NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
43
The chief characteristics of this system, the fount and origin of
the conditions in the Duars as they now exist, must be clearly under-
stood if we are to grasp the most fundamental factors at work in bring-
ing about the notorious unhealthiness of this area. Perhaps the most
important feature is that whilst in Assam there are regulations regard-
ing the protection of the coolie and a system of Government inspection
of gardens, in the Duars there is neither the one nor the other ; and did
Government inspection exist there would appear to be no powers un-
der which any measure of sanitation could be enforced. Another im-
portant feature is that in the Duars there is no system of compulsory
registration. A coolie who has entered the district is on the busi-
ness books of the garden only so long as he is an actual worker whose
earnings have to be calculated and from whom advances have to be
recovered. Since the labour force forms only a fraction of the total
coolie population on a garden, a large number of the latter are not
registered in any way and their sickness or death entails no respon-
sibility upon anyone. A coolie on his arrival at the garden is given a
house or the materials with which to build one, but there is no actual
obligation regarding this, nor is there any recognised standard of
accommodation to which he is entitled. As with house accommodation
so with water-supply, in the majority of instances the coolie is left to
select his own source of supply from the nearest spring or stream, or
from wells which would not be passed by any sanitary authority.
In regard to food supply the coolie again is left to make his own
arrangements, no matter what the state of the local market may be ;
and though in a few cases at certain seasons a manager may purchase
rice and supply it to the coolies at cost price, this seems to be a very
limited concession affecting only coolies of assured position. Where
the jungle is not available for fuel, firewood is often supplied to the
coolies at a fixed rate, but again as a rule this chiefly affects people of
good standing among the labour force.
A very striking feature of the Duars labour system is the lack
of any provision to ensure that coolies when sick shall receive, as
they must under the Assam Labour Immigration Act, the means of
subsistence, and there is no arrangement to prevent sick and needy
coolies suffering from extreme hardship or even actual starvation.
F 2
44
There is an universal belief that when coolies become sick they
are fed and looked after by their sardar, a belief that has received
expression in Mr. Arbuthnott's Report in 1904, and again in the Pro-
ceedings of the Assam Labour Enquiry Committee, who visited the
Duars in 1906 (vide page 126).
" When coolies get sick the sardar sees that they are fed and.
looked after until they recover; beyond the cost of medi-
cines and medical attendance the garden is put to no ex-
pense in dieting sick coolies ".
That such a statement can have been made shows that the real
conditions are unrecognised. The relation between the sardar and,
his coolies are upon a much less philanthropic footing, as will be
seen later, and there is no reason to believe that in the Duars, where
sickness is a constant occurrence and a very serious item in the life of
a labourer, arrangements can be with advantage left to the sardar.
No doubt cases of hardship that come to the notice of the manager
are relieved ; but here again the planter in the Duars is, under the
existing system, rarely brought into such close personal contact with
the bulk of his coolies as to. make such incidents more than occasional
acts of charity. There is an attempt at giving medicine to sick
coolies ; but by no possible pretence, as we shall see later, can the exist--
ing arrangements for treating sickness in the Duars be called even rea-
sonably adequate. There is no hospital in the district; and the so-called
dispensaries, which are little more than mere stores of drugs, in the
absence of proper medical arrangements, for the most part serve ineffi-
ciently the purpose for which they are intended. Arrangements for
medical supervision are as we shall see, hopelessly inadequate ; and the
doctor babus to whom the treatment of many hundreds or thousands
of coolies on a garden is relegated are in the great majority of cases
unqualified, ignorant and incompetent.
We have not heard of the establishment in any part of the dis-
trict of an institution in the nature of a coolie serai or any arrange-
ments for supplying suitable diet to the sick or providing necessary
food to the needy ; and no one appears to think such a thing necessary,
45
In no respect is the absence of responsibility shown more clearly
than in the method of registration of births and deaths. Without
fear of exaggeration we may say that the return of even approximate-
ly accurate figures is nowhere seriously attempted. The whole mat-
ter is usually left entirely to the so-called doctor babu, who does not
Recognise the value of accuracy in these matters and whose returns are
rarely supervised. Too often, indeed, these men, to whose incompe-
tency we shall refer later, are convinced that it is against their own
interests to report the occurrence of more deaths than they can
possibly avoid reporting : and in our own experience '' doctor babus "
have actually given reasons why they should nob do so.
Another prevalent source of error is due to the general custom
of removing from the labour roll the names of any coolies who from
sickness or other cause have not appeared at work for a clear month.
Such coolies may still be resident in the garden lines, many cases of
chronic and long-continued sickness falling under this category, but
they are to a, large extent lost to sight and it frequently happens that
deaths occurring amongst them fail to be recorded.
The effect of such loose methods of registration will become ap-
parent in the chapter on vital statistics. It is only necessary to state
here that the absence of responsibility in this respect is so amazing
that we believe that it would be quite possible for a thousand newly
imported cool es, distributed as they are throughout the district, to die
within a year without anyone being the wiser.
"We have previously referred to the general view that where there
is no legal binding of the coolie there is no occasion to provide any kind
of protection, the supposition being that even sanitation arid other
precautions will adjust themselves in these circumstances.
It will be instructive to see upon what basis this supposed rela-
tion between sanitation and the legal binding of the coolie rests. There
is a general idea that the free coolie is necessarily living the ordinary
life to which he is accustomed. This is not the case, for there are
great differences to which we shall refer in more detail later, between
the life of a cultivator in the villages, such as the coolie is before recruit-
46
ment, and that of the tea-garden labourer. Nor is it safe to assume
that the conditions of life in a newly opened country like the Duars
are similar to those of tracts from which tea-garden labour is drawn ;
and in the Duars the conditions of life especially to the new-comer are
both difficult and hostile. It is frequently stated that under a free
labour system the coolie can move about from place to place just as
it suits him; but were this strictly true it would not benefit him for con-
ditions are everywhere the same in the Duars and by constant change
the coolie but emphasizes hostile circumstances. Another general
belief is that any coolie, should he desire it, is able at any time to leave
the district ; but we shall show that such a view does not fully repre-
sent the actual facts. Again want of direct relations between the
planter and the coolie has been often supposed to be beneficial to the
latter ; but a close study of the conditions in the Duars seems to indi-
cate that the need of protection is greatest just in proportion to the
lack of such a direct relationship.
The so-called " sardari " method of recruitment in the Duara
differs in a most important particular from the " sardari " and other
systems of recruitment conducted by Assam, namely, that while in
the latter area all labour when it reaches the garden is dealt with
directly by the garden manager, in the Duars practically all labour
is dealt with through the sardar, who does not on the garden
cease to have relations with the coolie. The distinction is well drawn
in a statement recorded by the Assam Labour Enquiry Commit-
tee (vide page 2), who in speaking of all labour recruited for Assam
say :—
" The fact that while the labourers in other tea areas were re-
cruited and managed through middlemen, in Assam
the system of direct management was in force, the recruit-
er's connection with the labourer ceasing directly the lat-
ter had arrived on the garden ".
And it is necessary to realise that though a recruiter in the Duars'
system may be an ordinary garden coolie he acts only, as a rule, as a
kind of agent for a sardar.
47
The description given by Mr." Arbuthnott (vide page 2 of his re-
port) gives a good idea of the actual facts :—
" The sardar either goes himself, or selects, with the Manager's
approval, suitable men from his own patti or gang to send
down as recruiters ".
The italics are ours, for men from his own gang means men over
whom he has control, either by reason of advances or because of rela.
tives left behind.
Further, in the Duars, a sardar controls not only one batch of
coolies but receives and controls each year as many more coolies as
he or his deputies can bring up. He is in fact a headman who holds
more or less in his power a number of coolies from whom he draws the
means which enable him to live.
" If a sardar owns or controls a sufficient number of thirty or
forty coolies he is allowed a dafjadar whom he selects sub-
ject to approval to look after his interests" (vide Arbuth-
nott' s report, page 5).
And (page 5 of the same report) —
" As already observed sardars in the Duars draw a commis-
sion on each task up to the maximum of two Pice, and in
a manner may be said to own the coolies who have been
recruited by themselves ".
Not only is the coolies' pay in almost every instance given through
the sardai's hands, but it is the sardar who recovers advances (ibid)—
" Coolies are usually paid monthly through their sardars and
their sardars either advance them money themselves or
recommend advances, the sardar in the latter case being
responsible."
And (page 2, ibid)—
" Advances in the recruiting districts represent money given
to new coolies to pay off their debts in their country, road
48
expenses and sundry. The sardar is responsible for these
amounts and in turn recovers from the coolies monthly and
proportionately ".
This method of recovery of advances by the sardar appears to be
left entirely in the hands of these men, who frequently, if not usually,
do not deduct a fixed amount monthly, but retain the full pay and
allow to the coolie a living allowance until such time as this debt, is
paid off, a process which usually takes some years, and which is ack-
nowledged rarely to be completed under twelve months.
In the sardari system of the Duars, in fact, we have to deal not
with a number of amateur recruiters each bringing up a few other
coolies with whom their relations cease on their arrival at the gardens,
but with a class of middlemen often shrewd, more or less educated,
and always capable of looking after their own interests. In his posi-
tion and functions he resembles very closely the class of " caporali "
described and condemned by Celli in his account of malaria among
the labourers in the Roman Campagna.
Yet it is not entirely a matter of the integrity and humanity of
the sardars which is concerned.
Looked at from one point of view, one of the most extraordinary-
conditions in the Duars is the relations between the gardens and th
sardars. Not only is he supposed to take the chief responsibility of
the maintenance of the sick, but to quote from the Proceedings of the
Assam Labour Enquiry Committee (page 126) :—
" If coolies die or abscond the loss falls on the sardar, not on
the garden.
And again (page 128)—
" The recoverable advance would be shown on, the garden
books as a debt against the sardar which the garden re-
covers from him and he in turn from the coolie. As a
matter of fact very few of such advances have to be writ-
ten off as irrecoverable ".
49.
Mr. Arbuthnott (vide report, page.3)—
"Losses occur when a recruiter obtains a bad lot of coolies
who abscond on arrival:
This may or may
not be recovered from the sardar who on occasion himself
absconds if the account against him becomes in his: opinion
too heavy ".
An abstract illustrating the general looseness-of the arrangementa
may be quoted from the Proceedings; Assam Labour Enquiry Com-
mittee (page 128) :—
" These advances are debited either against the recruiting
sardar or against his principal on the garden. The sardars
recoup themselves for the cost of this display out of their-
commission paid on the earnings of the coolies, and any
sums advanced by them to the coolie are recovered from.
him by the sardar".
There is nothing in the sardars' emoluments that we can ascer-
tain to enable him to support these losses, and one is forced to see the
danger that the coolies who are under the control of the sardar, more
especially those related to coolies who die or abscond, will have to.
bear any loss it curred.
In the face of the conditions we have indicated it is impossible to
believe that the absence of direct relationship between the planter
and the coolie, which characterises the Duars' labour system, does not
work greatly to the disadvantage of the latter, or that the system of
indebtedness by which the coolie is retained is not prejudicial to his
welfare just at a time when he needs all his resources to enable him to
resist malaria. The very reason why the system has . received so little
criticism seems to us sufficient to condemn it. For undoubtedly much
of the want of appreciation of the effects of such a system are due to-
the fact that—
(a) Only the finest labour is used, because it. has been found
by experience that only such labour can " stand the cli-
mate ".
\ill\SC
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50
(b) There is no means _ of anyone knowing, even approximate-
ly, what the death rate is, or waste of labour involved.
In the next chapter it will be seen how the facts to which we have
drawn attention work out. For the present we need only to point out
that in the Duars labour being voluntary, the deduction is that no
sort of responsibility attaches to the employer. It is the largely
disastrous effects of such a view which we shall show are
responsible for the conditions now seen in the Duars.
51
VI—ECONOMIC INFLUENCES.
In the introduction we have referred to the fact that every
circumstance affecting the physical comfort and well-being of a
population has a considerable influence upon the amount of malaria
present.
Perhaps there is nothing of more vital importance to the mem-
bers of a community than that they Shall obtain a physiologically
adequate dietary, arid in the case of a labouring population a diet
at least proportionate to the amount of physical work expected of
them.
In addition to this, suitable housing, clothing; fuel and the abili-
ty to indulge in occasional little luxuries such as tobacco, etc., are in
their general effect on the condition of the individual essential to a
condition of physiological well-being. In the absence of these con-
ditions we shall have hardship and physiological poverty, the second.
great factor that we have indicated as profoundly influencing the in
cidence of malaria:
FOOD.
In the Duars the monthly pay of the coolie is stated to be Rs. 6
for a man, Rs. 4-8-0 for a woman, and Rs. 2-8 0 to Rs. 3 for a working
child. During certain times of the year industrious coolies can
earn considerably more than this, but in 1900 the Deputy Commis-
sioner of Jalpaiguri estimated that the average earnings of the most
and ustrious out-door male labourer would not reach as high a figure
as Rs. 7-8-0 per mensem. The actual amount earned by a labour force
is, however, much less than this, totalling on the average, inclvisive of
extra " ticca "' as noted in the Assam Labour Report, Rs. 4-9-0 for
men, Rs. 3-7-0 for women, and Rs. 1-0-5 for children, each month
in the year. This is stated to be the amount the coolies are " content
to earn ". It is necessary for us to enquire very closely into this state-
ment, since on such pay with prices of foodstuffs at the level they have
maintained during the last few years it is, we believe, not possible
For coolies to obtain an adequate dietary.
G2
52
In regard to average total earnings it must be remembered that
the figures—
(1) Take no cognisance of the " advance "'which has to 'be re-
covered in the case of many persons, and certainly all
new coolies.
(2) The fact that the amount is paid into the hands of the sar-
dar and not to the coolie himself.
(3) The total amount earned by a labour force has to feed not
only the number of labourers on which the average pay is
calculated, but the total garden population of the \ill\e
class.
This is all the more important since in the Duars actual workers,
i.e., the labour force, number only about 'one-half of the total coolie
population on the garden.
Certain coolies no ; doubt Supplement their 'pay by growing rice,
vegetables and so on, but this cannot apply generally, and more es-
pecially does not assist the last majority of new-come' s.
The price of foodstuffs in the actual market in October we ascer-
tained to be as follows :—
Dhan 12 to 16 seers per rupee.
Rice (unboiled), good, 6 seers per rupee.
Bice (boilod), good, 6 seers per rupee.
Bice (boiled), coarse, 7 seers per rupee.
Dals, various kinds and qualities, from anna's 2½ to 3 per seer.
Salt, annas 1½ per seer.
Oils, annas 10 per seer.
Chilis, annas 4 per seer.
Other condiments from anna 1 to annas 5 per seer.
Potatoes, annas 2½ per seer.
Onions, annas 3 per seer.
Fowls from annas 8 to Re. 1 each.
Mutton and goat and other flesh in proportion.
Tobacco, annas 12 per seer.
53
There has been in recent years a great advance in the price of
dhan and rice, which now costs nearly twice as much as it did in 1903,
'when the average price for rice, in the Duars was Re. 1 for 12 seers.
What an adequate diet for a coolie may be it is difficult to say
; since it varies so much with different circumstances, notably with the
amount of work he is doing.
When at work, however, a man will often consume more than a
Seer and not less than 12 chittacks of rice in the day, exclusive of other
additions, in the shape of dal or vegetables. The diet for coolies
travelling on the Assam steamer routes is fixed as follows :—
Rice, 12 chittacks.
Dal, 2 chittacks.
The cost of such a dietary for a month of 30 days, apart from
any necessary additions in the shape of oil, salt, and condiments, on
a scale of prices similar to those ruling in the Duars at the present
time, will be Rs. 3-12-0 for the very cheapest quality.
The famine code dietary is—
(1) For labourers on light work, rice 14 chittacks.
(2) For labourers on hard work, rice 18 chittacks.
The price of rice alone in such a diet at the Duars rates would
be Rs. 3-11-0 and Rs. 4-12-0 respectively at the lowest rates. A la-
bourer in the Duars can by buying dhan and husking it reduce the cost
of his rice by about 25 per cent. He can also grow a few vegetables
or secure from the jungle a few herbs and roots or occasionally obtain
fish from the streams. All these extra sources, however, require time
or facilities not available to the new coolie and the following of such
pursuits often means, where there are no dependents, the sacrifice
-of wages on the part of the worker. It is evident then that very
little margin is left for even a minimum living diet. This accords
with our observations ; among new coolies we find the standard of
actual diet taken, is very low.
We are told that the average coolie in the Duars does not work
for more than from 15 to 18 days in the month. Why is it then, it
54
may be asked, docs hot the coolie work more and earn a greater
amount ? In attempting to arrive at an answer it is necessary to
bear in mind that—
(1) Under the Duars' system a new coolie on his entry into
the country is already indebted to his sardar for the ad-
vance he has received, and for his train fare and journey
up. This advance is usually recovered from him, not by
the deduction of a fixed monthly amount from his wages
but by means of an arrangement which may be called the
giving of " living allowance". Under this system the
sardar allows a certain amount for maintenance, and him-
self takes whatever the coolie's pay may be until such time
as the advance is paid. When it is remembered that the
average total monthly wage of a man is less than Rs. 4 and
that of a woman less than Rs. 3 paid through the hands
of the sardars (not including the small average amount
of " ticca " paid direct into the hands of the coolie (sec
Assam Labour Enquiry Committee Report) it will be evi-
dent that the average " living allowance " must be still
less. So far as we can ascertain it is in the case of a man;
never more than Re. 1 per week and becomes reduced just
in those cases where circumstances press most acutely as
when sickness or weakness has once asserted itself.
(2) The effect upon a working coolie of an inadequate diet is,
we believe, at once to force him unconsciously to attempt
to keep his physiological balance by stopping work. We
believe then that one result of the sardar system of pay-
ment and the recovery of advances leads in this way to a fre-
quent condition of " laziness ", if it can be called this on
the part of the labourer arising really from physiological
causes and that there is a grave tendency for the occurrence
of a vicious cycle of inadequate diet, sickness and unwil-
lingness to work, the nature of which when brought
about is unrecognised by all concerned.
(3) Any sudden call obliging the coolie to obtain even a small
Sum of money necessitates further indebtedness to the
55
sardar, who thus, if he wishes to exercise them, has all
the privileges of a money-lender. Again, if for any reason
such as sickness the coolie does not work, though he
may still draw his, living allowance, his debt to the sardar
remains or increases and payment is correspondingly delay-
ed. As a result many coolies remain for years drawing
merely a " living allowance " instead of their pay.
(4) Under existing conditions. " sickness " is not a mere occa-
sional occurrence, but a condition to which the non-
immune coolie is almost necessarily liable. Whilst sick
the coolie is " provided for by his sardar " and since
his sardar draws commission for his work and gains by his
pay, it may be presumed that the sardar desires the man's
recovery; but it is by no means probable that the sardar
understands the necessity of a physiologically adequate
diet or the value of proper treatment for sickness. Again
110 doubt a man draws his living allowance more or less as
usual when first sick, but if his disability is frequent or ha
does not rapidly recover, his sardar must eventually reduce
his allowance. The man is perhaps a loss to the sardar,
he is anæmic, apathetic, useless, so the sardar has to de-
cide whether he is worth keeping or not. Under the pre-
sent system there is nothing to prevent the sardar definite-
ly cutting such a man adrift, a case not imaginary though
of course representing the worst that may happen. In
ordinary cases the train of events ends in a semi-apathetic
state of the labourer and his loss to the garden as an active
worker.
(5) The coolie is not always endowed with the foresight neces-
sary to make him endeavour energetically to work off his
advance against perhaps his own physical disinclination.
And once he realizes that his indebtedness is indefinitely
bound upon him, his object becomes to do sufficient work
to satisfy his sardar and earn just a little more than his
living allowance, for if he earns more than this it is not he
who benefits but the sardar.