The Royal Commission on Labour (or the Whitley Commission on Labour) was a Royal Commission set up in 1929 to investigate the working conditions on plantations in India.
The Royal Commission on Labour (or the Whitley Commission on Labour) was a Royal Commission set up in 1929 to investigate the working conditions on plantations in India.
The Commission was chaired by John Henry Whitley. The commission submitted its report in 1931. [1] The report surprised many by concurring with the criticisms of Mahatma Gandhi and others that poverty was the cause of India's social and industrial problems. It was also critical of British employers' role in perpetuating the problems. [2]
The Royal Commission on Labour in 1931 pointed out the need for systematic collection of labour statistics. It observed that the policy must be built on facts as the uncertainty of facts would lead to confusion and conflict regarding its aim. The Commission recommended the adoption of suitable legislation enabling the Competent Authority to collect and collate information regarding the living, working and socio-economic conditions of industrial labour. [3]
Whitley was offered a knighthood for his work on this report, but he declined. [2]
The Indian National Congress, colloquially the Congress Party but often simply Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. Due to its enduring history, the Congress is often called the "grand old party".
Varahagiri Venkata Giri was an Indian politician and activist who served as the 4th president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974 and 3rd vice president of india from 13 May 1967 to 3 May 1969. He was the only president to be elected as an independent candidate. He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974. After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975. Giri died on 24 June 1980.
The Mandal Commission, the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India on 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India. It was headed by B.P. Mandal, an Indian parliamentarian, to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness. In 1980, based on its rationale that OBCs identified on the basis of caste, social, economic indicators made up 52% of India's population, the Commission's report recommended that members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) be granted reservations to 27% of jobs under the Central government and public sector undertakings, thus making the total number of reservations for SC, ST and OBC to 49%.
The Indian Statutory Commission also known as Simon Commission, was a group of seven Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in British India in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain's largest and most important possession. One of its members was the future leader of the Labor Party Clement Attlee, who became committed to self-government for India.
The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in December 1932. They were conducted as per the recommendation of Jinnah to Viceroy Lord Irwin and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and by the report submitted by the Simon Commission in May 1930. Demands for Swaraj, or self-rule, in India had been growing increasingly strong. B. R. Ambedkar, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, K. T. Paul and Mirabehn were key participants from India. By the 1930s, many British politicians believed that India needed to move towards dominion status. However, there were significant disagreements between the Indian and the British political parties that the Conferences would not resolve. The key topic was about constitution and India which was mainly discussed in that conference. There were three Round Table Conferences from 1930 to 1932.
The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, on 5 March 1931 before the Second Round Table Conference in London. Before this, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, had announced in October 1929 a vague offer of 'dominion status' for British-occupied India in an unspecified future and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. The Second Round Table Conference was held from September to December 1931 in London. This movement marked the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement in India. Arrest of Abdul Ghaffar Khan in April 1930 and Mahatma Gandhi in May 1930 resulted in protests in Peshawar and Sholapur respectively.
The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a "public authority" which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. In case of matter involving a petitioner's life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours. The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri, was an Indian politician, administrator, educator, orator and Indian independence activist. He was acclaimed for his oratory and command over the English language. Srinivasa Sastri was born to a poor temple priest in the village of Valangaiman near Kumbakonam, India. He completed his education at Kumbakonam and worked as a school teacher and later, headmaster in Triplicane, Madras. He entered politics in 1905 when he joined the Servants of India Society. Sastri served as a member of the Indian National Congress from 1908 to 1922, but later resigned in protest against the Non-Cooperation movement. Sastri was one of the founding members of the Indian Liberal Party. In his later days, he was strongly opposed to the partition of India.
John Henry Whitley, often known as J. H. Whitley, was a British politician and Georgist. He was the final Liberal to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, a role he held from 1921 to 1928.
A joint industrial council (JIC) or national joint industrial council (NJIC), known as a Whitley council in some fields, especially white-collar and government, is a statutory council of employers and trade unions established in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It is a workplace partnership, an institution that serves for a forum of consultation between employees and employers. Councils were established from 1919. They typically worked to determine wage rates, terms and conditions in a specific industry. There were dozens of JICs, one for each industry. Most JICs were established between the 1920s and the 1940s. The larger JICs also had regional councils throughout the country and some industries had separate JICs for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man had its own councils.
The Ministry of Labour & Employment is one of the oldest and most important Ministries of the Government of India. This is an India's federal ministry which is responsible to protect and safeguard the interest of workers in general and their social security. The Ministry aims to create a healthy work environment for higher production and productivity and to develop and coordinate vocational skill training and employment. However, Skill Development responsibilities, such as Industrial Training and Apprenticeship responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship from 9 November 2014. The Ministry launched the National Career Service portal on 20 July 2015 to help bridge the gap between job providers and job seekers.
Indian labour law refers to law regulating labour in India. Traditionally, Indian government at the federal and state levels have sought to ensure a high degree of protection for workers, but in practice, this differs due to form of government and because labour is a subject in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution. The Minimum Wages Act 1948 requires companies to pay the minimum wage set by the government alongside limiting working weeks to 40 hours. Overtime is strongly discouraged with the premium on overtime being 100% of the total wage. The Payment of Wages Act 1936 mandates the payment of wages on time on the last working day of every month through a bank transfer or through postal services. The Factories Act 1948 and the Shops and Establishment Act 1960 mandates 15 working days of fully paid vacation leaves each year to each employee with an addition 10 fully paid sick days. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 gives female employees of every company the right to take 6 months worth of fully paid maternity leave. It also provides for 6 weeks worth of paid leaves in case of miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees' State Insurance, governed by statutory acts provides workers with necessary social security for retirement benefits and medical and unemployment benefits respectively. Workers entitled to be covered under the Employees' State Insurance are also entitled 90 days worth of paid medical leaves. A contract of employment can always provide for more rights than the statutory minimum set rights. The Indian parliament passed four labour codes in 2019 and 2020 sessions. These four codes will consolidate 44 existing labour laws. They are: The Industrial Relations Code 2020, The Code on Social Security 2020, The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and The Code on Wages 2019.
ABHAY Bang and Rani Bang are Indian social activists and researchers working in the field of community health in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India. They have revolutionized healthcare for the poorest people in India and have overseen a programme that has substantially reduced infant mortality rates in one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have endorsed their approach to treating newborn babies and the programme is currently being rolled out across India and in parts of Africa. Abhay and Rani Bang founded the Society For Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) – a non-profit organisation, which is involved in rural health service and research. The couple is the winner of the Maharashtra Bhushan Award. Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow has conferred honorary doctorates on Abhay and Rani Bang. SNDT Women's University, Mumbai has also awarded honoris causa to Rani Bang. The Lancet has honoured the couple as "the pioneers of health care in rural India". Abhay and Rani Bang are the first recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They were also inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. The Bangs are honoured for their leadership in community-based health care that is now helping to save the lives of millions of the most vulnerable newborns and children. During their careers, the Bangs have helped foster a renaissance in community-based primary health care. In 2016, Johns Hopkins University conferred the Distinguished Alumni Award upon them.
In 2011, the national census of India found that the total number of child labourers, aged [5–14], to be at 10.1 million, out of the total of 259.64 million children in that age group. The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time.
The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) is a national body commissioned by the Indian government to address the issues faced by enterprises in relation to the unorganised sector
The incidence of child labour in Nepal is relatively high compared with other countries in South Asia. According to the Nepal Labour Force Survey in 2008, 86.2% of children who were working were also studying and 13.8% of the children were working only.
Diwan Chaman Lall was an Indian politician and diplomat who served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha.
Agatha Mary Harrison (1885–1954) was an English industrial welfare reformer and unofficial diplomat.
India is the second most populated country in the world with nearly a fifth of the world's population. According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects the population stood at 1,352,642,280.
The Bureau of Industrial Research was a New York City-based labor research organization.