UNORGANIZED RURAL LABOUR

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UNORGANIZED RURAL LABOUR-A

DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

Dr.C.S.RANGARAJAN

The theme of this paper is developed in a waythat identifies the relevancy of the need to

exploit the more potential human resources inthe rural unorganised economic sector tomutual advantage. In the process of more

energetic exploitation of the raw materialresources, some of which are non-renewable,the more potential human element, which is

capable of giving more output than its owninput, remains at a discount.

Anantharaman in his work on A HumanRelations in Industry (Chand and Co Ltd, NewDelhi, 1980) quotes Elton Mayo and his

colleagues, who while toeing the Durkhemianline of thinking, have emphasised on an

individduals longing for belonging. They haveunderscored that recognition,security and asense of belonging are the crucial determinants

of workers morale and productivity. The hiddeninjuries of class, coupled with the desire for

belonging, which subsumed other needs, haveresulted in the emergence of the collectiveworker, thereby brining about a semblance of

parity in power relations.Walzer (1966)

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considers that the question of 'how were mento be organised, bound together in social

groups, united for cooperative activity' proves

to be one of the main social problems inushering in a modern society. Thebackwardness of any economy is traced to its'failure to use the full human resources of the

country' (Hill 1964). While McGregor (1966),Argyris (1964) and Likert (1961) talk of

harnessing human resources capsuled in

energies and competencies that humanbeings can offer, organisation of human

resources actively will be the open sesame tofinding solutions to social problems. Herein liesthe possibility of crowning our efforts directed

toward development with success throughparticipation. As Homans (1954) prescribes

participatory outlets, speaking for Karl Marx,Vernon Venable (1959) observes that ' humanessence in reality is the ensemble of the social

relations. Human essence is, therefore, thebringing together, coming together, of a

variety of social relations.' By way ofacknowledgment of Marxian thinking, Cooley

(1962) considers that 'self assertion throughvoluntary association is of the essence ofdemocracy'.The 'conscience' of the Constitution of India

lies hidden in the Fundamental Rights and the

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Directive Principles of State Policy (Saksena1961). Insofar as the status of the labour is

concerned, it lays down two fundamental

rights. The first one spells out that the Stateshall not deny to any person equality beforelaw or the equal protection of the laws. Thesecond one says that the traffic in human

beings and begging and other forms of forcedlabour are prohibited. The Constitution of

India lays down three Directive Principles of

State Policy, namely, the State shall, withinthe limits of its economic capacity and

development, make effective provisions forsecuring the Right to Work .... that the Stateshall make provisions for securing just and

humane conditions of work and for maternityrelief....... and that the State shall endeavour

to secure, by suitable legislation or economicorganisation or in any other way, to allworkers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise,

work, a living wage, conditions of workensuring a decent standard of life and full

enjoyment of leisure and social and culturalopportunities and, in particular, the State shall

endeavour to promote cottage industries onan individual or cooperative basis in ruralareas.It is anybody's guess as to what extent the

Constitutional obligations have been faithfully

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discharged insofar as the rurl unorganisedlabour is concerned. It is no wonder that the

rural labour, despite years rolling around after

India's Independence, finds itself caught in adouble bind.

It is a truism to say that the combination ofland and capital by itself cannot produce

anything. It is either the combination of landand labour or capital and labour that wouldlead to the creation of something wholly new.

There can therefore be no second opinion whena stand is taken that labour is the sole creative

factor in production. The continued neglect ofsuch a precious human resource will not onlytake us several distances away from our

cherished objective of establishment of humanequality, but will also end up in the derailment

of our efforts directed towards nationaldevelopment. The existence of a homology

between rural and other categories ofunorganised labour on the one hand, andnational development on the other needs to beappreciated and requires serious and renewed

consideration in the context of the dynamic

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role it can play in promoting industrialisationthrough the capital it generates in the

domestic and export markets.

AgricultureAgriculture takes in its embrace cultivation oflands,rearing of livestock, forest operations

and fishing and hunting. We may rest assuredthat these categories are unskilled,

unorganised, ignorant and illiterate, and theirwork is of scattered nature. These categories

of workers are in fair preponderance andcontribute in no small measure to theproduction of goods and services. While thepercentage of workers dependent upon the

organised industrial sector for employment isrelatively minimal, agriculture continues to

remain as the mainstay of the occupational

career of a majority segment of our population.There is no gainsaying the fact that in terms of

national income, contribution from agricultureis a little over fifty percent. The wheels of a

host of other industrial undertakings cannothum with activity unless the unorganised ruralsector ceases to remain inactive and thus

provides the feedstock.The 'Green Revolution' with its emphasis onmaximisation of food production has made the

land to work 'overtime'. This means that thereis negative correlation between what is taken

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out from the soil and what is offered to it byway of replenishment. It is obvious that the

'law of diminishing returns' begins to operate.

While India accounts for more than fifteenpercent of the world population, its possessionof the land surface of the world is stated to be2.4 percent. Within a total available

geographical area of about 330 millionhectares, only about fifty percent comes under

area sown, and another twenty percent falls

within the forest category. While the per capitaland in India is around 0.3 hectare compared

to around 1 hectare in U.S.A, over 1 hectare inU.S.S.R, over 2 hectares in Canada and over 4hectares in Australia, surveys conducted have

highlighted the futility of expending effortstowards bringing fallow and waste lands under

the plough in India, having due regard to therainfall as well as other economic constraints.This therefore makes it abundantly clear the

inevitability of taking recourse to intensificationof agriculture with an emphasis on increasing

productivity.With the possibility of double cropping, food

production has increased. Notwithstanding thefact that the volume of rice production hasrisen from 34.57 million tonnes in 1960-1961to 67.9 million tonnes in 1988-1989, the

percentage share of rice to total food

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production is stated to have been stagnating.(From 42.2 percent in 1960-1961 to 40.9

percent in 1988-1989.) The contribution of

wheat to total food production has moved from13.4 percent in 1960-1961 to 31.4 percent in1988-1989. Cereals' contribution to total foodproduction has made a nose dive from 28.9

percent in 1960-1961 to 19.0 percent in1988-1989 as compared to pulses from 15.5

percent in 1960-1961 to 6.7 percent in 1988-

1989.Between 1975-1976 and 1988-1989, rice

production ranges between 50 to 68 milliontonnes, whereas during the correspondingperiod wheat production has gone up from 29

million tonnes to 53 million tonnes. WhereasCereals have been making marginal ups and

downs. It was 30.4 million tonnes in 1975-1976 and 32.66 million tonnes in 1988-1989.The yield of rice rose by 15 percent as against

28.8 percent of wheat. In terms of productivity, rice shows a decrease as

compared to a substantial increase in wheatproductivity as viewed against the background

of areas brought under the plough.

The increasing pressure on land, triggered off

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by growing population, has resulted in thebreakdown of the traditional rainfed cropping

system engendered by the monsoon playing

truant. A marked increase in population withabsolute dependency on agriculture with nocorresponding increase in the land becomingavailable for cultivation has created 'disguised'

unemployed in agriculture. The siphoning off ofthe 'disguised' or 'concealed' unemployed is

unlikely to affect agricultural productivity as

the marginal productivity of this surplus iszero. The surplus labour constrained to remain

'locked in' is a consequence of a markeddecrease in demand in the wider labour marketfor labour bereft of skills. A surplus labour

veering around agriculture and thereforeaccounting for low productivity will have to

content itself with low income. The confusionbecomes confounded with the lack ofalternative avenues of employment within the

rural sector. This calls for efforts to relieve theland itself from providing direct living to these

surplus labour by creating agro-basedemployment. The removal of the surplus

agricultural labour and diversion of theselabour to more productive and profitable willbecome possible as Parkinson's (1960) SecondLaw begins to operate in the case of those

clinging to agriculture. Their expenditure, with

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the purging of the surplus labour, will rise tomeet income. Handsome increase in income

may have latent functions in that they may

raise the opportunities for employment whichthe spending of the agricultural labour maycreate. Parkinsons second law uniformlyapplies to all whose income comes within the

definition of salary. Before actual incomeaccrues, in anticipation of such income,

expenditure in excess of income takes place in

advance. In this context, the role of creditcard system needs an in-depth study.Forest

Insofar as the forest resource is concerned, its

importance needs no elaboration. Apart fromits influence on rainfall and against floods, it

affords protection against soil erosion. It also

proves to be a source of raw material forpaper, rayon, construction and match

industries. Though the forest resource isrenewable,raising of the forest wealth takes

longer time. It is estimated that 9.9 millionhectares of woodland are cleared each year inthe world. If the paper industry in India,

among others, is singled out, out of 305 papermills today, which account for a total installedcapacity of 30.14 lakh tonnes, 25 percent

with a capacity of 6.25 lakh tonnes are closedand several other units are in doledrums. The

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increasing scarcity of raw materials shows thewritings on the walls for this industry which

makes writing material available. The gap in

the availability and requirement of forest basedraw material, by the turn of the century isestimated to be 43.21 lakh tonnes.Notwithstanding the fact that the national

forest policy stipulates that maintenance of onethird of the land for forest shold be our aim,

there appears to be a fast depletion of the

forest stock, as the number of claimants forthe forest produce is on the increase. The

dwindling forest resources is not only an openinvitation to desertification, but may also put in

jeopardy the interest of a significant proportion

of workers for whom forestry and logging arethe primary source of income. While

afforestation is intended to progressivelynarrow the gap between availability andconsumption, conversion of irrigated

agricultural land to eucalyptus cultivation inorder to aid pulp and rayon production and

thereby get-rich-quick is fraught with seriousconsequences. The Gujarat farmers, oblivious

of the impact, have taken to the cultivation ofthe 'ecological terrorist' eucalyptus (1982).Large scale plantation causes displacement ofworkers as it does not call for more labour.

In agroforestry lies the answer to such a

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blatant conversion, since it takes into accountthe farmers' own definition of the situations in

which they are engaged. Since afforestation is

presenting itself as a race against time, apartfrom launching village based schemes andenlisting the active support and participation ofthe localites, creation of forest cooperatives

will help impart proper training and skill to theforest labour force. As they get organised,

their participation through their organisation

will result in the "dehumanisation of anomieand alienation". In addition, they will see the

dawn of the day wherein they will experienceeconomic compatibility and power parity withtheir employers

Operation Floods

The emphasis on 'operation floods' means theincrease in the rearing of herds which means

that there is a wide gap between the size ofthe herd population and the pasture lands

which can support them. Operation Flood IIIfrom 1985-1990 envisaged to bring another6.4 million families and thus achieve a target

of 10 million families within the list of thebeneficiaries. While such of those reliant uponrearing of herds cannot be said to be

economically better off, growth of arid land forcultivation at the cost of grazing lands results

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in overgrazing. The economic viability ofrearing of herds has to be seen against the

background of increasing herd size and

decreasing availability of pasture lands .Theimportance of ensuring that development aidsreally go to the livestock needs no emphasis.Nothing will give rise to optimum level of

optimism unless efforts are made to encouragekeeping of diverse herds of animals and

acceptability among consumers of different

milk, milk products and meat. Apart frombeing an insurance against drought, such an

endeavour will vouchsafe for continuedavailability of products in the midst of growingpopulation and ensure a fair return to the

supporters of herds.

Fishery ResourcesGlobal experiences tell us that our

contribution, in spite of vash fishery resourceswe can lay our hands upon, is no where near

comparison. The dismal picture it presentsportrays that the exploitation of the fisheryresources leaves much to be desired, and this

resource, as a substitute to land, can be aseffectual as Aladdin's lamp, when fullyexploited. The untapped human resource

in fisheries, along with the mechanisation ofthis field of fruitful activity, needs to be

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channelised so as to improve the nutritionallevel of the public at large as well as the

economic well being of those who pursue

fishing as a specialised field of activities.

Conclusion

Labour power remains without beingtransformed into labour, as Karl Marx (1955)puts it, since no intervention have appears tohave taken place to offset the weak bargaining

power of the rural unorganised labour. Theinstrumental as well as the terminal value of

thse unorganised rural labour could be

fruitfully realised when conditions are createdfor them to rally round and emerge into a

collectivity. As Fox (1971) holds, 'the appetitefor self-enhancement is influenced by the

opportunities for pursuing it, and men who arestrategically placed for collective action maynot only be driven on by the goad of

discontent from behind, but also drawn on bythe beckoning fruits that lie ahead'. Theemergence of a 'collective worker' will not only

remove their unequal bargaining predicament,but will also contribute to the growth of

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feelings of fellowship and self-development'(Cooley 1962). The abundance of

both raw material as well as human resources

provides scope for exuberent exploitation. Lop-sided exploitation of one resource at theexpense of the other will continue to haunt uswith the question 'what is wrong with the

system?'.A responsibility is cast on the society to ensure

that these men who constitute the

'unorganised rural labour', but who otherwisehelp others in industrial sector to organise

themselves do not 'go unwept, unhonouredand unsung to the vile dust whence theysprung.(Walter Scott).

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Note: The data relating to agriculturalproduction are old. With dwindling production,

the cost of essential commodities is on theincrease which results in the erosion of the

purchasing power of the common man.

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