was also a utilitarian rationale attributed to the very differently composed Indian village community. While report and after report confirmed that the ryot did not understand “beneficial principles” in the quite the same manner as did the colonial state, nevertheless, when assuming a certain type of return of labour on public works, the colonial officials assumed that the same labourers would want the works extended as they would identify their interests with the public works projects. “The people who contribute either communal labour or an equivalent cess are the very persons who are most interested in seeing it properly 72 73

Ibid., p. 37-44. Ibid., p. 47.

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expanded. The most effected system will be found to lie in the establishment of “Taluk Irrigation Boards.” In every taluk there should be an Irrigation Board, comprising as members, the Engineer of the range, the chief native revenue officer, called tahsildar, and his immediate European superior, and a few other district officials; and together with these an equal number or greater number of landholders or ryots interested in the different irrigation works of the taluk or in as many of them as possible. The collector should be ex-officio president, and the superintending or district Engineer should be a member of all the Boards. Each separate irrigation channel, and every important rain-fed reservoir should have a non-official native representative on the Board, and all large irrigation channels should have several”74.

The work of the Board was, on the whole, a valuation of the labour costs. The Irrigation Board would proceed to ascertain the amount of communal labour devoted to each irrigation work by the village communities interested; and in every case, where the amount, as estimated by the Irrigation Board, was of less value than one rupee per acre for permanently irrigated land and half a rupee for the rest, they would call upon the village communities through their headmen to make good the amount upon repairs, conservancy establishment, and such other work as the board directed. If any community failed to obey the order thus given, the Irrigation Board would proceed to levy annually the money equivalent of the additional communal labour so required to make up the legal quota, and to expend the amount under their own orders, either through the engineers, or through another agency, on the irrigation work concerned. This is the essential feature of the whole scheme now under elaboration75. Irrigational works, at the level of the villages, had to be maintained by village community, by contributing labour. Here, too, there was an Act of the colonial state ensuring that land marks like the boundary stones or irrigational structures finally rested without the community. The village communities concerned should be held primarily responsible for the safe custody of the irrigation works affecting them, just as they were now held responsible under Act XXVIII of 1860, section 9, for the safety of boundary stones erected by the government. In the case of willful damage to a sluice, weir, channel, or other irrigation work, it should be provided by law that a penalty of twice the cost of repairing such damage be leviable by the holders of the land irrigated by any work thus damaged, or profiting by injury of such work. The penalty should be independent of criminal prosecution to which the actual perpetrators, if 74 75

Ibid.,p. 48. Ibid.,p. 49.

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discovered, would be liable. The Taluk Irrigation Boards would meet once a month or as often as might be necessary. They would submit an annual report of all the communal work executed, with detailed accounts of all sums of money collected and disbursed under the Act. The Government would reserve power to exempt any district or specified work of irrigation from the operation of the Act76. The report stated clearly that criminal prosecution of anyone caught damaging the works was actually at a different level from a mere penalty, which was imposed when such works were ineffective because of bad maintenance. Thus both fiscal benefits as well as punitive policies seemed to hold up such enforced labour from the community that there was no escape from responsibility, or even from caste hierarchies for Indians.

Railways and Labour Migrations No railways were operating in India in 1850. Twenty-five years, later India had an extensive network of trunk lines. Fifty years later, in 1900, trains steamed through most of India along railways whose trunk and branch lines extended over 25,000 miles of track; 23,627 route miles were opened in 1900. An enormous amount of men, women and children, who had physically built the railways, had arranged for the organization of their work and materials as well as for the tools and machinery they were to use. Labor, tools, machinery, stone for ballasting, wooden sleeps, lime, clay and mortar for bricks, and the brickwork, iron griddles for bridges and the rails had to be obtained and transported to the worksites. The nineteenth century railways built by the Raj were financed largely by the British and Indian materials which were provided by Indian labour, but were supervised and directed by a few British bureaucrats, contractors, engineers, foremen and skilled workmen. These projects of magnitude and complexity, as represented by the railway construction in nineteenth century India, required millions of workers with different kinds and levels of skill77. The railway labour and the effective use of intensive labour depended on an adequate supply and effective use of labour. Previously constructed boats and navigable waterways, roads, carts, and increasingly operating railways provided the means by which construction materials got to the worksites. The modern scholarship on nineteenth century Indian railway 76

Ibid., p. 51-52. Chittibabu, K., Migrations in Colonial Andhra, 1881-1911, Unpublished MPhil thesis awarded 2005, p. 95.

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history have focused largely on government policy, financing, administrative structures, rolling stocks and, more recently, on the economic impact of the railways. If the British provided capital and technical knowledge, they also integrated, supervised and directed technicians and labourers towards railway construction; they managed, in the broad sense, the grand assembly of activities labeled the construction process. The British were, by and large, the mangers and technical experts in the construction process, who, however, fed merely the labour requirements. As mentioned earlier, they did not or were not allowed to share the “mental labour” that was behind these projects78. Some 150 million pounds of British capital was invested in India’s nineteenth century railways, the single largest investment within the nineteenth century British empire. In his speech at the opening of the Bhore Ghat Incline in 1862, Bartley Frere, governor of Bombay presidency, gave an extended eulogy to the beneficial effect of the expenditure of British capital on the rail works in India. What he called the “railway period” had freed the individuals to sell their labour power in a market regulated by “natural laws of supply and demand”. For the first time in history, the Indian labour force found that it had the power of labour, a valuable possession. The men, women and children who built the railways had only one connection with the railway companies: sale of their labour. They became wage earners whose connection with the railways was the money they carried as construction workers. English capital was being expanded in large amounts on the Indian railways and setting in motion significant social and economic changes. In 1860, one observer stated that in the previous five years 14,000,000 pounds had been spent on railway construction labour in India; while in 1868, the contractor Henfrey, an associate of Thomas Brassy, estimated that 75 to 80 million pounds had been expended on the Indian railways. That is, 40 to 50 million pounds had passed into the hands of the working class. Beyond the technology, there was always the organization of large scale work. Obtaining, retaining and using labour was an imperative task for management79. The organization of large bodies of workers was a central feature of the railway construction in India as it was elsewhere. Large scale gang labour using simple tools was the major form of work. Manuals for civil engineers in India devoted many pages to the problems associated with finding, organizing, retaining and paying large bodies of workers. 78 79

Ibid., p. 96. Ibid., p. 97.

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Managerial competence was as important to the railways engineers in India as technical knowhow. What gives a certain unity to the period 1850 to 1900 is the evolutionary development of the construction process. The panegyric on the advantages of the railway construction for the Indian working classes and the landless agricultural labourers was part of an imperial economic logic. Thus imperial logic, defending the effects of colonial economy, including the forced displacement of large sections of the population, was necessary in order to justify industrial capital working as colonial exploitation. It looked at the coordinated mental and physical activities of many individuals and activities that produced the route surveys, embankments, tunnels, bridges, stations, length, rails, etc.; mental and manual work that characterized some of the labour process. In the first category, bridges and tunnels represented special cases in line formations. Three gangs of work people, each doing an eight-hour shift within a continuous 42-hour work, where tunnels were the less frequent form of default construction. Ballasting and excavating were known to Indian workmen prior to the railway age and they worked in tunnels despite being crowded together in a foul atmosphere. Second are the bridges; India permanently became a land where large railway bridges were built of iron and laths of steel. The site of the construction of a great iron bridge remained that way for a three to four year period. Workers with many different skills were present. Aside from the unskilled, masons and bricklayers, there were brick makers, artificers, carpenters, and blacksmiths, rigging and scaffolding experts, erecters and riveters. Bridges, great and small, culverts, station buildings and workshops required an astronomical number of bricks and a large number of labours to make them. Brick machinery exemplified one of the ancillary labour processes that were crucial to railway construction. The heavy demands for good bricks stimulated and rationalized brick making India. The processes and people at labour were required to make 25,000 bricks a day. The labour force consisted of 25 moulders; 25 attendants to carry the bricks from the drying floor (boys paid at the women’s earth work rate were the best); 13 strongmen with barrows, paid higher than the earth works rate to remove the brick from drying floor; 37 men mining clay and wheeling it to the pug mills and the moulders; 20 men to fill the kilns; 20 men to clean and burn the kilns; five extras. Other people, other workers under petty contractors were needed to supply the fire wood, clay and to cart the finished bricks to the worksites. The manufacture of bricks and mortar and the laying of bricks was therefore an important part of two of the main tasks of railway construction. The third major element of railway constructions was the ballasting and laying of the permanent way. Bricks

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played a role in this task as well. Superior forms of ballast – hard, unfavorable materials, such as broken stone, gravel, pebbles, blast furnace slag or coal cinders – were always available and recourse had to be taken with regard to inferior substances such as sand or broken-up, hard, burnt brick. The next step in the laying of the permanent way was to imbed the sleepers in the top layer of the ballast. These sleepers had to be transported again to the construction site from the forest. The entire process from forest to installed sleeper involved a substantial number of workers and a complete chain of supply and substantial work operation. The final step was the laying of the permanent railway: the installation of the rails themselves. Plate laying, as it was known, was a precise operation that required the coordinated efforts of a number of skilled groups of workers, who were collected along with their supporting cast of carpenters and blacksmiths. In so far as employment was concerned, an average of between 126 to 155 workers were employed per construction per mile in the 19th century80. In getting the railways of India built, the British used the labour power of Indian men, women and children. A substantial number of Indians became involved in the question of how to obtain this large workforce. This involvement is crucial to the understanding of the railway construction in particular localities and regions. What kind of labour was needed and who, over some five decades, physically built the railways, are some of the crucial questions also. Where did they come from? What were the problems encountered in obtaining such large numbers of workers? The search for answer to these questions leads us to the reports and documents of the colonial state. The workforce at the construction sites was far from homogeneous. It was divided into many categories and groups, ages, and gender distinctions, and unskilled and skilled labour, with the latter in turn being divided into different artisans and trades such as carpenters, masons, smiths, and so on. Many of the workers were women and children. Men, women and children came to the construction sites as family units. There was the presence of a division of labour within the families, between the men on the one hand and the women on the other. Women and children in this country did all the carrying of earth and the fetching of bricks and mortar, etc., while the men only did the heavy work like laying rails or timbers. All the earth was brought by men, women or children, in small baskets on their heads from excavation sites alongside the line. The earth work was done during the dry season, and 80 Ian J. Keer, Building the Railways of the Raj 1850-1900, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1995, pp. 1-14. (Henceforth Ian J. Keer.)

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while the large numbers of men performed in a most careless manner, women and children each carried baskets full of earth on their heads. Clearly, men, women and children were a significant component of the work force. They increased the ability of families to earn a living wage but on a substantially lower pay. The adult females helped the railways and also, being lower paid than adult males, helped the railways to reduce their wage bills on more capital-intensive techniques81. Firstly, men reserved themselves for the jobs that required more physical strength. Secondly, excavators were usually men; labourers were often women and children. Thirdly, there was a distinction between the labourers who were particularly effective at earthwork. These were often groups of people, given the hierarchical caste structure of Indian society, whose occupations before they joined the public works laying the railway lines had been earthwork related, e.g. tank digging was the former occupation of many of the masons. They were a part of that already established floating occupational group in the country side – servants, artisans and labour without land. The majority of unskilled construction railway labour – by far the largest portion – came in most instances from the rural population, particularly from the landless agricultural labourers, marginal peasants and poor artisans who lived close to the place of work. In Vizagapatnam, the collector reported in 1893 that although wage rates had on the whole been stable for the last thirty years, “there has been alteration but it has taken the form a reduction in the quality and quantity of the work done for the same money.” This was partly because the labourers’ work on the construction of the east coast railway had drawn off the agricultural labourers from cultivation, so the quality of the agricultural labourers remaining in agriculture declined. These Indian workers provided the mobile labour that tramped from one project to another and who, when available, were the earth workers at construction sites. Unskilled labour was recruited from wherever it could be most easily obtained. Further, there were the reliable neighboring villages within the wider localities which had always undertaken the supply of labour to surrounding areas on small contracts. There were labourers who had taken up the life of circulatory wage labour, who usually came to a worksite from a distance and this had become their occupation. This kind of permanent labour was as opposed to the seasonal labourers, who were also cultivators. The ratio of one kind of labour to another varied from worksite to worksite, depending on a set of changing circumstances. The factors which produced a change of supply and 81

Ibid., p. 85.

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demand in labour could be, for example, sparsely populated areas providing limited or no supply of labour. On the other hand, poor harvests had the opposite effect of releasing cultivators into the labour pool. For example, many of the skilled Punjabi workmen travelled almost 1,000 miles eastward to work on the Kistna Bridge for the east coast state railway. Bridge building had also created a substantial and continuing source of employment for masons who soon relocated themselves to worksites on an inter-regional basis and from beyond their immediate localities. At the Kistna Bridge, those members of the Punjabi carpenters, blacksmiths, masons and bricklayers who were part of the service castes originally later became Sikhs, and even later, the ramgarlias found constant employment in the railways82. Other types of construction projects were also completed with the railway labour. The continued large demands for railway construction workers stimulated the growth of regional and inter-regional labour markets, within which circulating labour met the needs of the railway companies83. Most of these workers, particularly the earth workers who played a prominent role in the construction of the railway, were those whose occupations before the railways had involved earthwork, like the digging of tanks and canals or even in the making of rails84. The excavation mentioned most often in the records were undertaken by a Telugu sub-caste, Odde: their digging activities can be documented as far back as the Vizayanagara times. The women carried earth in baskets while the men wielded picks. These communities were employed largely in public works which were on the dependent construction and maintenance of the railways. The greater part of the earth works on the railway lines and tanks in Madras Presidency were done by the Oddes85. The Oddes were a significant component of the groups who migrated over long distance to work, and who moved more effectively than any other group, helping to free railway companies from labour obtained from village populations. This had an added advantage. At certain times of the agricultural year, temporary wage labourers could not be counted on, as they were involved in cultivation – on their own land or on other people’s 82

Ibid., pp. 55-57. Ibid., p. 91. 84 Ibid., p. 105. 85 Census of Madras Presidency 1871, Vol. 1: Report (Madras, 1874), p. 157; Edgar Thurston, Castes and Tribes of South India, Vol. 5, (Madras: Government Press, 1909), pp. 422-36; Chandrasekhar Bhat, Ethnicity and Mobility: Emerging Ethnic Identity and Social Mobility Among the Wuddars of South India, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1894. 83

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land. The unskilled workers were only one part of the construction workforce, although by far the largest. There were also the skilled workers, who comprised some twenty percent of the overall total and who at certain localities were to be found at stations, bridge and tunnel sites, and who comprised almost fifty percent of the labour force86. Additional labourers and excavators, who could not be supplied from the wider pools of circulating labour, continued to be sought by the village population near the railway constructions. This also helped to increase the number of casual labourers by moving some cultivators from the villages to the ranks of circulating labour.87 The climate dictated that much of the railway construction in India was seasonal; therefore, many migrant workers returned home in the off season. For example, in 1887-88 in Kistna district, there was a rise in wages owing to the progress of railway works. The average wages of agricultural labourers in the rural tracts varied from Rs 3-8-0 to Rs 5/- a month.88 In 1890-91, there was an increase in the rates of the wages of agricultural labourers in the rural tracts of Vizagapatnam, owing to the commencement of work on the east coast railway. In Anantapur district and one taluk of Cuddapah, the increase in agricultural labour was also due to the commencement of works on the Vellumpurm-Gunthakal project.89 In Nellore, there was less demand for agricultural labour, owing to the completion of the railway works during 1899-1900, which affectively stopped absorbing labour from the surrounding regions.90 In Vizagapatnam, the collector reported in 1893 that although wage rates had on the whole been stable for last thirty years, “there has been alteration for it has taken the form of a reduction in the quality and quantity of the work done for the same money.” This was partly because of the labourers working on the construction of the east coast railway, so that the quality of the labourers remaining in agriculture declined.91

Economic Impact An interesting factor of note is that in the tract of country between the mouths of the Kistna and the Godavari, there was an illustration of the 86

Ian J. Keer, p. 110-113. Ibid., p. 92. 88 Report on the Administration of Madras Presidency 1888-89, p. 67. (Henceforth RAMP.) 89 RAMP, 1890-91, p. 69. 90 RAMP, 1899-1900, p. 70. 91 Dharma Kumar, Land and Caste in South India, Monahar, New Delhi, 1992. 87

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growth of the Delta lands marked by certain characteristic features. About halfway between the two rivers, there was a low swampy tract, which under the name of the Colair Lake, occupied the boundary region between the two Deltas. It represented the work which still remained to be done near the two rivers before the alluvial plain could be regarded as “perfect”. The total failure of the rains of 1833 affected the whole region. The district was very badly provided for against such a catastrophe as a total failure of the rains. The destruction of life consequent to the failure was frightful; it was estimated from the statistical returns, which, though by no means free from critical observations, were still approximately correct, that no fewer than 200,000 people perished either from hunger or under the virulent fever that followed in the wake of the famine. At this particular juncture, the population of Guntur had not recovered from the effects of the Black year. However, the government revenues also suffered a setback at the same time, a matter of concern for the colonial administration. The loss of revenue to the state was fairly calculated at gross total of upwards of 90 lakhs of rupees, or £900,000. When the much greater losses sustained by the community were added to this amount, it seemed to the government that a sum of 2½ crores of rupees, or the same number of millions of pounds sterling, would be no exaggerated estimate of the aggregate loss of property due to this deplorable calamity. It was to prevent the recurrence of such sacrifice of life, and the means of life, on the part of the native community, and of revenue on the side of the state, that the works on the river Kistna were designed. The effects of the famine of 1833-34 were felt with great severity throughout the districts of Rajahmundry and Musulipatnam, which were traversed by the Godavari. The few irrigation works existing at that period were wholly inadequate for the prevention of suffering. That, anyway, was never the aim of the dam, which was only to mitigate the scale of suffering a little92. In 1830, land had a little or no value throughout the greater portion of the presidency. In the rich deltas of Kistna and Godavari, transfers of land by sale appeared to have been almost unknown till about 1850. In 1853, Sir Walter Elliott, the commissioner of Northern Circars, reported that in the Kistna district, land was generally unsalable, and that in the only instances which had come to his notice, the area sold was 15 acres of dry and 56½ acres of wet land, the price obtained being Rs 203. In 1854, the same officer reported that the only case of a sale of assessed lands occurred in Guntur, where 10 acres of 92

Baird Smith, R., The Cauvery, Kistna and Godavari Being a Report on the Works Constructed on these Rivers for the Irrigation of Province of Tanjore, Guntoor, Musulipatanam and Rajahmundry, in the Province of Madras, London, 1856, pp. 53-55, and pp. 84-85.

Public Works of Madras Presidency (Andhra) and Labour Migrations

89

dry and two acres of wet land, yielding a gross outturn of Rs 55 and bearing an assessment of Rs 34, fetched a price of Rs 78. Only in the Deltas of Kistna and Godavari have lands, which were unsalable, acquired a high value during the last 30 years, thus making an exception.93 In the District of Guntur, on the other hand, all irrigational works were utterly neglected, and in one year a famine occurred which swept away 250,000 out of 500,000 people and caused a loss of revenue over the next ten or twelve years of eighty lacks, while not an acre of land could be sold94. “Do you think England could pay revenue of fifty millions, if she had no public works or Machinery, no Roads, Canals, railways, Ports, Steam and Water Power, and nothing that enables the human power of the community to accomplish a hundred times as much though it could not pay a tenth of it without those aids?” to this question, was posed the answer, “She certainly could not pay a tenth of it, without those things”95.

Instances were before them of common roads, canals, irrigation works, etc., producing an annual return to the country of more than 100% of the outlay; and as any amount of money, for making every sort of improvement in India, could be obtained at 5 percent, the practicability of these essential works was undeniable96. It was still a complete mistake to suppose that its officers had nothing to do but to collect revenue, and that the people, with or without any aid, could procure the means of paying the taxes. If only a thousandth part of the time and labour expended on adjusting and collecting the revenue were bestowed on the means to best calculate and enable the people to easily to pay it, the government would be rolling in money97. There was a simple assumption behind this. These were all “Englishmen” who knew that England’s national prosperity and strength were the result of the enormous economy of human labour by means of public works. Because of this, whereby only a few were actually employed in providing the mere necessities of life, (food, clothing, and shelter), this left a large number of the people at liberty to promote learning and the arts, which had contributed to the British economic growth98. One of the first and fundamental things to do, by means of 93

Srinivas Raghavaiyangar, Memorandum on the Progress of Madras Presidency During Last Forty Year, Printed by Superintendent Press, Madras, 1903, pp. 109110. 94 Sir Arthur Cotton, Public Works in India, p. 25. 95 Ibid., p. 33. 96 Ibid., p. 33. 97 Ibid., p. 41. 98 Ibid., p. 46.

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90

public works in India, was to increase the income of the country. The government felt that this was entirely within its reach, since any amount of money could be obtained from other services, for the execution of improvements which would pay ten or twenty times the interest of the capital outlay.99 The question was asked, “Why are the people so poor at present? Because, being entirely without any means, excepting bullocks, which can be substituted for human labour, it is as much as they can do to feed, clothe and shelter themselves; or rather, I should say ,more than they can do, at least while they have to keep their rulers in Luxury. And this is not peculiar to one country; for, if besides the labour of 140 million in India, we had the work of another 500 million performed by means of Roads, Canals, Railways, Water steam, &c., there would be in India also abundance of labour available for other things beyond the necessaries of life, and, consequently, abundance of wealth100.

The report did not see any difficulty? Regarding the financing of these projects, thousands wanted to lend money at 4 percent interest, while thousands of Europeans and “natives” wanted employment as the superintendent of works. Meanwhile, thousands more iron manufacturers and other individuals in England wanted sales for their goods. There were lakhs of people in India who wanted employment as labourers; millions of ryots wanted water for their millions of acres. There were tens of thousands of miles of communications infrastructure and the means of carrying all kinds of produce needed to be constructed, and thus millions might be expended so as to yield ten to twenty or fifty times the interest paid for them101. The point of this exaggerated estimate was that, for an initial capital outlay, the returns would be very high, and the colonial government and the colonial economy would be the clear winners. Thus a rosy picture was presented: “Since the introduction of the admirable system of irrigation famines is unknown. The people are prosperous and contented. It is the garden of the great Northern Province. Its population has more than doubled; the material prosperity of its inhabitants is proved by their being better fed better clothed, and better educated than formerly; its commerce has flourished, its trade has developed to [a] marvelous degree. And it may

99

Ibid., p. 47. Ibid., p. 50. 101 Ibid., p. 50. 100

Public Works of Madras Presidency (Andhra) and Labour Migrations

91

confidently be asserted that it is in as peaceful, happy and prosperous [a] condition as any part of her Imperial Majesties’ dominions”102.

These words from the concluding paragraph of the Godavari District Manual written by Mr. H. Morries, whose connection with the district gave him special knowledge on the subject. In Sir Henry Montgomery’s report of 18th March 1844, the population of the district showed that it had decreased from 7,38,308 in 1821-22 to 5,61,041 in 1842-43. These figures were probably rough approximations, as no demographic survey of the people was under taken with accuracy till 1851-52. The census of 1861 returned a total of Rs 13,66,831 whilst the 1891 census gave 20,11,982 as the figure (Bhadrachalm-Rekapally Taluk and Kottapalle Taluk were not included in the count of 1861), thus making for an increase of slightly over 47 percent in thirty years, by 1893-94. The area of irrigated land in the Delta had therefore increased from less than 150,000 acres of poor cultivation from 1861 to 640,744 acres of first crop and 80,966 areas of second crop by 1893-94. Therefore the growth of revenue saw a huge jump as the total amount of revenue raised in the district had increased from 24 lakhs to 88 lakhs in forty years103.

Conclusion This chapter has addressed the colonial state’s need to increase the productivity of the land. This concern comes out of a long intellectual tradition of the “improving land lord”104. This concern took the shape of envisioning huge irrigational projects. This chapter has discussed how the various British officials at the ground level managed the actual constructions at these sites. India, being a vast country (this includes South India too), also needed to have connections. We thus see that from the 1830s, as the irrigational projects began to be planned in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s, there were equal concerns about the roads, and later, the railways. What I have shown in this chapter is the way the British officials and the British policies divided the execution of these projects into two halves. The first concern – the scientific and technological envisioning of 102

George T.T. Walch, The Engineering Works of Godavari Delta, Madras, 1896, pp. 154-156. 103 Ibid., p. 154-156. 104 Ranjith Guha, A Rule of Property for Bengal: An Essay on the Idea of Permanent Settlement, Orient Longman Limited, New Delhi, 1981, pp. 17, 18. And also see Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 86, 117.

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the projects and the actual construction – had a clear cognitive component. This was entirely managed by the colonial state and its officials. The labour supply and the labour superintendents were to come from a collaborative arrangement with the Indians. We find in this chapter details about the management of labour, which was entrusted to Indian supervision and was perceived to be a perennial thorn in the smooth running of these projects. We find that labour management, being Indian, was understood to be problematic and unpredictable.

CHAPTER III FAMINES AND LABOUR MIGRATIONS

Introduction In the last chapter, the colonial state and its policies were discussed, both in relation to public works and in relation to migratory labour. In this chapter, village communities and conditions are examined in order to understand the pull and push factors operating in the districts, and the conditions of village life in India, as opposed to anything like permanent migration on a large scale. This was therefore true of South India too. Every individual family in a village community had and still has its own assigned place. If a man held a putta from the government, for ever so small a quantity of land, he had every inducement to remain by his land, and if he was a labourer hereditarily attached to the soil, all the habits and training of his life bound him to his original position, rather than lead him to risk the uncertainties of a career of a free labourer in a strange country or place where he was unknown. The famine broke up, to some degree, the old conditions of menial service. The almost universal custom of payment in produce instead of money was on its way out, therefore, as the colonial state pumped cash in to the public works in the aftermath of the famine. This rendered making cash payments quite normal in the rural Andhra region. It is important to note that the famines in the past had not had the effect of altering the conditions of agricultural servitude, which had been an established practice in India. There were no facts to show that the people who wandered temporarily during the time of intense famine and distress had settled permanently in considerable numbers in localities away from their own homes. The bulk of the wanderers who failed to go back to their village occupations had fallen victim to the famine: the mortality rate of 1876 famine had been very high1.

1

Report from the Sanitary Commissioner for Madras, to the Secretary to Government, Famine Department, dated Ootacamund, 10 July 1878, no. C-21: Review of the Madras Famine, 1876-1878, Appendix B, p. 136.

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A famine may be defined as a complete or very extensive one if there was a general failure of food or water, or both, over a large area of country. For water famine, there was but one remedy, viz. migration to where there was water, and the fact of the migration was the proof of the water supply in the new localities. The loss of a single harvest after a normal plenty was never likely to cause a famine, but when three or four harvests in succession failed over a large extent of the country, there was severe distress among the poorer classes who had no grain stores of their own, and were dependent on their labour for purchasing their food each day. Some cash Rs for the purchase of food every day was necessary as the failure of the harvests meant a diminution of the supplies of indigenous food in the country; prices rose, and when they had risen so high, the laboring classes could not, with the wages they earned normally, buy food on a daily basis. Thus in a tough year, there was hardly enough food to keep themselves in sufficient health and strength to perform their usual daily labour. Unless they were assisted, they gradually became weakened until they were unable to work at all, and death by slow starvation followed as a matter of cause.2

History and Area Liable to Famine Famines of greater severity had occurred in pre-colonial times. Hindu and Muslim historians did not give details of famines. The famine report felt that, “They were concerned mainly with the riches and glories of their kings and saw no reason to record the sufferings of the common people”. The report drew from a Sanskrit text to give some picture of the horrors that took place in the pre-colonial period. In almost the only historical work in Sanskrit, there was a description: “Then his [Jelukas’] son Tunjina ruled the earth and delighted the people, along with the queen Vakpusta who was passed of divine gifts … In the month of Bhadrapada when the fields in the land were covered with the autumnal rice – a crop which was just ripening – unexpectedly there fell heavy snow. Under this [snow] which resembled [in its whiteness] the grim laughter of death bent on the destruction of all beings, there sank [and perished] the rice crops, together with the people’s hope of existence. Then came a terrible famine which resembled a kind of hell with masses of starving people [moving about] like ghosts. Tormented by hunger, everyone thought only of his belly, and forgot in his misery love for his wife, affection for his children and tender regarded for his parents … Uttering coarse words, emaciated by hunger, 2

Report on the Review of the Madras Famine, 1876-1878, p. 73.

Famines and Labour Migrations

95

terrible to look at, and rolling his eyes in all directions, each person strove apart to keep himself alive at the cost of [all other] living beings.” The first book of Ramayana tells the story of a great drought. Ibn Batuta tells that in the famine of 1327, he saw three women cutting the skin of a horse that had been dead for some months to pieces and eating it. From the reign of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, came a terrible description of a great famine, “The number of the dead exceeded all computation or estimate. The towns and their environs and the country were strewn with human skulls and bones. Instead of seed, men ate each other; parents devoured their children. Bakers ground up old bones, or whatever else they could get, and mixing the dust with a little wheat, sold the cakes as valuable rarities to the wealthy. Human bodies dried in the sun, were steeped in water and devoured by those who found them.” On the breakup of the chaos, the whole country was harried by armies of Maratha Chiefs and Governors, and kings whose kingdoms were not permanent and therefore lacked stability. At last, the East Indian Company had emerged as the strongest power in the land, but for many years, the company’s energy was confined to the consolidation and extension of the British territories in India. Thus controlling and defending its borders from outside attacks was a central requirement. During these years, the Company had great difficulty in protecting the people in its charge from the terrible effects of famine.

Famines from Seventeenth Century in Madras Presidency In 1647, in a letter sent from Madras to Surat, it was stated that “the famine is so great in this kingdom that we believe it will be the destruction thereof. For there had not fallen any rain this year for the increase of any grain to relieve the people and now the season of the rains were past so that the country will be so depopulated that it will be impossible to recover itself again in five years’ time.” Later in the year, recording the actual devastation of the famine, a given statement followed: “Half the population in the kingdom [is] dead. Out of the town of Musulipatnam, 4,000 people died in five months’. Out of Pulicat, 15,000 [died] in as little time.” The chief reason for the prevalence of famine during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Madras was said to have been the neglect of the irrigation works. Hence, rice, even in a favorable year, was extraordinary scarce and dear. The chief objective of the company’s administration during famine years was to control the price of grain and see the all the stocks of grain that existed were brought to market.

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In 1781-82, the Carnatic was devastated by the armies of Hidair Ali. The city of Madras found itself under great strain because of want of food. A charitable fund was opened by the Government and this was the origin of the Monegar Choultry. Throughout and the subsequent famines, thousands of destitute people in the Madras presidency were shipped off to Vizagapatnam and supplied with food and work on their arrival. In 179092, the Northern Circars were visited by a famine and the government temporarily suspended the duties that were then placed on the import of grain. The Government Resident in Ganjam employed 2,000 people in public works and fed them on grain from Government granaries. This was followed in 1807 by a severe famine in the districts of Nellore, Noth Arcot and Chingleput. Many people flocked into Madras and were fed in the Monegar Choultry, even though many people died from starvation and disease3. What was famously known as the Guntur Famine occurred in 1833. Although the districts of Nellore and Kistna were also affected, Guntur was the worst hit. There was a flocking of starving people to Madras and bands of robbers wandered about in Guntur district pillaging wherever they went, as houses and property were left unprotected as the owners left. The collector reported that one fifth of the total population would have to be fed or employed, and it was estimated that in Guntur district alone, 150,000 people died. The streets of Nellore were strewn with dead bodies, and in Nellore, the horrible spectacle of a mother devouring her dead infant was seen. The Government opened relief depots and the able-bodied were employed on road works, but the main aim was to see that grain was brought to the starving districts in large quantities. In October and November 1853, practically no rain fell in Bellary district and the cotton crop, upon which a large number of the population depended, completely failed. When no rain fell during June and July of the following year and cholum – the principal food stuff of the district – rose to four times its normal price, the Collector estimated that it would be necessary to find work for 118,000 men. During 1854, about 16 lakhs of rupees were spent on roads to provide employment. There was another severe famine in 1866 in Northern Circars but this was nothing to the famine of 1876-78, which was known throughout the land as the “Great famine”. An area of 200,000 square km containing a population of 36 million people was affected. No districts escaped between December 1874 and November 1877. Nearly 700,000 tonnes of grain was brought to Madras by sea. Even so, it is estimated that about 4 million people died. In 1892-93 and 189697, very bad years had come to Ganjam, Vizagapatnam and the Ceded 3

Famines in the Madras Presidency, Unknown Author, pp 1-6.

Famines and Labour Migrations

97

districts. However, there was a crop failure, and there was low mortality. So as far as could be ascertained, no one died of starvation and a very small proportion of the population affected died from disease brought on by famine conditions. And it has been estimated that the drought in Ganjam in 1918 was serious; had the conditions of an earlier age prevailed, the mortality would have been very high. Towards the end of 1920, distress was again felt in parts of Ganjam, Kurnool, Bellary and Anantapur. Relief works were therefore started and gratuitous relief was also afforded. There was again distress in 1924 in parts of Ganjam, Bellary and Anantapur. Famine on a larger scale again occurred in Bellary and Anantapur districts. The next famine was in 1937-38, which was of a greater magnitude than that of 1934-35. There was again famine in 1939 in Coimbatore district, which was prone to long droughts and frequent cyclones, and also continuously suffered from deficient rainfall.4

Statistical data on the population of Madras Deccan (Famine Zone of Andhra) Kurnool – The district lay in the heart of the famine zone. All the taluks were liable to famine 5 . Since the beginning of the century, the district had suffered eight times from famine, viz., in the years, 1804, 1810, 1824, 1833, 1853-54, 1866, 1876-78 and again in 1891-92. In 187374 also, parts of this district suffered, and in 1884, there was distress over a large area. While in many years, the scanty or unseasonable nature of the rainfall had caused more or less widespread loss or injury to crops, the whole district was prone to famine. The population of the district according to the census of 1871 was 914,432. The population according to the census of 1881 was only 678,551. In the next ten years, it increased by 20.5 percent and at the census of 1891 was 817,811. The population, according to the census of 1911 was 935,259 against 872,079 in 1901, the increase during the interval being 7.3 percent. Over the next ten years, the population decreased by 2.2 percent and at the census of 1921, it was 914,890. The decrease was chiefly due to the influenza epidemic in 1918. During the next ten years, the population increased by 12 percent over that of 1921 and in the census of 1931 it was 1,024,961. In the next ten years the population increased by 11.8 percent over that of 1931 and in the census of 1941 it was 1,146,250 6 . Kurnool therefore revealed its low 4

A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940. A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, p. 172. 6 A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 16. 5

Chapter III

277

126

169

163

157

145

93

151

Done

Kurnool

Nandikotkure

Nandyal

Koilkuntla

Sirvel

Cumbum

Markapur

The Whole District

401

375

565

404

357

521

377

485

319

306

557

763

1,008

496

428

644

507

586

500

381

-26.2

-10.1

-11.7

-20.8

-23.3

-20.7

-39.4

-31.8

-44.9

-39.2

18711881

+20.5

+19.0

+7.1

+13.9

+13.4

+17.4

+20.2

+21.6

+37.0

+39.2

18811891

+6.6

-5.7

-1.4

+12.6

+1.9

+16.7

+17.8

+13.5

+10.0

+1.3

1891 1901

+7.3

+5.0

+8.3

+7.0

+5.1

+4.9

+3.4

+5.2

+14.2

+11.8

19011911

Loss or gain of population in percent

Source: A Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 16

147

Pattikonda

Per 1000 acres Arable Cultivat ed

Population in 1941

Per square mile total area 170

Taluk Or Division

-2.2

+8.0

-4.5

-2.6

-8.6

+1.1

+4.3

-0.8

-7.2

-9.1

19111921

Table 3.1: The gain or loss of population in percent in Kurnool district between 1871-1941

98

+12.0

+1.6

+10.3

+19.1

+4.3

+9.4

+11.6

+11.8

+21.7

+20.7

19211931

+11.8

+17.4

+11.7

+4.7

+7.4

+10.8

+17.6

+14.0

+13.6

+3.6

19311941

+22.6

+28.9

+20.9

+20.9

+2.4

+22.6

+36.9

+26.3

+28.3

+13.8

18711940

Famines and Labour Migrations

99

population and its low population growth rate, a district where the population would find it difficult it live. It was chronically prone to famine, and so the agricultural population was poor too. Bellary – When Bellary is considered, again, the whole district lay in the famine zone. The earliest famine was recorded in the year 1792-93; and since the beginning of the century, there had been famines in 1803, 1824, 1833, 1853-54, 1866, 1876-78 and 1891-92. The seasons were very unfavorable over the whole or parts of the district. The population of the district was 720,275 in the census of 1881. That census revealed a decrease of 20.3 percent as compared with 1871, the district having suffered more severely than any other district, except Kurnool, from the famine of 1876-78. The loss was greatest in Adoni and Alur taluks, where it reached about 33 percent. In these taluks, the distress was most prolonged, and the people had to compete for what food there was with swarms of immigrants from the Nizam’s territories. The census returns of 1901 gave a total population of 947,214, an increase of 7.5 percent over that of 1891. The total population of the district was 862,370 at the census of 1921. There was loss of population in all taluks. The loss for the district was 11 percent as compared with the population of 1911. This was due to a plague epidemic and ravages of influenza in the years 1918 and 1919. The population of the district was 969,774 in 1931 and the increase in population for the district was 12.5 percent over that of 1921. The population according to the census of 1941 was 1,051,235 and there was a district population increase of 8.4 percent over that of 1931.7 In Bellary, too, therefore, the demographic profile of the village communities was unhealthy, with diseases taking over the famines that had induced starvation related immunity problems in the people.

7

A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, pp. 291-293.

Chapter III

157

132

203

182

181

161

169

184

Raydurg

Kudigi

Adoni

Alur

Hospet

Hadagalli

Harpanahalli

The Whole District

342

328

283

429

308

443

303

280

191

394

429

455

374

643

327

533

487

367

316

422

1891 1901

Source: Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 16

172

Bellary

Siruguppa

Per square mile total area 232

Per 1000 acres Arable Cultivated

Population in 1941

Taluk Or Division

+7.5

+16.3

-11.5

+10.2

+13.7

+11.4

+10.3

+5.3

+9.3

+5.9

+2.3

+2.5

+0.9

-9.6

+18.1

+7.6

+5.8

+1.7

+12.3

-10.2

19011911

-11.0

-13.4

-16.6

-7.5

-10.2

-6.1

-15.5

-5.6

-20.9

-11.2

19111921

+12.5

+17.7

+11.4

+5.0

+7.9

+14.4

+16.4

+9.9

+10.9

+15.2

19211931

+8.4

+5.4

+6.8

+11.3

+5.7

+4.1

+5.2

+15.5

+12.2

+14.6

1931-1941

Loss or gain of population in percent

Table 3.2: The gain or loss of population in percent in Bellary district between 1891-1941

100

+10.9

+35.0

-29.0

+0.6

+31.3

+22.1

+9.6

2+9.1

-3.1

+1.2

18711940

Famines and Labour Migrations

101

Anantpur – Again, Anantpur also fell into the belt of low productivity. The whole district lay within the famine zone. The earliest famine on record was that of 1792-93; in 1803, there was scarcity amounting to famine; in 1823, famine was anticipated and relief works started; in 183233, both monsoons failed and the year was the worst on record up to that time. 1838 was almost a famine year; in 1843, the failed rainfall made it a famine year; in 1843, the rainfall was small and unseasonable; in 1844, both the monsoons failed; and 1845, the seasons were again bad. 1853-54 were famine years; in 1865, distress was anticipated and was followed by famine in 1866; from 1876 to 1878, the last famine raged. In 1884, relief works had again started; and in 1891-92, the districts narrowly escaped from severe distress. According to the census of 1901, the population of the district was 788,254, which was an increase of 8.3 percent compared to the census of 1891. The increase was only half of that of the preceding census8. According to the census of 1941, the population of the district was 1,171,419 against 1,050,411 in the decennium ending on fasli 1340. Though 1934-35 and 1937-38 were famine years in the decennium, there was an increase in the population, which was mainly due to the absence of any virulent epidemic9.

8 9

Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, pp. 234 and 238. Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 11.

Chapter III

199

207

167 119

240

153

199

174

Gooty

Hindupur

Kadiri Kalyandurg

Madkasira

Penukonda

Tadipatri

The Whole District

343

388

324

459

315 210

702

300

270

272

570

550

920

839

699 392

1082

138

575

478

-19.1

-15.6

-17.6

-30.6

….. …..

-16.6

-23.5

-19.5

-10.6

18711881

Source: Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 16

135

Anantapuram

Darmavarm

Per square mile total area 147

Per 1000 acres Arable Cultivate d

Population in 1941

Taluk Or Division

+17.2

+13.8

+9.9

+23.4

….. …..

+11.5

+29.2

+16.6

+13.6

18811891

+8.2

-2.9

+14.0

+19.8

+7.8 +5.8

+13.9

+9.5

+8.0

+4.6

1891 1901

+3.2

+4.4

+1.5

+0.8

+4.3 +8.0

+5.7

+4.3

+4.3

-0.5

19011911

-0.8

-2.4

-1.0

+4.2

+2.0 -3.9

+3.9

-9.3

-1.3

+5.4

19111921

+9.9

+5.2

+6.0

+13.1

+15.2 +9.1

+9.7

+18.8

+1.5

+4.6

19211931

Loss or gain of population in percent

Table 3.3: The gain or loss of population in percent in Anantapuram district between 1871-1941

102

+11.5

+8.8

+5.7

+10.4

+11.6 +11.3

+15.9

+11.6

+10.3

+16.7

19311941

Famines and Labour Migrations

103

Cuddapah – The greater part of the district lies within the famine zone of the presidency, the only taluks which were not distinctly included in it being those which form the eastern section. Between 1800 and 1802, considerable distress prevailed in the district; in 1805-1807, distress was generally prevalent in the presidency, and also extended to this district. In 1823 and 1833, there was again famine throughout district and it also prevailed in Cuddapah. In 1865-66, although the crops were scanty and prices were very high, no actual famine occurred; but 1876-78, famine extended to all parts of the districts but the sub-division, that is the southern section of the district suffered most acutely. Again, in 1891-92, there was severe distress owing to the failure of crop in the southern sections, and relief works were opened on a considerable scale. According to the census of 1901, the population of the district amounted to 1,291,267 people, a number showing a slight increase to that of the census of 1871, which preceded the great famine of 1876-77. During the decade 18911901, there was an increase in all taluks except Pullampet, Badvel and Pulivendula. The decrease in Badvel was attributed to migration on account of bad seasons, and that in Pulivendula was also partly due to this and partly due to the presence of cholera in 1896-97 and 190010.

10

Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1908, p. 265-268.

Chapter III

118 204 214 168 147 125 115 155 164 148

Badvel

Cuddaph

Proddatur

Jammalamadugu

Pulivendula

Kadiri

Rayachoti

Vayalpad

Madanapalle

The Whole District.

…..

585

594

488

412

329

493

561

565

680

1009

1040

Source: A Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1908

112

Pullampet

Sidhout

Per square mile total area 147

……

863

1086

796

620

499

555

717

914

1598

1072

1800

Per 1000 acres Arable Cultivated

Population in 1941

Taluk Or Division

-17.0

-21.6

-28.3

-27.8

-17.5

-13.4

-16.4

-11.8

-9.5

-11.4

-22.9

-7.5

1871-1881

+13.5

+19.9

+21.6

+22.4

+16.0

+10.7

+10.0

+8.6

+5.1

+13.0

+13.1

+11.0

1881-1891

1891 1901

+7.6

+1.3

+7.6

+0.6

+7.8

-2.3

+2.3

+4.3

+0.4

-4.1

+1.9

-3.6

-4.4

+1.10

-11.60

-11.12

+3.28

-6.34

-5.69

0.16

-4.53

-3.96

-11.19

-1.14

1871-1901

Loss or gain of population in percent

Table 3.4: The gain or loss of population in percent in Cuddapah district between 1871-1901

104

Famines and Labour Migrations

105

According to the census of 1941, the population was 1,056,507 which showed an increase of 11.3 percent as compared to the figures of 1931. The increase was more appreciable than that of 1921-31 (the previous decennium) and was attributable partly to the decrease in epidemic diseases of the virulent type and partly to the higher birth rate during the decennium. The population had increased. Thus the two districts in the north of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, and the four districts of Kurnool, Bellery, Anantapur and Cuddapah, had complete dependency on rainfall, and if the monsoons failed, the agricultural economy of these districts – discounting the economic condition of the population – were very hard-hit, giving rise to famines or near-famine conditions. In these districts, therefore, even the ryots without land could be a candidate for migration.

Chapter III

115

170

189

182

153

239

245

178

Sidhout

Rajampet

Jammalamadugu

Pulivendla

Rayachoti

Kamalapuram

Cuddaph

The Whole District

485

899

485

372

344

419

539

527

706

449

999

1372

664

989

556

657

2373

2012

896

1291

+1.6

-1.4

+3.9

+1.2

+2.3

+2.5

+1.2

-5.5

+2.3

+7.3

19011911

-0.7

+1.6

+1.1

+5.8

-5.6

-7.3

+4.2

-5.1

-0.6

-5.3

19111921

+6.9

+5.8

+4.9

+12.0

+8.9

+4.4

+4.6

+3.5

+12.4

+5.4

19211931

+11.3

+15.5

+6.0

+12.0

+7.6

+12.3

+10.8

+9.8

+14.1

+9.1

19311941

Loss or gain of population in percent

Source: Statistical Abstract of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 16

286

Badvel

Proddatur

Per square mile total area 137

Per 1000 acres Arable Cultivated

Population in 1941

Taluk Or Division

+13.96

+20.84

+32.24

-5.51

+5.21

+20.27

-8.45

+19.83

+11.47

18711940

Table 3.5: The gain or loss of population in percent in Cuddapah district between 1901-1941

106

1.00

0.73

1.51

1.01

1.79

1.52

0.42

0.49

1.12

Average Cultivated Extent held by a person 0.77

Famines and Labour Migrations

107

Labour on Public Works during Famines The districts as shown herein which were severely affected throughout the period included Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapuram and Cuddapah in the Deccan and the two northern districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam 11 . These areas, where the rainfall was light, the soil usually unfertile, and the large irrigation works few, had suffered more consistently than any others, though Nellore was not far behind in this melancholy precedence.12 An extensive failure of crops must in any country produce much distress, but it was inevitable that it should do so in a country where, as in Southern India, the land was held in innumerable small properties by smallproprietors who possessed little, if any, agricultural capital beyond the animals and the few instruments actually used in the tillage of the land. If the crops failed even in a single year in southern India, the majority of the petty landholders and laborers were heavily affected. Their ordinary means of livelihood, this cultivation, just ground to a stop. Unless employment from different sources was made available to them by the richer landholders in the distressed tracts or in the neighboring tracts which had been unaffected or not so seriously affected by the drought, these sections of the rural population were reduced to great peasantry and were the prime victims of famines and famine-induced diseases. They were also the first to turn to the state for their maintenance until a more favorable season brought them their wonted means of livelihood. Not only were they deprived of the produce of their land, they inevitably had to face, with the shortage of food grains, a general hike in prices. Also, the restricted means of communication in the rural areas made the affected areas worse hit than others. The necessities of life could rise to double or triple the normal prices. The necessity of affording relief at the cost of the state when a crop failure was likely to lead to famine was admitted by the colonial state. Further, the relief works had to be provided before the labourers had lost their strength; therefore, risk of starvation was also admitted. It was equally essential that the works had to be opened to give relief to the distressed. These works, moreover, had to be managed so as to give employment not only to the able-bodied labourers accustomed to work, but also to those who were in actual need. The colonial state, however, realized that a restriction had to be placed on the number of people seeking employment. Therefore it concluded that limitations had to be placed on 11

Indian Famine Charitable Relief Fund, 1897. Madras Provincial Committee: Report on the Operations of the Executive Committee, p. 1. 12 Madras Presidency District Gazetteers, Provincial Series Volume I, p. 80.

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the wages and the complete execution of a suitable task had to be insisted upon. This would prevent all but the really needy from seeking employment at the government’s expense. The need for relief was not restricted to the able-bodied labourer accustomed to road or tank works, but could be expected amongst all who were directly depending upon the crop which had failed. Also, the poorer sections of the population which found that their earnings, where they could find any employment at all, were insufficient because of the rise in the prices of essential commodities and food could find work at state expenditure. For these weak ones, no less than for the able bodied, the provision of relief was necessary. It was likely to be necessary for the able-bodied sooner than for the weaker workers. Among the large crowds of labourers who had in panic abandoned their means of subsistence, however limited, which they may have possessed near their homes, and instead resorting en masse to the government relief works, it was at first difficult, if not impossible, to enforce a suitable task which had to be completed. The withholding of any considerable portion of the small famine wage on the grounds that it had not been earned meant great suffering imposed on the labourer, for what was not his fault. The difficulty of ensuring an adequate grain supply in the vicinity of the works, at which there was a sudden excess of large numbers, must also be considered. Large sums of money had to be expended in the payment of the crowds who had resorted to the state works. But little work was performed for the money, and there was no certainty that the money expended would serve its purpose in maintaining life, owing to the uncertainty of whether grain would be forthcoming to meet the enormously increased demand for it13. In the Bellary famine of 1854, relief measures were carried out by the collector and were confined entirely to the employment of the poor on public works. The numbers who received relief rose from 9,000 in January 1854, to 97,000 in July, and at one point peaked as high as 100,600, or 8 percent of the entire population. At first, the wages given were 2 annas for men, and 1½ annas for women and children; in July they were reduced to 1¼ annas for men, 1 anna for women, and 8 pice for children. The applicants for employment were of all castes, principally weavers, farm labourers, and labourers; but one quarter came from the cultivating ryots with their families. The women and children outnumbered the men in a ratio of five to three14.

13

Report of the Famine of 1891 and 1892, pp. 18, 19. Report on the Indian Famine Commission 1878, Vol. I, part II, p. 73. Famine of 1854: The famine was confined almost entirely to the Bellary district, and was 14

Famines and Labour Migrations

109

In the Ganjam Famine of 1866, the collector Mr. Forbes addressed a letter to the secretary of government revenue, setting out the state of suffering to which the people had been reduced, and the measures that he desired the government to take in order to meet the approaching crisis. “The grain in stores is known to be inconsiderable. Prices are already so high as to render it difficult for the laboring class to maintain themselves, and they have begun to emigrate in considerable numbers, and the poorer sorts are even now in great straits, and are forced to eat wild roots, and plants. I do not venture to propose that government should interfere in the way of direct relief, which will be obtained as far as may be from local contributions, but the pressure on the grain bazaars may be lightened in large towns by putting the troops and public establishments on rations, rice being impetrated for the purpose at once in sufficient quantities to continue the system for eight months”15.

In another letter, Mr. Forbes the collector gave an account of the general state of the various parts of the district, in all of which were taking place, in his own words, “[A] universal struggle between the poor and starvation, the people grinding tamarind stones from hunger and eating roots found in tank beds”16.

A relief work was opened in April, but the large work which the collector proposed, the execution of the Chilka lake canal, was not sanctioned for want of budget provision. The Chilka Canal (especially intended for the relief of the unemployed) could not be begun owing to the excessive rains, which had flooded the whole of the country that was to be traversed by the canal. All that could be done was to construct sheds large severe only in the north part of the district. The rains of 1852 had been unusually heavy, and the crop injured by their unseasonable character. In 1853, the southwest monsoon ended very early, and was extremely deficient in quantity, only 9½ inches of rain falling in the whole year; the harvest was reckoned to be about a half crop. 15 A Short Account of the Ganjam Famine of 1866, p. 6. The Ganjam was visited by a severe drought during the latter part of 1865 and early months of 1866. The rains of the south-west monsoon almost wholly failed, and little fell during the north-east monsoon, nor indeed till the month of April 1866 when some heavy showers occurred, concluding with a heavy hailstorm on May 5th, the hailstones being found as big as a pigeon’s egg. Ganjam Famine of 1866, p. 10. (Henceforth Ganjam Famine.) 16 Ganjam Famine, p. 13.

110

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enough to accommodate the labourers who would be gathered at the site for the commencement of the work at some future date.17 There are many reasons, at times of famine, for starting a major project instead of setting up numerous petty works. The major intention was not only to relieve the ryot, but the whole laboring population of the region which had been affected by the drought. In the first place, labour was undoubtedly more productive as well as cheaper, if conducted in an efficient and thorough manner. The proper quota of work had to be obtained without oppression. Secondly, it was always possible to combine with it a system of medical supervision and relief for the more debilitated labourers who were badly affected during times of scarcity. Such supervision and treatment would be impossible where labourers were scattered over the region in small gangs. Mortality was chiefly among this class of agricultural labourers, and also the class of village labourers and servants who could not be included in Chutram, as they were supposed to eat at the relief houses. However, hundreds of them refused, with dogged resolution, to accept such relief, and died miserably. Large numbers of ryot families in the government Taluk were added to the lists of people who thus died18. The Governor (Lord Napier) visited Ganjam and a relief committee was appointed in Madras. Prices rose higher still in August, but in that month, rain fell in Ganjam and prospects improved all over the presidency. The north-east monsoon was abundant, and distress began to pass off by October through to November19. This seemed to be the usual pattern of economic distress in the district I have chosen to study. Let us now turn to the 1866 famine relief works in Cuddapah district. On personal inspection and from the reports he received, Mr. Clarke, first member of the Board of Revenue, concluded that in 1866, the Cuddapah district was one in severe drought and not famine. Famine had to mean a dearth of food. The failure of water had no doubt caused a great diminution of produce. The one great cry was for water for human beings and livestock. The want of water greatly restricted agricultural operations, and threw out of employment a large number of agricultural and other labourers, and over stocked the labour market with labour. The want of money to purchase food or of credit to borrow produced great distress among the ryots. The Komaties lent largely both grain and money to the more substantial ryots, whose crops had afforded them only a small harvest. The sections, themselves living on borrowed stocks and in distress, did not recognize the duty devolved on them to assist or support 17

Ibid., p. 18. Ibid., p. 16. 19 Report on the Indian Famine Commission 1878, Vol. I, part II, p. 73. 18

Famines and Labour Migrations

111

the poorer among them. The means of the smaller class of ryots were reduced to the slenderest margin, and many of the smaller class of ryots were obliged to seek a livelihood by working as labourers. Little, if any, employment was to be found in agricultural operations. Starvation and death, migration or crimes were the only alternatives left to them. But this was minor distress. This situation can be contrasted with the disastrous season of 1866, when the Cuddapah relief house was besieged and thronged with hundreds of starving peasants, who traversed miles and miles to obtain state relief. Mr. Clarke visited the relief works on the roads: (1) from Royachoty to Kadri, (2) from Kadri to the Mallapah Pass and Pullivendula, (3) from Kadri to Mutial Chervoo and Obdalachervoo, and (4) from Puliconta to Balasamoodrum. The wages paid were 2 annas per day for men and 1 anna and 3 pice for women and children, and it was found that labourers were willing to come to work from long distances for these rates of hire. Occasionally, even government ryots were found among the working gangs, though at first some difficulty was felt in the pursuit of these works owing to the want of tools. On the whole, they were progressing satisfactorily and provided employment for large numbers of people. Mr. Clarke’s careful and intelligent inspection of the Cuddapah district had satisfied him that though the season had been one of severe drought, there had been no absolute scarcity of food. His observations did not corroborate the acting Collector’s reports: These stated that the people had to resort in a major way to jungle produce and leaves for food. The distress, which had undoubtedly been severely felt in many parts of the district, was not occasioned by high prices, but simply because of an unfavorable season which had come upon a population already steeped in an exceptionally depressed condition. The failure of the seasonal rain greatly restricted agricultural operations, and threw a large number of agricultural and other labourers out of employment. In the Kadiri taluk, the number of labourers dependent upon daily hire was usually large. This taluk was also known for its natural conditions that made poverty endemic. The soil was poor and unproductive; there was no permanent source of irrigation; and for a series of years, the seasons had been quite consistently unfavorable for cultivation20.

20

Proceedings of the Madras Government, Revenue Department, 2nd September 1868, G.O. no. 28, 29.

112

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Great Famine of 1876-78 The great famine of 1876-78 revealed all the vulnerabilities of these regions. The Madras Presidency was divided into 21 districts; 14 of these were affected more or less by the famine, forming an area of 83,000 square miles, with a population computed roughly at 19 million. In 1873 and 1874, the seasons were good, and though unfavorable reports came in from 11 districts during the summer of 1875, prices generally stayed low and steady. In Bellary, however, the south west monsoon failed entirely, and relief works on a small scale were authorized as early as October. By 1876, the reports became more ominous. They attracted the attention of the Government of India, and the Government of Madras called for more detailed information. As the summer months went on, it became clear that the south-west monsoon had again failed over the Deccan plateau, and severe distress showed itself in the districts of the region. In the first place, the population of southern India was very poor and essentially only dependent on agriculture. To such a people, the loss of their crops, at any time, is a serious misfortune. In ordinary times, there was a certain relation between the wages paid to a labourer as the value of his labour and the price of the food he required to maintain himself and his family, such that he and his family could, by their united efforts, live in tolerable comfort. But when the prices of food suddenly doubled or trebled, one of the three things happened: either the employer must increase the wages of his labourers, or he must do without them, or the labourers must be content to receive a smaller value for their labour, relative to the heightened price of their necessary food. The consequence was that they were either absolutely without employment or could earn enough to keep themselves and their families in health and strength. Unless employment was found for them which would enable them to do this, or unless the prices fell, they and their families had to either rob, starve, or migrate to another region where work and wages were available. Owing to the failure of the north-east monsoon rains at the end of 1876, enormous numbers of agricultural labourers and small farmers were thrown out of work. As with agricultural work, the labourer was paid in grain and very rarely in coin. It followed that when the prospects of work became hopeless, there was no food in the villages for the laboring classes, nor did they possess any money to buy food. As soon as the food dearth began, the lower classes of villagers left their homes, making for the chief food markets or centers of government relief. The influx of applicants for work or relief was so great that district officials were utterly unable to cope with the proper organization of relief measures. The people were

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113

everywhere, massed under unwholesome conditions, and were crowded in their daily tasks, and also crowded into their shelter at night. The numbers on the relief works constantly increased, and prices rose with alarming rapidity. By October 1876, 50,000 people were engaged on relief works in Bellary alone, and over 3, 00,000 rupees had been spent on wages before the close of that month. Things grew steadily worse from the harvesting period to the end of the year. By that time, at least a million labourers were on the relief works, and prices had risen further still. At the end of November 1877, the number of people in receipt of state relief had fallen to 675,000 and at the end of December to 470,000, which showed that the famine had been brought under control. Prices, however, were still high and kept fluctuating throughout the earlier part of 1878. It was these circumstances which produced a recrudescence of distress in certain districts. Up till July, there were still 200,000 people on the hands of the state; but the summer and autumn rains were abundant and well distributed, and prices settled down gradually. The number of applicants for relief decreased in proportion, and by December 1878, the government felt justified in closing all relief works. In 1876, the government of Madras telegraphed the collectors of Kurnool, Bellery, and Cuddapah to endeavor to induce gangs to move to the East Coast Canal, where there was work for a large numbers for months, stating that migratory labour was greatly desired. The collectors of the Ceded Districts and Kurnool were informed that the government objected to the raising of money wages on relief works beyond two annas per diem for adult labourers, and were advised that, whenever possible, payments in grain were preferred. When these rates were insufficient to give a labourer an adequate supply of food to keep him in health at retail market prices, the colonial state could think of hiking up wages. In order to induce the labourers of those districts to the East Coast Canal work in Nellore, the concerned Collectors were ordered to let it be known that men could easily earn 2 or 3 annas a day on that work, women 2 annas, and boys and girls one and a half annas each, while a family of three members could earn 8 annas a day. Orders were also issued by the public works department to utilize the East Coast Canal as a relief work, as a consequence of the government of India having refused permission to begin the Bellary-Gudduk Railway. The section to the south of the Pennair River was to be kept for the employment of the distressed poor of Nellore, while the 82 miles between the Pennair River and the Commamur Canal were expected to serve very largely as employment for the distressed classes from Kurnool, Cuddapah and Bellary. The district engineer was to do his best to induce contractors to go to those districts to collect labour

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and to place them in communication with the Civil Officers in charge of relief works. These contractors were needed to recruit gangs of 500 each, to the limit, in the first instance, of 10,000 in all. Subsequently, more were hoped to be employed as the various sections of the line were laid. Two companies of Sappers were to be located on the canal with Head Quarters at Eskapilly to assist in the supervision and allotment of tasks to the labourers and to maintain order. Mr. Thornhill urged strongly that the high level of all projects – e.g. the Tungabadra Project in the Bellary District – might be taken up as relief work. At the same time, he strongly objected to sending migrants from Bellary to the Coast Canal. Orders were issued for the regulation of the routes, along which the recruiters taking labourers to the East Coast Canal from Bellary and Kurnool Districts were to proceed, and for measures to be taken to make provision for their maintenance en route. At the close of the year 1876, all hopes for the monsoon rains had long vanished, and the distress caused by the extraordinary high prices and the difficulty of getting food had spread to fourteen districts where measures of relief were in force. In the Ceded districts and Kurnool alone, about 7, 50,000 people were on the relief works 21 . This was a classic example of when an exploitative colonial economy could use wide-spread distress in order to construct prohibitively expensive projects which would ultimately serve to boost land revenue from the land. Or so it was hoped. About the middle of the November 1876, the government, as has already been stated, resolved to utilize the East Coast Canal as a famine relief work, and towards the end of that month, it called the special attention of the collectors of the districts of Kurnool, Bellary and Cuddapah to the Canal’s importance as such. All the necessary arrangements connected with the transport of large bodies of men from those districts were at the same time carefully prescribed. The district engineer of Nellore was also instructed to send recruiters into the above districts with details of the nature of the work and information relative to the wages which could be earned while doing it, with a view to their acting in concert with the collectors in removing a large proportion of ablebodied men and their families from the overcrowded local works to the Canal. Up to the beginning of March, however, the efforts made were not attended with any marked degree of success. This was caused partly by an epidemic outbreak of cholera at the commencement of the operations, which rendered it unsafe to move large bodies of men and their families about the country, and partly by an unfortunate rejection, by the officers in charge of the Canal, of some as not sufficiently able-bodied, who 21

Report on the Review of the Madras famine 1876-1878, p. 3-26.

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115

wandered back to their districts to the discouragement of intending migrants. The result was that, up to the time, only 30,000 people were employed on the canal. On the 7th March 1877, the government reviewed the situation. It pointed out to the district officers of Ballery, Cuddapah and Kurnool the altered circumstances and the excellent organization on the canal, the healthiness of the site, the abundance of food, the provision of adequate shelter, hospitals and medical attendance, and the completeness of supervision. The district officers were ordered to make the most strenuous efforts to reduce the numbers of people on road and similar works in their districts (many of which were of doubtful utility) by transferring large numbers of them to the Canal works. There were many difficulties. The foremost of these was a not unnatural dislike, entertained by many of the natives of the country, of moving from the immediate vicinity of their houses and the passive resistance offered, however beneficial to those concerned. The government, however, expressed its belief that by tact, patience and continued effort, these prejudices might be overcome. The usual philanthropic vocabulary of the state was employed, for it was ordered that actual coercion was not to be used. However, the intentions of the government and the exceptional advantages to be obtained at the canal works had to be maximized and therefore persuasion and a rosy picture of a workers’ heaven was explained to the people. It was hoped that a temporary reduction of the numbers on local works which were to be carried out would also aid the object in view, and would pull away labour to the canal site. Relief for the famine victims and helpless people being made to work on sites for almost nothing was a capitalist economy’s ultimate dream; the perfect solution to keep the costs of construction really low: free, and that labour was available to the colonial government too. Under the politically correct language of providing famine relief, we see the colonial government opening up transport and communication lines, and making all the arrangements to move big masses of starving people with the promises of food, money, shelter and medical care. The divisional officers of the civil divisions were specially entrusted with the immediate execution of the scheme, and military officers were appointed to assist them. The military would organize the transport of labourers. At the same time, to give the first gangs courage at the start, it was ordered that the transport officers were to accompany them all the way to the Canal Works. The orders, except with regard to the offer of bonuses to the labourers, were declared applicable with immediate effect in Nellore District. The Collector was directed to

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endeavor to transfer the people on other works in his district to the East Coast Canal. Three methods of carrying out work on the canal were sanctioned and were already in force: contract, piece-work and task work. Under the first, long lengths of the Canal of about a mile were taken up by contractors, who paid the work people partly in grain and partly in money. Under the second, the work people formed themselves into gangs of ten, 20 or 50, and took up lengths of pitting of a few yards in length at a time, and were paid either in cash, or partly in cash and partly in grain according to their preference. Under the last, only the lazy and feeble, who were satisfied with a mere subsistence allowance and would not do more than they could possibly help, or who could not do more than enough to earn such a subsistence, were employed in gangs and received rations at the following: Men ….. 2lbs of rice and 6 pice in cash. Women ……1½ lbs of rice and 4 pice in cash. Girls and boys able to work ……1lb of rice and 3 pice in cash. If the value of the work at the contract rates turned out by a gang of this class amounted to more than the cost of the rations, the difference was disbursed to the gang; if it amounted to less, the loss was borne by government22. Sanjay Sharma’s observation that philanthropy was just a discourse of a capitalistic economy is clear in the government’s order. This class of labourers should be treated with more strictness and arrangements should be made to gradually reduce their labour to task work, so as to bring within the government rates of payment for that class of work, a group that had been, according to the government’s own reports, starving and becoming infirm. At the suggestions of the district engineer of Nellore, on the 18 April 1877, the government ordered arrangements to be made so that the native official of the rank of Deputy Tahsildar might be deputed from each of the districts of Kurnool, Bellary and Cuddapah to look after the interests of the migrants from those districts at the canal works. The Collectors of Kurnool, Bellary and Cuddapah were also authorized to guarantee return passages to the labourers recruited in their districts for the canal works23. Thus, here we see that the state forced the labourers to migrate, and also guaranteed a return journey to their place of origin. 22 23

Report on the Review of the Madras famine 1876-1878, p. 40. Report on the Review of the Madras famine 1876-1878, p. 41.

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On the 8th May, the government directed that till further orders were given, the daily wage for test-work for an adult male on the East Coast Canal should be either 2 annas or the value of 1lb of grain; two annas, so long as 2 annas was not less than the value of 1lb of grain plus 1 anna. On the 12th of May, the attention of relief officers was drawn to the necessity of seeing that the money paid, as representing a pound of grain, would really purchase that quantity at some market within a reasonable distance of the works24; the chances being that such a wage might be insufficient. So what were the laboring lives in the working camps? The only report that mentioned working camps was from Surgeon O Hara, who furnishes the hospital statistics of the East Coast Canal works. On this really useful public work, large bodies of men, ranging from 10,000 to 20,000, it is believed, were employed on piece work under ordinary terms of the public works department during 1877. O Hara had not given the strength of the working parties from month to month, nor has he shown the numbers of ordinary workers as contrasted with the numbers sent from Kurnool, Cuddapah, and Bellary under the special agency of the labour recruiting department established by the government (which is to say, taking advantage of famine to recruit labour). The statistics were, therefore, not very clear to the government. “This was unfortunate, as the government considered as desirable in reference to the future famine management, to be able to contrast the statistics of workers on ordinary contract rates with those employed on what is termed a ‘bare subsistence wage’ in return for a definite task … Labourers from Cuddapah, Bellary, and Kurnool were as [a] rule below the standard of locals in health. The later importations under the charge of transport officers showed a decided falling off in physique when compared with [labourers] who had arrived a few months previously”25.

On the 2nd May, migration from Bellary district to the canal was ordered to be no longer pressed, as the railway works in connection with the Bellary-Hubli Railway were about to begin and would absorb all surplus labour; and on the 10th of May, the collector was authorized to discontinue altogether the sending of migrants to the Canal. In the same month, the cessation of such migration from the Cuddapah district was also ordered. Though on the 5th of June, on a reference from the collector 24

Ibid., p. 43. From Surgeon-Major W.R. Cornish, F.R.C.S., Sanitary commissioner for Madras, to the additional secretary to the government of India, famine department, dated Madras, 11 December 1878: Review of Madras famine 1876-78, appendix C, p. 171. 25

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of Kurnool on the subject, the government ordered him not to discourage such migration from his district; they ordered the discontinuation of the bonus, except to people who bound themselves to go the Canal Works for a period of two months. By the middle of July, however, migration from Kurnool was also ordered to be given up. Several of the migrants to the canal, having refused to work on arrival there and having desired to be sent back, the government granted permission to their being allowed to go back. No money was, however, to be given to them, but only food for their subsistence, and the village officers on the lines of road by which they travelled were to afford them any necessary assistance. As soon as the Madras Government was satisfied that the south-west monsoon had failed, the Governor recorded a minute, dated 17th July, 1877, in which the policy of the government in respect of relief works and gratuitous relief was reviewed, and a scheme of large works which might possibly be taken in hand as state relief works during the continuance of the famine was sketched out. After careful discussion with Chief Engineer for Irrigation, it was admitted, and the fact was confirmed that there were but a few large works which could be undertaken. The principle of these were: (1) The Kistna Delta works, which would employ about 50,000 men; (2) The East Coast Canal completion and extension down to the Palar River, which would employ about 28,000 men; (3) The restoration of the system of channels dependent on the Penner River, which would give employment to about 10,000 men; (4) The Kundukur Tank Channel (in Cuddapah), which would employ 3,000 men; (5) Embanking the Cortelliar and Narnaveram rivers, estimated to employ about 2,500 men; (6) Constructing a railway line between Gooty and Kurnool; (7) The Bellary high-level project from the Tungabadra River; (8) The Sangam Project. Of these, the government of Madras was averse to the last four being undertaken as relief works because: (a) the embankments of the Cortelliar and Narnaveram rivers were works of very doubtful utility; (b) no survey of the line between Gooty and Kurnool had ever been made, and it was said to be difficult in places; (c) the Bellary high-level project was estimated to cost 140 lahks of rupees, of which not more than 50 lakhs could be spent on famine labour during the period over which the famine might be expected to last; and (d) because, though the Sangam project would employ a considerable amount of labour, the return from it was not at all certain. It was apparent that the colonial state had clear ideas of the utility of labour being brought into a public work site from another region. Thus the Madras government suggested that the Kistna Delta works should be appropriated for the employment of Kurnool labourers, by which

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arrangement, work for 50,000 labourers with families, or 150,000 people in all, might be provided. He further suggested that they should be transferred from Kurnool to Kistna by the agency of the Indian contractors. The official record was communicated to the public works department. In that department, on the 31st July, 1878, the government issued orders for the necessary measures to be taken in connection with the proposed transfer of labourers. The scheme, however, did not succeed as the labourers would not migrate in any numbers26. Thus, by the second half of the 19th century, we see that the labour did not fall for any quick story put about by the authorities to make easy money from labour. We see that the colonial state spared no effort to put across a good offer. All relief was to be given either by means of relief works, closed camps, or village relief. Relief works were to constitute the backbone of the system, and were divided into two classes: (1) Professional Agency Works: works supervised by officers of the Public Works Department; (2) Civil Agency Works, i.e., works not requiring, to any great extent, professional supervision, and supervised either by officers of the Public Works or Civil Departments, according to circumstances of convenience. All people capable of labour and in fair health and condition were to be drafted, along with the members of their families who would accompany them to Professional Agency works. The weaker people who were nevertheless capable of some work were to be drafted to Civil Agency works, but transferred, as they gained strength, to Professional Agency works. The object, thus, was to employ the largest possible number of people to whom it might be necessary to afford relief to the latter class of works. Works were to be exacted on six days of the week, but pay for the seventh day was included in the following scales:

26

Upon Professional Agency Works For a man, the value of one lb of grain For a women, do. For a child of 7 years, do. of ½lb of grain

+ + +

016 010 009

Upon Civil Agency Works For a man, the value of one lb of grain For a women, do. For a child of 7 years, do. of ½lb of grain

+ + +

010 009 006

Report on the Review of the Madras famine 1876-1878, p. 47-48.

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Grain was to be understood as the kind in ordinary use among the labourers on the works, and of medium quality, at the time of the payment of wages. The following steps were to be enforced to prevent the works becoming unduly attractive: (1) Prima facie evidence that the individual really required employment on a relief work; (2) There had to be a fair bit of distance between the work and the actual house of the labourer; (3) The fixed tasks were: on professional agency work, 75% of what the individual would be able to perform if he worked to the full extent of his ability; on Civil Agency work, 50% of what he would able to perform if he worked to the full extent of his ability. The condition of distance test was to be considered sufficiently met when the labourer went to a professional agency work and performed the tasks exacted there. Civil officers were to refuse employment to all persons except those who were destitute, and were to decide who were and who were not fitting objects for employment on relief works. Gratuitous relief was to take the forms of (1) relief in villages, which were to be confined to destitute people resident therein who were unable to work; (2) relief in camps, the object of which was to restore the strength of those who were resident in them, so as to enable them to be transferred to relief works. Wanderers coming to a village in a state of destitution were to be fed and passed on to the nearest relief camp. These principals were acted upon to the end of the period which a famine lasted. In theory, no people fit for labour were taken into camps, but in practice, during the crisis of the famine, some able bodied people who could not be sent immediately to work had to receive temporary relief in camps, or starve. Such people were employed on camp-work or sent out to relief works as soon as practicable, but the great bulk of the people coming into these closed camps had gone beyond the working stage. Those who were the least affected by their long privation were employed on light labour within the camp, but no task work was, or could be, exacted on them. Those who recovered their health and strength were drafted off to work in the district, but many of these broke down again after a shorter or longer interval, and either went away to their villages to die, or returned to the camps often in a hopeless condition as to the prospect of recovery27. This cold assessment of the physical condition and health of the labourers who could not deliver the work required of them, and yet were sent off to

27

From Surgeon-Major W.R. Cornish, F.R.C.S., Sanitary commissioner for Madras, to the additional secretary to the government of India, famine department, dated Madras, 11 December 1878: Review of Madras famine 1876-78, appendix C, p. 165.

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perform the tasks, is also a statement of the expandability of the poor classes in India. On the 26th September 1878, all Collectors and district Engineers were ordered to reduce the wages of adult labourers, from the end of the month, by three pice per diem on all relief works in progress. The scale of wages thenceforward was to be: Upon Professional Agency Works For a man, the value of one lb. of grain For a women, do. For a child of 7 years, do. of ½lb of grain

+ + +

013 009 009

Upon Civil Agency Works For a man, the value of one lb of grain For a women, do. For a child of 7 years, do. of ½lb of grain

+ + +

009 006 006

On the 5th December, all famine relief works in the Bellary district, with the exception of the Bellary-Hubli Railway, were ordered to be stopped. The labourers on them who were still working and who were willing to go were drafted to Hospet for employment on the site there. All ordinary works were ordered to be carried on in the usual manner, irrespective of famine rules. The Collector of Bellary, in reply, begged that the Bellary-Hubli Railway work might be kept open as the Civil Agency labourers on it were reported to be very weak. The government sanctioned the arrangement up to the 28th December28. The colonial state responded to the signs of famine in the Ganjam district in 1889. Works were opened at an early date after the commencement of distress was recognized. A visit of the governor to the district in June 1889 and his tour through the most distressed tracts convinced him that, “a large amount of distress amounting to starvation existed”. The most urgent orders and the most prompt action were required if many lives were not to be lost through starvation. Yet, the report immediately stated after this that as the time for relieving the people by the opening of works had slipped by, the grant of gratuitous relief on a lavish scale had become necessary. The report noted that the numbers relieved by the grant of grain or money doles, as they were incapable or unfit to labour, increased from 9,000 in the first fortnight in June to upwards of 27,000 by the end of the month. The figures at the end of the four 28

Report on the Review of the Madras famine, 1876-1878, p. 67.

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succeeding weeks in July, being 30,625, rose constantly and steadily to 49,431, 69,521 and 70,184, respectively, until the highest figure, 93,561, was reached on the 3rd August29. Was the trouble of managing labour and transporting them and of having an encouraging tone in reports which glossed over the deaths of these desperately needy people, finally being recognized by the colonial state? Perhaps as the Ganjam famine had gone beyond the public work employment stage, giving people some money seemed a more practicable option. The period of severe agricultural distress which had prevailed throughout the Presidency of Madras from 1890-91, commenced around the end of 1890 or the beginning of 1891, and was due at first to the failure of the north-east monsoon in 1890-91. Severe distress prevailed in the districts of Cuddapah, Anantapur, Bellary, Kurnool and North Nellore of the Andhra region30. The numbers employed on public works from July to December 1891 were initially low. In Nellore, it was not found necessary to give any State relief on works till July. The numbers resorting to works in the affected tracts, which during 1891 were confined to the southern portion of the district, ranged from 398 in July to an average of 3,916 in October, when the coming of the rains led to a reduction in the numbers to an average of 1,153 in December, when all the works in the hitherto affected portion of the district were closed. The failure of the rains in 1891-92 carried distress into a new portion of the district, where in January 1892, it was found necessary to commence State relief. In Cuddapah, the distress during 1891 was confined to a single taluk – Rayachoti – and the numbers never rose above a monthly average of 1,385. This was the figure reached in September, and it was found that it was possible to close all works by November, though the necessity to open them again in that and several other taluks quickly rose afresh. The failure of the rains in the Deccan district led to the opening of works in Kurnool in November and in the Bellary and Anantapur districts in December31. However, the famines of 1891-92 showed that the colonial state had not lost its policy orientation for famine relief, in that it provided a minimum wage and food for work on its development projects. The numbers employed on public works from January to July 1892 registered a steady increase, mirroring the steady increase in the conditions of hardship of the numbers of the employed which rose from 31,000 in February to an average of 42,000 in March, 56,000 in April, 74,000 in May and 87,000 in June, the highest numbers employed in any week being 29

Report of the Famine of 1891 and 1892, p. 20. Report of the Famine of 1891 and 1892, p. 1. 31 Ibid., p. 12. 30

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92,353, in the week ending 18th June, 1892. Though the maximum numbers had previously been reached and a decrease had already begun in several districts in which a good amount of rain had fallen. The rains of June, which were equally favorable in North Nellore, however, speedily led to diminution in the numbers seeking relief, which fell to an average of 55,000 in July 1892 and fell again to an average of 21,000 in August. By the end of August, as the distress levels fell, it was possible to close relief works everywhere with the exception of Cumbum and Markapur taluks of Kurnool, the Alur taluk of Bellary, and the Rayachoti taluk of Cuddaph. Even in these taluks, the works were, however, closed by September. The areas which suffered most from distress owing to want of employment were the Raychoti and Badvel taluks of Cuddapah; the Udaygiri, Podili and Darsi taluks of Nellore; the Cumbum, Markpur and Koikuntla taluks of Kurnool; and the Adoni, Alur and Bellary taluks of Bellary. In these taluks, the numbers of relief works that had been opened to counter the distress quickly became filled up. In the course of just one week, these works in each respective taluk attained their maximum numbers of labourers32. In the Hadgalli taluk of Bellary, the Collector, who visited the taluk during the harvest season towards the end of 1891, came to the conclusion that the large failure of crops, of which his inspection had convinced him and which had also been witnessed by the Commissioner, was such that it must inevitably compel the need for relief works on the part of considerable numbers of the population. Relief works were opened on precisely the same terms as those which drew thousands of poor labourers to the taluks of Alur and Adoni of the same district. Strangely, people came to work on these relief works. Migration to neighboring and more favored districts, coupled in some cases with savings from the previous year, enabled the people to dispense with relief works, and they did so33. Thus rural migration did not happen for low wages. The migrating labourers, when they had a choice, preferred not to undertake low-paying work outside their immediate location. The relief work systems during the 1891-92 famine were of two systems under which relief was provided in the form of public works. One system consisted of a mere extension and multiplication of the ordinary public works with a view to enlarging the field of employment, but with no modification of the normal rates of pay for work or of the system in which, at normal times, the labour was organized for the work. This was 32 33

Ibid., p. 17. Ibid., p. 21.

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generally the contract system. Payment in this case was made for work by piece, but without regard to the amount earned by particular individuals or gangs. This could vary according to the industry of the workers, and could be twice, three times or four times as much as might have been necessary for the support of the workers. Under the other system, known as the taskwork system, payment was made to each individual worker and was limited to an amount sufficient to keep him in good health. The worker was required to perform as a task an average day’s work for a person in his physical condition. The wage was, on the other hand, not allowed to fall below a sum which was necessary for the labourer’s subsistence. The second system required a considerably larger number of supervising staff than the first and involved regular and frequent payments. In consequence, the necessity of very frequent measurement and registration of the work actually became necessary, which was against the colonial state’s fundamental desire – to keep the running costs of projects to a bare minimum. Yet because the system ensured employment and a sufficiency to all who were willing to work, the colonial state wanted to ensure that the cost to the state would be measured as closely as possible to the extent of distress. An extension of ordinary contract works had great advantages as it enlarged the field of employment. The colonial state, on the other hand, also considered that such contracts were not as effectively tightbudgeted as the task-work on a famine wage. It also did not afford any certainty that all who were in need obtained employment. A contractor could not be expected to, and would not, give employment to inefficient workers, however needy they may have been. In a time of severe distress when famine was driving large numbers of unskilled laborers to seek employment, the opening of large works managed on the task-work system was found to be a necessity. The labourers who were driven to require work at the famine-wage rate for tasks therefore also attested to their need. Mere contractual labour did not indicate economic distress to the same degree; or so the colonial state thought to be the assurance of economic distress signals from the rural, agricultural poor. The colonial state prided itself on its long-term attainment of experience through the management of many periodic relief measures for famine-stricken regions. “So much experience has been gained in recent famines in the organization of these works and in the best system of controlling and managing them that given a reasonable supervising staff, but little more difficulty exists in carrying them out than is experienced in ordinary contracts”34.

34

Ibid, pp22,23

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The remarks of the late Mr. Clogstoun on this subject in his report of 1892, quoted in the Report of the Famine of 1896 and 1897, also pointed to the same confidence regarding the management of famine relief: “The cost to the State of providing employment to all comers willing to work may be so enormous; the difficulty of preventing abuse in the event of very large numbers resorting to work is so serious, and the risk of demoralizing the labourers by the grant of a wage for an inadequate amount of work is so great, that a government may well hesitate to admit that it must face these risks and provide work for all comers at a cost which it is impossible to calculate”35

Wages and the classification of labourers were one of the major issues that were closely examined. The classification of labourers was necessary as it was necessary for the quantification of the locals and the migrants. It was necessary to sort out the able-bodied, for they were required to do more work. The weak and debilitated workers had to be put on to work that could be turned out by this stricken population. There was also a natural assumption about the amount of work a man could do in the least. The quote below demonstrates clearly the quantity of work that was being measured: this was the index of “physical (and medical) fitness”. The wages prescribed in the Madras Famine Code and which were enforced wherever the Code was introduced are shown below, the grain being that which formed the staple food of the district. The weight allowed in the case of ragi was that of grain freed from the husk, and in the case of other dry grains, that of unhusked grain: “Class I – All able-bodied labourers capable of doing 75 percent of a full task and to be paid for doing that task 2½ lb and 1¾ to 1¼ lb for each man, women and child, but with liberty to earn a further ½ lb each per man and women for a full day’s ordinary work of [a] Public Works Department labourer. Class II – Labourers capable of doing 50 percent of the full task to be paid the same standard wage as those in class I, but to be allowed to earn up to 2¾ lb for a man and 2¼ lb for women for performing a task equal to 60 percent of the full day’s ordinary work of a Public Works Department labourer. Class III would be formed of weakly gangs to whom the standard wage should be paid. They should be given a light task, one which they are capable of performing with a reasonable amount of exertion, but their performance of this light task should be insisted on. They would not be in [a] position to earn anything above the standard wage”36. 35 36

Report of the Famine of 1896 and 1897,Vol-I, p25 Report of the Famine of 1891 and 1892, pp. 48, 49.

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The famine of 1896-1897 became visible when the failure of the crops and the consequent rise in prices to a scarcity rate had been traced in the early months of 1896 in the Northern Circars and Deccan districts. By October 1896, there were signs that disaster was impending. It was consequently determined that public works should be opened in Deccan, and in the early weeks of November, works were opened in Cuddapah, Kurnool, Anantapur and Bellary. They did not at first draw large numbers. This was due partly to a disinclination of the people to accept government relief until their resources were exhausted, and partly because of the low wages offered. These were less than that given in ordinary times, and so were not attractive. In February 1897, however, with the continuous pressure of high prices and the cessation of all ordinary agricultural work, the numbers rose rapidly and demonstrated the necessity for relief on a large scale. The nature of the measures taken to relieve distress by the public works department was the opening of works that would benefit the public. The works opened were conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Code. It was found that the Code tasks were not worked up to, although unlimited fining was restored to. This showed that the Code task table was generally pitched too high. It was accordingly modified by Executive Engineers, in consultation with Collectors, to suit local requirements. In three other ways, the conditions of employment were originally more severe than was contemplated in the Code. For the purpose of fixing suitable tasks, for the people on relief works were divided into classes. The wages varied with the class without public works. The classes were: (A) Able-bodied people accustomed to labour of a kind required on ordinary works; (B) Able- bodied people accustomed to labour, but not to labour of a kind required on ordinary works; (C) Able-bodied people not accustomed to labour; (D) People who were not able-bodied, but fit for light employment on relief works. Or more briefly: (A) Professional labourers; (B) Labourers, but not professionals; (C) Able-bodied, but not labourers; (D) Weakly. The majority of applicants for employment on state works were petty cultivators and farm servants, accustomed to labour but not to labour of the kind required on ordinary works. These were ordinarily classed as B, but they were as a fact, classed as C. This, no doubt, meant a lighter task, but it also meant a lower wage. Secondly, in the earlier stage of the famine, wages were calculated on the price of ragi, a cheaper grain, but not the grain in ordinary use. Thirdly, the Code rations for each class were calculated in grain. For a time, ‘grain’ was taken to mean unhusked grain, i.e., grain in the state in which it is ordinarily found in the markets. It was

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subsequently interpreted to mean husked grain, or flour. The original interpretation resulted in a diminution of the ration by 10 percent37. The Famine commission of 1898 laid down the conditions on which test works should be conducted. A greater prominence given to labour should be the only test. Neither a distance test nor a compulsory residence could be imposed. The Commission of 1898 further advised that the tasks should be “not less than by the Code scale.” In the first stage, the Code tasks were only 75% of the task commonly performed by labourers in ordinary times. The reasons given for the reduction of 25% were “the fact that a large proportion of the labourers are doing unaccustomed work; that many may be physically and morally depressed; and the disruption of their ordinary life and the novelty of their bodily powers”. In the second stage, the numbers attending test works directly indicated that further relief measures are necessary, a new stage should begin, and a full machinery of relief should be brought into play. In any case, there should be no delay whatsoever in converting the test into relief works directly; they had served their purpose as tests. Conversion should take the form of the addition of relief for dependent’s, either by cooked food or by cash doles. The recommendation of the commission of 1898 on the general policy is contained in the following passage: “As a general rule, public works should be first opened as relief works and should from the commencement form the backbone of the relief operations. But in cases in which no such works have been entered in the programmers, or can be carried out only at an excessive distance, say, more than 15 miles from the villages requiring relief, or in which it has been decided that small village works will be more generally advantageous to the people at large and the more effective or economical form of relief, arrangements should be made for opening such works. Ordinarily, however, village works reserved until the advent of the hot weather or as [a] reserve in case of epidemic disease, village works may, however, with great advantage to be undertaken, even in the earlier stages of distress, by land owners with the object of keeping their tenants or labourers together, and the land owners should be encouraged by loans, wholly or partly recoverable, to undertake them at this stage”38.

The Famine Commission of 1880 laid down that one large work should, if possible, be opened in each subdivision of the district in which severe distress prevailed. “It is not necessary,” they added, “and may often be undesirable, to offer to everyone work close to his door, but on the 37 38

Report of the Madras Presidency Famine of 1896 and 1897, Vol. I, pp. 27-31. Report on the Indian Famine Commission 1901, pp. 17, 18.

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other hand it is unreasonable to expect people to travel great distances in order to obtain relief, or to make such a journey a condition precedent of their being received [of] relief works, and we think that such a test should be applied.” But they appear to have contemplated that residence on their works should be the rule; for later on they wrote that, “the able bodied of the laboring class with their families, so far as they are healthy and capable, should be settled on works at a moderate distance from their villages.” The Commission of 1898 considered “that long distance test is unnecessary as [a] test of distress, and may seriously affect the efficiency of relief operations when distress is at all severe”; they indicated fifteen miles as the extreme distance which people should be forced to travel39.

Inter-District Labour Migrations The migration of many people to the south, and from Gumsur and neighboring estates into Sambulpore, as well as the departure of about 800 labourers to Mauritius, lessened to some degree the pressure upon the food supply, for these people were not always from the lowest caste. Many of those who migrated to other districts were tank diggers, by no means an indigent caste. A few of the migrants to Mauritius were people who had not been reduced to absolute destitution. 40 The ryots in the Zamindary estates suffered more than the government ryots. Mr. Forbes reports very severely on the conduct of the Ganjam zamindar. The ryots were ill prepared to bear up against this calamity, for the crops of the two previous years had been but scanty, and many of them had already exhausted their resources before the more severe suffering of the present year overtook them. Consequently, to meet the demands of their respective land lords or the government, as the case might be, these men had in 1865 resorted to money lenders for assistance and ultimately, in too many cases, they had resigned their holdings and migrated elsewhere or had sunk to the grade of village labourers. Farmans were also sent to all Zamindars, encouraging them to take immediate steps to relieve the poor of their respective Zamindaries and report at once to the collector for full particulars.41 No review of the figures of migratory labour had been received from the Madras government, but Sir Michel Kennedy had furnished the government of India with remarks upon the results of the partial census conducted. He considered that the diminution of the population was due to 39

Report on the Indian Famine Commission 1901, p. 23. Ganjam Famine, pp. 24-25. 41 Ibid., p. 6. 40

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the effect of migration, increased mortality, diminished births, or a combination of all these three causes.42 As regards the question of migration, it was probable that for the fifteen taluks under notice, no figures, even approximate, are available. Statements of migration from different parts showed that the migrants were very much in excess of the numbers in ordinary years, while there were no figures whatsoever showing the extent of inland migration. It is a well-recognized fact that the scale of migration from the famine to the more favorable districts ware very large. Exact numbers were not possible to determine, but the following figures would give researchers of economic history some idea of the scale of migration. The returns for the fourteen months, viz., from 1st October 1876 to 30th November 1877, showed an increase of 131,339 in the number of migrants, the average being 156,143 and the actual being 287,482. The number of migrants therefore nearly doubled. A large portion of the apparent loss of population shown by the last Census was due to migration: what the number of absentee migrants actually was, it is not practicable to determine, but that on consideration of the actual number of resident males and females over the age of ten found in the districts, the number may fairly be assumed to be about 350,000 43 . The theory of population migration can hardly be applied to account for the numbers missing in several famine areas. The people certainly wandered during the worst period of famine, but they moved in definite directions. The Kurnool and Nellore people moved to the Kistna region, and people from southern Nellore flocked into the town of Madras. However, the migration of the people to more favored districts during the height of the famine did not account for the ascertained losses of the population in selected areas. Migration had mostly ceased, and the survivors had returned to their homes before the census was taken44. But as regards the question of the migration of people, the great bulk of those who had survived had returned to their districts before the 14th march 1877. They had been disbursed “enormous sums of money” granted by the committee controlling the Mansion House Fund, to enable the famine stricken to rebuild their houses, buy cattle and seed grain, etc. It 42 Extract from the Proceedings of the Government of India, Famine Department, dated Simla, 8th June 1878, no. 1299: Review of Madras Famine 1876-78, p. 95. 43 Memorandum by the Hon. Lieutenant General Sir M.K. Kennedy, K.C.S.I., dated11 May 1878: Review of Madras Famine, 1876-78, p. 100-102. 44 From the sanitary commissioner for Madras, to the secretary to government, famine department, dated Ooctacamund, 20th June 1878, no. C-13: Review of Madras Famine, 1876-78, p. 131.

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was clear that they had every inducement to resume their normal village life and village occupations in and after October 1877. The fact that the funds were used was shown through the fact that the houses in rural villages were reroofed and made habitable. A great number, however, remained in ruins, especially in the out caste settlements of the villages, but these represented what the census had amply confirmed: the disappearance by death or otherwise of the laboring poor. A great deal has been said with reference to the migration of the people and their probable return, ultimately to their homes, but to account for migration on the scale suggested by Lieutenant-General Sir Michel Kennedy, we have to explain the movement not of a few thousands, but of millions of people. An estimate of such a large number could be assured by extending the reality of a small area to a far larger zone; thus what happened to the inhabitants of the censused taluks undoubtedly happened to a much larger population of the famine-hit areas that were not censused. Inland migration was characterized by the huge mortality of the poor peasants who only thought of leaving their famine stricken land when they were on the brink of death. The report stated that the habits of the people of southern India made them stationery, and attested to the “extreme difficulty of moving them from their homes”. “The experiment of sending labour from Bellary and Kurnool to The Buckingham Canal works in Nellore, though facilitated by every indulgence in the way of free railway carriage and batta for the journey, was a complete failure so far as the movement of the laboring poor on a large scale was concerned. The same difficulty was found in getting labourers in the Bellary District to move a few miles westward on the railway works, on these considerations seem to show that no theory of migration on a large scale can be advanced to account for the disappearance of the population of the famine area.”45

Migration in 1896-97 also showed enormous displacement during a famine in April 1897. People began to come from the Vizagapatnam and Ganjam Districts in search of work. This tide of immigration continued to increase in volume till the middle of June. The immigrants hoped to get transplantation work in the delta, which usually commenced in the middle of June, and in the off-season, they trusted to begging for their maintenance. To their peculiar misfortune, the Godavari was very late in 45

From the Sanitary commissioner for madras, to the secretary to Government, Famine Department, dated Ootacamund, 10th July 1878, no.c-2: Review of Madras famine, Appendix ,1876-78 ,p 135

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coming down from a high water mark, for it did not come down properly and transplantation did not become general until towards the close of July. Fortunately for them, where they did not obtain work, they received charity in the delta where many ryots, especially in Ramchandrapur Taluk, were very liberal towards them. The same was the case in the towns of Cocanada and Rajahmundry. So well did charity provide for them, that it was reported everywhere that they would not work at famine wages, if offered. They had refused them in their hopes of employment on remunerative wages in the delta. As a consequence of the large influx of these people, a relief work was opened on the outskirts of the town of Coconada itself, as a safety measure in case they could get no other employment and begging failed them. For those who were emaciated or unable to work from any cause, a poor house with a kitchen was opened. Orders were also sent to the Rajahmundry Town Council to open a poor house near that town, if necessary, but it was decided that such an institution was unnecessary as the number of immigrants could not find a living by begging at the various choultries or by procuring employment46. The construction of Ramaropet Road was undertaken by the local Fund Department to provide for the Vizagapatnam and Ganjam paupers, who migrated to this district in the hope of finding work in the delta and stayed on there, though finding little owning to the unusual lowness of the river, which was commenced on 11th July and closed on 9th August 1897 when the work was finished47. The rains of the south-west monsoon of Kurnool in 1896 were fairly sufficient and the labourers found employment to about the normal extent in agricultural operations till September 1896. During October, however, the rains failed and the crops were seriously damaged or lost in some places. Sowing operations in the black soil lands were impeded and as result of this, there was a fall in the demand for labour. At the same time, the prices of food grains climbed rapidly, which told of the severe condition of the people, particularly the laboring classes. The labourers of distressed villages went to the villages which had a fair or good outturn, especially those commended by Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal. This influx of labourers from foreign villages resulted in a corresponding reduction of the wages paid to them, the rate being curtailed to 1½ measures, 1 measure 46

From V.A. Brodie, Esq., Collector of Godavari, to the famine Commissioner, Madras, dated camp at Chintoor, 5th December 1897, no. 4204: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix III, p. 105. 47 From V.A. Brodie, Esq., Collector of Godavari, to the famine Commissioner, Madras, dated camp at Chintoor, 5th December 1897, no. 4204: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix III, p. 108.

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or even less per diem48. Beyond the migration of people within the district, from the non-canal area and the more affected villages of one or another of the taluks to the canal and other villages where employment could be found, no cases of migration worth noting have been reported as a consequence of the distress. However, many people living in the frontier villages of Pattikonda and Koilkuntla taluks migrated to the adjoining districts of Bellary and Cuddapah, where relief works were opened within the limits of their own taluks. People from the southern districts of the Nizam’s dominions came in search of employment on our relief works and were estimated to number between 7,000 and 8,000. Many of the subjects of the Banganapalle state, amounting to not less than about 15,000 people, immigrated into the adjoin taluks of British territory. There were a few cases of immigration into the Sirvel and Pattikonda taluks from the Cuddapah and Anatapur districts respectively. The treatment of the subjects of the native states showed a similar trend. The districts of Hyderabad State bordering on the northern portion of the district and the Baganapalle State, which almost divided the Koilkuntla taluk into two parts, were believed to have been affected to no less a degree than the affected taluks in British India. The laboring classes of the former State came in large crowds to the Nandikotur Taluk during harvest time in January and found sufficient employment in the fields. They could not, however, find free admission to the ordinary works that were opened later or in the taluk during the month of June as there were only carried out on a piece-work system. Still, large numbers were freely admitted to the government relief works that were in progress in the vicinity of Kurnool town and in the northern parts of the Ramallakot and Pattikonda taluks. The fact that they came from very distant villages for wages showed that they were really in distress and could not find sufficient employment in their own country. The maximum number of the Hyderabad subjects that attended the public works by the colonial state during the latter part of July was estimated to be quite large: Joharapuram – 3,000 to 3,500; Penchakalapad – 2,500 to 3,000; Belagal – 1,000 to 2,000. No other form of relief was offered to these people. Though the Nawab of Banganapalle publicly announced his intention to offer relief towards the end of March, his subjects would not freely come forward to work in his state. The fact of the matter was that the Nawab’s resources were quite inadequate to allow him to afford relief on a suitable scale. The only course left, then, was for the colonial state to freely admit to the 48

From E.A. Elwin, Esq., Acting Collector of Kurnool, to the famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Chepauk, Madras: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix IV, p. 114.

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public works that were in progress in the Koilakuntla taluk, in the southeast corner of the Pattikonda taluk, and in the Panyam firka of the Nandyal taluk, those of the Nawab’s subjects who came for admission. The total number of them thus relived was not less than 15,000, according to an official estimate. It was impossible to obtain accurate statistics of the population not domiciled in British India. Besides the relief offered in this way, perhaps a certain number of the Nawab’s subjects even settled themselves in the adjoining villages in British Indian territory so as to render themselves eligible for the gratuitous relief that was being offered there by the government and to obtain it to some extent49. We find that the colonial government officials had begun to differentiate between famine relief for the affected sections of the population domiciled in British India, and those domiciled in the “native” states. We also find that along with the district-wide breakup of the method of opening public works for the famine-stricken subjects of British India, there was a constant underlining of the relief the government provided for the subjects of the Indian princes. There were no statistics of migration and immigration, but it was known that a considerable number of people left the district for the coffee estates of Mysore towards the end of 1896. The movement occurred chiefly in the in the Bellary Taluk. There was some temporary migration from Adoni to Hyderabad for agricultural work in early part of 1897, but the number of migrants was smaller than usual. There was a good deal of immigration from the Nizam’s dominions as the distress deepened, and the British Indian territories probably had 10,000 people from Hyderabad on the relief works at an intensely critical time. Most of these were in the Adoni taluk. The movement from Kurnool was purely local, due to the fact that there were several relief works close to the border. 50 After further extension of the princely states, this district was bounded on the north and west by Hyderabad and on the south by Mysore, and it included within its limits the small state of Sandur. We had no immigrants from Mysore, many flocked in from Hyderabad. These people were freely admitted to works and kitchens and were treated in the same way as British subjects, but they evidently feared that a distinction had to be made; for they constantly tried to make out that they came from villages on the Bellary 49

From E.A. Elwin, Esq., Acting Collector of Kurnool, to the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Chepauk, Madras: Report on the famine of Madras presidency During 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix IV, p. 164. 50 From H.A. Stuart, Esq., Collector of Bellary, to the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Chepauk, Madras, no. 675, dated 18th October 1897: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Appendix V, p. 240.

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side of Thungabadra. No accurate statistics of their numbers were obtained, but at one time, there must have been between 5,000 and 10,000 of them on works or in the kitchens. They arrived for the most part in very poor condition, and it was to them we owe the introduction of cholera. They told me at Nandavarm that no relief was being given in their villages51. The migration and immigration in the Anantapuram district returned statistical data of about fifteen hundred labourers who left their houses in the Uravkonda division of Gooty Taluk for the Chittaldrug district (Mysore province) in October and November 1896, taking their cattle with them, in search of employment and in expectation of higher wages. The season in Mysore was, to all accounts, better, and the harvests were over. In Mysore, the climate began to turn on them. An insignificant number went over from the southern taluks of the head Assistant Collector’s division as usual. There were also several internal movements of gangs of labourers from one taluk to another. From the Anantapur division, the number which migrated to Mysore is estimated at 1,000. About 500 labourers came from Cuddapah to the Seenigalagudoor and Veerapuram works in Tadipatri Taluk, and there was no immigration worth mentioning in other parts of the district. Some south-eastern Tadipatries went to the Cuddapah works on account of their vicinity, and a large number (about 500) attended the Chappagiri works in Bellary on account of the high wages paid there. These wages were calculated on cholum, but as rule, the Anantapur labourers preferred to stay at home. They were parochial “to the verge of immovability,” and against this perception, their migration to other provinces would mean that rural distress in Ananthapur had reached high levels.52 Migration from the Cuddapah district in October 1896 was recorded by the deputy collector of Jammalamadugu division. With reference to the poorer classes in Pulivendula taluk, he reported that, from the inspection notes relating to three villages which he received from the Tahsildar of Pulivendula, it was apparent that “Some people have migrated to other villages with their families and cattle, either to earn a living or to seek the protection of relations. The places which some of them have chosen for migration are distant countries, Palnad, Nellore, Mysore, Cumbam.” A test 51

From H.A. Stuart, Esq., Collector of Bellary, to the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Chepauk, Madras, no. 675, dated 18th October 1897: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Appendix V, p. 267. 52 From R.H. Shipley, Esq., Acting Collector of Anantapur, to L.E. Buckley, Esq., Famine Secretary, Board of Revenue, Madras: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix VI, pp. 288-87.

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work was opened at Royalpuram in the first week of November 1896. Some coffee and tea planters offered employment at high wages and requested that some labourers might be collected and sent to Nilgiries and Travancore. Due publicity was given to the fact that this employment was available, and that advantage might be taken of the opportunity. Very few are reported to have gone, and those soon returned. There was no other migration and immigration worth naming, though some poor people in the affected taluks went to their relations in the adjoining villages and taluks.53 Again, we see that poorly paid work was not an option for migrating labourers. Was there a consensus of about what was a “just” wage by the 1890s? How did such a consensus evolve? What networks were available to the different taluks which became operative during times of economic distress? How was it that the labouring poor across many taluks only resorted to the public works in times of extreme distress? Could there be cultural resistance to the kind of herding that the sites enforced on the labourers? The Colonial state did not address such issues.

Interprovincial migrations Labour migrations during the Great Famine of 1876 -78 were phenomenally high across the provinces. Burma probably received moderately increased supplies of labour from the usual recruiting fields in the Northern Circars, but the famine districts were uninfluenced. It was useless trying to make Burma attractive to the poor – the liberal offers made by authorities to induce large or systematic immigration from Madras into Burma were futile. The populations of the Ceded districts did not take part in the across-sea migration. 54 At the beginning of March 1877, the chief commissioner of British Burma addressed the government of India. He proposed that for the benefit of that province, and at the same time to afford relief to famine-stricken districts of the Madras presidency, immediate encouragement should be given to the migration of labourers from the Northern Circars districts to British Burma. This could be done by introducing a system of advances. The Government of India approved the proposal and a grant of nineteen lakhs of rupees was sanctioned to meet the expense of making advances to the migrants in question. There 53

From A.C. Tate, Esq., Collector of Cuddapah, to the famine secretary to the Board of Revenue, Madras, dated Cuddapah, 10 December 1897, Dis. no. 1810-F: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix VII, p. 323. 54 Minute by the Hon. Sir W.R. Robinson, KCSI, dated 27th May 1878: Review of Madras Famine 1876-78, p. 116.

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was the proviso that they were to be selected exclusively from the famine stricken districts. The chief commissioner wished, if possible, to receive 20,000 people by the beginning of June. Healthy men with their families were to be selected. Following the proposals of the Chief Commissioner, he was asked for more specific information on a number of points connected with the scheme, such as the time when the advances were to be made, the extent of land grants to be made to the migrants and the conditions attached thereto, the rates of food and labour in British Burma, and the nature of any public works in progress there. The proposals, however, offered no adequate temptation for permanent migration and the scheme consequently fell through.55 When the distress in Madras had fully manifested itself in 1877, emigration was seen as good option: “Cannot you cause your population to emigrate to neighboring lands or to parts of India where famine is not present?” “This question was asked many times and was answered according to the ideas and idiosyncrasies of the person addressed – by no means according to the special knowledge of the advantages of other regions. In India itself, not much faith was put in migration as the immobility of the people was supposed to be a hindrance to such mobility. Moreover, as the population in India represented revenue, and proof of the land being overcrowded not forthcoming, the governments were not over-anxious to lose their people yet. British Burma was not suited to the Madras agriculturalist and the eyes of some administrators were turned to Burma as a potential region for absorbing distress in early 1877. On March 3, Mr. Rivers Thompson, chief commissioner of British Burma, addressed the revenue secretary of the government of India upon the subject, and on the same month received a reply on April 3, to the chief secretary to Madras Government as follows: Please say whether you are in a position to migrate from the faminestricken districts of your Presidency to Rangoon; if so, how many migrants can you send, and when would the migration commence? It would be desirable to send healthy men with their families, and as early as possible. Detailed particulars will be sent by letter, but information is required generally on these points to enable this administration to decide upon the necessary preliminary arrangements to be made here.”56

To this, the Government of Madras replied that they were ready to promote migration by giving Mr. Rivers Thomson’s proposals a lot of 55

Report on the Review of the Madras Famine 1876-1878, p. 39. William Digby, The Famine Campaign in Southern India: Madras , Bombay and Province of Mysore 1876-1878, Vol. II, London, Longman, p. 333. (Hereafter William Digby.) 56

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publicity through the distressed districts. At the same time, the Madras government also said they were not aware of any number of migrants being available at present. The telegrams were communicated to the Collectors of Ballary, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Nellore, North Arcot, Salem, and Chingleput, who were instructed to report on how far, in their opinion, the measures contemplated by the chief commissioner of British Burma were likely to produce any effect. The telegram from Rangoon was followed by a letter from Major W.C. Street, secretary to the chief commissioner, to the Madras Government, dated April 7, in which the advantages of migration were set forth in detail. It was as follows: “I am directed by the chief commissioner to invite the attention of his Grace in Council to the proposals submitted by this administration for the encouragement of migration from [the] famine districts of Madras presidency to British Burma. These proposals have met with the approval of the government of India, and sanction has been given for the liberal expenditure for carrying them into effect. It is understood that a copy of the correspondence on the subject has already been forwarded to the government of Madras, but, for ready reference, a second copy is enclosed. It remains to consider the necessary arrangements for commencing the migration as soon as possible, and, with this, view, the chief commissioner has been authorized to communicate directly with the government of Madras”57.

The great need of population in Burma and the facilities which existed for settling immigrants, with their families, throughout this province, led the chief commissioner to hope that in the present severe pressure in Madras, large bodies of the laboring classes from famine districts might, with very little inducement, avail themselves of the opportunities which were on offer. It was a fact that the good offices of the Madras Government were very hopeful about the promotion of these measures. As regards the arrangements for the reception of migrants on arrival here, the officer observed that there was a depot in Rangoon capable of holding 1,000 people and available for immediate occupation. It was under the charge of the superintendent of immigration, assisted by an efficient establishment already accustomed to deal with migrants. Further arrangements were under consideration for providing shelter at places which were chosen, principally along the line of railway from Rangoon to Prome, where opportunities of employment at good wage rates could be afforded, and where waste land was available near the line for those wishing to cultivate. It could be seen, then, that as far as this 57

William Digby, p. 334.

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administration was concerned, everything was either ready or in course of preparation for the reception of intending immigrants; but it will be necessary to decide at once on the rules under which the details of the scheme were to be carried out. The law, which regulated the transportation of native labourers to British Burma, and their employment in that capacity, was contained in enactment No III of 1876: “It provided for the establishment of depots at ports of embarkation, the appointment of agents and medical inspectors, and the method under which recruiting shall be licensed and carried on. It permits further, the engagement by written contracts for service in British Burma, with specific obligations as regards work and wages. It seems to the chief commissioner that, while in the present pressure, the strict enforcement of these details will involve very undesirable delay, the necessity for their enforcement is to a great extent obviated by emergency which has given rise to the proposals themselves. The measure is undertaken for the relief of those suffering from famine, and also inducing persons to settle in British Burma. Under it advances will be made to all migrants to be repaid by small installments; grants desiring them, which will be exempted from payment of revenue for periods varying from one to twelve years; while labour on public works at high rates of wages will be available for those who do not wish to clear and cultivate land. None of these matters are provided for in venture to suggest that provisions of Act might, in a measure be dispensed with, and that with a few simple rules for guidance of Medical officers, depot agents, and district officers, all that is necessary in the matter of forwarding intending [emigrants] to the ports of embarkation, and of dispatching them to Burma, might be secured. In this view the intermediate agency of recruiters could be abandoned and negotiation of contracts (which [are] entirely permissive) avoided; while district officers might be placed in direct communication with the agents appointed at such depots on the coasts. In addition to Coconada, already established, as his grace the Governor in Council might consider favorably suited for promotion of migration. The chief commissioner would also ask that every endeavor may be made to induce as a many married men as possible to emigrate, accompanied by their families. Single men would probable return to their villages after making a little money, as experience shows to be the practice with the great majority of labourers who come over yearly from the madras coast, and [the] main object aimed at in the present undertaking is the permanent settlement of extensive tracts of fertile country, where population is much needed. In conclusion, I am to ask that when matters have so far progressed that some idea can be formed of the number and class of persons likely to avail themselves of the terms

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offered, early information may be given, so as to enable this administration to complete the arrangements which are now in progress58.”

The officer further elaborated in favour of British Burma as an option for the migrating labour, which the Colonial government could facilitate: “I am directed by the chief commissioner to submit, for the consideration of the government of India, whether, in view of the prevalence of very wide spread famine in Madras, an impulse could not be given, by special arrangements, for more extended migration of labourers from distressed tracts to British Burma”59.

This could be undertaken partly as measure of relief from the famine, and partly in promotion of the settlement of population in this province. The British Burma Law, for regulating the transport of native labourers to the new region, was passed in 1876, and came into force in January 1877. Many preliminaries, however, had to be arranged before the law could come into operation. These conditions meant laying the infrastructure that could take care of a large number of men and women and children as possibilities moving from one region to another. Thus the chief commissioner, after reference to the Local Government (Madras), and the Government of India, had, under section 4 of the Act, appointed an emigration agent at the port of Cocanada, the most favorable under ordinary circumstances as a port of embarkation. Similarly, a medical inspector of migrants had been appointed at the same place, as the colonial state deployed medical language in order to certify the fitness of labour that could, medically speaking, be capable of delivering a certain amount of work. Thus, detailed rules were required to be prepared by the chief commissioner, under section 87 of the Act, for the general security, protection, and well-being of immigrants after their arrival in the Burmese province. These replies were published. Therefore, we see the Colonial state erecting a scaffolding of administrative infrastructure, and also the production of handbooks of rules and regulations that would facilitate the governing of large groups through stand and procedure. Thus the colonial state constantly produced new rules to deal with new logistical and demographic enumerations of mobile sections of the population. It was necessary to await the action of the Madras Government, as regards the preparation of the rules required by section 86, for it was in a bureaucratic and hierarchical power structure that positioned the reality of the colonial 58 59

William Digby, pp. 335-337. William Digby, pp. 337.

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state within the centralized machinery. The Madras government would take note of the measure, as could be put into practice, thereby making migration an administratively traceable activity. Through these administrative mechanisms, the Colonial state would be able to generate more knowledge about the data on migrating groups as a socio-economic phenomenon and the sociological indicator of migration as a human activity. These administrative links were put in place without any certainty that they would be actively needed in the immediate or distant future. In short, we see that in order to create the routes for facilitating the easy movement of human resources, the colonial state constantly generated its own state machinery. The report could therefore declare that it was impossible to say beforehand whether the Act would succeed in promoting migration to Burma. Thus, the special condition of the Madras Presidency could stimulate migration from distressed districts during the busy season of the rice operations. But migration, for other reasons, would also be covered by these measures by the state. Every vessel which arrived from the Madras ports brought 600 to 900 labourers from Madras, eager to obtain employment in the mills in Burma. This was without any intervention of Act III of 1876. The migrants were volunteers who made their own arrangements with contractors for the labour market in Burma. I state “experience showed that the great mass of such labourers who annually visited Burma, returned to their homes enriched with the gains of high labour rates prevalent in Rangoon. The Colonial state stated that the object of legislation on the subject was, primarily, to regulate this system of migration [my emphasis]. In the hands of the contractors, the control of migration was thought to be open to many abuses, and the labourers, probably, in all cases did not come by their full rights – declared the colonial State, and [it] further stated that human welfare had to be the language of a philanthropic state.”60

It was also perhaps anticipated that under formal contracts and a wellorganized system for regular employment at high wages, the people would be induced to settle in the country. They would occupy lands, promote cultivation of wastes, and thus benefits the province. The result of this had to be seen. Possibly, this would enhance production from the land. As long as there was no legal prohibition against the contractor system, it would not cease to compete with government arrangements under the 60

From Major C.W. Street, M.S.C., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of British Burma (Immigration), to the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce, dated Rangoon, March, 1879.

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Act as regards the settlement of migrants in this province, in the absence of special measures to promote that objective. The labourers from Madras were attracted by the high wages which they received as mill hands; but they returned to Madras when that work ceased. The chief commissioner felt that the environment was favorable for considering the practicability of giving a more permanent character to the migration, for which the Act gave the government policy on emigration. It is worth quoting one officer: “We need population here in every district for agricultural purposes, and in every branch of the public works department. If the large railway works are to be continued, either by the extension of Prome line to the frontier or the construction of the new line to Toungoo, a large number of labourers might be engaged at once, under contract for the full period of the three years which the law allows [my emphasis]”61.

Continued: “Similar dispositions would be of advantage for the completion of embankments which are still in progress, while for people wishing to settle as agriculturalists, lands are widely available behind the embankments in the Henzada, Bassein, and Twonkava districts, and culturable wastes ready to [be] occupied and cleared in most districts of the province under liberal rules of five years exemption from payment of any rent. It would appear from the papers that there are now a million people suffering from famine, receiving relief at the government’s expense in the Madras Presidency. It can be [in a] very small way the best that British Burma can [do to] help to alleviate [the] distress of such wide proportions by offering work and lands in this province; and even the measure of its aid in these respects would depend upon the extent to which the government of India would favour the scheme, and promote it by a special allotment for the purpose. Assuming, however, that in their present calamity the Madras laboring population would show a greater willingness to emigrate, and the government of India would divert a portion of large unavoidable expenditure imposed on it by the famine in furtherance of this project, the chief commissioner would be prepared to receive 20,000 persons within [the] next three months, and find them occupation, or lands upon which they could settle”62.

61

From Major C.W. Street, M.S.C., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of British Burma (Immigration), to the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce, dated Rangoon, March, 1879. 62 From Major C.W. Street, M.S.C., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of British Burma (Immigration), to the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce, dated Rangoon, March, 1879.

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Mr. Rivers Thompson was aware that, in the famine in Bengal in 1874, a scheme of a similar nature was approved and carried out with only partial success, under a system of state migration. He was of the opinion, however, that in the face of special difficulties and drawbacks, the general outcome of those arrangements was of benefit to British Burma, with corresponding relief, probably, to the famine stricken districts from which the migrants came. If any similar scheme was favorably entertained in 1876, the government could be assumed of success. In the first place, Bengalis had never amalgamated with the Andhra people in the same way as the migrants from Madras Presidency. Bengalis were always in much demand as labourers, but the people from the Deccan districts were already so numerous that every newcomer who was a stranger had a feeling of home and a greater readiness to remain than Bengali emigrants had ever experienced before, being among a people who were alien in habits, language, and religion. Again, in giving effect to the measure of 1874, the chief commissioner of Burma did not have the aid of a law regulating emigration from the continent of India. The provisions in this respect were now ready at hand and could be put into operation at any port in the Madras Presidency, from which labourers could be most easily embark. It would be, of course, in the cost of carrying out the project that the greatest difficulties would present themselves, a typical financial problem of the Colonial government. The migrants, coming from a part of the country in which severe famine prevailed, to establish homes in a new country, would not be in a position to settle or maintain themselves for one year, at least, after their arrival. Some system of advances would have to be devised and sanctioned before the measure could be attempted. In the inquiries upon this subject which were made in 1874, it was ascertained and generally accepted that an advance of Rs 150/- would be required for each family – man, wife and possibly, two young children – to start them in the new province, this province. The calculation was made out as follows: The construction of a House One pair of Bullocks Thirty Baskets for Paddy for consumption and seed Salt and Condiments Ploughs and other agricultural implements Total

Rs

20/80/30/5/15/150

The cost of rice was occasionally cheaper, and in some other details a reduction could be feasible, but the idea of the right move of high

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payments to the migrants refused to leave the colonial government. The officers were convinced that it would involve an outlay of not less than Rs 140/- for each family, as above constituted, to give effect to the measure. It would be advantageous, as tending directly to the permanency of settlement, if men could be sent over with their families. However, taking the figure of 20,000 as the total number who would be induced to emigrate, not more than one quarter would be accompanied by their families. In view to benefitting British Burma, and at the same time affording relief to the famine stricken districts of Madras Presidency, immediate encouragement should be given to the migration of labourers from those districts to British Burma, by introducing a system of advances. The Governor-General in council approved of the proposal, and subject to the condition that the migrants were to be exclusively selected from famine stricken districts and had an allotment of nineteen lakhs of rupees to meet the expenses incurred in making advances to the migrants in question. This letter had been communicated to the Government of Madras; arrangements for direct communications with the Governor had to be made for commencing the migration without delay63. From foregoing correspondence, the project had seemed a most hopeful and tempting scheme for the British. On one shore of the Bay of Bengal, great enterprises were languishing for want of labours. On the other, millions of people were being supported gratuitously and employed on the public works, many of the workers being merely put in hand to find occupation for the distressed. A closer examination of the subject, however, unraveled difficulties which proved insolvable. From the first, the Madras Government feared this would be the case. On May 9, Major Street was informed that the governor of Madras had considered the chief commissioner’s proposals, and had referred them to the collectors of the famine districts for an expression of their opinion as to the probability of their having any effect in inducing people to emigrate to British Burma. The replies of all had not been received, but the collectors of two of the most distressed districts gave very decided opinions that the scheme as propounded would have no effect. The governor further observed that while the chief commissioner laid some stress on the migration being undertaken for the relief of those suffering from famine, he was evidently anxious that none but thoroughly healthy and able-bodied migrants should be sent to him – a class of people not likely to be found among faminerelief labourers in any numbers. They would consequently need to be 63

From Major C.W. Street, M.S.C., Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of British Burma (Immigration), to the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Revenue, Agriculture, Commerce, dated Rangoon, March, 1879.

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recruited, and to that end, recruiters would be necessary, as it was out of the question that the district officers, who were overburdened with work, could find them time either to look for migrants or to act as migration agents in their respective districts, and pass on such as might be offered to emigrate. The seven questions asked in the letter from the Government of Madras were replied to on June 14. (1) Will any advance be made to the migrants before they embark? The answer was that the necessity of making advances to migrants before embarking was not contemplated in the scheme submitted to the Government of India, but if such advances were absolutely necessary, the cost could be met from the allotment sanctioned by the Government of India for that purpose. (2) What extent of land is to constitute a grant? The answer was that there was no special limit to the extent of land which constituted a grant. Under the rules in force, a deputy commissioner of a district had the power to make grants of land for the purpose of cultivation to an extent not exceeding 100 acres. A large number of grants, however, were made, and did not exceed five acres for rice cultivation. In the case of garden land, they were, as a rule, somewhat smaller, varying from one to three acres. The size of grants varied much, according to the kind of jungle to be cleared, and the means that the applicant would bring into cultivation. The case of immigrant settlers would be favorably considered. (3) What are the conditions of a land grant? The answer was that as all migrants were exempted from capitation tax for five years. (4) What assessment will the lands bear, which are to be exempted from land tax for periods varying from one to twelve years, when they are assessed? The answer was that the assessment varied according to the fertility of the soil, e.g. on rice lands, the rates varied from 8 annas to Rs 3/- per acre, and in the case of garden land, from Rs 1/- to Rs 3/- per acre. (7) What public works are in progress of such a permanent character as to induce a man to go with his family to Burma to live by wages he could earn? The answer was that the more important public works in progress in British Burma were the Prome Railway, which, though open for traffic, still provided employment to a large number of labourers. The prospect of an early sanction to an extension of this line to the frontier, a distance of 40 miles, would give regular employment to immigrants settled along the line for at least two years. The construction of a large canal connecting the Pegu and Sittang Rivers required a constant supply of labour; in this direction, there were wide areas capable of being cultivated and in need of population. In addition to these, there were works of various kinds being carried on in nearly every district in the province, such as roads, bunds, and tanks, etc., for which

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labour was much required. The improvement, too, of the larger towns under the municipalities would give ample employment to a large number of labourers. During harvesting season, in every district, extraneous aid had to be sought to reap the crops. This communication reached Government at an unpropitious time. The south west monsoon was seen to have failed, and all energies were turned to meet the new and aggravated crisis. Nevertheless, the chief commissioner’s letter, together with the list of the current prices of food grains in Burma which accompanied it, was communicated to the collectors of Bellary, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Nellore, North Arcot, Salem, and Chingleput districts, and as soon as the draft rules under the Burma Land and Revenue Act of 1876 had been approved, they had to be communicated to the above named collectors, in view to their being translated into the vernaculars of their respective districts and widely promulgated throughout them. With this intimation ended the episode of migration to British Burma, as an impracticable scheme that would require more philanthropy than an exploitative colonial government was prepared to meet.64

Labour Migrations during 1896-1897 Famine Emigrant labour from Ganjam to Assam and Burma There was always a large scale of migration from this district to Burma, from the ports of Baruva and Calingapatam. In a large number of instances, the labourers merely went for the harvest and return at the close, remitting large sums in the meanwhile to their families at home. In communication with the superintendent of post offices, the amount so remitted at a few selected post offices was ascertained. This, however, gives us no idea of the total amount remitted from Burma to the district. As a rule, only men emigrated to Burma. This partly accounted for the large preponderance of Telugu Women (Reddiki) on the works. Inquiries showed that in a very large proportion of cases, their husbands were in Burma. Uriyas did not emigrate to Burma as freely as the Telugus. The emigrants from Gopalpur were far fewer than from either Baruva or Calingapatanam, chiefly because the population in north of the district contained a large Uriya element. From Gopalpur, however, labourers were 64

From the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Revenue, Agriculture and Commerce, to the chief commissioner of British Burma, dated March 21, 1877.

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shipped to the tea gardens of Assam by regulated migration. This trade was much more active than in previous years. A very large proportion shipped under the Assam Labour and Immigration Act consisted of Khonds and Savaras who were notoriously industrious in the matter of cultivation. Combined, however, with the regulated migration, in the previous February, there sprang up a considerable amount of nonregulated or free migration to Assam. Garden contractors and agents were not apparently aware till the beginning of the previous year that methods other than regulated migration to Assam were permitted. On ascertaining this to be case, they were not slow to take advantage of it and thereby avoid all government supervision. By this means also, they were able to remove their labourers by rail, the fare to Culcutta being only Rs 3-12-0, compared with the Rs 8 charged by the steamer companies which now had to reduce their rate to a competitive Rs 4. Emigrants to Assam had taken their families with them as dependants. The immigration figures show that while the number of migrants by sea was nearly twice the average of the three previous years and 25 percent in excess of that in 1889, the number of immigrants returning was far less than the average. Moreover, it was reported that owing to the labour market in Burma being overstocked, the wages of labourers were much lower than usual over the past year, and many migrants returned disappointed to their homes. No details were available as to migration or immigration by road or rail, with the exception of the labourers recruited for Assam; the numbers could be insignificant.65

Emigrant labour from Vizagapatnam to Burma The first symptoms of congestion of the labour market were caused by the absence of the employment usually available at the paddy harvest, but migration to Burma on larger scales than usual relieved this. There was also more cultivation under wells than usual throughout the cold weather, which required labourers for baling water. Labour in this district had many outlets, viz., migration to Burma and Godavari and employment in the Jeypore grain trade. Thousands also lived all through the year by cutting grass for the ryots’ cattle, for which no other fodder was available 66 . 65

From H.D. Taylor, Esq., ICS ., Acting Collector of Ganjam, To the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue Madras, dated camp Udayagiri, 29th November 1897: Report of Famine of Madras Presidency 1896-97, Appendix 1, p. 20. 66 From W.O. Horne, Esq., Acting Collector to Vizagapatnam, to L.E. Buckley, Esq., Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Madras, dated Vizagapatnam, 23rd November 1897, no. 4353: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix II, p. 75.

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Migration was brisk, in principal to British Burma, a country to which it was customary for the labouring class in this district to resort when times were hard at home. But this went on not only in bad years but at all times. Many of these migrants remitted money to their families and relations. Official sources confirmed that through the village post office in some villages, very large sums in aggregate were being received by money order from Burma. The total migration between July 1896 and September 1897 was 20,035. The figures for the previous three years were 7,610, 7,325 and 6,608. The greatest numbers migrated in November and December 1896, after which the number fell off, but in July, the period of maximum distress and alarm, the figures again rose sharply. 2,621 people went to Burma in that month as opposed to 921 in June. Immigration was confined to returning migrants67. Thus labour responded to higher wages when it was distressed, but in averagely hard years, outlying regions were not at all attractive.

Economic Impact and Classes suffered Condition of classes during the great famine of 1876 Since 1770, India had never witnessed so great a famine as that of 1876-77. The area of drought and scarcity was a very wide one: fourteen out of twenty-one districts of the Madras Presidency. In regard to occupation, the great bulk of the people were in some way connected with, or dependent upon, agricultural employment. Of 9,930,012 males whose occupations were noted in the census of 1871, 4,878,890 were returned as “cultivators”, 2,071,602 as “labourers” and 176,580 as owners of land, or people of independent means. Of the total male population who had reached an age to have an occupation, 85 per cent were engaged in farming on their own account, or in working for hire, chiefly in the cultivation of soil, and the female occupations would naturally follow in the same proportion, although not specially noted in the census. In regard to the conditions of the farm labourers, it could be understood that the permanent hands were invariably paid their wages in grain, never in money. The rates varied in different districts, but inquiry had shown that the quantity of cleaned cereal grain was not usually less than from 4 to 5lbs per diem, and often more. The labourer often enjoyed the privilege of 67

From W.O. Horne, Esq., Acting Collector to Vizagapatnam, to L.E. Buckley, Esq., Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Madras, dated Vizagapatnam, 23rd November 1897, no. 4353: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix II, p. 76.

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cultivating vegetables, chillies, and a few oil seeds or nuts on his own account, and as he got a subsistence allowance of grain at a percentage on the yield of the harvests, his prosperity greatly depended on the abundance of crops. Usually, the permanent labourers got small money advances from their masters and occasional presents of clothing, or a rupee now and again on festival occasions, but whatever money may be advanced by the master, the labourer was seldom able to repay and as rule, he was tied to servitude for life. In the slack season of the agricultural year, for two or three months when there was nothing to do in the fields, the labourer was allowed to work on his own account for money wages, if he could get employment on public works or in any other capacity. The small cultivators who held land on their own account were not very much better off than the hired labourers, and one or two bad seasons could ruin them. In harvest times, wages for extra hands were sometimes paid in money, but more frequently in grain, or a share of produce, whatever that may be. Payment in kind was universal among the agricultural population. In addition to the agricultural classes, there was a plentiful body of labourers who worked for daily hire and were paid in money, especially around towns and centers of European residents. Money wages varied considerably in different districts, but the testimony of all observers went to show that rates had risen from 30 to 60 percent in recent years. While money wages had risen, the condition of these classes had not perceptibly improved. They seldom saved, and the increasing public revenue from sale of spirits pointed very clearly to the mode of disposal of their surplus earnings. There was also a considerable class of people scattered over the south of India, known as tank-diggers or “Wuddahs”, who worked chiefly by contract for money wages. These were the people who in ordinary years were the mainstay of our public works. They did the earth works, railways, digging canals, wells channels, and levelled the soil to fit it for irrigation. They had, by many generations of experience, organized amongst their families and clans a most excellent system of sub-division of labour, so that while earning a high average wage, they were able to execute works of this class at a cheaper rate than any other class of the community. Every individual in a tank digging community, from the child just able to carry a basket of earth to the old man or women of seventy, found place in this subdivision of labour. Thus, wherever these people could find work during the famine, they managed to support themselves and their families in good physique. Wherever there was any real work done by famine labour, as in excavating the Madras Junction Canal, the Bukingham Canal, and the railway extension, this class of population was employed to do hard work,

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and on the whole, they probably passed through the famine with less suffering and distress than any of the purely agricultural classes68. The pressure of famine 1896-97 on various classes The pressure of famine affected different classes of the community to various degrees in different portions of the Ganjam district. It is desirable to divide the people into several classes for dealing with this subject. Among the middle classes and artisans, there was generally a considerable amount of distress. Goldsmiths and bell-metal makers, carpenters and oilsellers found but scanty employment, there being no demand for their wares, while at the same time the heavy rise in prices over a long period crippled their resources. Agricultural labourers: This was the class by which the stress of famine was especially felt, jointly with petty ryots. These people were unwilling to take up other work and were finally only driven to attend relief-works through severe distress. Agricultural employment was looked upon as more degrading than mere labourer work amongst the Uriyas, and the women of several classes, who engaged freely in agricultural operations within their own villages, were prohibited by the laws of their caste from engaging in other work outside the limits of their villages. Being able bodied, up to certain extent, they could not be granted gratuitous relief and had to depend upon the wages earned by the male members of the family, eked out with the jungle leaves and products which they themselves were able to produce69. In Vizagapatnam district, the classes of people who were relieved were principally daily labourers, both agricultural and general, the latter including those who habitually lived by the collection and sale of grass and firewood, and small zamindari ryots. Some fairly well-to-do ryots sent their women and children to the works; the wage earned by these, according to the famine code, being so much more in excess of the ordinary70.

68

Cornish, W.R., F.R.C.S., “The Influence of famine growth of population of Madras presidency”, this paper was originally prepared for the Statistical Society of London, but having been submitted to the Indian Famine Commission, is reprinted in Review of Madras Famine 1876-78, Appendix B, pp. 144-146. 69 From H.D. Taylor, Esq., ICS, Acting Collector of Ganjam, To the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue Madras, dated camp Udayagiri, 29th November1897: Report of Famine of Madras Presidency 1896-97, Appindix 1, p. 39. 70 From W.O. Horne, Esq., Acting Collector to Vizagapatanam, to L.E. Buckley, Esq., Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Madras, dated Vizagapatnam,

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All classes of people were relieved in the Adoni Taluk of Kurnool district. The majority who were relieved in the kitchens were Malas, Madigas and other low caste Hindus, and some Muhammadans. On life works, all classes of people were found without distinctions between caste or creed – the Malas, Madigas, Boyas, etc., formed the majority. The Lingabalijas, Gollas, Kapus and artisans, such as barbers, smiths, etc., formed a small minority.71 The classes of people relieved in the Nadyala Taluk of Kurnool district were necessarily the very poorest. The Malas and Madigas formed the bulk of the relief-workers in proportion to their population and the same was the case with the kitchen, where the Mala compartment was generally full to overflowing. The “Golla” or shepherd caste, the majority of whom possessed no land and lived by doing cooly work came next. “Kapus” “Thotabalijas” and other castes which lived purely by agriculture resorted to the relief works only after the harvest was over. A few carpenters, blacksmiths, destitute Komaties and weavers who possessed no looms also resorted to the relief works. Brahmins never came except to work as head labourers or sub-maistries, etc. A fair percentage of Muhamadans were to be found amongst the relief workers72. In Bellary district, the classes of people who were relieved were mainly labourers, weavers, village artisans, and small and middling ryots. The ryot class, however, was represented more by its women and children than by the adult males, and this was true to a certain extent of all classes, as was seen from the relatively high ratios of females to males. The numbers on works rose to 15,000 by the week ending 28th November 1896. The rise was gradual and steady up to the 31st July 1897, when the number stood at 153,535. A fall began and this continued with the exception of a slight rise in the week ending the 28th August until the works closed73. In Anantapur district, many castes were represented on the works. The following may be mentioned in particular: Panchams, Madigas, Boyas, Kapus, Balijas, Weavers and Wodders. It is difficult to form rough estimate 23rd November 1897, no. 4353: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix II, p. 78. 71 From Mahdi Hussein Saheb Bahadur, Deputy Collector, Adoni, to the Collector of Kurnool, dated 22nd December 1897: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix IV, p. 177. 72 From M. Ghose, Esq., I.C.S., Acting Head Assistant Collector of Nandyal, to the Collector of Kurnool, dated Calcutta, 15 January 1898, no. 49F: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix IV, p. 204. 73 From H.A. Stuart, Esq., Collector of Bellary, to the Famine Secretary to the Board of Revenue, Chepauk, Madras, no. 675, dated 18th October 1897: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Appendix V, p. 244.

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of their numbers, but perhaps the following could be taken as the approximate numbers of each of these castes on the works in the last July, when the attendance rose to the maximum reached during the time of famine: Panchamas and Madigas Boyas Weavers Kapus, Balijas Total

28,000 15,000 5,000 17,000 65,000

The same proportion was taken as being applicable to gratuitous village relief. In the kitchen, castes other than the Panchamas and Madigas were almost always in a minority. As no statistics were available of the caste distribution of the numbers on relief, these figures were not treated by the officers as accurate74. In Cuddapah district, the classes of people relieved were also approximate as correct statistics were not available with regard to the different classes of people that resorted to the relief works. The deputy collector reported that most of the relief workers belonged to the lower castes – the Malas and Madigas, the Barbars and the Washermen, and the Mohamadans also formed a considerable portion. Caste Hindus, Kapus, Balijas, etc., were also on the works, but they formed only a smaller proportion. Rangarajus, Lingabalijas and Komaties also joined the works, but they were few in number. The higher castes were the last to come and only came when the pinch was acutely felt. There were no Brahmins on the relief works in this district. In this regard, it was to be noted that the daily labourers and landless classes were not the only classes that resorted to the works. Even pattahdars joined them, some on account of real distress, while others went there to earn some money while they had nothing to do at home during the season the field work was slack75.

74 From R.H. Shipley, Esq., Acting Collector of Anantapur, to L.E. Buckley, Esq., Famine Secretary, Board of Revenue, Madras: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix VI, pp. 293. 75 From A.C. Tate, Esq., Collector of Cuddapah, to the famine secretary to the Board of Revenue, Madras, dated Cuddapah, 10 December 1897, Dis. no. 1810-F: Report on the famine of Madras presidency during 1896-97, Vol. II, Appendix VII, p. 328.

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Conclusion The districts of Andhra which were severely affected by the famines that occurred during the second half of the nineteenth century included Bellary, Kurnool Anantapuram and Cuddapah in the Madras Deccan, and the two northern districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam. Areas where the rainfall was light, the soil usually unfertile, and the large irrigation works were few suffered more consistently than any others. During the 1896-98 famine, there was always considerable migration from Ganjam and Vizagapatanam to Burma. Considerable numbers of Uriyas, Khonds and Savaras migrated from the northern part of Ganjam to Assam for employment in the tea gardens. Labourers also migrated, as usual, but in increased number from Vizagapatnam to Godavari Delta in search of agricultural works. A considerable number of people left the Deccan districts for Mysore, and other parts of the presidency. There was an inrush of Hyderabad labourers to Bellary and Kurnool. We find that the Colonial government officials began to differentiate between famine relief for the affected sections of the population domiciled in British India, and those domiciled in the “native” states. We also find that along with the districtwide breakup of the method of opening public works to the famine stricken subjects of British India, there was a constant underlining of the relief the government provided for the subjects of Indian princes. It was apparent that the Colonial state had clear ideas of the utility of the labour being brought into a public work site from another region. It was therefore clear that the government actually wanted a quantification of the profit for the employment of famine victims when compared with the locals. The philanthropic state openly stated policies that were clearly exploitative. Famines actually reduced wages and therefore public aid was a disguise for hiring labour at subsistence rates.

CHAPTER IV AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIAL LABOUR MIGRATIONS

Introduction My last chapter deals with famine and unfavorable seasons which drastically distressed all sections of small land holders, peasants and labourers. This chapter deals with agrarian expansions and commercialization of agriculture which created new markets for labour migrants; migration from rural to urban was a general phenomenon here. And the urbanization, modernization, trade, and industries that came in the wake of the colonial state had given new scope to rural to urban migrations. This chapter deals with changing structures of rural and urban spaces, and opportunities created by the colonial state, that again lead to migrations. I look at the different forms of “pull” that influenced a migrations pattern of demographic movement. In this chapter, from the detailed account of all taluks within a district, I have only cited in detail some taluks of districts. The reason for this selection has been its capacity to demonstrate very effectively the patterns of labour migrations of the affected sections of the population.

History of landless Agricultural labourers in Colonial Andhra Cultivation in Madras presidency supported 30,000,000 out of 43,000,000 inhabitants as workers and dependants, as enumerated in the census of 1921, or seven out of every ten people. Of these, farm servants and field labourers numbered three out of every ten as follows: Farm servants 630,055, dependants 1,335,493; field labourers 1,676,339, dependants 2,293,087. This gives only one labourer for every four acres of cultivated land, including the irrigated land in the presidency. However, a very large number of people classed as cultivating owners and tenants

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were also labourers, but the exact number could not be calculated1. In India, behind every modern development was the influence of British innovation; and this seems as plausible when referring to the growth of landless labour as it does with regard to the fluctuations of the rupee. It was known that landlessness on this scale did exist under the Moguls; from this, it was a short step to the conclusion that the creation of landlessness was not only contemporaneous with British rule, but that it was the inevitable result of that rule. The British imposed heavy land dues, which were collected more efficiently than under previous rulers, and they collected them in cash. Peasants could be evicted for non-payment of the land revenue. With changes in the legal system, their land became good security for debt, and the money lender was enabled to take it over in cases of default. Such a view was generally accepted by historians of modern India2. To quote one example: “… there was a consensus of opinion that, in pre-nineteenth century India, there was no noticeably large class of agricultural labourers…. The large class of agricultural labourers represents [a] new form of social relationships that emerged during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in India…. That in the course of about hundred years, the [whole] social base of traditional society which had outlived so many previous invaders, could be so completely smashed by a handful of adventures from [a] land in the far-off Atlantic and by a few of their native allies, in a country divided from the place of their birth by half the globe; that of its cultivators and artisans one third could be turned into landless labourers and one half into petty cultivators, tenants – at will and share croppers were accomplishments for which one would look in vain for parallel in the whole history of mankind3”.

Of course, it was difficult to agree or disagree with any statement in which a class represents a form of social relationship, but the view behind 1

Memorandum Submitted to the Royal Commission on Labour, Part II, Madras, 1929, annexure, p. ii-iii. 2 D. Dharma Kumar, Caste and landlessness in South India”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 4, No. 3 (April, 1962), pp. 337, 338. (Henceforth Dharma Kumar.), And also see R. Mukharjee, “The Dynamics of a Rural Society” (Berlin, 1957); A.R. Desai, ed., “The Social Background of Indian Nationalism” (Bombay, 1948); R. Palme Dutt, India Today, 2nd Indian ed. (Bombay, 1949); S.J. Patel, “Agricultural labourers in Modern India and Pakistan” (Bombay, 1952); Tara Chand, “History of the Freedom Movement in India”, Vol. I (New Delhi, 1960). 3 S.J. Patel, “Agricultural labourers in Modern India and Pakistan”, Bombay, 1952, pp. 32-63.

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this – that the whole structure of Indian society was altered under British rule – commands wide agreement. The view had been stereotyped that before the British seized power, the typical Indian village was selfsufficient, consisting mainly of small peasants tilling their own land. This the picture drawn by Maine and Elphinstone, and then taken over by Marx, who went on to show that the destruction of this system – a destruction he regarded as necessary – had been brought about by British Imperialism. Marx was assuming here that native institutions could not survive the coming of the British, and that none of the changes in them had been selfgenerated4. The best method of estimating the number of landless labourers in the early nineteenth century seems to lie in working from caste data, on the assumption that members of certain castes were hereditary agricultural labourers. This assumption was strengthened by the servile status of the members of these castes, a status frequently approaching agrarian slavery5. Since it was in this region (modern Andhra) that Muslim overlordship had been established the most firmly, it was to be expected that those forms of servitude closely connected with caste would be milder here than in other parts of south India. Domestic slavery was fairly common, and a slave trade was fairly brisk in the early nineteenth century, but agrarian slavery or serfdom was rare. Indeed, in 1818, the board of revenue went so far as to say that there, the agricultural labourers were free. But this was putting it too strongly, for they worked on contracts and were bound to the village until their time was up; moreover, they generally stayed in these villages, their descendants often remaining attached to the same families. In any case, the information sent in by the collectors in 1819 did something to quench the Board’s optimism. In Musulipatam, “the far greater proportion of the more substantial ryots had slaves; or rather they had men whose families had been in the employment of their ancestors from time immemorial, and whose services they had a right to enforce”. In 1839, this description became more precise. It was then reported that while “slavery in the usual acceptation of the word” did not exist, there were three categories of dependants who were usually called slaves: the servants of zamindars (Khasaloo), the servants of Muslims (goolams), and finally the paulaloo, who were pariahs attached to the ryots or cultivators. These paulaloo were not saleable, but when the land was sold, they went with it. They might not desert their master, or if they did, he could claim them back. “To these persons, however, although they live in a state of 4 5

Karl Marx and F. Engels, “On Colonialism”, Moscow, n.d., pp. 35-37, 271. Dharma Kumar, p. 341.

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perpetual servitude to their master, the term of ‘hereditary servants’ might be more properly applied, as they were neither saleable nor was the authority of the masters legally recognized”. With such ambiguities in status, it was not surprising that the administrators could not agree among themselves whether servitude existed. In 1836, the officials of Cuddapah and Nellore flatly denied that there was slavery in their districts, and it was said to be very mild in Guntur. Yet in that same year, the Collectors of Rajahmundry and Ganjam were writing of the “voluntary servitude of the slaves” and “slavery of the mildest description”, similar to the situation in Musulipatnam. Whatever the nature of this servitude, there can be no doubt that in the Telugu districts, it was less widespread than in Tamilnad, and that only very rarely did it approach the rigour of servile status further to the south. But equally, there can be no doubt that it was correlated with landlessness and correlated with caste6. From the censuses of 1871 and thereafter, which contained caste data, the mala of the Telugu districts, who were traditionally weavers as well as agricultural workers, and the weavers at the beginning of nineteenth century, could not be reduced to agricultural labourers7.

Casual Migrants and Palerus (Field Servants) of the Delta Districts The more significant phenomenon of migration on a seasonal basis from “backward” to more “developed” areas was on the increase. There was a normal level of population movement every year from the poorer district to the highly irrigated tracts of the deltas8. The largest of the deltas of east coast India – that of Godavari – had an area of a thousand square miles and supported a population of nearly two thirds of a million. The delta of Kistna could boast an almost equal area and population9. The construction of the Anicut across the Godavari and Kistna rivers was a great boon to this part of the country. Since its construction, the district has been intersected with canals, useful not only for the agriculture, but also for navigation10. 6

Dharma Kumar, pp. 349-350. Ibid., p. 362. 8 Satyanarayana, A., Andhra Peasants Under British Rule: Agrarian Relations and Rural Economy 1900-1940, Monohar, New Delhi, 1990, p. 130-133. (Henceforth Satyanarayana, A.) 9 Sumner W. Cushing, “The East Coast of India”, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. 45, No. 2 (1913), p. 90. 10 Satyanarayana, A., p. 130. 7

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Since the introduction of the admirable system of irrigation in the Godavari Delta, famine was unknown; the people were prosperous and contented. It was the garden of the great Northern Province. Its revenue, instead of being reduced, as it once was, to the verge of bankruptcy, was more elastic than it had ever been; its population more than doubled; the material prosperity of its inhabitants was proved by their being better fed, better clothed, and better educated than formerly; its commerce flourished, and its trade developed to a marvelous degree; and it may confidently be asserted that it was in as peaceful, happy, and prosperous a condition as any part of Her Imperial Majesty’s Dominions. Under all items of revenue, for the actual collections in the Godavari district from 1820 to 1875-76, the total revenue raised in the district increased from 24 lakhs to 88 lakhs in forty-one years. The Census of 1861 gave a total of population of 1,366,831, whilst the previous one of 1891 gave a population of 2,011,982 (excluding the Badrachalm – Rekalally Taluk and Kottapalle Taluk were not included in the count of 1861), an increase of slightly over 47 percent in 30 years. The area of irrigated land in the delta in 1861 had increased from less than 150,000 acres of precarious cultivation to 640,744 acres of ‘first’ crop and 80,966 acres of ‘second’ crop by 1893-94. The communications now in the delta were intersected by nearly 500 miles of excellent navigable canal, affording the cheapest of all means of inland carriage, and there were also another 500 miles or so of well-made roads for wheeled traffic, constructed chiefly from local funds, which the great prosperity of the district had rendered it possible to collect within itself11. The results of the Kistna Delta irrigation works had raised the district from poverty and deterioration to prosperity and progress; they had converted hundreds of square miles of its barren lands into fruitful fields, and secured it against famines which used to ravage it, so that besides growing sufficient food grains for its own inhabitants, it also provided a surplus for less favored regions, and this was accomplished with the happiest of financial results, for the direct returns alone had far more than repaid to the state all the capital expanded on the works, and they yielded a yearly surplus revenue, after paying all expanses, of upwards of 17 lakhs of rupees. Amongst all the district of the Madras presidency, the Kistna stands second as regards land revenue from all sources, coming next after the two other extensively irrigated districts of Tanjore and Godavari. The following statement gives the income from various sources of revenue in the Kistna district at intervals of ten years, beginning from the year in 11

George T. Walch, The Engineering Works of Godavari Delta: A Descriptive and Historical Account, Vol. I, Madras, 1896, pp. 153-157.

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which the Anicut was begun. From this, it can be seen that the total revenue raised from the district by government increased, in less than 50 years, from 30ѿ lakhs to nearly 76 lakhs. In 25 years, the population of the district increased by about 43 percent. The effect of irrigation on the density of the population in the district was very marked. Since the construction of Anicut, the cultivation of the irrigated land in the delta increased from some 40,000 acres of precarious cultivation, to upwards of half a million acres of wet crops grown annually. Regarding communication before the Anicut was begun, the deltaic portions of the district were almost entirely without an internal means of communication worthy of the name, and such traffic as there was had to be carried on chiefly by means of labourers and pack cattle; now the Delta was intersected by nearly 300 miles of excellent navigable canals, furnishing the cheapest of all means of inland carriage, and there were some 350 miles of well-made roads for wheeled traffic, which were constructed and maintained from local funds, which the great prosperity of the district had made it possible to collect within itself12. The population of Kistna and West Godavari increased by 14, 15 and 7 percent during the three decades from 1891 to 1921 respectively, with similar figures for East Godavari being 10, 13 and 2 percent respectively. From the Census Report for 1921, it was seen that the average increase in the Godavari district during the decade 1901-11 was 14.5 percent, while in Kistna it was 13.9 percent. In trying to explain the check in population during the decade 1911-21, the settlement officer said that this result was, in the main, due to the influenza epidemic of 1918. From the following facts, however, it seems obvious that there must have been other causes in operation to account for the very large check in the increase of population in the decade 1911-21. From the Census Report for 1921, it was seen that the increase in the death rate due to the influenza epidemic of 1918 was 13.1 per thousand, or 1.31 percent of the population. Besides the increase in death rate, there was a fall in birth rate, at about 5 per thousand or 0.5 per cent, so that the total loss of population due to the influenza epidemic may be taken as 11.8 or, say, 2 percent. The difference in the percentage increase during the decades 1901-11 and 1911-21 for the two districts of Godavari and Kistna were 7.7 and 7.3 per cent respectively so that on average, the influenza epidemic could not be an explanation for the diminution of (7.7-2) 5.7 and 7.3-2 percent of the population of the district respectively. We must therefore look for other causes. From the Census Report of 1921, which gives figures for immigrants and migrants, in the case of Godavari District, 12 George T. Walch, The Engineering Works of Kistna Delta: A Descriptive and Historical Account, Vol. I, Madras, 1896, pp. 173-176

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it was learnt that the excess of immigrants over migrants had dwindled to 28,000 in 1921. In the case of the Kistna district, while the excess of immigrants over migrants was 120,000 in 1911, in the year 1921, there was actually an excess of 23,000 migrants over immigrants. Regarding the increase of population versus the increase in cultivation, between the years 1901 and 1929, the population of three districts had increased by about 21 percent13. In his report on the direct and indirect effects of the Anicut works, G.N. Taylor, Esq., the Sub-Collector in charge of Rajahmundry district, noted that the employment of many thousands of people at seasons when they could not have found work elsewhere, opened out to the laboring class a new and profitable means of livelihood, and secured to the ryot, the tradesman, and the merchant, a large and certain market for agricultural products and merchandise of all kinds. No proof was wanting of the improved condition of the laboring class: many of them had risen from a state approaching slavery to become independent cultivators; that was to say, that instead of working as before for inadequate daily hire, some of them now possessed small holdings of their own, and paid land tax to the government, while others were content to sell their labour to government for the ample pay they received at the public works. It must be admitted that the change was very hard upon individuals among the better and more wealthy class of ryots, who were accustomed and entitled by long pre-scripture right to the services of their serfs or under labourers, who in return had enjoyed certain rights and immunities, and even the site upon which they lived, at the will of their lord. These proprietors now found themselves deserted in favor of the government works, and were frequently in want of hands for the tillage of their fields at the proper seasons. The natural effect was a raise in the wages of labour, but, as the compulsory attendance at the government works was no longer enforced, the better class of ryots had no real grievance on the score. He admitted that after a temporary absence, his under-labourer returned to the village with a bag of money, but because the latter surrendered no portion of his gains, he found it difficult to realize the principle that the money would find its way to him in some shape or other, and that the servant’s prosperity was undoubtedly conducive to the benefit of the master. It would take a little time, perhaps, to impress this truth upon the natives generally, but in some villages, they were already beginning to understand it14. 13 Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee of Madras Presidency, 1930, Vol. I, p. 18-19. 14 Reports on the Direct and Indirect Effects of the Godavari and Kistna Anicuts, in Rajahmundry, Musulipatnam, Guntoor, C., and the Coleroon Anicuts, in Tanjore and South Arcot, Madras, 1858, p. 23.

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Immigrant Labour from North Coastal Andhra There was a normal movement of the population every year from the poorer district to the highly irrigated tracts of the deltas. The numbers who moved cannot be ascertained, but thousands moved every year from Vizagpatnam, from the uplands of Godavari, Kistna and Guntur, to the lands watered by the Kistna and Godavari. In some cases, these people, finding conditions favorable, settled down in the district to which they had come. However, as these tracts consisted of almost an unbroken sea of irrigated rice fields, they very often crowded on mounds rising out of the waters and congestion was a serious problem which was dealt with by the acquisition of better sites and raising the level of the land acquired. Wherever possible, land by the side of roads or channels that were in the possession of government or taluk boards were being allotted for free15. The Peddalanka channel under the Kistna reservoir project was constructed in the year 1895 and was designed to irrigate 22,500 acres of land, part of which lay in the seven villages under discussion. It was known that the lands adjoining the further reaches of a new channel – those, in fact, with which my investigation is concerned – were likely to be difficult to bring under irrigation, owing, among other reasons, to scarcity of population in the tract and the great distance between the existing villages and many of the lands concerned. Efforts were made to counteract these difficulties by setting apart lands for the construction of hamlets, by free grant of part of the waste lands, and by inviting settlers from among poorer classes. These efforts were not very successful. The tract did not rapidly fill up and become populated, nor were most of the sites selected for hamlets occupied, since I have found that collectors, a few years later, refused to convert these lands to Poramboke (waste lands) on the grounds that there was no demand for housing sites on them. Much of the land sold by auction and that assigned on free grants was subsequently either relinquished or bought by government, and it is said that some of the neighboring ryots and merchants who speculated on these lands lost heavily. They found, in fact, that having got lands, they could not obtain sufficient resident tenants or resident labour to bring the lands under cultivation. These difficulties, which did not yield to the efforts of the local officers for some ten or twelve years, were now rapidly disappearing. The recent high price of paddy was probably the main factor in producing this result, together with an increased knowledge of the possibilities of the 15 Report on the Royal Commission on Agriculture, Madras Presidency, 1930, p. 313.

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tract among the ryot population, and among the floating labouring population that continually visited the delta. Self-interest was having its natural effect and beginning to draw population into the area in spite of the continued existence of most of the drawbacks. The increase in population, taking place entirely since the last census nearly nine years ago, showed an average population of 185 people per square mile. Several new hamlets sprang up by the side of the Peddalankka Channel towards its extreme end, one or two of them on the sites originally selected by local revenue officers some twelve years back. A community of native Christians that was established in one of these hamlets flourished. A deserted village called Amaravati was rebuilt by a community of Upparas (professional earth-diggers) and a body of migrants from Vizagaptanam district settled in another hamlet, which they named Bobbli Guddem, after the headquarters of Bobbili Maharaja. The two latter communities were doubtless drawn from the great class of imported labourers, which flowed annually into the delta for employment during the transplantation and harvest seasons. The major villages were also said to have much increased in size. These hamlets had brought the resident population somewhat nearer to the outlying parts of the cultivated lands, but the distance was still considerable, often as much as two miles and occasionally as much three. The low level of the land was, as it always has been, the difficulty which prevented the erection of villages which were more convenient in situation. In order for village sites to be quite secure from submersion, they had to be constructed of made earth and raised several feet. It was plain, however, that the ryots no longer considered the distance of the lands from their homes prohibitive. It was now worth noting as well that some of these lands were held by well-to-do non-resident holders living in the adjoining taluk of Bhimavaram and elsewhere. These men build temporary shelters on raised patches of these lands for the use of their servants and themselves during the transplantation and harvest seasons, and did not visit the lands at other times. This increase in population had naturally been accompanied by a marked increase in cultivation and irrigation. Over 3,000 acres had been newly brought under irrigation during the two years immediately preceding my investigation. The Iasakapalli area: this block of land was situated in the Repalli taluk (till recently, the Tenali Taluk) of the Guntur district. Like Peddalanka, the scarcity of population and the distance of villages from the lands to be irrigated had retarded the development of irrigation. The census shows a population of only 172 to the square mile. The history of the efforts made to overcome these difficulties was an almost exact replication of what took place in the Peddalanka tract. Owing to the lack of population, difficulties

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regarding irrigation and water supply, and other drawbacks, irrigation was slow to develop. As in the case of the Peddalankka the difficulties that were experienced in attracting population to this tract had, during the previous few years, disappeared of themselves without any special official effort, and in this case, much more rapidly and completely. Four new hamlets had been founded, and it was believed that the populations of the major villages had also increased significantly since the last census. In discussing the probable rate of development under Mr. Reid’s scheme, the board attached considerable importance to Mr. Parson’s remark that “large areas in the Kistna Delta, e.g., under the Peddalanka and Wasakupally project areas [had] been laying waste for years owing merely to paucity of cultivators”. The Kolleru Lake area: The Kolair Lake was a shallow saucer-like depression lying between the Kistna and Godavari delta systems and receiving part of the drainage of both. In the first place, in this area, unlike the rest of the Kistna Delta, the practice of growing a crop of paddy in the months of January to April or May was by no means unknown to the local cultivators. The Kolair area’s borders, as already stated, were on the margins of the Godavari canals. And in the bed of the Kolair Lake itself, nearly 10,000 acres of such crop (generally called Dalwa Paddy) was now grown under conditions much more precarious than would have been the case under the project. Of the cultivators of this dalwa crop, 20% came from villages that did not border the Kolair Lake and nearly 10% came from distant villages, more than five miles away from its edge. The ryots called the Kolair Lake a gold mine, and indeed, it was a sort of agricultural Klondike to the more adventurous cultivators for some miles round. The reasons for the attractions which this particular form of cultivation exercised in the neighborhood were not far to seek. The Kolair bed was astonishingly fertile; more fertile, if the ryots were to be believed, than the best alluvial lands in the delta. The labour and expense involved in the cultivation were very small, as the land only needed puddling and no dry ploughing after its submersion. In describing the Peddalankka area, land was cultivated by this exact method, by nonresident owners and labourers visiting the lands at transplantation time and harvest, living for the time being in any of the temporary huts that were erected on any dry spot they could find. Over the whole tract, indeed, there were probably many cases where the owner had no intention of living in the Kolair area and preferred to cultivate using temporary labourers. The labour supply problem was not wholly disposed of by the population figures since in certain seasons, the thickly populated delta tract found itself unable to do with outside labour, and the same was doubtless the case in all the areas commanded by the project. The permanent farm

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labourers employed all year round continued, of course, to manage the agricultural operations between the seasons of transplantation and reaping, but in those seasons, outside labour was essential at least in the larger holdings from the Vizagapatnam district and Kurnool and Nellore districts. It was an established practice for the labourers of these dry tracts to drift into the delta at these seasons and return home when the transplantation or reaping was over. The numbers that came in amounted to many thousands. It was estimated that such labourers formed one third of the whole laboring population of the delta in these seasons. Even so, the demand was greater than the supply; and the difficulty in obtaining labour and the price they had to pay for it was a continual source of grievance to the ryots. The wages of an adult male labourer in the transplantation season were now about 6 annas a day, or about twice what they used to be, and twice what they were in the dry tracts which were no more than a hundred miles off. They had a proverb in the delta now that the house wife was more careful of the farm labour than of her own husband, which rather quietly illustrated the strong position in which high prices and growing cultivation and industries had placed the local labour. Wages were likely to keep up or to rise higher, so long as prices were kept up also. With their enormous profits on the grain, the ryots could perfectly well afford to pay this rate of wages, and could indeed expect nothing other than increased rates. So long as the profits to be made by a labourer and his family, through a visit to the delta of some six weeks duration, were so great, the influx of labour would no doubt increase automatically as the wet area expanded. The labour sources that could be tapped by the railways that radiated out from Bezawada were particularly unlimited. What was most likely to happen was that a portion of the labourers who visited the delta annually would become naturalized there, and their places as temporary labourers who came in for short periods were taken by other labourers drawn from their own original homes, or areas further afield. In describing the Peddalankka area, labourers turned into actual ryots. An interesting point arose in connection with this question of labour and the proposed second crop in the delta. The seasons on double crop lands were as explained: First crop reaped in December. Second crop transplanted in February. Second crop reaped in May. First crop transplanted in June. Therefore, with a very slight modification of the existing practice, by coming in a few weeks earlier, the temporary labour could reap the second

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crop and proceed straight away to transplanting the first crop, and this was what actually took place. It ought to have suited the labourers particularly well. They might have found it inconvenient to stop, however, in the interval between the reaping of the first and the transplantation of the second crop, to return after this comparatively short interval. But if the second crop was limited to 24% of the first crop, this area could be transplanted using permanent labourers alone. Perhaps a different set of labourers would come in the month of February to extensive areas like the Kolair short late crop area and the adjoining second crop lands. The ryots raised objections to the introduction of the second crop, saying that during the present hot weather, their farm labourers were fully occupied with carting manure and similar agricultural work, and that they could not find labour for two crops. All such difficulties would find their own solution, when to surmount them would bring an unmistakable monetary profit16.

Immigrant Labour from Uplands The wages paid for casual labour depended upon the intensity of demand for labour in any year and in any season, and also upon the total supply of labour in the year and in the special seasons. There was no such thing as a wage market specially organized for the purpose in any of these villages. The ryots had not so far tried to regulate wages by co-operative or concerted actions. The wages paid for any kind of labour in any season depend entirely on any special demand for labour that arose. It was especially so in the deltaic villages, where the two great seasons of excessive and imperative demand for labour for transplanting, reaping and heaping in the paddy fields came all at once, ran for very short periods, and came to a close just as precipitately. Individual ryots had but little and finished it as soon as possible, as otherwise they would have had to lose heavily in more than one direction. The demand for labour became excessive and the local supplies of labour were found to be very inadequate. There was an immediate necessity for immigrant labour; hence the huge streams of such labour from the uplands to these parts in every season of transplantation or reaping. At these times, wages went on rising from the day on which the season began, and then slid down very slowly owing to the limited season for agricultural operation. Every ryot was anxious to get an adequate supply of labour to finish the work on the field 16

Special Revenue Officer’s Report on the Kistna Reservoir Project, with the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue and the orders dated 8th August 1911: Report on the Kistna Reservoir Project I, Madras, 1912, pp. 219, 240-242.

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chosen for that day’s work17. Some of the agricultural operations that were mainly employed were noted in 1927 by G.F. Peddison, the commissioner of labour for the government of Madras: “Transplantation of rice was generally done by women, reaping sometimes by both men and women, but other women were engaged in carrying crops to the stock or threshing floor, on their heads”18. Women mainly were employed in transplanting seedlings on paddy fields. Only a few men were engaged to supply the women with bundles of seedlings, to clean the field here and there and to add the final touches to the boundaries of the fields. The number of women needed to transplant an acre of land varied from eight to 15. In places like Singavaram and Dirusumarru in West Godavari; Pallivada, Vinjaram, Poranki, and Kanur of Kistna; and Vendra and Addampalli of East Godavari, where they were in the ever-present danger of submersion, seedlings were transplanted more densely than in other places and naturally more workers were needed. Again, in places like Eleswaram, Vegeswarapuram, Burugupudi, Gummalladoddi of East Godavari; and Machavaram, Koduru, Malleswaram and Amaravati of Kistna, where the local workers were not so sufficient for this kind of work, the number of workers needed per acre increased considerably. Thirdly, the number of workers needed also depends upon the number of hours per day put in by each worker. For instance, in places, like Chataparru, Mudunuru, Nallajerla, Tadikalpudi, Rachur and Chilkur of West Godavari, and Pallivada of Kistna, where there was a plentiful supply of local labour, the number of working hours per day per work was higher than elsewhere. But in places like Pasumarru, Komaravolu and Edupugalla of Kistna; and Pedabrahmadevam, Jagannadhagiri, Someswaram and Pasrlapudi of East Godavari, where the local supply had to be reinforced by immigrant labour, the hours of work put in by any worker in any day tended to be less and naturally more workers per acre were needed. Fourthly, the time at which the supply of water came had an influential bearing upon the ability of ryots to extract more or less hours of work. If the water supply came all of a sudden, helped as it was by heavy rainfall, to all the villages in any particular neighborhood, the clamour for labour was universal and the local supply of labour was far short of the demand; and there was scarcely enough time to bring in contingents of immigrant labour from the

17

Government of Madras Presidency: Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee, 1930, Vol. I, p. 46. 18 Atchi Reddy, M., “Female Agricultural Labourers of Nellore, 1881-1981”, IESHR, 20, 1 (1983), p. 78.

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uplands19. There was also as great a variety of conditions in reaping and heaping, in transplantation and weeding. To look at reaping first, we find that the time at which this work was commenced had a great influence not only upon the workers needed per acre, but also upon the wages paid and the eventual profit or loss which fell to the lot of the ryots. If heavy rainfall threatened, the ryots of the village were obliged to start the reaping suddenly and to finish it in a very short period in order to save their crop from being damaged. Reaping and heaping went together, with heaping following upon the heels of reaping. Therefore, all the influences that affected reaping also influenced heaping to an equal degree. Once begun, these two processes of work must be finished within a very short period, not exceeding a fortnight, especially since at the time of the northeast monsoon there was always the fear of damaging the rice paddy. The local supplies of labour were found to be extremely insufficient in all but a few villages and large numbers of immigrant workers were imported annually from the uplands. At such times, the ryots could scarcely be said to be their own masters and labourers assumed a commanding position, demanding successively higher wages and offering fewer hours of work20. In the uplands in times of scarcity, the people could obtain abundant employment as farm labourers in the delta. In a bad year, they go to the delta and the delta people would give them good wages21.

Paleru (temporary or permanent field servant) We found abundant testimony to the fact that every ryot who had a holding of five acres or more and who did not have an adult male dependant to help him, engaged a paleru (a juvenile or temporary permanent worker) in order to assist him in carrying on his cultivation. There were only rare exceptions to this and they occurred in the case of ryots belonging to the Panchama and other depressed classes in addition to a few extremely poor ryots of higher castes. It was, at first, rather surprising to us to find that even in such admittedly poor villages as Konakanchi in Nandigama taluk, Puligadda of Divi taluk, Nallazerla of Tadepallygudem taluk, Tadikalpudi of Ellore taluk and Gummalladoddi of 19 Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee of Madras Presidency, 1930, Vol. I, p. 50. 20 Ibid., p. 51. 21 Witness no. 442, Rajahmundry, 18 February, 1902, Forty-Sixth Day, Mr. A.E.C. Stuart, I.C.S., Collector of Godavari: Report on the Indian Irrigation Commission – 1901-1902, Minutes of Evidence, Madras, 1903. Written Evidence, p. 314, Oral Evidence, p. 319.

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Rajahmundry taluk, that there should be so many ryots who said they engaged palerus; but on detailed enquiry into the nature of the work contributed by palerus, we came to realize that in most cases, one or more paleru was needed and engaged by ryots, and that the inclusion of their salary in the costs of cultivation was a legitimate item. A ryot must be in all the places in which more than three workers were engaged in finishing any of the different processes of work demanded by paddy cultivation. If seedlings were being uprooted, the ryot must be there not only to see that the labourers did their work thoroughly and quickly, but also to prevent theft. Similarly, he must be on the field in which bundles of seedlings were conveyed to be transplanted and on which transplantation was to be finished. Similarly, in the reaping season, his attention was needed in more than one place. To aid the ryot to discharge his functions of supervisor efficiently, an adult male dependant or a paleru was needed. Without such an additional hand, the labour engaged works inefficiently and other resources were robbed. A paleru did much more work than merely supplementing the supervisor’s functions. He looked after the cattle, kept the cattle shed in proper order, guarded the haystack and agricultural implements, brought fodder (sun hemp, cholam, grass, etc.) for cattle, and stayed on the fields with the cattle during summer. Payments were still made mostly in grain. Small advances of money were made free of interest to the palerus to enable them to clear off old debts, get married or construct a house, on the understanding that such advances should be returned to the ryots when they quit their service. Most of the palerus returned these advances before they left their employers; but a few managed to run away to Rangoon from the districts of West and East Godavari without repaying the advances. Shoes, a pair of upper cloths and a duppati were given as mamools in addition to sweets and food at all festive occasions to some or all of the members of the paleru’s family. During the harvesting season, each paleru was given one or two bundles of cut paddy per field. The paddy that was scraped out of the threshing floor also went to the wife of the paleru. In addition to these perquisites, some palerus were fed by ryots either thrice or only once a day. Such workers were supposed to work better and more efficiently and regularly; but the ryots had to spend more in feeding them thus than if they only paid the usual grain allowance. In some places, the palerus were more anxious to be fed by the ryots than other places. Over and above all these allowances, each paleru was paid either in kind, in cash or in both. One and a half to three caddies of paddy worth Rs 100 to 180 were given per annum. The exact payments that were made varied from village to village, but it was largely true that the salaries that were paid had risen in the last

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30 years by at least 50 percent. The cost per acre of the services of a paleru largely depended upon the extent of land served and the nature of the agreement made with him. It cost less for a ryot who had ten acres of wet land to have a paleru than for one who only had six acres. It paid better for the latter ryot to engage a cattle boy rather than a permanent worker, whenever a ryot was obliged to have more than one paleru in the busy seasons22. The Katha accounts give information about the outturns of lands. All these Kathas indicated that the cost of cultivating an acre of land was not the same over a number of years and that it varied greatly in sympathy with the varying conditions, such as the season and labour supply. The following was summary of the main points brought out by these accounts. I. Katha of Mr. Veeresalingam of Edupugallu, Kistna district: (a) He maintained a large number of palerus; (b) He made grain payments to his palerus, which he did not enter in his accounts; (c) He incurred a large expenditure on manure; (d) He hired cattle for cultivation; (e) He incurred expenditure on the squaring and leveling of his fields. His actual expanses of cultivation per acre, exclusive of the depreciation in charges on cattle and implements, were Rs 6923. Mr. K. Veerasalingam had been keeping Khata accounts ever since 1916, but he supplied his accounts for the years 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 and 1928 A.D. This cultivator, being a Brahman and the Karnam of the village, was not able to actually work in the fields, although he was found to be very enthusiastic and particular about his agriculture. In this period of five years, he had kept three to four palerus per annum in addition to one or two temporary palerus, one or two watchers and one or two customary workers. Considering the fact that he cultivated 10 to 13 acres of land in any year, such a number of palerus strikes one as being too large and abnormal24.

22

Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee of Madras Presidency, 1930, Vol. I, pp. 62-63. (Hereafter REEC) 23 REEC, 1930, Vol. I, p. 64. 24 REEC, 1930, Vol. II, p. 16.

Rs. A. P. 82 0 0 24 13 0 35 0 0 159 1 0 152 13 0

1924 1925 1926 1927 1928

Agricultural Implements Rs. A. P. 16 8 6 24 13 0 20 9 9 25 0 6 16 13 0

Maintenance of Cattle Rs. A. P. 85 3 0 66 13 6 151 6 3 132 11 4 203 9 9 Rs. A. P. 260 0 9 180 13 3 187 13 6 185 1 0 215 2 0

Labour

Source: Report on the Economic Enquiry Committee of Madras Presidency, 1930, Vol. II, p. 17.

Manure

Year

Table No 4.1: Annual cost of cultivation and labour wages in delta from 1942 to1928

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

Rs. A. P. 178 0 0 279 5 0 332 5 0 320 0 0 183 12 7

Paleru

Rs. A. P. 621 12 3 570 0 9 427 2 6 821 13 10 771 2 4

Total

169

170

Chapter IV

II. Katha account of Ramayya of Bhimadole: (a) He employed a large number of palerus; (b) He made part of his payment for labour in bundles of paddy; (c) The cost of cultivation per acre for labour (temporary and permanent) alone, i.e., excluding manure, cattle maintenance, cattle depreciation, agricultural implements, etc., came to Rs 42-10-725. Labour Expanses: The cost of the removal of seedlings over longer distances and the rates of the wages denuded were higher than usual. Transplantation became a costlier process of work year after year, but weeding seemed to be subject to its own changes, uninfluenced to any great extent by changes in the general level of wages. Reaping seemed to be the only process of work over which the ryot had to spend a uniform amount of money. Heaping, though paid for in kind, was less costly in one year than in another owing to the exigencies of the labour market. The ryot managed to keep a large number of customary workers in reserve by offering them priority of employment whenever there was work on his holding and by giving them certain customary mamuls at the time of the harvest. By carefully watching the amount of labour that was engaged in any field to perform particular processes of work, the output of work got out of such labour, and by so adjusting his demand for labour, in the light of his experience in other fields for similar work, and so as not to engage much more than what could usefully be employed, he tried with much success in the preceding six years to minimize the waste of labour, which was engaged at an increasing rate of wages. In spite of all the scientific care taken by this ryot, that he had to spend on the average Rs 15-5-0 per acre per annum upon casual labour alone for the performance of the most important processes of work, was strong enough proof of the statement made in the oral evidence given by ryots in most of the villages: that the cost of labour needed per acre was a little more or less than Rs 20 per annum. If the expenditure upon squaring and leveling the land, repairing the bodi channels and field bunds, and cleaning and watering the seed beds were taken into account, the labour budget of even this ryot came to Rs 17-5-0 per acre per annum. It must also be observed that it cost much less per acre for this ryot to engage labour than for the usual small holders who had too many fields in different places of the village ayacut26.

25

REEC, 1930, Vol. I, p. 65. REEC, 1930, Vol. II, p. 26.

26

1

1

1

1926

1927

1928

0-0-6

0-0-6

0-0-6

0-0-6

4 5 4 5 4 5 4

2 3 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

9 0 0

Transplantation Women 2 0 2 0 2 3

---

Men

6

6

6

6

0

0

0

0

4

4

4

4

0

0

0

0

Weeding Men Women 4 0 2 0 4 0 2 0 4 0 4 0 2 6 4 0 3 0 4 0 3 0 4 0 2 0

Source: Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee of Madras Presidency, 1930, Vol. III, p. 25

1

----

Pulling the Seedlings 100 1-4-0 100 1-4-0

1925

1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1918 1919 1920

Year

Table No. 4.2: Details of wages taken from the accounts of Yelamarti Ramana of Bhimadolu

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

5 6 5 6

5

0 0 0 0

0

4

4

4

0

0

0

Reaping Men Women 3 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 3 0 2 3 5 0 2 6 3 0 2 0 4 0 2 6 5 0 4 0 4 0 3 0 5 0 3 0

171

172

Chapter IV

As regards palerus, the experiences of this ryot were most instructive. He was able to realize 1/7 to 1/10 of the total expenditure incurred upon the palerus though the work contributed by them, when the full days of intensive field work were taken into account alone. During the rest of the year, these workers were found to be doing some useful work or other which was considered to be valuable and serviceable for the farm, as otherwise, this careful ryot would not have engaged them. The ryot must have found the services of his palerus indispensable not only on the days of intensive work but also in the slack seasons. It was therefore evident that under certain circumstances, it clearly paid a ryot to keep a certain amount of permanent labour upon his farm. This account also demonstrated the fact that a permanent paleru was found to be absolutely necessary even by the most efficient and careful of ryots, although in a few places like Tadikalapudi, some ryots would try to get on without them. This account further proves that actual savings in the way of daily labour that could be made by a ryot and a helper (either his wife or relative) by actually working in the fields side by side with the casual labour, could only be very little, being Rs 20 per person at the most27. III. Katha account of K. Venkata Raju, Lankala Koderu (West Godavari): He employed a large number of palerus; (b) He maintained his own cattle and hired others when necessary; (c) He also cultivated second crops on his lands; (d) He made a net annual income of Rs 147 from an area varying between 11-2 acres and 14 acres, calculated over a period of ten years28. Mr. Venkatrarazu had kept Khata accounts since 1911 A.D. He had a holding of 11.20 acres in 1911, including the Lanka polam of 2.78 acres. He himself cultivated this land; he was a very hardworking and thrifty ryot, and tried to minimize the needs for palerus by working in his fields himself. The palerus who were paid mostly in kind were not accounted for, except for the very small payments made in case of the purchase of cloth; and the mamuls given in kind to workers and others were not entered at all in his khata.

27

REEC, 1930, Vol. I, p. 26. REEC, 1930, Vol. I, p. 65.

28

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

173

Table No. 4.3: Total expenditure upon permanent and casual labour Year

Casual Labour Permanent labour Total Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. 1911 80 15 6 106 12 8 187 12 2 1912 95 2 0 106 8 2 201 10 2 1914 89 3 6 102 10 2 191 13 8 1915 85 15 6 95 15 0 181 14 6 Total 351 4 6 411 11 0 763 2 6 Source: Report of the Economic Enquiry Committee, Vol. II, 1930, p. 29

The expenditure upon a part of the casual labour and palerus per acre per annum came to Rs 17-5-6. Since ryots’ Khata were very imperfect and since many items of expenditure upon labour were omitted in this estimate, his actual expenditure must have been more29.

Census Data on Immigrant Labour to Delta The census returns of 1901 give a population of 2,301,759 against 2,078,782 in 1891. The increase was about 10 percent. The percent of increase in the agency during the decade, viz., 14.7, was greater than that in the plains, viz., 10.4. This was possibly due to immigration, but it was also, to some extent, due to the alteration of agency boundaries in 1892. The increase in the district was as a whole due to peace and prosperity and the absence of famine and pestilence, but also because of the influx of the poorer classes from Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts over the last thirty years into different parts of the district30. In 1881, the total number of immigrants into Godavari district from the Vizagaptanm district was 62,958; 31,990 of which were male and 30,968 female. There was a very marked movement into the rich alluvial and fertile Godavari district, where the total number of immigrants in 1891 was 120,580. During the decade from 1900 to 1911, the total number of immigrants recoded in the 1911 census report was 120,940 people, who moved from Vizagapatnam to Godavari. The census figures showed that in 1901, the Godavari district contained no fewer than 120,940 people who had been born in Vizagapatnam, and that Kistna contained 17,524 inhabitants.31 The general insignificance of the irrigation works and the refusal of any remission in bad seasons, moreover, rendered wet cultivation less profitable than it 29

REEC, 1930, Vol. II, p. 28-30. A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, p. 94. 31 Madras District Gazetteers, Vizagapatnam, 1907, p. 60. 30

174

Chapter IV

might have been, and forced the ryot to carry out repairs to irrigation works which in ryotwari tracts, he would calmly leave to government to effect. There was astonishingly little litigation between landlords and tenants under the Tenancy Law (Act VIII of 1865) and their relations were friendly enough; but the result of the system seemed to be that the zamindari ryots in the plains of Vizagapatnam were, as a body, much less prosperous than their fellows in the southern ryotwari district, which was equally fertility. It was seen that thousands had migrated to Godavari district.32 The population increased by ten percent in the decade of 18911901, against an average of seven percent in the presidency as whole. Much of this was due to the extraordinary amount of migration from Vizagapatnam which occurred.33

32 33

Madras District Gazetteers, Vizagapatnam, 1907, p. 6. Madras District Gazetteers, Godavari, 1915, p. 38.

Population in 1901 Per square Per 1000 acres mile total Arable Cultivated area Chodavram 32 17,422 22,086 Rajahmundry 460 1,004 1,895 Yellavarm 31 652 2,372 Tuni 272 ----Peddapuram 331 1270 2,170 Pithapuram 440 ------Cocanada 1125 3,872 4,548 Ramachandrapuram 551 1,701 1,950 Amalpuram 548 1,825 2,312 Narsapuram 589 1,352 2,039 Bhimavaram 445 1,180 1,572 Tanuku 644 1,959 2,253 Ellore 233 945 1,906 Yarnagudem 247 944 1,694 Polavaram 103 995 2,479 Badrachalam 53 1,371 3, 224 The Whole District 289 --------------Source: Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1908, p. 94.

Taluk Or Division

+22.0 +19.6

+23.0 +19.6 +18.3 +12.7 +15.2 +12.3 +8.4 +15.2 +12.9 +18.7 +15.8

+18.0

-14.4 +10.0 +8.5 +9.8 +12.5 +17.5 +12.4 +9.1 +9.4 ----+10.2

1881-1891

+15.0 +10.4

----+2.3 +3.2 +0.3 +16.5 +11.0 +8.3 +11.2 +17.5 +17.0 +5.5 +8.6

+14.1

1891-1901

175

+34.5

+NA +25.0 +NA +17.1 +49.8 +5.6 +132.7 +8.2 +34.4 +43.3 +56.4 +42.6 +32.3 +3.9 +NA

1971-1901

Loss or gain of population in percent

+13.2

1871-1881

Table No. 4.4: Population of Godavari District from 1870 to 1900

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

176

Chapter IV

The census of 1941 gives a population of 1,890,294 against the number of 1,680,053 in 1931, for the district excluding the agency. The population of the agency tracts was 271,569 against 240,529 in 1931. The increase was about 12.5 percent. The increase in the plains as well as in the agency was said to be due to peace and prosperity, and the absence of famine and pestilence. The following tables show as far as possible the fluctuations of the population during the preceding thirty years in the each Taluk of the district34.

34

Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 13.

Population in 1941 Per square Per 1000 acres mile total Arable Cultivated area Cocanada 998 2,372 2,551 Peddapuram 415 1,427 1,500 Ramachandrapuram 1059 2,001 2,187 Rjamundry 672 1,332 1,689 Razole 959 1,677 2,267 Amalpuram 772 2,015 2,160 Pitapuram 645 1,163 2,452 Tuni 759 1,189 2,047 The whole district 743 1,660 2,042 Agency Yellavarm 55 1,107 1,562 Chodavram 51 2,660 3,337 Polavaram 157 1,768 2,233 Bdrachalam 76 1,058 1,083 Nagur 51 902 1,143 The Agency 74 1,397 1,674 Source: A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 13

Taluk Or Division

Table No. 4.5: Population of East Godavari from 1911 to1941

+15.0 +17.3 +8.2 +17.8 +13.7 +14.3 +16.0 +15.5 +14.2 +16.6 +15.6 +13.0 +25.5 +21.3 +18.4

+3.5 -2.0 +1.9 -10.6 +0.5 -1.8

1921-1931

+0.3 -3.2 +7.4 -1.9 +4.0 +5.1 -4.4 +0.8 +1.7

1911-1921

+13.4 +11.7 +12.3 +10.9 +20.2 +12.9

+12.4 +17.2 +11.1 +15.5 +8.25 +9.4 +16.0 +16.0 +12.5

1931-1941

177

+36.9 +26.6 +29.4 +24.5 +52.6 +31.3

+29.8 +32.9 +29.1 +33.4 +28.0 +31.4 +28.7 +35.2 +30.7

1911-1941

Loss or gain of population in percent

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

Chapter IV

35

Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 14.

Population in 1941 Per square Per 1000 acres mile total Arable Cultivated area Bhimavaram 691 1,253 1,945 Chintapudi 205 396 1,041 Ellore 421 988 1,532 Kovvuru 452 754 1,486 Narsapur 929 1,664 2,386 Tadepalligudem 229 975 1,398 Tanuku 1,152 2,116 2,280 The Whole District 558 1,058 1,719 Source: A Statistical Atlas of Madras of Presidency, 1940, p. 14

Taluk Or Division

Table No. 4.6: Population of West Godavari from 1901 to 1940

1911-1921 +12.8 +7.3 +5.2 -2.2 +12.0 +7.1 +5.8 +7.3

1901-1911 +15.20 --+14.3 +13.3 +13.1 ----+13.0 +11.8

+20.4 +9.6 +18.8 +18.0 +13.8 +17.9 +14.8 +16.3

1921-1931

+16.2 +15.9 +9.3 +14.7 +11.5 +15.8 +10.1 +12.8

1931-1941

Loss or gain of population in percent

The Census of 1941 gave a population of 1,380,088 against the figure of 1,223,056 for the district in 1931. The increase was 12.8 percent. The increase in the population may be said to be due to peace and prosperity, and the absence of famine and pestilence. The particulars of the variation in the population of the district during the period from 1901 to 1941 and of the distribution of the population in different parts of the district are shown in the following table35.

178

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

179

According to the census of 1941, the population of the district was 1,444,294 or 15.5 percent more than that recorded in 1931. The increase was due to the absence of famine and pestilence during the decade, and immigration from other parts, especially of labourers from Vizagapatnam district. During the preceding seventy years, the total population of district increased by 121.5 percent. The increase was greatest in Bezawada taluk and next to it in Nandigama, Gudivada, Kaikaluru and Divi taluks, and the least in Tiruvur taluk. However, in relation to the area from which people derived their subsistence, the numbers were large in Bandar and Bezawada taluks, considerable in Gudivada and moderate in the other taluks. The particulars of the movement of population during this period and of its distribution in different parts of the district are shown in the following table.36 During 1870 to 1881, the majority of immigrants came from the neighboring district: from Nellore, the total number of immigrants was 33,502, 16,840 of which were male and 16,662 female; from 1900 to 1911, the total number of immigrants was 54,182; and from Kurnool, the total which immigrated was 8,572, 4,153 of which were male and 4,419 female, as per the 1881 Census Report. The 1891 Census Report showed that 5.81 percent of the population came from outside the district. The marginal figures showed that there was some movement into this district during the decade: the total number of immigrants was 10,758; of these, 5,894 were male and 4,864 female. In the 1911 Census Report, there were 17,524 from the same district. The considerable increase in the number of people from Vizagapatnam residing in Kistna must, therefore, be due to migration. The Census Report of 1911 said, “In Kistna, the extension of cultivation in the delta taluks was responsible for the raise of immigration to this district from Vizagapatnam and Nellore. The Godavari district also benefited by immigration from Ganjam and Vizagapatnam.”37

36 37

A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 13. Census of India, Vol. XV, Madras, Part I, p. 29.

Population in 1901 Per Per 1000 acres square Arable Cultivated mile total area 522 1,053 2,063 403 960 1,390 721 1,346 1,404 349 668 1,014 569 1,133 1,952 300 624 818 276 1,338 1,338 573 1,099 1,099 243 413 873 416 874 1,254

18711881

18811891

Bandar +5.0 +14.3 Divi +9.7 +11.8 Gudivada +17.4 +19.4 Kaikaluru +6.1 +21.3 Bezawada -0.2 +28.4 Nandigama +0.8 +18.1 Nuzvidu +12.8 +22.8 Gannavarm Tiruvur -2.3 +12.3 The Whole +6.2 +18.6 District Source: A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 13

Taluk Or Division

+12.4 +20.2 +14.3 +13.5 +18.6 +13.0 +15.2 +14.4 +15.2

+7.5 +8.5 +28.8 +27.2 +16.6 +10.5 +21.2 +13.3 +16.7

19011911

+9.7 +7.6 +10.6 +12.3 +8.5 +1.4 +2.5 +6.4 +0.8 +6.4

19111921

+23.1 +13.3 +12.6 +29.8 +18.9 +11.3 +12.5 +14.4 +13.2 +15.9

19211931

Loss or gain of population in percent 18911901

Chapter IV

Table No. 4.7: Population of Kistna District from 1871-1940

180

+8.6 +14.7 -10.5 +7.8 +24.5 +17.2 +18.8 +15.9 +14.3 +15.2

19311941

+109.6 +127.1 +156.5 +143.1 +184.5 +167.9 +91.4 --+86.8 +121.5

18711941

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

181

The census of 1941 returned a total population of 2,277,283 against the figure of 2,035,660, according to census of 1931. It consisted of 1,115,926 males and 1,121,357 females. It gave an increase of 11.9 percent over the figures of 1931, 25.8 percent over those of 1921, 34.2 percent over the figures of 1911 and 73.0 percent over those of 1891. The increase in population was due mainly to peace and the prosperity of inhabitants. The absence of famine and pestilence, and an influx of poorer classes from Nellore and Kurnool to the deltaic tracts and Guntur contributed to the increase to an appreciable extent. It can be observed that there was an increase in every taluk during the previous census. Guntur taluk came first, showing an increase of 17.4 percent; Palnad came next, showing an increase of 14.5 percent; Repalle, Tenali and Ongole taluks followed next in order, showing an increase of 14.4, 13.6 and 12.1 percent respectively. The Guntur taluk had the largest population in the district and Vinukonda the smallest. The following table shows the distribution of the population in several taluks of the district since 190138.

38

A Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 15.

Chapter IV

Population in 1941 Per Per 1000 acres square Arable Cultivated mile total area Ongole 380 741 1,057 Bapatla 500 918 1,181 Tenali 923 594 1,679 Repalle 557 235 1,542 Guntur 677 284 1,484 Sattenapalee 336 732 917 Nrasaraopet 356 668 924 Vinukonda 177 477 658 Palnadu 185 498 697 The whole district 395 836 1,087 Source: Statistical Atlas of Madras Presidency, 1940, p. 15

Taluk Or Division

+10.4 +12.5 +17.6 +21.9 +15.1 +5.6 +15.8 +14.5 +4.9 +13.9

19011911

Table No. 4.8: Population of Guntur District from 1901 to 1941

182

+5.2 +8.1 +10.9 +7.6 +10.4 +2.1 +8.5 +6.5 -2.6 +6.6

1911-1921

+7.0 +14.3 +13.9 +18.9 +16.8 +14.6 +12.1 +3.7 +7.0 +12.5

19211931 +12.1 +7.7 +13.6 +14.4 +17.4 +9.9 +8.3 +9.3 +14.5 +11.9

1931-1941

Loss or gain of population in percent

+39.7 +55.8 +73.1 +44.9 +82.6 +48.7 +51.2 +38.3 +25.2 +52.8

19011941

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

183

It was noted that the delta district increasingly absorbed immigrant labour from contiguous districts: 1.43 lakhs in 1921 and 2.13 lakhs in 1931.39

Rural labour migration to urban centers In the Madras Presidency, the recruitment of labour for industrial concerns was mainly local. Most of the factories were situated in the larger towns and the workers – skilled and unskilled – employed in these factories were, as a rule, recruited from these towns themselves or from the adjoining villages. Workers of whom an especially high degree of skills was expected were sometimes brought in from a distance, but these cases were believed to be relatively few. Some migration of labour did take place, as in the case of field labourers seeking employment in seasonal factories, e.g., in the groundnut season, but such migration very rarely occurred from any great distance. As rule, factory workers recruited from villages near the factories returned to their villages whenever they had an opportunity, e.g., if they had to cease work on account of strikes, reduction of staff, illness, etc. In this way, they maintained contact with the villages. The total number of industrial labourers (including casual employees) in the establishments containing no fewer than ten people was less than 200,000, while the total number of labourers on estates was about 50,000 by 1929.40 The growth and development of many modern towns in the Andhra region began by end of the 19th century. The movement of the rural population to the urban areas was largely due to the higher wages and greater freedom from caste repression which the towns held out to the lower sections of the population.41 “After ruin, go to city”, thus ran a south Indian proverb.42 Given the lack of employment opportunities in the countryside and the population pressure, many of the ruined peasants and artisans migrated to towns in search of work. In fact, to some extent, agro industries provided employment to such immigrants.43 The fact was that there had been an increasing degree of “exodus” of rural labour to towns 39

Madras Census Reports, Part 1 of 1921 and 1931, p. 95. Royal Commission on Labour, Madras Presidency, Vol. VII, Part I, 1929, Madras, p. 6. 41 Rama Kristna, V., Social Reform Movements in Andhra, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1993, pp. 34-35. 42 Baker, C.J., The Politics of South India,1920-1937, Cambridge University Press, Delhi, 1976, p. 184. 43 Ramana Rao, A.V., Economic Development of Andhra Pradesh, 1766-1957, Popular Book House, Bombay, 1958, p. 163. 40

184

Chapter IV

where industrial activities were being established. The jute mills in Vizagapatnam district, the rice mills in the Godavari and Kistna districts, and the cotton presses and groundnut decorating factories in the Ceded districts certainly absorbed some of the rural proletariat. However, this kind of employment was casual and seasonal.44

Migrations to Hyderabad State Migration was generally believed to result from the difficulty of finding sufficient means of livelihood in the native country, but this contention cannot be very readily put forth in the case of Hyderabad, where people were comparatively more home-loving, as the social traditions and customs seemed to have a powerful hold upon the inhabitants. The migration in the Dominions was mostly of the casual type. For instance, the rural population often keeps on moving between adjoining villages; this was due to frequent irrigation projects and railway construction. In the same way, the movement of inhabitants took place at specific intervals for agricultural operations, cotton ginning and rice milling, etc. Again, a quasi-permanent type of migration arose due to the movement of government servants, commercial employees, domestic servants, businessmen and students45. Madras gives us 46,644 male and 44,548 female immigrants in place of the 27,279 male and 30,713 female emigrants that the presidency took away from this province, while the balance in our credit was due to the large colony of Madrasees in the suburbs of the capital46. According to the Census of 1911, Madrasees were most numerous in Hyderabad City (15,118), Warangal (26,791), Nalgonda (13,672) and Raichur (5,572). In the Madras presidency as well, Hyderabadees were mostly found in the districts adjoining the state: Krishna (23,601), Kurnool (7,277), Bellary (12,894) and the Godavari Agency (6,322). There were 2,318 of them in Madras City47. The Census of India, 1921, shows the migrants from the state. More than 90% were to be found in the Madras districts, the frontiers of which bordered with those of the districts in the south of the state. They were thus localized in the Bellary, Kurnool, Guntur, and 44

Satyanarayana, A., Andhra Peasants Under British Rule, p. 130. Anwar Iqbal Qureshi, “The Economic Development of Hyderabad”, Vol. 1, Rural Economy, Orient Longmans Limited, Madras, p. 36. 46 Census of India, 1891, Volume XXIII, His Highness the Nizam’s Dominions: Report on the Census Operations, Part II, Bombay, 1894, p. 145. 47 Census of India, 1911, Volume XIX, Hyderabad State, Part I: Report, Bombay, 1913, p. 32. 45

Agriculture and Industrial Labour Migrations

185

Krishna districts and the Godavari Agency tracts48. The 1931 Census report shows that Madras furnished the largest number of immigrants in the state population, and it was significant that they appeared to be more or less of semi-permanent in character as the proportion of males to females was three to one. Nearly 90% of Madras’ immigrants were found in the district adjoining the Madras Presidency. Warangal district had 22,692 people belonging to the Madras presidency. The Singareni mines and irrigation project which were under construction accounted for a large number of Madrasees in Nalgonda, adjoining Bezawada, and the Guntur district, which enumerated 10,364 Madras born, of whom only a fifth were women. The number of immigrants from Hyderabad to Madras was 58,476, or an increase of 18,160 over the preceding decade. The excess of immigration over migration had meant a gain to Hyderabad of 74,476 people who had been born in Madras. The migrants were composed practically of an equal number of males and females49. Table No. 4.9: Number of Migrants from Madras to Hyderabad State Year

Total Immigrants

Immigrants in Immigrants in Other Districts Adjoining Districts Madras State Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage of females of females of females 1901 55,369 49 33,637 52 21,732 45 1911 67,821 49 46,932 51 20,889 44 1921 84,143 38 33,988 48 50,155 31 1931 132,954 23 50,391 25 82,563 21 1941 142,323 36 52,796 37 89,527 35 1951 129,455 50 83,563 53 45,892 47 Source: Census of India, 1951, Volume IX, Hyderabad, Part 1A Report, Government Press, Hyderabad, p. 72.

The Andhra cultivating castes of Hyderabad State were Telagas numbering 462,188 in 1921, Kapus (747,849), Balijas (33,364), Mutrasi (237,662) and Velamas (36,456); in all, about 15,20,000 or 1/8 who were Andhra agricultural workers, numbering 1,045,051 or 1/12 of the total population of the state. So the Andhra agricultural classes of Hyderabad state formed 5/24 of the total population of the state. In addition to these 48

Census of India, 1921, Volume XXI, Hyderabad State, Part I: Report, Hyderabad, 1923, p. 62. 49 Census of India, 1931, Volume XXIII, H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions (Hyderabad State), Part I.1: Report, Hyderabad, 1933, p. 66.

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people, there were more than 200,000 Gollas, who were Andhra shepherds of the state50. Warangal received its labour supply chiefly from its adjoining district of Madras51. The Andhra admixture in the population of Warangal District was much more pronounced than in the state at large. Balijas in this district numbered 14,167; Kapus, 284,294; Telagas, 157,245; Velamas, 22,426; Madigas, 224,793; Malas, 159,454 and Gollas, 185,213, making a total of 1,047,492, or a little less than half of the population of the whole district. It was very difficult to guess how many of these Andhra agricultural ryots had come, at some date or other, from any of the districts in the British territory. This district was at one time ruled over by the Andhras of the Kakatiya dynasty. In this connection, it was interesting to notice that Kammas and Reddies, as well as Telagas, claimed to be the descendants of these famous Kakatiyas, hence such a great population of Andhra. But it was certain that many of these Andhra agricultural ryots could claim to have migrated to one or another of the southern districts at some time or other. In the Warangal district alone, there were 1, 91,593 acres of land available for colonization, out of which 1, 57,293 acres were cultivable. Thus only 57.7% of the total unoccupied land in the state was cultivable, as against 82.2% of the Warangal district52. Since there was a great preponderance of Andhras in this district, a large part of the uncultivated land was available for cultivation, and most of the new immigrants were going to this district, it was much more important for Andhras to study the conditions existing in it than in other districts of the state. Most of the Andhra immigrants who had gone to the Warangal district in the previous ten years belonged to the Reddi caste and many of these Reddies had come from Guntur district. Kammas of Guntur, Narsaraopettah and Ongole Taluks were flocking in increasing numbers to this district. Guntur Kammapettah – It boded well to the Guntur Kamma and Reddi immigrants into this country that the Kammas who had gone from Guntur Taluk were able to construct a pettah after their name in the important city, Warangal. It was a noteworthy fact that the advent of these people had already been marked by an enrichment of the city economy. Before, these people of Warangal had to depend on vegetables which were dug out of the earth and so they had to experience great inconvenience. But these people brought their advanced agricultural traditions with them and so developed garden-farming in a few years, and began to produce 50 Ranga, N.G., Economic Organisation of Indian Villages: Andhra Economic Series No. 2, D.B. Taraporevala Sons & Co., Bombay, 1929, p. 7. 51 Census of India, 1921, Volume XXI, Hyderabad State, Part 1: Report, Hyderabad, 1923, p. 66. 52 N.G. Ranga, pp. 7, 8.

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fresh and green vegetables of all kinds in a sufficient quantity so as to satisfy the needs of the whole city. The local ryots did not know the advantages of deep ploughing and so their cholam, which was the principal dry crop, has only a surface root system, the consequences of which was the tendency for cholam plants to fall to the ground after even a week attack by winds. A Brahmin immigrant from Pedaravuru in Tenali Taluk found that his cholam plants did not show the tendency to fall and so he did not need to tie podulu because he ploughed his field well and deep. Pati Pattayya, a local Kamma ryot who was in very prosperous circumstances, wanted to try this experiment in one of his fields and if he found it successful, this beneficial method would find general adoption, resulting in much economic gain to the village and its neighborhood. The local ryots did not know garden culture, though they developed nice but small orchards. But Reddi immigrants of Reddipalem in Bapatla Taluk who stayed in Naginneniprolu, a village which was about two miles from Bhadrachalam, had developed it very fully. Vasireddi Madavayya had introduced the cultures of groundnut and some local ryots were going to take to it. The local ryots were not very anxious to introduce new commercial crops had only been growing cholam, chilies, onions, coriander and rice for a very long time. Though bananas and oranges could be raised very profitably and marketed at Bhadrachalam, and though the Reddi immigrants had shown the possibilities of such cultures, none of them has ventured upon it. Groundnut was very profitable to grow and green vegetables could be produced in large quantities all year round, if the ryots only realized how to grow them under a well. Almost all the Koyas were willing to be hired as agricultural workers and there were very few workers belonging to other castes. The inefficiency and unwillingness of these Koyas to exert themselves were notorious facts. So the immigrants needed immigrant workers to work according to the methods of cultivation prevailing in Kistna and Guntur Districts. But there were so many immigrant ryots and so few immigrant workers that no employer could feel sure that his workers, to whom he advanced money and provided housing, would be in his employ for even one complete year; for a promise to pay higher wages and to supply greater comforts so influenced the worker that he would quit the service of his former employer for that of new one. But the new employer would be more on was guard and bound the worker by so many agreements that in the end, the worker was a little better than a vassal or an indebted Koya. Thus it was the insufficient response to an exacting demand for proper labour which tended to demoralize both the employers and employed. Unless an

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immigrant ryot had at least ten immigrant workers ready to labour for him at all times, he could not persuade the Koyas to work more regularly and more intensively, for the Koyas had to have realized that the seasonal work of such a ryot would soon be finished by the immigrant workers even if they did not cooperate. But it costs at least Rs 25 to take on an immigrant worker and his wife and children and another Rs 175 to maintain him for a year53.

Telugu labour migrations to Burma During the first year after the 1852 annexation, British officials felt that migration from the Dry Zone and other areas within Burma would not be sufficient to satisfy the demand for agricultural and industrial labour in the delta. In retrospect, it seems logical that these officials would come to regard India as the chief source of potential immigrant settlers and labourers for Lower Burma. Burma was part of the Indian Empire. Many of the Indian districts which fringed the Bay of Bengal were densely populated and famine-prone, and sea communications between the Indian subcontinent and Lower Burma were rapidly improving. Although some officials did assert that India should be the main source of immigrants, others, including the Chief Commissioner, Arthur Phayre, initially sought to attract immigrants from China. Chinese immigrants were employed on a number of early public work projects, and proposals were for schemes to attract Chinese settlers to the delta. These early proposals notwithstanding, Chinese immigrants were to play only a secondary role in the development of the delta. In 1901, after half a century of British rule, the Chinese community in Lower Burma numbered only about 34,400, or less than 0.8 of 1 percent of the total population. A number of factors accounted for the low level of Chinese immigration to Burma. To begin with, most Chinese immigrants to Lower Burma and the rest of Southeast Asia were from the provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung in South China and they normally traveled by sea. Burma was at the far end of the sea routes from these areas, and there was no regular steamship service between and Siam and other Southeast Asian areas. The immigration of Chinese labourers was strongly opposed by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Rangoon, whose success was demonstrated by the fact that most Chinese in the delta throughout the British period were engaged in mercantile activities. In the centuries prior to the British conquest, the Indians in Lower Burma, like those elsewhere in Southeast Asia, were primarily engaged in 53

Ibid., pp. 8-35.

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trade. In Konbaung times and the preceding periods, the small Indian community which was located almost wholly in Rangoon dominated overseas commerce in the delta. After 1852, however, Indians migrated to Lower Burma in increasing numbers to fill a wide range of positions created by the expanding economy and the greatly enlarged bureaucracy of the new province of the Indian Empire. The scale of Indian immigration was reflected in the rapid growth of the Indian community in the delta in the late nineteenth century. In 1872, the 37,500 Indians enumerated in Lower Burma composed only 2 percent of the total population. By 1901 there were over 297,000 Indians and they made up 7 percent of the population. The importance of migration as the basis of this great increase in the Indian community was clearly demonstrated by the fact that over 86 percent of the Indians enumerated in 1901 had been born outside of Burma54. The mass movement of temporary and seasonal labourers between India and Burma was made possible by the growing availability of cheap transportation in the last decades of the nineteenth century. In the first decade after the British annexation, Indian merchants and labourers traveled to the delta on small, Indian-owned sailing vessels which moved slowly among the coastal ports that fringed the Bay of Bengal. In 1861, the British India Steam Navigation Company established the first regular steamship service between Calcutta, Akyab and Rangoon which ran on a monthly basis. In subsequent years, the company increased its runs from one to two per month and extended its service to Madras city and the ports of the northern circars (Cocanda, Vizagapatnam, Bhimlipatam, Kalingapatanam, Burwa, and Gopalpur). By the 1870s, the B.I.S.N. Company’s steamships had almost completely displaced Indian sailing vessels as passenger carriers and thus had gained a virtual monopoly on the India-Burma run. Its monopoly was broken by the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company in 1880. Both companies provided weekly steamship services between Calcutta, the circar ports, Madras city, and the ports of Burma. In the 1890s, a service between the circar ports and the delta was provided by the Andhra-Burma Steamship Company, beginning in the second decade of the twentieth century55. Migration by sea was either “free” or “protected”; migration to Ceylon, the strait settlements, Burma, and ports in British India was free, while that to Natal and Mauritius was prohibited. When migration was protected under the Indian Migration Act XXV of 1883, no person could recruit without a license. Migrants were 54

Michael Adas, The Burma Delta: Economic Development and Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 1852-1941, The University of Wisconsin Press, United States of America, 1943, pp. 83-85 (hereafter, The Burma Delta). 55 Ibid., p. 97.

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removed to a migration depot until a definite agreement with them had been executed and registered, or they were placed on board any but a licensed ship, in any but a notified port duly equipped with a protector of migrants. Elaborate lists of the migrants were made out and checked and were filed in the office of protectors. Statistics of free migration by sea were chiefly collected under the authority of executive orders based on the Native Passengers Ship Act X of 1887, the Indian Ports Act X of 1891, and the Sea Customs Act VIII 1878.56 Burma was in a stage of industrial transition. From a purely agricultural country, it was gradually and steadily developing into an industrial one as well. To a certain extent, the development of a democratic spirit in the people had accelerated the country’s industrial progress. Mining areas were being enlarged and new mills were being built, capital was being sunk in opening up new industries, and generally, a spirit of awakening interest was apparent. Hand in hand with Burma’s industrial progress, the development and improvement of agriculture was proceeding apace, for agriculture must always remain the predominant industry of the immense majority of its people and the mainstay of its commerce. Larger areas were being brought under rice cultivation, the staple article of food of the people of the province, and the area under other food crops and non-food crops, such as oil seeds, cotton and rubber was extending. For the successful carrying on of these varied enterprises, a sufficiency of labour was a sine qua non. Every important commercial and industrial country in the word depends on the adequacy and free supply of labour for its progress and prosperity, and in this respect, some countries were more dependent than others on immigrant labour. Probably no country was as dependent on external labour as was Burma. The indigenous population was unable to meet the ever-growing demand for labour necessary for its steadily developing commerce and industries, and employers of labour were obliged to draw on external markets for the necessary supply. India, on account of its proximity and accessibility was the chief contributor57. This was especially important in Burma, where labour may be divided into two broad classes: (a) immigrant Indian labour; (b) the floating indigenous Burmese labour. The first class may again be broadly divided into two categories: (1) labour recruited under agreement or contract; (2) free labour, in the sense that a very appreciable portion of 56 Census of India, 1901, Vol. XV, Madras, Part I, Report by W. Francies, Superintendent of Census Operations, Madras, Madras, printed by the Superintendent Government Press, 1902, pp. 24-27. 57 Andrew, E.J.L., Indian Labour in Rangoon, Oxford University Press, Calcutta, 1933, p. 1-3 (hereafter, Indian Labour in Rangoon).

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Indian immigrants came to the province of their own free will in search of employment. Such people took their chances in finding employment, such that they could get, either in Rangoon or in the district, though it was a fact that a number easily found employment in various agricultural pursuits and casual occupations. In regard to the former class, European mills, public bodies and shipping companies invariably recruited labour through the agency of labour contractors. These contractors undertook to supply the labour required at certain prescribed rates and recruited people in the principal Indian recruiting centers, such as Ganjam, Godavari, Vizagapatnam and Kistna districts, as well as Tamil district in the Madras presidency. The greater proportions of the labour recruited consisting of Telugus (Coringhees or Andhras) hailing from Ganjam and the adjacent district. The people were recruited either directly by the contractor or through his agents.58 The great majority of Indians in Lower Burma were from agricultural castes or castes following occupations related to agriculture. The Indian labourers who worked on the wharves and in the rice mills of the delta’s port centers and those who were engaged in paddy production in the rural areas were drawn almost totally from these groups. Unfortunately, most Indian agricultural castes in Burma were low-caste and thus the most likely to renounce their ascribed status or claim a higher rank. For these reasons, the numbers of each of these castes cannot be accurately determined. However, the main groups can be identified from the available estimates. Agriculture castes from South India can be divided into two groups. The first were Sat (or clan) Sudras and included the Kammas and Reddies (also called Kapus) of the Telugu-speaking areas. The largest agricultural castes were the “depressed” or “scheduled” castes of South India. The dominant groups among these were the Pallis or Vaniyans and Paraiyans of the Tamil south, and the Malas from the Telugu district on the northeast coast of Madras. Substantial numbers of Kallans, who were traditionally professional thieves but had become important landholders in some Tamil districts, also migrated to the delta59. Industrial labour migrations to Burma were mainly: (A) Factory labour. Rice milling was the most important industry in Burma, employing a very large labour force. Other factories employing labour on a fairly large scale were saw mills, oil refineries, match factories, foundries, railways and other workshops, etc. All labour employed in the factories, except paddy carriers in the rice mills, was recruited locally; the paddy carriers were recruited in India. (B) Labour employed outside factories. Such labour 58

Report of the Indian Economic Enquiry Committee 1925, Vol. II, Minutes of Evidence Part I, pp. 615-617. 59 The Burma Delta, p. 89.

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mostly comprised shipping labour, labour employed by public bodies like the Municipal Corporation, Port Trust and Development Trust, and transport labour. All this labour, except labour for landing coal and salt, was recruited locally. (C) This category includes rickshaw pullers, handcart pullers, and Burmese labour generally employed for light work, e.g., filling boxes with matches in match factories. Chinese labour was also employed on a small scale. The main reason why Indian labour had to be employed was because trained Burmese labour had so far not been sufficiently available. Even the Burmese employers had to depend on Indian labour because it was trained and efficient60. In 1887, of the major district of origin in Madras presidency, agricultural labourers earned the highest wages in Vizagapatanam. Their earnings were Rs 6 per month, or Rs 72 per year. In Rangoon in the same year, the average wage for industrial workers was Rs 22.5 per month, or 270 per year. An agricultural labourer in Lower Burma received about Rs 15 per month in 1887, or Rs 180 per year. Thus, the annual increment to an industrial labourer’s income (minus Rs 30 for transport) was Rs 168, while that for an agricultural labourer was Rs 78. The higher cost of living in Rangoon somewhat reduced the real amount of additional wages received61. Historically, relations between Lower Burma and India’s northern Coromandal Coast went back a few centuries to before the birth of Christ. The local rulers of the ancient Andhra country of Kalinga conquered the natives in Burma and established authority over and trading relations with the Tailngs. For the Telugus, Burma was known as the Suwarna Bhumi – the golden land of plenty62. Ninety percent of Indian labourers who come to Burma from the Madras Presidency arrived with only a mat and an earthen receptacle which contained the food for their voyage. They were generally very lightly clad. The men wore a dirty cloth covering their loins and a similar strip wound around their heads; women were clothed only in an old sari. On their return home, they were generally better clad: the men were dressed in shirts, coats, dhotwas or loin cloths and turbans, while the women were clothed in clean petticoats and saris and wore jackets. The labourers took back their personal effects put up in strong boxes or

60

Royal Commission on Labour, Burma, Vol. X, Oral Evidence, p. 109, Written Evidence, p. 83-95. 61 The Burma Delta, p. 92. 62 Satyanarayana, A., “Birds of Passage: Migration of South Indian Labourers to South Asia,” in (ed.), Dalits and Upper Castes, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, 2005, pp. 221-222.

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wooden trunks, articles of furniture such as cots, chairs, tables, almirahs, and logs of teak wood63.

Lower caste labourers to Burma The best indices of the social composition of the Indian community in Lower Burma were caste statistics, first compiled in the census of 1891. There were, however, a number of serious problems involved in the use of these statistics in the Burmese context. To begin with, many Indians living in Burma refused to state their caste. In 1911, nearly 100,000 Indians refused to list their caste classification for census officials. For the low caste agricultural labourers of South India, migration to Lower Burma provided economic opportunities and potential social mobility that was invariably denied to them in their district of origin. In Burma, they could earn comparatively high wages in agriculture or industry, and the rates paid were determined according to the amount and type of work done and not on the basis of caste rank. Beyond the material advantages derived from migration to Burma, many low caste labourers found some release from their degrading social status. The labourer informed the irate Brahman that he had left his caste behind in India and that he would not take it up again until he returned to Madras. Like the paraiyan, many thousands of low caste Indians attempted to leave their degrading caste attributes behind, merely by refusing to state their caste designation or by claiming a higher caste rank than that accorded them in India. A few returned with enough money to buy status and respect in an area like Madras. Some remained in Burma, where they sought to make a new life. In his study, Ex-Untouchables, Harold Isaacs recorded the history of one such man, a Mala cowherd who decided to remain in Rangoon after his laborer’s contract had expired. He became a tailor’s apprentice and brought his family to Rangoon once he was established. His son told Isaacs: “He [the father] decided to change things and become another kind of man. He wanted me to be like him and not all the others who went just to labour and come back…. For some years I learned how to be [a] tailor.” Isaacs relates that the cowherd’s son later received a college education and rose to become a minister in Nehru’s cabinet64. The Migration of Indians to and from Burma was seasonal; that is to say, the largest number of arrivals and departures occurred at certain definite periods. November and December were the greatest immigration 63 64

Indian Labour in Rangoon, p. 20. The Burma Delta, p. 94.

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months, particularly the latter when labourers from the Coromandal ports, Madras and Culcutta came in their greatest numbers. The high percentage of industrial and agricultural labourers in the Indian migrant stream was reflected in the great seasonal fluctuation in the volume of arrivals in and departures from ports in Burma. Most migrants entered Burma between October and December, which were the months of the paddy harvest in the delta which proceeded the peak period for the mills and wharves of Rangoon and Bassein. The majority of migrant labourers remained in Burma from one to four years, though large numbers from the Teluguspeaking areas on the northeast coast of Madras and Chittagong in Bengal migrated annually for the harvest and / or milling seasons in Lower Burma65.

Maistry Recruitment System The maistry recruiting system, which dominated the movement to and supply of Indian labour in Lower Burma in the twentieth century was not as developed or pervasive in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Maistries were usually experienced Indian workers who were hired by mill owners or shipping agents in Burma to recruit labourers in India. New maistries’ employees often gave them advances to finance recruiting operations. Established maistries could normally pay the costs of recruiting labor from personal funds derived from earlier operations. The maistry hierarchy, which Andrew describes as it worked in the 1920s, had apparently not fully evolved in the 1880s and 1890s. A single maistry usually recruited, directed the transportation of, and acted as overseer for a gang of workers. The number of labourers in a gang varied. The average number was twenty to fifty workers, but some gangs had as many as five hundred members. The maistries who controlled gangs of the latter size must have had subordinates, though there was no mention of them in the source for this period. The maistry paid the steamship fare and supplied food for the members of his gang during the trip from India to Burma. On their arrival in Rangoon, he provided food and lodging and placed them in positions which had been arranged with the mangers of a rice mill or shipping firm. The maistry’s advances to his gang were repaid with interest from the wages which they received in Burma. The interest rates were agreed upon before the maistry signed the worker on and were fixed by contract. Interest charges were apparently not high in the first phase of

65

The Burma Delta, p. 68.

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economic development. The maistry charged the members of his gang the full fare and retained the difference as charge for his service66.

Census data on emigrant labour to Burma As for periodic or seasonal migrations, there were three distinct classes of such migrations in Burma. The first was the seasonal movement from Upper Burma to assist in the cultivation of crops in Lower Burma. The second class of seasonal migration was that of labourers from southern India to assist in the milling and export of paddy crops in the province. The third seasonal migration was the annual incursion of agricultural labourers from Chittagong into the districts of Arkan Division. But even among the Indian immigrant races, the notion of caste in Burma stood on a different footing from caste in India. The very fact of leaving his native village and crossing the sea to a distant country violated some of the essentials of the caste of the immigrant. On arrival in Burma, he found that his predecessors, instead of attempting to continue unimpaired with their caste customs and traditions in their new environment, had treated them with neglect. There was nothing to prevent him from assuming with impunity a caste designation to which he would not be entitled in India. The economic basis of caste, serving to preserve a minimum standard of livelihood and to prevent unrestrained competition, in a country where population hardly pressed upon the means of subsistence, was found to be a hindrance in a country of scanty population where an opening was available to anybody astute enough to avail himself of it. The overwhelming preponderance of the male element among Indian immigrants was also a potent force in the disintegration of caste. The Pariyans were a Tamil-speaking caste and it and its members were without doubt the most numerous of any of the Indian castes in Burma. The majority of the Madrassi domestic servants employed in Burma belonged to this caste. In 1891, the number of its members was 20,453. In 1901, the total had risen to 25,601. Although the increase in the numbers of the representatives of this caste since 1901 must have been considerable, in 1911, the entries of this caste practically vanished from the census records. It was a matter of common knowledge that the members of this caste in Burma indignantly repudiated any connection with it, and it would almost seem as if there had been concerted action on their part to refuse to give their correct caste designation. A very large number of the members of this caste were recorded in the current census as Christians. Another instance, 66

Ibid., pp. 98, 99.

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both of the power of suggestion and of the unreliability of the caste returns, was contained in the figures for the Sudra caste for the years 1901 and 1911. In 1901, the Sudra caste was chosen to be entered. The number of entries for this caste then totaled 49,421. In 1911, the Sudra caste was omitted from the specimen scheduled and others castes substituted. The total number recorded for the caste fell to 26,806. This variation in the figures, contrary to any probable variation in the facts they purport to represent, indicates the nature of the influences which affected the figures for caste in the census returns, and the necessity of the warning was used by Mr. Lowis against placing too much reliance on the figures for separate castes in Burma. Another feature in the record for caste was the remarkable increase in the numbers of Hindus who returned no caste whatsoever. In 1901, 58,078 Hindus failed to give their caste. This number rose to 99,710. The great majority of these entries simply consisted of the word “Hindu.” The next in numerical order were blank entries, the knowledge that they referred to Hindus being obtained from the column relating to religion. Despite emphatic warnings in the instructions issued, such names as Madrassi, Bengali, Hindustani, Tamil and Telugu were repeatedly entered in the column for caste. The fact that out of a total of 389,679 Hindus in the province, 99,710 failed to give any clear indication as to their caste was in the enumerator, rather than in the person enumerated; but a classification, in which over a quarter of the items to be classified were indeterminate, was of very little value, whatever may be the cause of the failure to obtain more definite results. The numbers recorded for eleven of the most important Hindu castes in Burma were given in a marginal statement. 67

67

Census of India, 1911, Vol. IX, Burma, Part I: Report, p. 243.

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Table No. 4.10: Important Hindu Castes (Indian Migrants) in Burma Caste

1911

Brahman 21,170 Chatri 10,942 Chetty 14,366 Kapu 14,964 Mala 21,248 Manipuri 3,353 Padiyachi 11,808 Palli 5,861 Sudra 26,806 Uriya 10,411 Vellala 6,012 Total 146,941 Source: Census of India, Burma, 1911, p. 243

1901 15,922 13,454 6,508 11,214 18,522 11,132 5,817 13,250 49,421 5,035 6,060 156,335

Increase or Decrease +5284 -2,512 +7,858 +3,750 +2,726 -7,779 +5,991 -7,389 -22,615 +5,376 -48 -9,394

According to the 1921 Census Report, the total immigrants or the net excess of immigrants over migrants was considered in Madras, Bengal and the United Provinces to supply much larger numbers than any other province. The classification adopted recognizes such distinctions as those between Bengalis, Hindustanis, Uriyas, Tamils and Telugus, which were important to Burma, but ignored the subdivision of these groups by castes. Amongst the classes which caused difficulty were Coringhi Mohamedans. According to the Superintendent of Madras, in the census, everyone described as ‘Coringhis’ should be regarded as Telugus. But some others, to whom reference was made, were of opinion that there were no Mohamedan Telugus and that Coringani Mohamedans were really Nursupuri or Decanni Mohamedans. The total number of Indians recorded was 653,980 males and 233,097 females, amounting to nearly 10 and nearly 4 percent of the total number of males and females in the province respectively, and nearly 7 percent of the total population68.

68

Census of India, 1921, Vol. X, Burma, Part I: Report, p. 218.

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Table No. 4.11: Indians in Burma classified by race by 1921 Race

All Religions Males Females 653,980 233,097

Hindus Males 379,529

All Indian Races Bengali 60,117 17,871 12,172 Chittagonian 129,854 76,534 5,110 Hindwastani 107,557 26,020 82,482 Oriya 49,993 2,482 48,017 Tamil 100,315 51,749 68,192 Telugu 129,500 28,621 125,413 Other Indian 76,578 29,820 38,143 Races Source: Census of India, 1921, Burma, p. 218

Females 104,428 3,002 286 19,657 1,973 36,761 27,095 15,654

Mohamedans Males Females 249,600 116,671 46,651 122,872 23,400 853 21,328 2,047 32,449

146,32 758,62 5,984 212 7,196 818 12,147

The number of Indians increased from 881,357 in 1921 to 10,17,825 in 1931, i.e., by 136,468 or 15.5 percent. The increase in the number of Indians was entirely due to migration. One of the most important characteristics of the Indian population in Burma was the sex disparity, with only 27.9 percent of the total number of Indians being female. These numbers increased slightly during the preceding thirty years, the percentage in 1901 being 25.8. One of the results of this sex disparity was that the deaths among the Indian population exceed the births, and the actual increase in the Indian population was therefore the results of the increase due to migration and the decrease due to the excess of deaths over births. Unfortunately, reliable birth and death rates were not available for Indians, nor was it possible to estimate at all accurately the increase in the Indian population due to migration. In the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses in Burma, Hindus were classified according to their caste and Muslims according to their tribe. The results were so unsatisfactory that in 1921, this was abandoned and Indians were classified according to what was called their “race”. The results were much more satisfactory and the same classification was therefore used for the 1931 Census. Narsapuries spoke Telugu and they were mostly Muslims. The name appears to have been derived from the name of the taluk called Narsapur in the West Godavari district of Madras. The people originally called Narsapuries presumably came from this taluk, but the name now appears to be applied to people who came from the same neighborhood. The total number of Narsapuries recorded was 5,049, which included 4,284 Muslims and 669 Christians; most of the Christians were enumerated in Pyapon district. There were also 1,459 Muslims who returned their race as Telugu. Telugus were

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sometimes called Coringhis; this name appears to be derived from the name of a seaport in Madras Presidency from which they originally sailed for Burma. Deccanis come from the Deccan; they too were Muslims and they usually spoke Hindustani. The number recorded was only 1,19069. Table No. 4.12: Classification of Indian Immigrants by Race by 1931 Race

People

Males

Females

Bengali

39,808

35,126

4,682

Chittagonian 83,511 76,377 7,134 Hindustani 125,054 105,840 19,214 Oriya 57,906 55,986 1,920 Tamil 84,327 58,823 25,504 Telugu 131,727 108,701 23,026 Others 107,757 88,190 19,567 Total 630,090 529,043 101,047 Source: Report on the Census of Burma, 1931, pp. 62

Females per 100 males 13 9 18 3 43 21 22 19

Communal Riots on Telugu Labour in Rangoon The Burmese attitude towards the south Indian labour influx was that it was idle and unfair to dismiss Telugus or Tamils as mere intruders in the province across the Bay. 3,000 Indian passengers returned in May 1930 from Rangoon as a result of the anti-Indian riots, or 40 percent more than in the corresponding month of 1930. This increase was a more or less regular feature of the earlier months of 1931. Despite the unfavorable conditions at the end of the decade, the lack of employment and antiIndian troubles effected migrants70. The seedbeds of the communal disturbances which broke out in the decade of crises, 1930-41, proved to be the wharves of Rangoon harbor. Isolated incidents of communal violence had occurred in Lower Burma prior to the Depression period, but the riots which broke out in Rangoon in May of 1930 were the first in a series of bloody encounters that completely upset the delicate balance of plural society. Their origins were clearly economic. On the sixth of May 1930, the Telugu labourers who normally monopolized the workforce in Rangoon harbor went on strike to protest against the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi. After starting to return to work on the following day, they struck 69 70

Census of India, 1931, Vol. XI, Burma, Part I: Report, p. 62. Census of India, Madras Presidency, 1931, p. 82.

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again, demanding higher wages. For almost a week, the shipping in Rangoon harbor came to a virtual standstill. On May fourteenth, however, several shipping firms decided to recruit Burmese labourers. The Burmese response to the firms’ offers was immediate and enthusiastic, but they proved inefficient and slow at the work, to which they were not accustomed. On the twenty-fourth of May the owners of the shipping firms decided to grant the Telugus a pay rise and on the next day the Telugus voted to return to work. The foremen of the various forms took no measures to retain some of the Burmese labourers or to phase them out gradually. With the exception of the British India Steam Navigation Company, the shipping firms ceased to hire Burmese workers. The Burmese labourers, however, refused to relinquish their newly won positions without contest as they had done six years before. Employment was difficult to find; nationalist sentiment was aroused; and the labourers had come to view these newly won wharf jobs as initial victories in a wide struggle to wrest control of urban employment from Indian immigrants. Early in the morning of May 26, a gang of Burmese labourers gathered near the Lewis Street Jetty where they hoped to find work. They were soon confronted by a crowd of Telugu workers who taunted them and a quarrel began. A scuffle ensued, rocks were thrown, and the badly outnumbered Burmese were forced to retreat into the city. Shortly after the first incident, a crowed of Telugus attacked a second group of Burmese who were waiting for work outside the B.I.S.N. Company’s office on Sparks Street. Again the Burmese fled from the much larger group of Indians. The Telugu labourers, armed with iron rods, brickbats, and bottles, then went on a rampage attacking buses, the offices of the Burmese newspaper, Sun, and Burmese bystanders in the Lanmadaw quarter and other areas. By mid-morning, the Burmese had regrouped and added numerous recruits from Kemmendine, Tamwe, and other suburbs. They armed themselves with dahs (heavy knives), pikes, rickshaw shafts and lathis, and marched to the center of the city to avenge their humiliation of earlier in the day. For nearly a week thereafter, Rangoon was transformed in to a battle ground. Burmese and Indian mobs, numbering as many as five hundred on each side, clashed again and again along the main streets in the center of the city. The riots were almost wholly an expression of communal hostility produced by economic competition. Before they were brought under control, over 120 people were killed and another 900 wounded. Immediately after the May riots in Rangoon, large numbers of Indian who feared further violence retuned to India. The contraction of the labour market in Burma and the fact that some employers were hiring Burmese for posts once monopolized by Indians were partly responsible for this increase, but government officials stressed the impact of the riots on the level of migration. At the same time, the

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numbers of Indians entering Burma declined even more sharply. In 1929, 346,000 Indian immigrants arrived at the port of Rangoon. In 1930, this total fell to 301,000. Many potential immigrants in Madras or the United Provinces postponed trips to Burma because they were waiting to see if further communal violence would occur. They must have reasoned that it was better to live at substance levels in India than to be beaten or killed in search of uncertain employment in Burma71.

Conclusion The main concern of colonial state was to maintain the supply and flow of labour, at low prices which the migration system made possible, even when it was not directly and obviously visible to the migrants, it maintained the conditions of work and migration as much as it served to extract funds from agriculture. The Colonial Government was interested in agriculture, as it was the area from which the maximum revenue came from. Most significant phenomenon of migration on seasonal basis form “backward” areas to more “developed” ones was on the increase. There was a normal movement of population every year from the poorer districts of North Coastal Andhra to the highly irrigated tracts of the Godavari and Kistna deltas. Since there was a great preponderance of Andhras in Warangal District of Hyderabad State and a large part of the uncultivated land was available for cultivation and most of the new immigrants are going to this district, it was much more important for Andhras to study the conditions existing in it than in other districts of the state. In case of Hyderabad State Andhra immigrant ryot had brought immigrant workers to labour for him at all times to work more regularly and more intensively. The conclusions and inferences to be drawn from foregoing were to labour to Burma - firstly, emigration from India was heaviest in the years of famine, floods or other agricultural disasters. Secondly, it was temporary and periodic. Thirdly, the unequal proportion of the sexes among emigrants rendered home life impossible and led in many instances to moral degradation. Fourthly, emigrants came from densely populated tracts and mainly from depressed classes. Fifthly, there was no real emigration from Burma to counterbalance immigration.

71

The Burma Delta, 196-205.

CHAPTER V ANDHRA LABOUR MIGRATIONS TO ASSAM PLANTATIONS

Introduction My last chapter deals with agrarian expansions and the commercialization of agriculture which created new markets for labour migrants – migration from rural to rural was a general phenomenon of colonial rural Andhra. This chapter is about Andhra indenture labour migrations to Assam plantations. The emigration of labourers to the Assam tea gardens from the Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts was common as an indentured labourer. The main tribal labourers were drawn for recruitment from the Ganjam, Vizagapatanam and Godavari agency tracts. This pattern was an inter-provincial pull-push migration of indentured labour. In this chapter, from the detailed accounts of the agency tracts and plain taluks of Colonial Andhra, I have only cited in detail some tracts of the agency and plain taluks. The reason for this selection has been its capacity to demonstrate very effectively the patterns of labour migrations of the affected sections of the population.

Origin of Labour for Assam tea plantations from Colonial Andhra The tea industry from the first half of nineteenth century was the earliest commercial enterprise established by private British capital in the Assam region. It was the major employer of wage labour there during colonial rule. Labour for industrial undertakings and for plantations in British India (and certain colonies near it) was drawn almost wholly from the agricultural laboring classes. The agricultural laboring classes in South India supplied the whole of the unskilled labour that was required in the small and big factories in the towns of south India, in the gold fields of Kolar, in the tea gardens of Assam, in the tea and coffee estates on the Nilgiri and Plain Hills, in the rubber and tea plantations of Ceylon, in the

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rubber plantations of the Federated Malaya States and the Strait Settlements, and in Burma. There was a steady exodus of labourers from the villages of South India to the towns of labourers who sought and obtained employment in the factories, and an equally steady and more voluminous migration to Ceylon, Burma and Malaya. Rural populations were and are rooted in land and South India was no exception. They were so tenaciously conservative and so averse to movement of any kind that when we find large numbers of them leaving their homes, we have to conclude that they did so only because they were being compelled by push factors like poverty, the discontinuity of employment, pressure of the population on the land, bad seasons (famines) and caste repressions. There were also pull factors like higher wages and continuity of employment. The number of labourers in plantation areas increased as the poor peasants and landless labourers were recruited to Assam tea plantations from Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, the Upland areas of Godavari, Kistna, and from the plains portions of Guntur and Nellore. Poverty, other employment opportunities, and desire to escape from the law generally induced men to migrate. Still, poverty, in its relative sense, must be held to be the basis of every kind of migration which was undertaken with a view to increase one’s earning capacity. The classes that made up migrants both to nearby towns and far off plantations and estates were: (1) the landless class, which was wholly dependent on the agricultural work that was available in villages for its livelihood; and (2) the class, though categorized as land owning, which still faced economic hardships and migrated, even leaving the land behind. This brings us to the first cause of migration, which was the pressure of the population on the land. In other words, the quantity of land and the income from it was insufficient to support the number of people dependent upon it, and this pattern was clear in my chosen regions. The second cause of migration was bad seasons, which further aggravated the population pressure on the land. Emigration figures show that the immediate and certain results of a bad agricultural season was a large, sudden and otherwise unexplained increase in the numbers that migrated, because labour became scarce and the income from the land failed. Late or insufficient rains in parts of the recruiting area meant an immediate increase in the total number of labourers migrating to other areas. The third cause of migration was not necessarily from poverty; rather, it was the attractiveness of higher wages and continuity of employment which contributed to migration. The attractiveness of the higher wages paid by the industrial concerns in towns and by plantations was thus the third cause of migration for unskilled labour, which moved from agricultural

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work in the country to industrial occupations in towns. They also moved to the plantations and estates where special kinds of labour were needed.1

History of Labour for the Tea Industry in India The tea industry, the earliest commercial enterprise established by British capital in the Assam Valley from the 1840s onwards, had been the major employer of wage labourer there during colonial rule.2 Tea plants were indigenous to Assam. C.A. Bruce, who later commanded a division of gunboats in the first Anglo-Burmese war (1826-40), was said to have discovered wild tea plants in Upper Assam in 1821. Another military officer found it in 1832. In 1834, India’s Governor General William Bentinck mentioned this discovery in a minute and a tea committee was appointed to report on the prospect of tea cultivation in India. In 1835, the first attempt was made by the government to grow tea. China was approached for better seeds and a deputation consisting of botanical experts was sent to Assam. A few experts skilled in the cultivation and manufacture of black tea were brought in and they proved useful. Under governor general Auckland, more Chinese cultivators and manufacturers of tea were brought in. The first tea company was formed around 1839 and the government handed over two-thirds of its tea gardens and nurseries to it. In 1846, the company sold its shares, and in 1849, the government withdrew its active participation in the tea industry and sold its estates to Chinese. By 1852, when Colonel Hannay organized the first private estate in the Dibrugarh district at Lakhimpur, the tea industry had better prospects. Between 1856 and 1859 the real foundations of tea industry were laid. By 1858 there were fifty private tea gardens. From 1859 onwards, several tea companies were formed. The drift of population from subsistence agriculture to the areas of commercial agriculture, too, was a special feature of nineteenth century migration. Even so, migration was a ‘drift’, representing family and other decisions rather than only a transportation under government supervision or by the Transport Company. The inland migration was to the labour districts of the Assam Valley, Sylhet, Cahar and Chittagong (Chatgaon), where there was 1

Royal commission on labour, Vol. VII, Part I, written evidence of Mr. Rajaiah D. Paul, M.A., Deputy collector on special duty as Forest Panchayat, Madras, pp. 4652. 2 Rana P. Behal and Marcel van der Linden (eds.), “Indian Laboring Poor: Power Structure, Discipline, and Labour in Assam Tea Plantations under Colonial Rule”, Cambridge University Press, India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, p. 139. (Henceforth, Indian Laboring Poor.)

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demand for labourers in the tea industry. For the British capitalists, it was profitable to grow tea in North-East India; it was productive and capitalcreating, but for the main actors in the migration drama – the labourers – it was a tragedy of great proportions3. The tea industry grew spectacularly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when tea production increased from 6,000,000 lb in 1872 to 75,000,000 lb in 1900 and the area under tea cultivation expanded from 27,000 to 204,000 acres. The employment of labourer in the Assam Valley tea plantations increased from 107,874 in 1885 to 247,760 in 1900 and the industry continued to grow during the first half of the twentieth century. At the end of colonial rule, the Assam Valley tea plantations employed nearly half a million labourers out of a labour population of more than three-quarters of a million, and more than 3,00,000 acres were under tea cultivation out of the total area of a million acres controlled by the tea companies. This impressive expansion and growth of the Assam Valley tea industry took place within the monopolistic control of British capital in Assam. An analysis of the list of companies shows that in 1942, 84 percent of tea estates – with 89 percent of the acreage in the Assam Valley – were controlled by the European managing agency house. Thirteen leading agency houses from Calcutta controlled over 75 percent of the total tea production throughout 1939. One of the most notable features of the Assam Valley plantations was that, unlike the cases of most of the major industries such as jute, textiles and mining in British India, it never suffered from a complete stoppage of production during its long history. That was remarkable considering the fact that it employed arguably the largest labour force at the lowest level of wages compared to any other private capitalist enterprise in the history of colonial India. It had one of the worst records of labour relations and constantly complained of “labour troubles”. The very nature of the tea industry’s power structure and hierarchies has a long history of evolution. This power structure evolved and operated at two levels. At the upper level, the tea companies with their headquarters in the United Kingdom and managing agents in Calcutta instituted a centralized authority in the form of an apex body, the Indian Tea Association. This body was constituted of senior executives of tea companies and retired officials of the Indian Civil Services. It functioned both as a lobby for the industry in the corridors of power and as planner and implementer of its strategies of production, organization, and labour 3

J.C. Jah, “Aspects of Indentured Inland Emigration to North-East India, 18591918”, Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1996, p. 16-18.

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policies in the tea plantations. This power structure was bolstered by the industry’s social and political connections with the colonial authority. And they used this power to influence policy on labour matters, particularly to prevent legal impediments by using the extra-legal and coercive forms of labour control on the plantations. At the lower level, these strategies and policies were enforced through a hierarchical power structure centered on the managerial authority of European planters and their assistants. The key emphasis throughout was on immobilizing labour within the plantation complex after its arrival there and at the same time curbing its contact with the outside world. Both strategies aimed at preventing the formation of collective labour organizations. The planters developed strategies to dominate, discipline and to control labour, both in work and living spaces, through legal and extra-legal methods. Most remarkably, the planters adapted to the exigencies of the changing legislative and political situation in the region and were able to manipulate them to their advantage. At both levels, the authorities operated in tandem and implemented remarkably successful strategies and policies prepared by the apex body4. From the beginning, given the nature of the process (with its intensive production methods), labour was the tea industry’s major preoccupation. Since Assam Valley was very sparsely populated when the Assam Company commenced its operations in the 1840s, as a consequence, the shortage of labour created a serious problem. The initial experiment of importing Chinese labour for planting turned out to be a complete fiasco. Serious efforts were then made to procure labour both locally and from neighboring Bengal through sirdars and individual agents, mostly fortune seeking English men. Lands were cleared without any consideration of their suitability for cultivation or availability of labour. Highly placed civil servants resigned their posts to become planters. The immediate fallout of this situation was a manifold increase in demand for labour supply, which in turn started the process of a very large scale mobilization of labour from long distances in other parts of British India and its employment under indentured contract in the Assam Valley tea plantations. The labour was mobilized under appealing conditions of fraudulent recruitment and insanitary transport, leading to high mortality rates and large-scale desertions from plantations. 5 The reclamation of land for tea plantations called for labour. The planters raised a hue and cry about local labour due to the alleged unwillingness of Assamese agricultural labourers to work in the tea gardens. The Assamese 4 5

P. Behal and Marcel van der Linden, Indian Laboring Poor, p. 140. P. Behal and Marcel van der Linden (eds.), Indian Laboring Poor, pp. 156-157.

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were a ‘lazy lot’ and indifferent to work, whereas the Cacharies were more industrious. In Assam, the fertility of the land, scanty population, and extremely low rate of land revenue favored the peasantry. Rice, which was the common crop, was grown with little effort and its cultivation yielded a large return without any huge capital investment. One of the peculiarities of Assamese society was the relative absence of wage labourers as the land–man ratio was favorable to the peasantry. There was no necessity for non- agricultural work. The fertility of Brahmaputra Valley did not call for deep ploughing. However, the heavy soil suitable for tea plantation required heavy hoeing. This difference in the labour process inhibited the Assamese peasantry from switching over to plantation work. The Cacharies, however, appeared comparatively late as agriculturalists. Even in the early 19th century, they were migratory agriculturalists who had strong tribal ties. Adept in the hard work of wood-cutting and jungle clearing, etc., these tribals were the right kind of people to adjust to the labour process required in the tea gardens. However, it was necessity which forced them to work in the tea gardens. The Officiating Deputy Commissioner of Cachar observed: ‘It is now a matter of notoriety that much of the land settled under the old Assam rules and waste land rules of 1862 was not really waste land at all, but was in many instances covered with valuable timber or include village sites and land suitable for ordinary village cultivation. In [the] course of time, it came to be known that much injustice was done to hill men and others whose rights were infringed by [the] almost indiscriminate grant of lands to applicants’. Such encroachments on the rights of the tribals caused disintegration of the tribal economy. The loss of the traditional occupation of the Mikirs and Cacharies was responsible for much of the inter-district movement of the Cacharies and Mikirs. Thus, the difference in the physique and attitude of the local labourers regarding work in the tea gardens lay in their respective nodes of production and the government’s indiscrete policy of destroying the tribal economy. The government saw the interests of the planters. In 1861, the commissioner of Assam instructed: “I see very well that the land taxes here were almost nominal; that they might be doubled, and the excess so obtained over present revenue devoted with enormous advantage towards defraying the cost of construction of trunk roads and improved steam communications. At present we take very little from [the] Assamese, and we do very little for [them]. We do not intercept the bounty of nature on the one hand; on the other hand, we do not lead him to look for more than nature provides, and place him in communication with the outer world, and put him in the way of acquiring new material wants. Henceforth, to make the peasantry progressive and

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acquire new material wants which could only be accomplished if he was progressively increased during the next three decades. A drastic change immediately paid dividends. The small peasants failing to meet the increased revenue demands had to quit the land, thereby taking the first step in becoming a progressive being. In Kamarup, labour was formerly difficult to procure … but the increased assessment of 1868-69 had the result of [improving] the tea planter’s position in this respect, by compelling [the] ryot to exert himself to a greater degree than previously, and now the supply probably meets all usual demand”6.

However, the expansion of the tea industry was more pronounced in Lakhimpur, Sibasagar and Darrang. These districts alone contributed to 97 percent of the total tea production and accounted for 91 percent of the total cultivable acreage under tea in 1891. Table No. 5.1: Composition of Local Labour Force of Principal Tea District Areas District Nowgong Darang Sibasagar

1867-68

1881

65.23 48.01 26.80

64 58 47

Caste and Tribe Mikirs, Cacharies and Laloongs Cacharee and low caste Hindu

Lakhimpur 23.25 35 Source: Surajan Chaterjee, Ratan Das Gupta, “Tea Labour in Assam: Recruitment and Government Policy, 1840-1880”, EPW, Special Number, November 1981, p. 1861-62

The table reveals that in the principle tea districts, the supply of local labour force increased over time. Primarily, people from the Cachari and Mikir tribes were forced to come to the gardens. Secondly, a section of the low caste small peasantry was also forced to take jobs in the plantations. The increased revenue assessment threw the marginal farmers off the land. Though the overwhelming pressure of revenue created a new source of labour supply for the tea planters, this also created difficulties. A large section of peasants was also able to retain their lands and make profits, and employ wage labour on their own farms. To the evicted peasantry, these jobs were more suitable because it kept alive their aspirations for 6

Surajan Chaterjee, Ratan Das Gupta, “Tea Labour in Assam: Recruitment and Government Policy, 1840-1880”, EPW, Special Number, November 1981, p. 1861-62.

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resettlement in the traditional production organizations. As a consequence, the tea planter had to agree to higher wages to bring them to work in the gardens. The demand of the PWD for labour and their offers of comparatively higher wages made labour supply more uncertain and sometimes risky: the evicted peasants opted for the best wage offered in the labour market, but looked for the earliest opportunity to switch back to traditional agricultural work. On an overall perspective, it was the increase in the number of gardens which compelled the planters to look for labour outside.7 Faced with an acute shortage of labour, the planters had to seek labour from sources some hundreds of miles away. They resorted to a policy of organized recruitment of labour from tribal/semi-tribal areas, as well as from the non-tribal low caste peasantry; from the communities inhabiting an extensive area spread over the Bengal Presidency, the eastern part of the United Provinces, certain areas of Central Province and the districts of Ganjam and Vizakapatnam in the Madras Presidency.8

Labour recruitment systems for tea gardens of Assam from Andhra In 1866, the Madras Government Passed an Act (V of 1866) to regulate the manner of engaging and contracting with native inhabitants of the presidency of Madras for labour to be performed in any part of India beyond the territorial limits of the Presidency. The reason for the passing of the Act was the abuses which were found to exist in connection with recruitment for the tea gardens of Assam. Contractors* collected labourers with hundreds of false promises and shipped them off to Assam. It was, therefore, considered necessary to provide some regulation by law for the licensing of the contractors and recruiters**, for the examination and registration of labourers before an officer who was styled as the protector of labourers, to make sure that adequate provisions were being made for the maintenance and comfort of the emigrants on the voyage from the Madras Coast Ports. The Act of 1866 was accordingly passed, and it was intensified to fulfill the same objectives as the Bengal Act III of 1863. In 1867, as a response to the reports received regarding the mortality in the tea gardens in Sylhet, the Madras Government issued an order under the 7

Surajan Chaterjee, Ratan Das Gupta, “Tea Labour In Assam: Recruitment and Government Policy, 1840-1880”, EPW, Special Number, November 1981, p. 1861-62. 8 Ranjith Das Gupta, “Plantation Labour in Colonial India”, Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 19, number 314, April/July.

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Act absolutely prohibiting the issue of licenses to contractors and recruiters who might wish to recruit labourers for the tea districts of Assam. In 1889, it was found that coolies were being taken out of Ganjam in considerable numbers and were sent to Calcutta where they were put under contract. In order to control this traffic, the government of Madras (G.O. No. 913, public, dated 13 November 1889) decided to allow recruitment for the tea districts under Act V of 1866 from the districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam. The prohibitory orders of 1867 were cancelled, as far as these two districts were concerned. In 1891, Act I of 1882 was extended to the district of Ganjam, but the recruitment of labour in Vizagapatnam continued to be regulated under Act V of 18669. Owing to the adaptation of sardari and the free system of emigration, the licensed contract system was entirely given up from 189710. In the year 1900, the Madras Government saw fit to prohibit the recruitment of certain castes by the agency tracts; and this action was carried out in the next year by the suppression and manipulation of the recruiting process in the specific portions of the Ganjam district. All these restrictive measures were applied alike to the arkati and sardari systems of recruitment. It was evident that they must have realized that in the new system, recruiting in the district had become more costly and more difficult than it used to be. The arkati recruitment is meant as a system of recruitment by contracts under chapter III of Act VI of 1901. In this part of India, the first named system is 9

Report of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee, 1906, p. * According to the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1900: Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O., No.1253, 7th November 1899, “contractor” means a contractor licensed under this Act and “sub-contractor” means a subcontractor licensed under this Act: Any superintendent specially empowered in this capacity by local government may grant to such persons as he sees fit, licenses to be contractors within the whole or any part of the local area for which the superintendent has been appointed; and may also, on the application of any contractor, grant to such persons as he sees fit, licenses to be sub-contractors on behalf of the contractor, within the whole or any part of the local area for which the contractor is licensed. ** “Recruiter” means a recruiter licensed under this Act: Any superintendent empowered in this capacity by the local government may, on the application of a contractor, or sub-contractor acting on behalf of a contractor, grant to such persons as he sees fit licenses to be recruiters on behalf of the contractor within the whole or any specified part of the local area for which the contractor has been licensed. 10 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 341342, 4th April 1900: Extract of a letter from H.D. Taylor, Esq., I.C.S., Acting Collector of Gangjam, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated Camp, Dumudua, 11th February 1900, D Dis No. 180-Eng.

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generally termed the arkati systems; and the other two are known respectively as sardari and the free sardari systems. Arkatis were unlicensed professional recruiters; sardars were licensed professional recruiters. Far from desiring to restrict or to hamper sardari recruiting, the Government of India certainly intended to promote and to foster that form of emigration. “With [the objective] of encouraging sardari recruitment a special procedure is provided, whereby garden sardars*, on being furnished with permits from their respective employs, will be allowed to recruit outside the other provisions of the Act, and to convey their recruits outside its provisions to Assam”.11 According to the report of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, Mr. T.H. Casey, superintendent**: In Ganjam district, there were seven registration centers for the registration of emigrants recruited under Chapter III and three centers for emigrants recruited under Chapter IV. Section 90 was not in force in the district. The Agency Tracts comprised the hilly portion of the district in the north and west, and extended to about half the area of the district. The classes which were chiefly assembled for Assam were Bhavari, Panos, Dandasis, Kapsavaras and Telugus. These were all landless labourers, the first three of which formed the great majority of the laboring classes in the north of the district, and the Kapsavaras and Telugus were found in the South12. According to Mr. P.S. Venkatesarlu Naidu, a licensed contractor from Berhampore, people from the Agency Tracts did not go to Burma or the Colonies, but they were willing to go to Assam, as many of their relatives were already there and they knew about the place. Labourers from the plains portions of this district were not suitable for the Assam Valley, but were taken by Cachar and Sylhet. Registration had also given rise to difficulties here. There were 11

Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 509, 15th July 1905: Extracts of a letter from the Secretary, Indian Tea Association, to the Chief Secretary to Government, Madras, dated Camp, Calcutta, 16th January 1905, Dis. No. 27-O. * According to the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1900: Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O., No. 1253, 7th November 1899), “garden sardars” means an employer may grant to any garden sardar a certificate authorizing him, in such a local area within the limits of a single district as may be specified in the certificate, to enter into labour contracts with persons desirous of becoming labourers upon any estate of which the employer is in charge. 12 Proceedings of Assam Labour Enquiry committee 1906, p. 93. ** According to the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1900: Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O., No. 1253, 7th November 1899, “superintendent” means a Superintendent of Emigration appointed under this Act; “registering officer” means a registering officer appointed under this Act.

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four registering centers for contractors and laborers in this district, and they had to maintain places of accommodation at each of them. There were often also great delays in registration owing to the absence of the registering officer. There was often a further delay in putting the labourers under contract at Berhampore as the magistrate, who was superintendent of emigration, may also be away. If the term of the contract had been reduced to three years, people would have gone more freely to Assam, while if it were reduced further still or if the contract was abolished altogether, still more would have gone13. According to Mr. P. Jagga Rao, Police Inspector, Berhampore Division, Ganjam: “I served in the Gumsur division, which was adjacent to the Agency Tracts, from 1898 to 1902. There was then considerable emigration of Khonds, Panos, etc., from the Agency Tracts. Owing to the frequent complaints of wrongful confinement, false promise and other malpractices by contractors and their recruiters, recruitment for Assam by the Ganjam Agency Tracts at present was confined to the [plains] portions of the district. People were enticed way from their villages to Berhampore on false pretences, and kept in private houses till they [expressed] that they were willing to go [to] Assam, and once they did so they were taken to regulated depots. Their names, castes and places of residence were altered. And if they were not willing to go, they were represented before the magistrate by proxy. I can quote instances of this, if required. These abuses are more frequent in the case of persons recruited by contractors than in the case of sardari emigrants. I have had complaints of sardars enticing away single women. I am of the opinion that registration should still be continued, even in the case of sardari emigrants, and should be made more strict. And an identifying witness, such as the village officer, was required in every case. I should like to see [the] contractors system abolished altogether. During my experience of seven years in this district I have seen very few emigrants returned from Assam, even including sardars. People do not like to go there, as they are ignorant of what they can earn from [the] labour conditions of the gardens. The [wages] in Assam were also low, and emigrants have to stay there for four years instead of returning when they want as was the case in Burma”14.

13

Proceedings of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, p. 94-95. Proceedings of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, p. 95. * “Local agent” means a local agent licensed under Act: Any superintendent authorized on this behalf by the Local Government may, on the application of an employer, grant licenses to persons to be local agents for the purpose of representing the employer within such a local area and for such a period as the 14

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According to Capt. F.R. Steel, Local Agent* of the Tea Districts Labour Association, Berhampur, Ganjam: “The district of Ganjam is inclusive of an agency tracts division in which two aboriginal tribes reside: the Khonds, in the north-west area and the Sowras, in the South-West area. Both tribes migrate to the tea estates. Other castes which could also be found there were the Dandasis, Kapus, Kammars, Madigas, Malas, and Panos. The average movement of labour from this district to [the] tea estates is approximately 2,000 per annum. The Tea Districts Labour Association’s year commences on the 1st September and ends on the 31st August. The brisk recruiting months are generally between February to June and [the] slack months were between September to December. The busiest month during the year is March. The slack season may be attributed to advent of [the] rains, when ploughing operations commence and the harvesting season, absorbs local labour. I attach statistics for the past three years of the movement of labour, by castes from this district, as also those for sardars, received from gardens, during corresponding periods. Migration to Burma is also popular and free flow takes place annually. The labour migrating to Burma, however, is practically confined to males and generally from the [plains] areas of [the] district. A small proportion of Khonds have ventured to cross the sea but not yet the Malia (hill) Sowra, though his brother the Kapu (plains) Sowra migrates fairly freely”.

According to Dewan Bahadur B. Narayanamurty Pantulu, Retired Deputy Collector, Vizagapatnam: “When there was emigration to Assam from these two districts, it was not so popular. The people did not know about the conditions in Assam. The wages were too low to attract them and no one ever [comes] back from Assam to tell them what it was really like. In 1896, owing to the famine, coolies went to Assam to tell them what Agency Tracts but I learned from their relatives that they neither heard from the emigrants nor received any money from them by money order. In the famine of 1896, I found that large remittances were being remitted monthly from Burma to the families left behind. The profits of Burma emigration are enabling the landless labourers to buy up land. This makes Burma more popular than Assam. The Jungle Tribes do not go to Burma; they are afraid of the sea. They never come down into the plains to work. During the time of famine, the Savaras and Khonds could support themselves for months on the forest produce. The Agency Tracts closed recruiting, because it was believed that the recruiters were only getting hold of people by false representations; and employer may desire, provided that no contractor shall be licensed as a local agent. Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O., No. 1253, 7th November 1899.

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Chapter V the country was also very thinly populated, and could not spare its people. The men among the Savaras were very lazy, and I have not heard of stories of their movement to Assam. The Khonds were stronger and more industrious and some of them used to go to Assam”15.

According to Mr. M. Kuppuswamy, Sub-Magistrate, Parvatipur, Vizagapatnam District: “The labourers who were registered at Parvatipur were chiefly Pidis, Jatas and Malas. The Jatas were hill tribe. They were going to have an easy time on fixed monthly [wages] in Assam with little work to do and so preferred to go. The coolies now going to Assam are those who are very poor and never do any regular work. I have refused registration in many cases, because I found that the coolie did not understand the terms of the contract. Only four days ago, I asked a man whether he wished to leave his family and land for four years; he said, ‘No.’ He understood it was only for one year, and he was willing to go for one year; but directly the recruiter got hold of him gain, he said he was willing for four years. In my opinion a one-year contract would be much more attractive than [a] four-year one. The labourers registered were mostly family parties. I have refused registration of 13 or 14 persons in the last six months”16.

According to Rev. A. Anderson, Gunupur Taluk, Vizagpatnam: “Labour is procured locally throughout the taluk, and there is usually no difficulty in getting the necessary workers for agricultural purposes as well as for building work, road and railway constructions, etc. Usually people offer their services to cultivators and other employers, but in not a few cases poor people are made servants (not to say serfs) on account of their inability to pay off debts contracted for some purpose or other, e.g., marriage. Naturally this means servitude for many years on account of accumulation of original debt by constantly adding interest at high [a] percentage. The difficulty arises from the system of recruiting. This system itself may be comparatively good, and I have known Tea District Labour Association Agents at my former place (Koraput) who have done all they could to prevent misuse, but the way sirdars often persuade people to go Assam, or employ other unauthorized people to help them in their recruiting work for small consideration in money, does a good deal of harm. I have very often heard people, both in Gunupur taluk and in Koraput division, speak of ‘selling men to Assam.’ From my work at Koraput I know that family disturbances often occur in connection with this recruitment work. Men leave their wives and children behind penniless, and I remember how a father came to me at Koraput crying 15 16

Proceedings of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, p. 103-104. Proceedings of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, p. 104.

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bitterly because somebody had persuaded his son to leave without his knowledge. Not a few go to Assam because their position in their old surroundings have become intolerable on account of offences against the law or their own community and its rules, others because they unwilling to fulfill obligations imposed upon them”.17

According to Mr. C. Sundarsana Raju, Eti Koppaka, Vizagapatnam district, labour is recruited from the district of Vizagapatnam: “(a) To work in the docks at Rangoon, in the rice and other factories in [and] around Rangoon and in the Straits settlements, (b) to work in the tea estates of Assam, (c) to work in the railway workshops at Khargapur, (d) to work at Jamshedpur, (e) to work in the jute mills of Nellimarla and Chittivalasa (in the district of Vizagapatnam), (f) to work in the harbor works at Vizagapatnam. The labourers that are recruited for the purposes mentioned in items (a), (b), (e) and (f) are ordinary coolies (unskilled labourers) who are agricultural labourers. The labourers recruited for [the] purposes mentioned in items (c) and (d) belong to the class of skilled labourers such as carpenters. The number of persons migrating from the district for purposes mentioned in items (c), (d), (e) and (f) travel by train. It is easy to determine the extent of recruitment for the purposes mentioned in (a) and as the emigrants go by steamer most of them leave Vizagapatnam district by the ports at Bimliptanam, Vizagapatnam, Coconada and Calingaptanam and in some cases even from Madras port. The extent of migration and return is given in the statement appended. The main reason for migration is the payment of higher wages in industrial centers. A frequent unfavorable seasonal condition in the district of Vizagapatnam which threatens irrigation works causes [and] continues the high-level flow of labour from this district. The increase of migrating labour to industrial areas results in the higher wages for agricultural labour. In the case of labour recruited for Assam tea estates the agents go to villages in the Agency tracts and recruit labour by deceptive description of the advantages of migration to the tea estates”.18

According to Sriman Sree Vikrama Deo Varma Mahsaya, Vizagapatnam: “The most important labour problem that has been engaging the serious attention of the administrators and the public men interested in the economic welfare of the district is the recruitment of labour from what is known as the agency tract of the district, for the Assam gardens. Successive agents to the governor, [the] most notable among whom is Mr. 17 18

Royal Commission on Labour, Vol. VII, Part I, p. 271-272. Royal Commission on Labour, Madras Presidency, Vol. VII, Part I, p. 295-296.

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Chapter V L.T. Harris, C.S.I., drew the serious attention of the government to the necessity and desirability of closing the agency tracts to the recruitment of labour for Assam. The power of the capitalist behind the tea gardens of Assam, overrode all principles of equity and economic necessity and [the] agency tracts still continue to be denuded of the already scarce basic population of the area. If the natural laws of supply and demand and the attraction of higher wages and continued employment, as set forth by the authorities, as the causes for the flow of population from Jeypore to Assam were true, I would respectfully throw a challenge to the authorities to place before the public a statement showing the total number that [left] the agency tracts for Assam, the number that returned to their home and wealth in savings they brought back, the number that stayed back in Assam on account of superior climatic and economic conditions and convince the public that recruitment is for the benefit of people recruited. I would also ask the authorities to explain the need for a costly and elaborate organization with the legislative and executive co-operation of the government direct and indirect, found necessary for the so-called freewill emigration of the agency people. Certainly this is nothing short of modern slavery, legalized by modern acts to enrich the Assam plantations with human manure from the agency tracts. I questioned the wisdom of government in allotting millions [to railways] for the development of the agency tracts by the provision of roads, railways and anti-malaria methods, while permitting the areas to be developed to be depopulated by emigration to another province for its development. This is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul”.19

Andhra Labour en route to Assam Plantations According to the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1900, the term “migrate” denotes the departure of any native of India (not a native of the labour district) of the age of sixteen years or upwards from any part of the territories, for the purpose of laboring for hire in a labour district otherwise than as a domestic servant20. According to the Assam Labour Recruitment Bill, 1929, “Labourer” means any person (not a native of the labour district) of the age of sixteen years and upwards who is recruited, engaged or assisted to proceed from any part of the territories in which this Act may for the time being be in force, to a labour district for the purposes of performing manual labour on an estate otherwise than as domestic

19

Royal Commission on Labour, Vol. VII, part I, pp. 76-77. Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O., No. 1253, 7th November 1899.

20

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servant21. Migration of labourers to the Assam tea gardens was common from the Ganjam, Vizagapatnam and Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore districts. The first cause for this migration was the pressure of the population on the land; in other words, the existing quantity of land and the income from it was unable to support the number dependent upon it. For example, in Vizagapatnam, an acre of cultivated land had to support more than two people. The second cause was attractiveness of the higher wages and continuity of employment on the Assam tea plantations. The third cause was heavy pressure on the land, which was further aggravated by recurring bad seasons (the average rainfall was low in both Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts). The fourth cause was that the lower castes realized that they could escape from forms of servitude such as the vetti and goti systems through migration. The vetti system was a sort of debt bondage or debt slavery and bonded labour, and was confined to the Jeypore Zamindary area in Ganjam district. Under the goti system, the landlord advanced loans on condition that the tribal labourer would compulsorily render labour. Apart from the Zamindar, the government also practiced vetti. They normally granted or permitted the tribal population to freely cultivate in unreserved forest areas, for which they had to render labour whenever required. The tribal labourers were employed mainly in road construction and forest clearance. There was competition between the tea garden agents of the Assam tea plantations and the local Zamindars to get labourers from the tribal belt.22 The Sondi system was a more serious evil. Sondis were the liquor-sellers and money lenders. Mr. H.D. Taylor stated in 1892 that the rate of interest on loans extorted by these Sondis was 100 percent and if this was not cleared off in the first year, a compound interest at 100 percent was charged on the balance. The result was that in many instances, the cultivators are unable to pay in cash or kind and became the gotis or the serfs of the Swocars, for whom they had to work for mere batta, whilst the later took care to manipulate their accounts in such a manner that the debt was never paid off. A remarkable instance of this tyranny was brought forth by Mr. Taylor as he relayed that a ryot some fifty years back barrowed Rs 20/-; he paid back Rs 50/- at intervals and worked for the whole of his life and died in servitude. For the same debt, the Swocar claimed the services of his son, and he too died in bondage, leaving two small sons aged 13 and 19, whose services were also claimed for an alleged arrear of Rs 30/-. So a debt of Rs 21

Government of Madras, Proceedings of Public Works Labour, G.O., No. 503504L, dated 15th February 1929. 22 Royal Commission on Labour in India, Vol. VII, Part 2, Oral Evidences, Madras and Coorg, pp. 1-44.

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20/-, barrowed fifty years back, for which Rs 50/- in cash had been repaid, in addition to the perpetual labour of a man for a similar period.23

The Madras Act V of 1866 Hitherto, migration to Assam had been confined to the two districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam. In 1866, the Madras Government passed an Act (V of 1866) to regulate the manner of engaging and contracting with native inhabitants of the presidency of Madras for labour to be performed in any part of India beyond the territorial limit of the presidency. In 1867, as a response to the reports which were received regarding mortality in the tea gardens in Sylhet, the Madras government prohibited the issue of licenses under Act V to contractors or recruiters who might desire to recruit labourers for the tea districts of Assam. In a report from R. Brown (Assistant Surgeon) to Dr. W. Keates (Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals), where he wrote that in the first place, to take into consideration the mortality in the various gardens where it had been excessive, the greatest mortality in the Sylhet district ought perhaps first to be considered first. As regards the first part of the above enquiry, one of the most important matters connected with it was the class of the labour recruited for the tea gardens; and this of course, I intend to discuss solely from a medical point of view. Labourers were chiefly imported from the following districts in the greatest numbers: Chota Nagapore and the surrounding districts, North-Western Bengal, the North-Western provinces and Madras Presidency. Mr. Jenings of the Cherrangong Tea Estates said: “In my opinion the great cause of the mortality which exists on tea plantations was to be accounted for by, first, the labourers who died were in a diseased state before they left their own houses and consequently broke down entirely, and gave themselves up after one or two attacks of fever, which generally ended in dysentery. This, along with the careless way in which they cooked their food, was the only reason I can assign.” About the Madrasees, he thought that they were not able to procure the food they had been accustomed to and that had an unfavorable effect on them. He also said, “This damp climate was not suited to their constitutions and once they [got] sick, they seem to make up their minds that they were going to die.” One of the first causes operating on the labourers, especially the ones recruited from the North-West or Madras, was one of intense feelings of disappointment. He found that the glowing 23 Madras District Gazetteers, Vizagapatnam, Madras Government Press, 1907, pp. 10-110.

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statements of the recruiters were all false; while being contracted, a labourer was promised 15 rupees or so a month for sitting for a few hours a day under the shade, but very soon the labourer found out that he had to work for a living. This feeling, by inducing a despondent state of mind, frequently acted to intensify disease. As a conclusion to this part of the subject, it would be interesting to know how the health of imported labour contrasted with that of a laboring man who belonged to that place and whose village bordered on the tea gardens. The deaths of local labour during the six months from July-December, 1866, amounted to only 2 or 1½ percent. As regards the labourers recruited from Madras and the NorthWestern provinces, this situation was unhealthier than for the villagers24. H.L. Harrison, Joint Secretary to the Government of Bengal, submitted a report to the commissioner of Dacca division on the mortality among the labourers who had been imported into the tea gardens in Sylhet, communicating the following observations and orders. The report showed conclusively that Madras labourers could not live on Sylhet tea gardens. It was not appropriate and suitable that further attempts should be made to import them to the gardens of the district. In 1889, it was discovered that labourers were being taken out of Ganjam in considerable numbers, and were being sent to Culcutta and put under contract there. In this process, the existence of Act V was apparently being overlooked. The Government of Madras decided to allow the traffic to continue and the prohibitory orders of 1867 were withdrawn as far as the two districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam were concerned. Recruitment for the tea gardens was to be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Act V of 1866. In 1891, Act I of 1882 was extended to the district of Ganjam, but the recruitment of labour in Vizagapnam continued to be regulated by Act V.25 As a consequence of the abuses which arose in connection with the recruitment of “free” labourers under section 7 of Act I of 1882, the Madras Government, on the basis of the representation of the district magistrate of Ganjam, considered it necessary to prohibit recruitment of certain classes living in the agency tracts of Ganjam (Khonds, Savaras and Panos). They further directed the district magistrate to enforce the provision of Act V of 1866 against all unlicensed recruiters. On the passing of Act VI of 1901, the district magistrate of Ganjam reported that, “Contractors generally seemed to evince a preference for working under Act V of 1866, because they were thereby practically able to make their 24

Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O. No.1285, 16 October 1867. 25 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Public Department, G.O. No. 913, 13 November 1889.

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own terms as to contracts and thereby defeat one of the objects of the new Act, and that it was undesirable that the two systems should exists side by side”. Mr. Hammick considered that the main reasons for migration being so limited were: (1) that Assam could not compete with Burma or with the good wages which the latter province offered, and the freedom which the migrants to Burma enjoyed; (2) that, as far as was known, very few emigrants ever return from Assam; (3) that enquiries had shown that probably no money was ever remitted to their homes by people who had gone to Assam; and (4) that Assam had a bad reputation as regards climate.

Chota Nagapur, Santal Paraganas 9,790 12,160 16,385 20,252 22,877 13,162 16,557 17,910 17,837 17,833 18,369 16,122 28,078 18,594 11,192 17,605 4,542 3,649 3,901 4,408 5,372 3,533 8,036 9,740 10,474 7,662 10,214 8,102 6,848 3,908 3,829 4,029

Rest of Bengal

5,445 5,934 7,496 7,995 7,860 6,082 10,524 9,196 6,188 6,954 18,957 1,9135 9,391 4,565 1,960 3,617

United Province

Nationality of Immigrants (Adults Only)

Source: Report of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, p. 14.

29,398 30,894 36,463 46,293 55,658 36,080 49,908 56,050 50,675 46,530 72,837 81,115 95,931 49,169 31,908 62,733

18,043 18,844 26,027 30,839 36,562 24,551 32,439 36,134 33,778 30,321 35,041 42,384 66,952 33,762 24,449 44,534

1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900

11,355 12,050 10,436 15,454 19,096 11,529 17,469 19,916 16,897 16,209 37,796 38,731 28979 15,407 7,459 18,199

Total Number of Emigrants (Including Children) Assam Surma Total Valley Valley

Year

1,260 896 2,014 7,932 17,285 19,876 7,100 7,197 16,962

Central Province

Table No. 5.2: Total Number of Migrants to Assam Plantations from 1885 to1900

Andhra Labour Migrations to Assam Plantations

80 189 160 285 689 1,895 2,018 2,894 767 976 969 568 2,113 1,284 1,632 2,749

Madras

1,287 783 1148 377 750 1533 804 802 981 267 60 89 22 65 62 82

Others

21144 22715 29090 33317 37548 26205 37939 41802 37143 35706 56501 61301 66328 35516 25872 45044

Total

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Assam Labour and Emigration Act VI of 1901 The agents had always reported unfavorably regarding migration from the agency tracts to Assam. In 1900, Mr. H.D. Taylor, the collector of Ganjam district, reported a number of specific instances of the fraudulent recruitment of people of aboriginal descent. The government of Madras had adopted the recommendations, which had been strongly pressed by local officers, that the tracts should be closed to recruitment for Assam for the following reasons: (1) The people were extremely backward and were easily misled by the false representations of recruiters; (2) owing to the unhealthy nature of the climate, the government establishments in the agency tracts were inferior, and with the present establishments, there would not be adequate control over recruitment; (3) the distances between police stations and between magistrates’ headquarters in the agency tracts were huge and communications was bad. In order to obtain proper supervision, it would be necessary to rejuvenate the existing establishments and even then, owing to the villages being scattered and the absence of roads, any really effective checks over recruiting would be very difficult. (4) There would be serious danger of unrest among the Khonds, if recruitment were allowed. The government of Madras was opposed to the opening of the agency tracts to recruitment in any form, and was not prepared to allow garden Sardars to work there, even under the control of a responsible local agent. As a necessary step, it was established that except the akbari and forest departments, no other agency was permitted to exercise jurisdiction within the tracts, and there was no possibility at the time of any outside agency being allowed to carry on business such as recruiting among the tribes who inhabited these hills.

Prohibition of Labour from Ganjam District Agency to Assam Plantations The collector of Ganjam again brought to the notice of the government of Madras the want of control that existed with respect to free migration from Ganjam to Assam. The collector first addressed the government on this subject in May 1897, when he recommended that free migration should be prohibited under section 5 Act I of 1882. His chief reason then for asking for the suspension of free migration was that the sanitary arrangements at the places used as depots for free emigrants were most defective. A secondary reason was that the free migration system was liable to abuse. Section V of Act I, 1882, did not empower the government to suspend free migration, while regulated migration was permitted. It was

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then decided that it would be sufficient to invite the attention of the governments of Bengal and Assam to the state of affairs reported by the collector, and to suggest that a watch should be kept on free emigrants with a view to safe guarding their interests. Shortly afterwards, the sanitary commissioner forwarded a representation from the district medical and sanitary officer of Ganjam, regarding the danger to public health that was involved by the manner in which labourers were brought from the interior and herded to gather at Berhampore and Gopalpore. The Collector once more recommended that all non-regulated migration from Ganjam to Assam should be prohibited, or that any rate, it should be prohibited between the end of January and end of June in each year. In 1897, the collector was told that under section 5 of the Act, the Government could not prohibit non-regulated migration without inhibiting all migration or the migration of specified clans of natives, and it was decided that the necessity for such a measure had not been established. The collector now recommended the prohibition of free migration on the grounds that he had reasons to believe that grave abuses existed. He believed that free migrants were recruited to a very large extent under false pretences and registered beyond the border, after removal from the district, and that to some extent, actual kidnappings went on. He further brought to notice that the recruiters were extending their operations to the agency tracts where their presence was more undesirable, and in the case of unscrupulous action, some serious results were likely to take place. The Collector pointed out that another serious danger to the district was caused by the frequent passage, to and fro between Calcutta and Ganjam, of the recruiter’s agents who give false addresses on alighting at Berhampore and thus evaded the plague regulations, which involved grave risks of the introduction of plague throughout their agency. He thought that the establishment of an inspection station would even be of little use if the real addresses of these agents could be accurately ascertained. In 1900, the opening of an inspection station at Kallikota was ordered to prevent the importation of plague from Bengal. A street enforcement of plague regulations would check the irregular ties referred by the Collector. If the recruiter’s agents toured frequently between Calcutta and Berhampore, it was not likely that a man would be able to give a false address more than once. The Collector, however, recommended that under section 5 of Act I of 1882, all migration from the district should be prohibited until the plague had subsided in Calcutta or until a new bill had been passed into law. He added that if the government did not approve of the issue of an order in such general terms, he would earnestly request that, at any rate, a prohibition may be issue in respect of the agency tracts, and generally in

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the case of the Khonds, Savaras and Ponos of the agency tracts. It was unlikely that the government would at this stage consent to the proposal to prohibit all migration from Ganjam to the labour districts. It was up for consideration whether the partial prohibition recommended by the Collector in respect of the agency tracts and hill tribes should be given effect through any notification issued under section 5 of the Act and whether it would get sanctioned by the government of India. When on previous occasions, the collector of Ganjam raised the question of regulating free migration to Assam, it did not appear to have been observed that the Madras Act V of 1866, “Labour Contract with Natives”, was still in force and ran concurrently with the Assam Labour Act I of 1882. This government, in connection with the recent proposals for regulating planters’ labour, had decided that it was unnecessary to repeal Act V of 1866. If the government was now prepared to enforce this Act in regard to emigrants proceeding from Ganjam to Assam, the Collector would have all the power to control recruiters, satisfying himself that the migrants really wished to migrate. As long as migration to Assam was confined to statute migration – that is to say, migration under Act I of 1882 – there was no necessity to apply Act V of the 1866 statute on migration. However, no notifications had been issued by this government under section 3 of the Act of 1866 appointing protectors of labourers. If the government desired to enforce the act, such a notification would have been necessary in regard to the district of Ganjam. To thus bring all migration under control, it would have been preferable to prohibit migration altogether, or at least temporarily, as suggested by the Collector. If, however, the government considered it undesirable to put Act V of 1866 into force, they should have secured that migration from the agency tracts should be prohibited. When Act I of 1882 was passed, it was evidently considered by legislature that migration under the act would be the rule and free migration to Assam would be seen as the exception. Now that this expectation had been proved to be wrong as far as Ganjam was concerned, it was reasonable that some steps should be taken to protect the ignorant hill-tribes in the Agency tracts from being enticed away under false pretences by recruiters.26 The only order that H.D. Taylor, Collector of Ganjam, could find repealing any portion of the Madras Act V of 1866 was section 2 of Indian 26 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 437, 8th May 1900: Extract a letter from H.D. Taylor, Esq., I.C.S., Acting Collector of Ganjam, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated Camp, Chatrapur, 20th March 1900, R.C.P. No. 299-Eng.

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Act III of 1876 (the British Burma Labour Law), which was itself repealed by Indian Act VII of 1883. It seems to me, therefore, that the Madras Act V of 1866 remained in full force in regard to free recruiting (other than to Burma), when not opposed to the special provision for recruitment to special localities, such as the labour districts of Assam, Mauritius, Natal and the Straits Settlements. If Act V of 1866 may have been deemed to still be in force in this district, it would have been of great utility in enabling control to be exercised over recruitment by so called agents and contractors who presented under no legal provisions whatsoever. 27 The opinion of J.P. Wallis, Advocate-General, was: “Act V of 1866 of Madras is a general statute relating to labour contracts made with native inhabitants within the presidency for labour to be performed in other parts of India. It is expressly repealed as to contracts for labour to be for formed in Burma by Act III of 1876, section 2. It is also implied repealed by Act VII of 1893 as regards Ganjam, but only in respect of contracts made under Act I of 1882 as amended by Act VII of 1893 for labour to be performed in the labour districts of Lakhimpur, Sibasagar, Nowgong, Darrang, Kamrup, Goplapura, Kachar and Silhat. As to these districts Act VII of 1893 extends to Ganjam the specific provisions of Act I of 1882 as amended by Act VII of 1893. These provisions however only repeal Act I of 1866 (M.) as regards contracts made under Act I of 1882 as amended, because Act I of 1882, section7, provides that save as provided by section 5 (giving poor to forbid all Migration to labour districts) ‘nothing in this Act shall be deemed to prohibit any native if India from emigrating to, or entering into a contract to labour in, a labour district otherwise than under the provisions of this Act.’ In Ganjam, therefore, Migration and labour contracts not falling under Act I of 1882 as amended will continue subject to the provisions of Act V of 1866 of Madras. I am of [the] opinion that Act V of 1866 (M.) continues in full force and effect in the District of Ganjam subject to the Expectations above set out”.28

For the sanction of the Government of India, two draft notifications under section 3 of the Assam Labour and Migration Act No. VI of 1901 were proposed, in connection with the regulation of migration to the labour districts of Ganjam. Under section 3 of Act VI of 1901, the 27 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 60, 24th January 1900: Extract a letter from H.D. Taylor, Esq., I.C.S., Acting Collector of Gangjam, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated Camp, Tekkali, 18th November 1900, Dis. No. 1203-Eng. 28 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 60, 24th January1900: From the Government Solicitor, Madras, dated 10th January 1901, No. 15.

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prohibition was directed against recruiters and contractors, and an alteration in terms of the notification became necessary. It was now proposed that all people should be prohibited from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the Agency tracts of Ganjam. It had been represented to this government that as long as the recruitment of any classes in the hill tracts was permitted, recruiters would proceed to the Hills, ostensibly to recruit those classes, but secretly, to induce the migration of prohibited classes who had a special value as labourers in the tea districts. Under Act VI of 1901, the voluntary act of migration was not an offence, and if recruiters were admitted to the Agency tracts at all, they would probably induce members of the hill tribes to proceed to rendezvous in the plains, and when there, to enter into formal engagements. It would have been impossible to check malpractices, and an evasion of the rules would doubtless have taken place on a large scale. It was therefore proposed to deprive recruiters of any foothold in the hill tracts by prohibiting the engagement of any native therein. The government considered that operations in the Ganjam district under Madras Act V of 1866, with respect to migration to Assam, should ceases as soon as possible, and that therefore, under the second clause of section 3 of Act VI of 1901, the two notifications now forwarded should take effect from the date of their publication. Draft Notification No. I: “In exercise of the power conferred by section 3 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (VI of 1901), the governor in Council, with the previous sanction of the Governor-General in Council, is pleased to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging, including or assisting any native of India to migrate from the Ganjam district to any labour district of Assam, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the said Act.”

Draft Notification No. II: “In exercise of the power conferred by section 3 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (VI of 1901), the governor in Council, with the previous sanction of the Governor-General in Council, is pleased to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging, including or assisting any native of India to migrate from the Tracts known as the “Scheduled districts” of Ganjam district to any labour district of Assam”.29 29

Proceedings of Public Department Government of Madras, GO No.811, 10th August 1901: Letter From G. Stokes, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, Ootacamund, Dated 10th August1901.

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With reference to proviso to the aforementioned section 3 of the said Act, the Governor in Council was further pleased to direct that this notification should take effect at once with regard to: (1) the Gumsur Maliahs, including Chokapad; (2) the Surada Maliahs; (3) Chinnakimidi Maliahs; (4) Pedda Kimedi Maliahs; (5) the Bodogodo Kimedi; (6) the Surangi Maliahs; (7) Parlikimidi Maliahs; (8) the Muttas of Korada and Ronoba; (9) the Jarda Maliahs; (10) the Mandasa Maliahs; (11) the Jalantra Maliahs; (12) the Badarsingi Maliahs; and (13) the Kuttingia.

Prohibition of Labour from Vizagapatnam District Agency to Assam Plantations W.O. Horne, Magistrate*, Vizagapatnam, reported that, “it recently came to my notice that much unauthorized recruiting of labourers for the tea district of Assam was going on in this district. I have put a stop to it and prosecuted the offenders. Now, however, the agents for whom this work was being done were commencing to apply for licenses under Act V of 1866, and there was no reason why, within reasonable limits and with proper precautions, these should not be granted. It will be found, however, that if, as was the case under the present orders, the duties of the protectors of labourers under the Act had to be performed by the collector personally, the continuous presence of that official at headquarters will be necessary period. I am frequently and necessarily absent for six weeks, and sometimes for two months, at a time. Under these circumstances, I request that, if possible, I may be authorized to delegate my powers as protector to my assistant or deputy at headquarters during my absence in the district”. G. Stokes, Chief Secretary, issued an order, “In exercise of the power conferred by section 3 of Madras Act V of 1866, the governor in council hereby appoints the assistant Collector and the headquarters Deputy Collector, Vizagapatnam, to be protectors of labourers for the district of Vizagapatnam. 30 In 1889, passing orders permitting migration from Ganjam and Vizagapatnam to the Province of Assam; in January 1890, passing order regarding the appointment [of the] Senior Assistant Collector and the Treasury Deputy Collector as additional protectors of labourers in connection with migration to [the] province of Assam; in October 1890, appointing the principal Assistant Collector to be protector 30

Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 1248, 10th December 1900: Extract, a letter from W.O. Horne, Esq., Magistrate, Vizagapatnam, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated 20th September 1900, R.C. No. 521-Eng.

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of labourers of the district of Ganjam under section 3 of Act V of 1866; in April 1891, appointing with remarks the Deputy Collector on general duty at Rusal Konda to be a protector of labourers for the district of Ganjam under section 3 of Act V of 1866; [on] 8th May 1900, stating that it was sufficient [at] present to prohibit migration from the necessary agency tracts of Ganjam, that the Magistrate [of] Ganjam should submit the necessary draft notification specifying their classes included in it and over which the prohibition should apply, that specific instances of abuse in connection with the migration of the other classes should be reported to government, and that the establishment of a plague inspection station on the border of the district was enough to prevent the introduction of plague; in July 1900, accepting the opinion of the district magistrate [in] Ganjam that the Khonds of the government taluk need protection and should be included in [the] prohibition against migration to the labour districts in Assam, and forwarding to the government of India for sanction of the draft notification submitted by the district magistrate on the subject; in January 1901, communicating to the Collector and District Magistrate of Ganjam, confirming the views of the district magistrate the Madras Act V of 1866 remains in full force in the Ganjam district in regard to free recruiting (other than to Burma) when not opposed to the special provision for recruitment of special localities.31 I am directed by the General Committee of the Indian Tea Association to address you with respect to a notification issued by his excellence the governor of Madras in council on 15 September last, under section 5 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act (I of 1882). The notification in question prohibits – from the 1st October 1900 – all Khonds, Savaras, and Panos, residing in the agency tracts, or “Scheduled Districts” of Ganjam, and all Khonds residing in the Goomsur Taluq, from emigrating to any labour districts. That abuse may arise when recruitment was not conducted under the regulations prescribed in Act I, the general committee quite admits. But the orders issued by the governor in council apparently prohibiting not only the free recruiting of which Mr. Taylor complains, but recruiting under [the] Act also. Such a prohibition appears to the committee to be unnecessary. So far as they understand the matter there was no suggestion that recruiting, if legitimately conducted by local agents and gardens Sardars under the Act (section 51 to section 86) would give rise to any abuse. On the contrary, it was admitted in other districts that Sardari recruiting is of advantage, not to the tea industry only, but in the general interest; in that it honestly assists in migration of the 31 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO. No. 104, 1 February 1901.

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people from over-crowded, to scantily populated, areas. And judging by the encouragement which is given to this form of recruiting in the new Labour Bill, at present before the imperial council, this view would appear to commend itself to [the] government of India. There would therefore seem to be no good reason for the issue of such far-reaching orders as those contained in the notification of 15th September. That being so, and as further, the labourers recruited from the hill tracts are of a class particularly suitable for tea garden work, the general committee venture to suggest that the subject be recession of the notification, or at least to its garden Sardars and licensed local agents. The general committee, speaking on behalf of the industry, is fully prepared to do everything possible to introduce, and to maintain, that form of recruiting in Ganjam district”.32 G. Stokes, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, stated that, “until recently nearly all migration from Vizagapatnam district to Assam was conducted on the free system, but in September last, the Collector of Vizagapatnam put a stop to this practice, and applied the provisions of Madras Act V of 1866 to [the] recruitment of labourers for the labour districts of Assam. In practice, however, it had been found that the Madras Act was too general and indefinite, and much difficulty was experienced in working it. The governor in council therefore considers that Act VI of 1901, which is more elastic than the Madras Act, should be extended to the district as soon as possible, and that no recruitment of labour for Assam should be permitted otherwise than under the provisions of the new act. I am directed to forward for the sanction of the government of India, two draft notifications, No. I, under section 1 (2) (b) of [the] Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901, extending the act to the district of Vizagapatnam; and No. II, under section 3 of the same act, prohibiting the recruitment or engagement of labour in the Vizagapatnam district for the labour districts of Assam, otherwise than in accordance with the provision of the act”. Draft notification No. I: “In exercise of the power conferred by section 1 (2) (b) of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (VI of 1901), the Governor in Council, with the previous sanction of Governor-General in Council, is pleased to [direct] that the said Act shall be extended to the District of Vizagapatnam, with effect from and the 1st day of September 1901”

32 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO. no. 78-79, 28 January 1901.

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Draft Notification No. II: “In exercise of the power conferred by section 3 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (VI of 1901), the Governor in Council, with the previous sanction of the Governor-General in Council, is pleased to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to Migrate from the Vizagapatnam district to any labour district of Assam otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of said Act.”33

With reference to the proviso to the aforementioned section 3 of the said Act, the governor in council was further pleased to direct that this notification should take effect at once with regard to: (1) Jeypore Zamindari; (2) the Golconda hills, west of the river Boderu; (3) Madugolu Maliahs; (4) Kasipuri Zamindari; (5) Patchipenta Maliahs; (6) Mondemkolla in the Merangi Zamindari; (7) the Konda mutta of Merangi; (8) the Gumma and Konda muttas of Kurpam; and (9) Kottam, Ram and Konda muttas of Palkonda.34

Closing of Godavari District Agency Tract for Recruitment of Labour to Assam J.A. Cumming, District Magistrate, Godavari, had the honour of stating that, “on 29th May, the General Superintendent of the Assam Labour Association applied to me for [a] contract license and four recruiter’s licenses under Madras Act V of 1866 to recruit to labourers for their tea gardens, coal mines and oil works in Assam. It was reported that accommodation in the depot was suitable and, as I was not aware that recruitment to Assam had been prohibited, four of these licenses were issued on 12th July. On receipt, however, of the government order under reply, the licenses were cancelled. From this Government order, I gather that the reason which led to the prohibition of such recruitment was the heavy mortality among the labourers. As the prohibitory order had been withdrawn so far as Ganjam and Vizagapatnam were concerned, I assume that reason no longer exists. Operations having actually begun in this district, I recommended that Act VI of 1901 be extended to this district, but that here, as in Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, recruitment be prohibited 33 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 812, 10th August 1901: Letter From G. Stokes, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, Ootacamund, dated 10th August 1901. 34 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 1221, 9th December 1901.

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in the agency. So far from encouraging migration from the agency, our main object is to induce more immigration into it. I do not suppose in any case that migration from this district will be extensive, as there was much greater demand for labour here than in Ganjam and Vizagapatnam. Every year there was considerable movement of labourers from Vizagapatnam to Godavari. I am aware of no reason why it should not be controlled to Assam which is much nearer at hand”.35 N.S. Brodie, District Magistrate, Guntur, wrote: “I have honour to state that I see no objection to the extension of provisions of Act VI of 1901 to this district, though whether much advantage will be taken of it is another question. At present there seems to be practically no migration to Assam and the labourers of this district were not likely to venture there in any large numbers. I do not think there was any necessity to prohibit the recruitment of any specified class of natives under section 3 of the Act. I may, however, point out that if that Tungabhadra and Kistna Reservoir projects were carried out, there will be more than sufficient demand for [labour] locally in this district and it [is] perhaps unwise to encourage migration in the interests of these projects which [are] likely to be taken up within the next few years”.36 F.C. Parasons, District Magistrate, Kistna, wrote: “I have the honour to report that Act VI of 1901 may be extended to this district. I have no recommendations to make regarding any prohibition under section 3 of the Act”.37

Act VI of 1901 extended to the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore His Excellency the Governor in Council was of the opinion that the Assam Labour and Emigration Act VI of 1901 may be extended to the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore, but that for present 35 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 285286, 17th April, 1906: Extracts of a letter from J.A. Cumming, Esq., I.C.S., District Magistrate Godavari, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated, Cocanada,, 19th September 1905, No. D. Dis. 886 Mag. 36 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 285286, 17th April, 1906: Extracts of a letter from N.S. Brodie, Esq., MA. I.C.S. District Magistrate, Guntur, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated, Guntur, 17th November 1905, No. Dis. 623 Mgl. 37 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 285286, 17th April, 1906: Extracts of a letter from F.C. Parons, Esq., I.C.S., District Magistrate, Kistna, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated, Masulipatanam, 27th November 1905, No. Dis. 1144-D/Mgl.

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recruitment should be permitted only under chapter IV of the Act. The Government accepted the proposal of the district magistrate of Godavari that the recruitment of labour for Assam in the agency tracts of the districts should be prohibited altogether. Draft notifications under section 1 (2) (b) and section 3 of the act were forwarded for the sanction of the government of India.38 I am directed to address you on the subject of the extension of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (Act No. VI of 1901), to the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. As the Government of India was aware, the act was applied at that time in the Madras presidency only to the districts of Ganjam and Vizagaptnam. Applications had been received for permission to recruit labour for the tea districts in the districts of Kistna and Nellore, and the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam had intimated that the Lieutenant-Governor would feel gratified if migration to the province could be encouraged by extension of Act VI of 1901 to the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. The Governor in Council was not in favour of any further extension of recruitment by contractors and recruiters under chapter III of the Act, and considered that, for the present, Sardari recruitment only under chapter IV should be permitted in the districts named. The Madras Government was further of the opinion that, as for Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, the recruitment of labour for Assam in the agency tracts of Godavari district should be prohibited altogether. I am accordingly directed to forward, for sanction of the Government of India, the following draft notifications: No. I. – Under section 1 (2) (b) of Act VI of 1901, extending the provisions of the Act to the four districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. No. II. – Under section 3 of the act, prohibiting all persons from recruiting engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the districts of Kistna, Guntur and Nellore to any labour district of Assam, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of chapter IV of the Act. No. III – Under section 3 of the Act, prohibiting all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from any part of the district of Godavari other than the tracts known as the scheduled districts, to any labour district of Assam otherwise than in accordance with provisions of chapter IV of the Act, and prohibiting absolutely all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the scheduled districts to any labour districts of Assam. With reference to the proviso to section 3 of the Act, notifications Nos. II and III may take effect from the 38 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 285, 17th April, 1906.

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date thereof. As the recruitment of emigrants for the labour districts of Assam was absolutely prohibited at present from these four districts, this would cause no hardship and it was undesirable now to throw open the districts to free migration for six months. Notification No. I “The exercise of the power conferred on him by section 1, sub section (2), clause (b) of the Assam labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (Act No. VI of 1901), and with the previous sanction of the Governor-General in council, the governor in council is pleased to direct that the said Act shall extend to the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore, with effect from the date of this notification”.

Notification No. II “In exercise of the power conferred on him by section 3 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (Act No. VI of 1901), and with the previous sanction of Governor-General in council, the governor in council is pleased to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the districts of Kistna, Guntur and Nellore to any labour districts of Assam, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of chapter IV of the said Act”.

Notification No. III “In exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the Assam labour and Emigration Act, 1901 (VI of 1901), and the with previous sanction of the Governor general in council, the governor in council is pleased – (1) to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from any part of the district of Godavari, exclusive of the Scheduled districts in the district of Godavari, to any labour district of Assam, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of Chapter IV of the Said Act; and (2) to prohibit absolutely all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the scheduled districts of Godavari district to any labour district of Assam”.39

39 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 285286, 17th April, 1906: Extracts of a letter from Hon’ble Mr. M. Hammick, C.I.E., I.C.S., Acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, Public Department, to the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Commerce and Industry. Ootacamund, 17th April 1906, No. 286, Public.

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Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906 and the Repeal of Madras Act of 1866 The Orders of His Majesty’s Secretary of State had now been received on the report of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee 1906, which was appointed in accordance with the resolution in the Department of Commerce and Industry in 1906 to enquire into certain matters connected with the supply of labour for the tea gardens of Assam. As per the report of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee, 1906, it was recommended that the Madras Act V of 1866 should be repealed. The Committee wrote: “It was passed solely for the purpose of regulating recruitment for Assam, but is not now required in view of the fact that Act VI of 1901 fulfils this purpose; and the committee [does] not believe that it can possibly be said that the act was required for regulating migration to any other part of India. If the Act was not repealed, it will still continue to govern recruitment for the Surma Valley districts. When Act VI of 1901 is withdrawn, these districts will then be in a worse position than the districts of the upper valley as regards the engagement of labour in Madras, and it would be for their advantage to come under the scheme for Sardari recruitment which the committee had formulated for the Assam Valley …” “… The Act was expressly passed for the purpose of regulating migration to the province of Assam. Now that such migration was governed by [a] more complete and up-to-date law, it seems unnecessary that [the] absolute act of 1866 should be retained for the purpose.” In 1907, the Madras government expressed to the government of India [its] willingness to repeal Madras Act V of 1866. The government of India had accepted the recommendation of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee and directs that steps may now be taken to repeal Madras Act V of 186640. The committee has recommended the repeal of the Madras labour contracts with natives (Madras Act V of 1866). The government of Madras had accepted the proposal that [the] Act should be repealed, on conditions that Act VI of 1901 was not entirely withdrawn, but kept in suspense in the manner recommended of the committees report in connection with recruitment for Surma Valley. As will be presently stated, the government of India was not prepared to agree to the complete withdrawal of the recruitment provisions of the act in respect of migration to Surma Valley, and the government of Madras will be asked to take steps for the repeal of Act V of 1866. The government of Madras had recommended that 40 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 771, 17th September 1908.

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migration to Assam should be allowed under chapter IV of [the] Act of 1901 in the plains portions of the Godavari district and in the districts of Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. The committee had supported this recommendation which should now be carried into effect. The committee was further of [the] opinion that migration might be permitted under certain safeguards from the agency tracts of [the] northern Madras districts. The government of Madras was, however, opposed to these tracts being opened to recruitment, and in view of the difficulties which, it appears, this course would entail, the government of India agrees that the agency tracts should remain closed as at present”. W.L. Harvey, Secretary to Government of India: “I am directed to refer to correspondence regarding the proposal that the districts of Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore should be opened to Sardari recruitment under chapter IV of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act (VI of 1901), the Godavari agency tracts however remaining closed, as at present. The draft notification No. III received with Mr. Hammic’s letter does not specify the Agency tracts of Godavari district in which recruitment for the tea gardens in Assam will continue to be prohibited. The government of India considers that it will be well to enclose a revised draft which will permit of the specification of these tracts, and to request that it may be completed and published instead of the original draft, if the Governor in council has no objection. As regards the proposal of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee that their agency tracts of the Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts, which were now absolutely closed to recruitment, should be thrown open for sardari recruitment under certain conditions41, the government will now proceed to issue orders on the following matters connected with the recruitment of migrants to Assam from [the] Presidency: (1) The repeal of the Madras Labour Emigration Act, 1866 (V of 1866); (2) the opening of the agency tracts in Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts to sardari recruitment; and (3) the extension of the Assam labour and Emigration Act, 1901, to certain districts in the Presidency. As to (1), it has been decided to repeal Madras Act V of 1866, and action will be taken in the legislative department to introduce a bill repealing the Act. As regards the proposal of [the] Assam labour enquiry committee that the agency tracts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam districts which were now closed to recruitment should be thrown open for ‘Sardari’ recruitment under certain conditions, it was 41 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 771, 17th September, 1908: Extracts of a letter from W.L. Harvey, Esq., C.I.E., I.C.S., Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Commerce and Industry, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, Calcutta, 19th February 1908, No. 1870-22.

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deemed inadvisable to give recruiters any footing in these tracts which will therefore remain closed to recruitment of any kind as at present. The provisions of Chapter IV of [the] Assam Labour and Emigration Act, Act, 1901, will be extended to the districts of Godavari (Godavari (excluding the agency tracts), Kistna, Guntur and Nellore). By notifications under section 91, clause (6) of [the] Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901, concessions were made to [the] Tea Districts Labour Association, the Assam Labour Supply Association and Longai Valley Employers Recruiting Association, in respect of garden sardars working under their controls in the districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam: – (a) the procedure which required garden sardars’ certificates to be countersigned by Magistrates in both the labour and the recruiting districts had been simplified, and certificates may now be taken out in the labour district without necessity for countersignature in the recruiting district, and renewed in the recruiting district; The necessity for submission of emigrants to registration and examination by government officers and placing emigrants under contract in the recruiting district had been dispensed with on condition that duly accredited local agents of the Associations maintain certain registers and make certain reports to the district Magistrate of the recruiting district. These concessions will be made to the same associations in the districts Godavari (excluding the agency), Kistna, Guntur and Nellore, which will now be thrown open to recruitment under chapter IV of the Act. The government of India requested [a] Local Inquiry Committee. The points which concern Madras were: (1) that a certificate from a contractor, that he believes the person recommended by him for a recruiters’ license to be of good character, should ordinarily be accepted and that a recruiter’s licenses should ordinarily be granted without inquiry by the police or subordinate officers; (2) that only natives of the recruiter’s licenses should be reduced; (3) that only natives of the recruiting district should be licensed as recruiters”.42

Assam Labour and Emigration (Amendment) Act XI of 1908 The question of the opening up of the tracts was pressed on this government by the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee of 1906, by the Indian Tea Association and by the government of India, but the local

42 Proceedings of the Public, Department Government of Madras, GO No. 771, 17th September 1908.

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officers were more or less opposed to migration except after certain safeguards were put in place in 1908. Notification: “In exercise of the power conferred on him by section 91, clause (b) of the Assam Labour and Migration Act, 1901 (Act VI of 1901), as amended by Assam Labour and Migration (Amendment) Act, 1908 (Act XI of 1908), the Governor in Council is pleased to declare that in the case of garden sardars holding certificates granted under chapter IV of the said Act and working under the control of [the] Tea Districts Labour Supply Association, the Assam Labour Supply Association and the Longai Valley Employers’ Recruiting Association in the districts of Ganjam, exclusive of (1) the Goomsur maliahs including Chokapad, (2) the Surada maliahs, (3) the Chinnakimedi maliahs, (4) the Peddakimidi maliahs, (5) Bodogodo maliahs, (6) Surangi maliahs, (7) Parlakimidi maliahs, (8) the muttas korada and Ronoba, (9) Jarada maliahs, (10) Mandasa maliahs, (11) Jalantra maliahs, (12) Budarasingi maliahs, and (13) the kuttingia maliahs; Vizagptanam, exclusive of (1) the Jeypore Zamindari, (2) the Golgonda hills west of the river Boderu, (3) the Madugole maliahs, (4) the Kasipuri Zamindari, (5) Patchipenta maliahs, (6) the Mondemkolla in the Merangi zamindar, (7) the Konda mutta of Merangi, (8) the Gumma and Konda muttas of Kurpam, and (9) the Kottam, Ram and Konda muttas of Palkonda; Godavari, exclusive of Bhadrachalam taluk and the Polavaram, Chodavaram and Yellavaram divisions, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore”43.

In a letter from E.B. Elwin, District Magistrate, Godavari, to the Chief Secretary to Government, 17 September 1908, the provisions of only Chapter IV of the Act dealing in the recruitment by garden Sirdars and local agents were extended to this district, namely, (1) the Tea Districts Labour Supply Association, which was working under the concessions granted to that company; and (2) the East Coast Labour Association, which was newly formed and had been granted concessions44. In a letter from the government agent, Godavari, dated 2nd May 1912, to the Chief Secretary to the Government, the agency tracts of the Madras Presidency constituted a non-regulation area, and the subject of migration from these tracts was not new. It was one of the subjects dealt with by the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee in 1906. The committee then recommended that the agency tracts of Ganjam, Vizagapatnam and Godavari districts, which were absolutely closed to recruitment for labour, 43

Proceedings of the Public, Department Government of Madras, GO No. 289, 21st March 1911. 44 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 1431, 23th November 1912.

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should be thrown open for Sardari recruitment on certain conditions, both for the Assam and Surma Valleys under chapter IV of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901. This government, after a full and careful consideration of all the circumstances of the case, expressed themselves in entire opposition to the committee’s recommendation and the government of India agreed with the views of this government. After referring to the government memorandum, 6th March 1912, the government agent of Godavari consulted the Tahsildars of Badrachalam and Nagur, the Deputy Tahsildar of Chodavaram, the divisional officer, Bhadrachalam and Mr. Bower, the late divisional officer of Polavaram, as well as, perhaps most important of all, Mr. John Cain, the missionary in Dummagudem, who knows these hill people probably better than anyone else in this district. Every officer without exception was opposed to opening this agency to recruitment. They all pointed out that the conditions of Parlikimedi Maliahs did not exist here; the population, far from pressing on the soil, was not nearly enough for its proper exploitation, since it averaged not more than 40 to 50 per square mile; the forests were not being denuded by podu. No Koya wanted to migrate and it would have been very undesirable to introduce for no purpose whatsoever a system of recruitment which might only lead to unrest and discontent, and open the doors to possible malpractice. The government agent agreed with all these officers. Not only was there plenty of room for expansion of cultivation without encroaching on forests, but labour was notoriously hard to get. It was proposed that the agency be gradually developed by the making of the new roads, the extension of irrigation and other means. To throw open migration to these parts was to invite a diminution of the population just when an increase was required. That would happen if the Koyas migrated in large numbers; if they did not, and everyone thought they would not, there was no justification for introducing the system at all. The Koyas were notoriously lazy and would not make good workmen45. In a letter from the Diwan Bhahudur R. Ramachandra Rao, District Magistrate, Nellore, to the Chief Secretary to Government, the provisions of chapter IV of the Act had been extended to this district in G.O. No. 771, public, dated 17 September 1908, with certain concessions to certain associations, in respect of garden sirdars working under their control. One local agents’ license was granted. Twelve sirdar certificates were countersigned at the request of the local agents. The returns received from 45 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 1431, 23th November 1912.

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the local agents showed that only nine labourers were engaged by sirdars in the previous February, five of them being labourers and four dependants, all of the Erikala caste and residents of Kudithipalem, Nellore Taluk46.

Assam Labour and Emigration (Amendment) Act VIII of 1915 Subsequently in 1916, with the formation of the Assam Labour Board, the consequent improvement in the supervision of recruiting operations, and the abolition of the recruitment contractors, the government permitted recruitment from certain specified castes – namely Khonds, Dombs, Gharis and Savaras – and within certain specified areas including Jeypore. The throwing open of only certain areas for recruitment gave rise to complications and was found difficult to work in practice47. Notification I: The governor in council is pleased, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 3 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901, VI of 1901, as amended by Acts XI of 1908 and VIII of 1915, and previous sanction of the Governor-General in Council – (a) to prohibit absolutely all persons from recruiting, engaging, inducing or assisting any native of India to migrate from the undermentioned ‘Scheduled” tracts, otherwise known as ‘Agency’ tracts or ‘Un-Surveyed’ tracts in the district of Ganjam: “(1) the Goomsur maliahs including Chokapad, (2) the Surada maliahs, (3) the Chinnakimedi maliahs, (4) the Peddakimidi maliahs, (5) Bodogodo maliahs, (6) Surangi maliahs, (7) Parlakimidi maliahs with the exception of that portion of Maliahs, (8) the muttas korada and Ronoba, (9) the kuttingia maliahs; and (b) to prohibit all persons from recruiting, engaging inducing or assisting any native of India to emigrate from any part of the Ganjam district, otherwise than [in] accordance with provision Chapter IV of the Act.”

46 Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 1374, 11th November 1912. 47 Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 881L, 17th March, 1930.

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Notification No. II: In exercise of the power conferred upon him by section 4 of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act (VI of 1901), the governor in council was pleased to appoint the Special Forest Officer, Parlikimedi Maliahs, to be Superintendent of migration for the under mentioned “scheduled” tracts, otherwise known as “Agency” tracts, in the district of Ganjam: “(1) That Portion of Parlakimidi Maliahs, (2) Jarada maliahs, (3) Mandasa maliahs, (4) Jalantra maliahs, and (5) Budarasingi maliahs.”

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Prohibited

Years

1902-03 1903-04 1904-05 1905-06 1906-07 1907-08 1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15

District

Ganjam

Recruitment By Licensed Contractors LabourDependTotal ers ants 218 113 331 204 31 235 145 17 162 107 47 154 46 12 58 97 44 141 39 8 47 29 14 43 26 9 35 340 37 437 397 88 485 372 51 423 189 57 246 978 640 368 1290 832 3695 2085 1748 1785 3732 1627 622 699

Dependants 597 276 167 679 348 1756 926 746 732 1764 760 292 369

1309 875 530 1444 890 3836 2132 1791 1820 4169 2112 1045 945

Total

Labourers 712 599 363 765 542 2080 1206 1045 1088 2405 1352 753 549

Total

Labourers 494 395 218 658 496 1983 1167 1016 1062 2065 955 381 360

Dependants 484 245 150 632 336 1712 918 732 723 1667 672 241 339

Total Recruit under Transport

Recruitment by Garden Sardars

Table No. 5.3: Total Number of Emigrant Labourers to Assam Plantations from Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, 1902-1915

Andhra Labour Migrations to Assam Plantations

1902-03 1903-04 1904-05 1905-06 1906-07 1907-08 1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15

Prohibited

…. 287 1017 378 144

18 5 39 183 22 50

…. 37 205 32 11

19 324 1222 410 125

9 27 4 9 35 74 157 340 18 40 43 93 No Work

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19 78 99 859 659 839 710 1257 471 262

14 28 67 103 130 65 420 893 139 149

33 104 166 962 789 904 1130 2150 610 411

No work

Source: Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 13, 4th January 1916.

Vizagap -atnam

242 18 5 39 202 98 149 859 659 858 997 2274 849 376

9 4 35 171 46 110 103 130 65 457 1098 171 160

27 9 74 373 144 259 962 789 923 1454 3372 1020 536

243

1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15 1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15

Godavari

Guntur

Years

District

Prohibited

Free Recruitment

Recruitment By Licensed Contractors LabourDepend- Total ers ants

6 81 59 53 56 10

33 69 202 823 317 71

Labourers

… 4 4 26 10 Nil

9 6 50 232 206 23

Dependants

6 85 63 79 66 10

42 75 252 1055 523 94

Total

Total Recruit under Transport

Labour- Dependers ants No operations 42 33 9 75 69 6 252 202 50 1055 823 232 523 317 206 94 71 23 No operations 6 6 …. 85 81 4 63 59 4 79 53 26 66 56 10 10 10 Nil

Total

Recruitment by Garden Sardars

Table No. 5.4: Total Number of Emigrant Labourers to Assam Plantations from Godavari, Guntur, Nellore and Kistna, 1908-1915

Andhra Labour Migrations to Assam Plantations

1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15 1908-09 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15

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14 197 418 175

5 …. ….. 101 29

6 84 94 21

4 ….. ….. 25 8

20 281 512 196

63+9 72 256 126 37 No operations

No operations

Source: Proceedings of the Public Department, Government of Madras, GO No. 13, 4th January 1916

Kistna

Nellore

244

14 197 418 175

5 …. ….. 101 29

6 84 94 21

4 ….. ….. 25 8

20 281 512 196

63+9 72 256 126 37

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Migration to Assam was conducted mainly through the Tea Districts Labour Association, which maintained agencies in the northern and central parts of the presidency. The table below gives the recruitment numbers by this body for ten years of a decade: 48 Table No. 5.5: Total Number of Emigrant Labour to Assam Plantations, 1921-1931 Season 1920-1921 1921-1922 1922-1923 1923-1924 1924-1925 1925-1926 1926-1927 1927-1928 1928-1929 1929-1930 1930-1931

Total 2,696 2,954 4,493 18,212 8,125 9,628 10,547 6,780 8,103 7,714 7,279

Source: Census Report of India Vol. XIV, 1931, p. 83

In 1920, the government sanctioned the recruitment of Dombs only from the whole of the Vizagapatnam Agency including Jeypore, after satisfying themselves that such a measure would not depopulate the agency. The position in regard to recruitment for Assam in the year 1922 was as follows: (1) From the whole of Ganjam Agency irrespective of tribe, (2) from Vizagapatnam in respect of Dombs only, (3) from the Plains districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kistnah, Guntur and Nellore. In 1923, after prolonged correspondence with Mr. Millagan, the chairman of the Assam Labour Board and the government of Assam, the government decided to throw open the whole presidency to recruitment. In that connection, now the argument was the danger of our labourers being inoculated with the unrest that had been prevalent in the Assam Valley. Mr. Millagan was completely convinced that there was no danger of this. His main point was that it was unfair that our labourers should be free to 48

Census of India, 1931, Vol. XIV, Madras, Part I, p. 83.

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go to Ceylon, Java, etc., and be restricted with reference to Assam. The whole presidency including the agency was thrown open to recruitment from September 1923. The government considered that there was no longer any need to deny the inhabitants of the agency an opportunity for emigrants which was enjoyed by the people of other districts. In June 1923, a resolution passed at a public meeting of the citizens of Vizagapatnam requesting that the recruiting depots in the agency tracts might be abolished49. In G.O. No. 271, Revenue, dated 2nd February 1920, the government directed that the Commissioner of Labour should concern himself with all matters affecting migration, as they considered it desirable that an officer of local government should be fully in touch with all that takes place in connection with the recruitment of labour for migration, whether to places within the presidency or outside, and should be aware of the arrangement made in respect of depots, sub-depots and the like through which labour passes. In Law (General) Government Memorandum No. 3027 A-1, dated 13 October 1923, they also directed that all correspondence from collectors and District Magistrates on the subject of migration should be submitted to government through the Commissioner of Labour. The Collector of Madras and the Collectors and district Magistrates of other districts continued to be the superintendents of migration for their respective districts under section 4 (1) of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act VI of 1901. Certain revenue divisional officers were also superintendents of migration for their respective revenue divisions. The agents to the governor in Ganjam and in Vizagapatam and the government agent of East Godavari, together with their special assistant agents as the case may be, also continued to be superintendents of migration for the agency tracts. The district medical officers in all the districts continued to be medical inspectors of migration for their respective districts. In certain districts other medical officers also continued to be medical inspectors of migration for their respective areas50. In connection with a request in 1924 from the Maharaja of Jeypore to prohibit migration from Jeypore agency, the government replied that while they were willing to give the Maharaja any assistance and protection which might be desirable, they were not prepared to deny the inhabitants of any part of the presidency the right to emigrate to other parts of India for the purpose of bettering their condition; a right which was enjoyed by 49

Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O.No.881L, 17th March, 1930 50 Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 144L, 20th January 1930.

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the people of the rest of the presidency. At a meeting held in December 1924, the legislative council passed a resolution to the effect that in the interests of the landholders’ as well as the labourers’ migration to Assam should be stopped. The government found themselves unable to give effect to it, as in their opinion, it would be detrimental to the interests of the labouring classes to thus restrict their freedom in selling their labour in the best market. In the Vizagapatam agency administration report for 1926-27, the agent to the government expressed a dislike for the recruitment of labour from an already under-populated country; but at the sanction, he appreciated the difficulty in interfering with people’s freedom of action. At a meeting of the legislative council held in January 1928, Mr. G. Harisarvotham Rao asked whether in view of dislike that the agent to the governor expressed above, the government were prepared to prohibit migration from the agency. The following answer was given to the question, “The country was being opened up by making roads and the railways and the governments do not think the drastic step suggested by the Honorable member could be justified”. In December 1928, the government of India sent a draft bill containing their provincial views for passing a new measure in place of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act. Under clause 3 of this bill, local governments were not given power to suspend or prohibit recruitment altogether in any area which they now possessed under section 3 of act 3.51

Assam Labour Recruitment Act, 19 in 1929 A bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to recruitment for the labour districts of Assam was enacted as the Assam Labour Recruitment Act, 19 in 1929. This draft bill, the Assam Labour and Emigration Act VI, 1901, and the Assam Labour and Emigration (Amendment) Acts, XI of 1908, VIII of 1915, XXXI of 1927, were here by repealed. On the subject of revision of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, after considering the replies received from local governments to Mr. Clow’s letter, dated 23rd December 1926, the governments of India were satisfied that the time was not yet ripe for the removal of all control over recruitment for the tea gardens in Assam. On the other hand, it was clear that the existing restrictions imposed an unjustifiable burden on the industry and should therefore be relaxed so as to increase the methods by which recruitment could be made for the tea gardens in Assam. In order to remove the 51 Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 881L, 17th March, 1930.

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difficulties with which the industry was faced, the Indian Tea Association formulated two alternative draft schemes, both of which were meant to operate within the limits of the existing Act. The government of India gave these proposals their careful consideration but had come to the conclusion that no satisfactory departure from the existing position with regard to the recruitment of labour for Assam could be devised other than by an amendment of the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, VI of 1901, or by its repeal and substitution with entirely new measures. Owing to the numerous additions, subtractions and alterations which had been made from time to time in the existing Act, its provisions had become exceedingly difficult to interpret and almost impossible to administer. There was indeed reason to doubt whether the Act rested on any secure legal basis. The government of India were therefore strongly of the opinion that no useful purpose would be served by any further tinkering with the Act and that the only course open to them was to bring about its repeal and to enact comparatively simple measures in its place. Enclosed for the consideration of the local government was a draft bill which had not been subjected to legal scrutiny and which was being forwarded solely for the purpose of indicating in a convenient form the provisional conclusions of the Government of India as to the manner in which the recruitment of labour for the labour districts of Assam should be regulated in the future52.

Tea Districts Emigrant Labour Act, 1932 (XXII of 1931) The Government of India explained the reason as follows, “The Government of India feel that the principle of complete prohibition in particular areas [was] no longer defensible though it was of course necessary that local governments should retain adequate control over recruitment information”. The Government of Madras replied as follows on the above point, “The Government of Madras considered that power should be reserved to the local governments to suspend recruitment altogether in a specified area for a specified period in [the] agency tracts of Ganjam and Vizagapatnam, where such suspension would be necessary during periods of unrest and [to] safe guard the ignorant hill tribes.” 53

52

Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 503-504, 15th February, 1929. 53 Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 881L, 17th March, 1930.

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Notification: In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 16 of the Tea Districts Emigrant Labour Act, 1932 (XXII of 1931), the Governor in Council is hereby pleased to declare that with effect on and from the 1st day of April 1933 or if the said Act comes into force on a later date on and from such later date, the whole of the presidency of Madras shall be [a] controlled Migration area and that the provisions of Chapter III of the said Act shall apply thereto, subject to the special relaxation that the requirements of sub-section (3) of section 17 of said Act shall not apply in cases where the Chairman of the Assam Labour Board has certified that proper provisions has been made by the employing interests for – (a) the forwarding, accommodation and feeding of assisted emigrants and their families on their journey to tea estates on which such emigrants are to be employed; (b) the maintenance at reasonable intervals on the routes by which such emigrants and families are to be forwarded, of depots with adequate accommodation, and suitable sanitary and medical arrangements; and (c) the supply by local forwarding agents of correct information to assisted emigrants regarding the conditions of life and work on tea estates54.

Conditions of Labour in Tea Gardens in Assam – A Case Study From H.G. Stokes, Private Secretary the Governor, to the Secretary to the Government of Madras, Judicial Department: the petition marked was from one Ronamala Musaligadu, a resident of Kovuru village, Kandukuru Taluk, Nellore District. He says that a certain sirdar labour, Meka Ankayya by name, induced about a dozen people of his village to go with him to a coffee estate at Allinagar, Shamshernagar post, Sylhet district, on the pretext that the government were helping the poor by paying high wages to the labourers there and that they could therefore return home in three or four months after earning some money. The petitioner further represents that though it was now three years since they had gone, they had not returned as yet. He adds that he had learnt from labourers who returned home that the government had no hand in the arrangement, that most of the labourers that went from here had died of disease and some were ill as the climate of the place was not suiting them. Those that escaped from the gardens say that the manger was very cruel to the labourers, that owing to his ill treatment, they were obliged to run away, 54 Proceedings of Madras Presidency Public Works Department Labour, G.O. No. 881L, 17th March, 1930.

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even leaving their near and dear behind, and that those who were detected while escaping were severely dealt with, the delinquents being either well thrashed or stinted of their relations. The petitioner prays, therefore, that the government will be pleased to enquire into their hard lot and rescue them from it. He adds a post script of the effect that the letter addressed to the labourers in the plantation though acknowledged to have been received was not replied to, the probable cause of it being that the labourers were not permitted to write letters. The acknowledgement receipt of a registered letter sent to M. Ankayya was attached to this petition to prove that the letters were received, but not replied to. From Dewan Bahadur R. Ramachandra Rao, District Magistrate, Nellore, to the Secretary to the Government of Madras, adverting to the government endorsement No. 4865-1 dated the 1st September 1915, forwarding for a report petition from R. Musaligadu, a resident of Kovur village of the Kandukur Taluk, regarding the treatment given to labourers in the tea districts of Assam: I have the honor to state that the petitioner Musaligadu never went to the Tea Estates as a labourer, that he was the sisters son of one Petlur Yallamanda, a labourer who returned from Allinagger about ten months ago, and that on his behalf Musaligadu got a petition written up. 1.A copy of the report of the deputy Magistrate, Kandukur, who made detailed enquiries of Yallamanda and of others who went with him to the Tea Estates, was herewith submitted. It will be seen therefrom that though the government officer, before dispatch to the estates informed them of the wages they are to get, they placed undue reliance in the words of the sirdars and expected to be paid on a more liberal scale. In this they were disappointed, and except the sirdar who misrepresented matters, nobody is to blame. (2) As regards the ill treatment, one Vaka Peri Reddi states that three of the maistries beat him at Allinagar and dragged him to a work spot. He also states that he did not see any other labour being beaten or illtreated. Except this, there was no complaint of ill treatment. Even Petluri Yallamanda at whose instance Musaligadu wrote the petition states that neither he nor his people were ill-treated in the time that he was there. (3) Yallamanda and another by the name of Samuel complain that they did not get replies to their letters to their relations there. Yallamanda requests that his wife and children be permitted to return to him. (4) It was clear that the unauthorized sirdar recruiters held out false promises of high wages and practiced other irregularities. (5) The petition and the connected papers were herewith resubmitted.

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After a detailed enquiry made by H.G. Stokes, full enquiries were made of Yallamanda and of others (or their relations) who were registered along with him. First, as regards Yallamanda, he was not the petitioner: his nephew was the petitioner, who knew nothing. Yallamanda says that Mekala Ankayya took him, his wife, Mariamma, daughter Basavamma, and son Kondiah to Alinagar about two years ago. He had told them that they would be paid a wage on a liberal scale, that the government would grant them inams if they went to Allinagar with their families, and that if they so desired, they could return within two or three months. At Nellore, the deputy Collector or Tahsildar told them that a male would get Rs 6/- a month and a female Rs 5 month, and yet they thought that they would get more than these rates because Mekala Ankayya had told them that they would be paid on liberal scale. Yallamanda says that at Alinagar, he was paid only 2 or 2½ annas a day and his wife 0-1-3 or 0-1-9 a day. No wage was paid to his children. Subsequently, Mekala Ankayya also came to Alinagar and Yallamanda asked him to permit him to return to his village with his family. He permitted Yallamanda alone to return and said that he would bring his wife and children shortly. So, Yallamanda returned alone about 1½ years ago. His wife and children were still at Allinagar. About a year ago, he wrote three letters to Periku Subbaiah, his brother-in-law, and he did not receive any reply. About three months ago he sent another registered letter to Periku Subbaiah and he received his acknowledgement, but no reply. He did not write to his wife. Since his return from Alinagar, he had not received a single letter either from his wife or from Periku Subbaiah. He was not ill-treated at Alinagar and while he was there, none of his people had been ill-treated. In the end, he says his only prayer was that his wife and children should be permitted to return to him and he had no other complaint. The petitioner, Musaligadu, knew nothing. Periku Subbaiah, referred to in the preceding paragraph, was a resident of Vellatur and his wife Ankamma was the sister of Yallamanda, referred to above. Akkama, Mariamma, and Nagamma were his daughters. Meka Ankayya also took Periku Subbaiah, his wife and three daughters along with Yallamanda to Alinagar. They went to Allinagar about 2 or 2½ years ago and they were still at Alinagar. Peruku Ramudu and Peruku Kotadu were divided brothers of Peruku Subbaih. They were at Vellatur. They said they never wrote to their brother at Allinagar, nor did he write to them. They had no complaint to make in regard to their brother’s treatment at Allinagar. He had no other relations. Vaka Peri Reddy was a resident of Uppalapadu; Chittala Koti Reddy and Anam Subba Reddy were residents of Karumanchi, Ongole taluk. Vaka Peri Reddy said that he, Chittala Koti Reddy and Anam Subba

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Reddy went to Alinagar at the instigation of Koppolu Kondadu. This Kondadu told him that lands and bulls were given gratis at Alinagar and that the lands would yield well. He worked at Alinagar as a labourer for only four days and he was paid 2½ annas a day. No lands and bulls were given to him. Then, he fell ill and returned to his village. Anam Subba Reddy said that Koppolu Kondadu took him to Nellore. He was among the crowd that was taken to the Deputy Collector. But when his name was called, Koppolu Kondadu made some madiga answer the call and appear before the deputy collector for him. Koppolu Kondadu played this dodge lest he might be rejected on account of old age. K. Kondadu did not go to Allinagar. When he (Vaka Peri Reddy) was at Alliunagar, he did not write any letters to his people at Uppalapad. Three of the maistries beat him twice at Allinagar and dragged him to the work spot. He did not know their names. He did not see any other labour being beaten or ill-treated. Koppula Kondadu also said that he did not take or send Vaka Peri Reddy, Chittala Koti Reddy and Anam Subba Reddi to Allinagar, and that he did not tell them that lands and bulls would be given gratis, etc. They went to Allinagar saying that they would get a labour of one rupee a day. He stopped in Allinagar only for eight days, but he did not work and got no labour. He thought he could not do the work there and returned. He was not ill-treated during his eight days’ stay in Allinagar. The five people from a village Nernurpadu, viz., Mekala Kotamma, Mekala Yallamanda, Ravinuthula Charamma, Ravinuthala Pichamma, and Seshamma, were in Allinagar about three years ago. One of their relations, viz., Samual, said he wrote a letter to Ravinuthula Charamma after about eight months. For some time and they say that they were paid 3 annas a day. One Sirdar Rosaih told them that they would get a wage of 5 annas a day. They were not ill-treated. From the above, it was clear that there was little or no evidence of illtreatment except the vague statements of Vakaperireddi, Yallamanda and Samuel who complained that they did not get replies to their letters. It was not known whether the people to whom the letters were written received them and did not care to reply, or whether the letters to or replies from Allinagar were intercepted. There may have been some foul play in Allinagar. As regards the wages, no person would leave his village and go to a distant country unless he was assured of brighter prospects in the latter place. I am inclined to believe that recruiting agents must have misrepresented matters as alleged; otherwise people would not have gone to Allinagar for a wage of 2½ annas or 3 annas a day. Yallamanda says that he believed Mekala Ankayya, though he was told by the deputy

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Collector of Tahsildar that he would get only Rs 6/- a month. Nobody can help such foolish men. From Major W.M. Kennedy, to the Secretary to the Government of Madras: “my board will gladly assist the government of Madras in tracing Yallamanda and the other persons mentioned in your letter, and in securing, if possible, the return of Yellamanda and her children to their native district. The Allinagar mentioned in the enclosures to your letters was probably [the] Allynagger Tea Company Ltd., of Shamshernagar, Sylhet, of which Messrs. Duncan Bros. & Co., Ltd, 101 Clive Street, Calcutta, were the managing agents. My board was addressing Messrs. Duncan Bros. in the matter, and we hope to secure their assistance in tracing these people”. In another letter from Major W.M. Kennedy, enclosed in a copy of a letter, from Messers. Duncan Bros. & Co., in which it was stated that the manager of the Allynagger Tea Estate was arranging for the repatriation of Yallamanda’s wife and family: The letter does not definitely state whether the other persons referred to were on the garden; and further on this point, it seems probable that these were the people with whom the Chowkidar, mentioned by the manager, would communicate. In a letter to Messrs. Duncan Bros. & Co., it was written that the manager should see that the labourers corresponded with their relatives, adding to the evidence that there was no reason to believe that the allegations of ill-treatment had any foundation in fact. From the manager of the Allynagger Tea Estate, regarding the labourers in question: “I have to thank you for your favour of the 11th instant enclosing major W.M. Kennedy’s letter to you regarding our Madrassi labourers. On the whole, our Madrassi labourers are healthy and contented, including the women referred to in Major Kennedy’s letter of the 8th instant. Yallamanda’s wife [and] family are here, and in compliance with the chairman’s wish, we are repatriating her and her family next week. As you are doubtless aware that Yallamanda was sent down by us to recruit for this garden at his own request, and would here like to mention that these labourers recruited from the East Coast have not at any time been ill-treated, but have been well housed and carefully treated, and when ill at any time they and their children have been maintained by [the] garden by giving them good, wholesome food and hospital comforts, as the present healthy condition of this labour fully bears out. Regarding the non-writing of letters to and from their relations, our people here complain of the same non-delivery and non-reply to their letters, even when sent under registered receipt, this would lead one to believe that the correct address had not been given. Our people here are again writing to their

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friends and I shall see that letters are all registered, and hope we shall be able to restore communication between them. I am sending down a Madrassi Chowkidar next week, and will ask to try and look up the people in question, so that he may be able to tell them all about their friends here who are quite happy, healthy and contented”. Referring to the government memorandum, no. 4865-3, dated 22nd December 1915, the local agent reports that the labourers in question were examined on the 13th and 15th June 1913 respectively by the then Head Quarters Deputy Magistrate M.R.Ry.D. Sivasankaram. As already reported, the labourers themselves admitted that the registering officers gave them full information as regards the wages, etc., but they placed undue reliance on the false promises given to by the sirdar as represented to the deputy magistrate or the stationary sub-magistrate, before whom they had been brought for examination, that the sirdar had represented to them that they would be paid on a more liberal scale. As regards the recruiters, the local agent reports that recruiter Mekala Ankayya returned to the garden on 28th July 1913 and that he never came back for recruiting, and that Koppolu Kondayya was in the Uppalapadu area of this district and that his licenses had not been renewed. In a letter dated 16th February, 1916, from Duncan Brothers & Co., to Major W.M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Assam Labour Board: “we have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 5th instant and in reply beg to inform you that the labourers referred to were residents on the garden. The manager was asking one of his Madrasi sirdars, who was leaving the garden shortly to recruit, to look up Yallamanda and the others and inform them that their friends and relations were on Allynugur Estate. The same sirdar will accompany Yallamanda’s wife and family to their country”. In a letter dated 30th March, 1916, from the Manager of the Allynugger Tea Estates, Sylhet, to the Local Agent, T.D.L.S. Association, Berhampore: “at the request of the chairman, Assam Labour Board, I have to-day repatriated Mootluro Meriama and her son named Chonnaiah through Messr. Logal & Leslie, Forwarding Agents, Goaludo, and I trust they will reach you safely and that you will allow her to proceed to her home. I shall be obliged if you will kindly let me know what the recruiting prospects are like in Bezwada and Nellore at present”. Referring to the Government Memoranda , 17th February, 1916, 18th March 1916 and 18th April 1916 respectively: “I had the honour to state that it is reported that Yallamanda’s wife Mariamma and her son Kondadu aged about 5 years have returned from Allynugar and that none others have come back. A copy of the statement [was] taken from her and she

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states that she fell ill at Allynugger as the water of the place did not suit her, that she was treated well in the Hospital, that she was paid 0-3-0 per diem when she was healthy and showed good out turn, that she was able to earn only 0-1-9 per diem after she fell ill and that she and her son who was not given any wages were living on the amount. There was nothing in this to contradict the report of the manger of the Allynugger Estate or with the Statement of Musaligadu who had no personal knowledge. With reference to para 2 of the memorandum dated 18th March 1916, it is reported that Mekala Venkayya was not a close relation of Yallamanda’s sister daughter, who deserted her husband and ran away to Allynugger, and that there were no grounds for supposing that Venkayya was attempting to extract money from Yallamanda”. A copy Yallamanda’s statement taken by the Taluk magistrate was here with submitted for favor of perusal. “The Superintendent of Coffee Estates sent me and my son Kondadu from Allynugger. I did bring money. I came with my cloth (shows her cloth over her body). It was one year since my daughter aged 4 years and named Basavi died. She suffered from fever and swelling all over [her] body and died. None of the persons who had gone with me returned with me. After the death of my daughter, I suffered from fever. There was swelling. I was fed in the Hospital. I was given medicine. I felt a little better. I was attending to my work. It is three weeks and four days since I reached Kovur. I was for three years in Allynugger. I was gathering coffee and leaves. If good works is turned out, a sum of Re 0-3-0 per diem may be earned. For indifferent work, 0-1-9 per diem may be earned. After I fell ill, I got Re 0-1- 9 per diem. My son was five years old. No wages are given to him. I and my son were living on the sum of Re 0-1-9. Free quarters were given to us for living. People who were healthy but do not work, they were beaten with stick. If on account of illness short work is shown, nothing is done. After expiry of three years, I was entrained and sent away. I was there for three years. None beat me Allynuggar. None abused me. The water of that place did not suit me. All that went there fell ill. After my return to Kovur, I am suffering from dysentery. There was pain in the stomach. While I was at Allynuggar, there was swelling over the body. Now and then I had attacks of fever. The authorities in Allynugger purchased a ticket for me. Myself and my son reached our village”55.

55 Government of Madras Proceedings of Public, Judicial Department G.O.No.1260,30 June,1916

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Conclusion The tea industry from the first half of nineteenth century was the earliest commercial enterprise established by private British capital in the Assam Valley and became the major employer of wage labour during colonial rule. Faced with an acute shortage of labour, the planters had to seek labour from sources some hundreds of miles away. They resorted to a policy of the organized recruitment of labour from tribal/semi-tribal and non-tribal low caste peasant, and communities inhabiting the Andhra districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. In their great need, the planters were willing to offer high rewards to those who undertook to supply labourers for their gardens. A vicious system of supply through contractors emerged, the evils of which became so revolting that they attracted the attention of the government. Then followed a long series of legislative enactments with a view to control the emigration of labour to Assam, the last measures of which was passed in 1932. In this chapter, an attempt is made to trace this policy of state control through its various phases. The legislative control was unique in the sense that the labour supply to no other industry in India (including the tea industry outside Assam) had been subjected to such a control. This chapter has incidentally thrown light on the limitations of state interference in the economic field, especially where such interference seeks to modify the normal trends of economic and social forces.

CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION

In this manuscript, I have outlined the actual, oppressive and exploitative practices of the colonial government in deploying migrant workers on the construction of Public Works. The colonial state’s concern about the need to increase the productivity of the land came out of a long intellectual tradition of the “improving land lord”. This concern took the shape of envisioning huge irrigational projects. The various British officials at the ground level managed the actual constructions at these sites. India, being a vast country (this includes South India too), also needed to have networks of connectivity. We thus see that from the 1830s, as the irrigational projects began to be planned in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s, there were equal concerns about the roads, and later, the railways. The British officials and the British policies divided the execution of these projects into two halves. The first concern – the scientific and technological envisioning of the projects and the actual construction – had a clear cognitive component. This was entirely managed by the colonial state and its officials. The labour supply and the labour superintendents were to come from a collaborative arrangement with the Indians. I find that the management of labour, which was entrusted to Indian supervision, was perceived to be a perennial thorn in the smooth running of these projects. I also find that labour management, being Indian, was understood to be problematic and unpredictable. I have shown very clearly that the times of famine were especially useful to the colonial government, initially for the deployment of labour on its public works. The districts of Andhra which were severely affected by the famines that occurred during second half of nineteenth century included Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapuram and Cuddapah in the Madras Deccan and the two northern districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatanam. Where the rainfall was light, the soil usually unfertile, and the large irrigation works few, these areas suffered more consistently than any others. During 1896-98 famine, there was always considerable migration from Ganjam and Vizagapatanam to Burma. Considerable numbers of Uriyas, Khonds and Savaras migrated from the northern part of Ganjam to

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Assam for employment in the tea gardens. Labourers also migrated, as usual, but in increased number from Vizagapatnam to the Godavari Delta in search of agricultural works. A considerable number of people left the Deccan districts for Mysore and other parts of the Presidency. There was an inrush of Hyderabad labourers to Bellary and Kurnool. I find that the colonial government officials had begun to differentiate between famine relief for the affected sections of the population domiciled in British India, and those domiciled in the “native” states. I also find that along with the district-wide breakup of the method of opening public works for the famine stricken subjects of British India, there was a constant underlining of the relief the government provided for the subjects of Indian princes. It was evident that the colonial state had clear ideas of the utility of labour being brought into a public work site from another region. It was therefore clear that the government actually wanted a quantification of the profit for the employment of famine victims as opposed to the locals. The philanthropic state openly stated policies that were clearly exploitative. Famines actually reduced wages and therefore public aid was a disguise for hiring labour at subsistence rates. In this study, an attempt is made to show agrarian expansions and the commercialization of agriculture which created new markets for labour migrants. Migration from rural to rural was a general phenomenon of colonial rural Andhra. The main concern of the colonial state was to maintain the supply and flow of labour at low prices, which the migration system made possible. Even when it was not directly and obviously visible to the migrants, it maintained the conditions of work and migration as much as it served to extract funds from agriculture. The colonial government was interested in agriculture, as it was interested in the area from which the maximum revenue came from. The most significant phenomenon of migration on a seasonal basis from “backward” areas to more “developed” ones was on the increase. There was a normal movement of population every year from the poorer districts of North Coastal Andhra to the highly irrigated tracts of the Godavari and Kistna deltas. Since there was a great preponderance of Andhras in the Warangal District of Hyderabad State, a large part of the uncultivated land was available for cultivation, and most of the new immigrants were going to this district, it was much more important for Andhras to study the conditions existing in it than in other districts of the state. In the case of Hyderabad State, Andhra immigrant ryots had brought immigrant workers to labour for them at all times, to work more regularly and more intensively. The conclusions and inferences to be drawn from the foregoing labour to Burma were, firstly, that emigration from India was

Conclusion

259

heaviest in the years of famine, flood or other agricultural disasters. Secondly, it was temporary and periodic. Thirdly, the unequal proportion of the sexes among emigrants rendered home life impossible and led in many instances to moral degradation. Fourthly, emigrants came from densely populated tracts and mainly from depressed classes. And fifthly, there was no real emigration from Burma to counterbalance immigration. I also have shown clearly in my manuscript the Andhra indentured labour migrations to Assam plantations. The tea industry from the first half of nineteenth century was the earliest commercial enterprise established by private British capital in the Assam Valley and became the major employer of wage labour during colonial rule. Faced with an acute shortage of labour, the planters had to seek labour from sources some hundreds of miles away. They resorted to a policy of the organized recruitment of labour from tribal/semi-tribal and non-tribal low caste peasants, and communities inhabiting the Andhra districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatnam, Godavari, Kistna, Guntur and Nellore. The planters, in their great need, were willing to offer high rewards to those who undertook to supply labourers for their gardens. A vicious system of supply through contractors emerged, the evils of which became so revolting that they attracted the attention of the government. Then followed a long series of legislative enactments with a view to control the emigration of labour to Assam, the last measures of which was passed in 1932. In my thesis, an attempt is made to trace this policy of state control through its various phases. The legislative control was unique in the sense that the labour supply to no other industry in India (including the tea industry outside Assam) had been subjected to such a control. This chapter has incidentally thrown light on the limitations of state interference in the economic field, especially where such interference seeks to modify the normal trends of economic and social forces. However, the strong line of my manuscript also shows that the Indian migrant labourers began to develop, at least from the 1880s, a certain understanding of the labour market, and they began to resist such open exploitation. I also have shown how the British government deployed a discourse of philanthropy while exploiting the poverty stricken, famine stricken migrant villagers who needed some work to survive. However, this was matched by a growing consciousness of public opinion by the late 1880s, which demanded some kind of labour laws. In chapter V, I have discussed this shift from open exploitation to the enactments of legal measures for the curtailment of open oppression. Though I have shown migration as the key factor behind this colonial policy of utilizing the Indian migrants from villages as labour, I am aware

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that migration did not only take place because of poverty. Other factors were important. Still, my data from the selected regions that I have used only deal with four communities. The thesis examines the rural migrants who were compelled to leave their villages to seek a living on the subsistence wages in other villages, in other regions, and in outlying regions outside Andhra. In the thesis, I also concentrate on the agricultural sector; I do not address the industrial sector much. With these limited goals, I have chalked out the response of villages in Andhra to the pull and push factors that the colonial state generated with its “cheap-labour” policy, disguised under the discourse of philanthropy.

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