tha plantation as a social system

8/9/2019 Tha Plantation as a Social System

1/5

The Plantation as a Social SystemAuthor(s): Sharit Kumar BhowmikSource: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 15, No. 36 (Sep. 6, 1980), pp. 1524-1527Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4369053.

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2/5

h e

lantation

s

o c i a l

y s t e m

Sharit

Kumar Bhowmik

The

plantation has a

distinct form

of production

organisation

which gives

rise to

certatin specific

social

relations.

Most

definitions of a

plantation tend

to

overlook

these

relations which

emerge from the

plantation

as a

social system.

This

paper, based

on the findings

of

fieldwork conducted

among

tea

plantation

workers in

the

Dooars in North Bengal, attempts a sociological

definition of

the

plantation

system.

The

uniqueness of a

plantation

system

lies

in

its

social

and

production

relNtions.

These

no

doubt

have

changed

since

the

days

of

pla;ntationeconomies

of colonial

times and are

chaiging

even

now;

but

the

change

in

these

relations

is

determined by the

context of

isolation of the

plantantion

from

the wider

social

system,

the

influence

of the

working class

organisations

among the

workers

and

the role

of

the

State.

TI-IE

plantation

has a distinct

form

of

production

organisation

which gives

rise to certain

specific

social

relations.

Most

writers, while

defining

a planta-

t$on, tend

to overlook

these

relations

which

emerge from

the plantation

as a

social

system. They

either explain

its

production relations or they deal with

the production

unit itself.

In this

paper

I have

tried to show

the inadequacies

of

such definitions

and

have

attempted

ar. alternative

sociological

definition

of

the plantation

system.

The

paper is

based

on the

findings

of

my field

investigation

conducted among

the tea plantation

workers

in the

Dooars

are in

jalpaiguri

district,

West Bengal.

A

majority

of the

workers employed

in

the

Dooars

plantations

are

Adivasis

(Scheduled

Tribes)

from

the

Chotanag-

pur

area

of

Bihar.

They mainly

belong

to

the Oraon,

Mtunda,

Kharia

and

San-

thal tribes.

These

workers

were

brought

to

the Dooars

at

the

end

of

the

nine-

teenth century

as

indentured labour

in

the

tea plantations

which

sprang

up

cluring

this

time.

The first tea

garden

wvas

founded

here

in 1874. At present

the tea growing

area stretches

to nearly

200 kilometres

in

length

and around

50

kilometres

in

breath

and

comprises

152

tea

gardens

which

account

for

a

little

less

than 20

per

cent of

India's

tea produ-iction.

The

labour

force

in

the

tea gardens

has settled

in and

around

the

plantations

and

has little or no

contact

with their

places

of

origin.

SOME DEFNTIONS

lThe

International

Labour

Organisa-

tion1

notes

that the

term

plantation

at

first

referred to a group

of settlers,

or

the

political

unit formed

by it,

under

British colonialism, specially

in

North

America and

in

the

West

Indies.

How-

ever,

with the colonisation

of

African and

Asian regions

hy

British and

European

entrepreneurs,

it acquired

a broader

connotation and came to denote large-

scale

enterprises

in

agricultural units

and the

development

of certain

agricul-

tulral

resources

of tropical countries

in

accordance

with

the

methods

of western

industry.

Hla

Myint2

distinguishes

the

plantation

from peasant

agriculture

by

its

large-scale

enterprise

which

normally

requires

more

labour

per

unit of

land.

William 0 joanes3 defines a plantation

as

an economic

unit producing

agricul-

tural

commodities...

for

sale

and

employing

a relatively

large

number

of

un.skilled

labourers whose

activities

are

closelv supervised...

[it

differs]

from

other

kinds of

farms

in the

way

in

wxhich the

factors

of production,

pri-

marily

management

and

labour

are

com-

bined.

There is

a

vertical

hierarchy

in the

plantation

with

skilled

super-

visors

or

managers

directing production

uindertaken

by

unskilled

labourers

whose

primary

skill

is to follow

orders .

Historically,

plantations

were a

pro-

duct

of colonialism.

Their

produce

was

mainly

for export.

In some

cases

such

as

rubber

and

cinchona,

they

were

established

to provide

raw

material

for

western industry

-

especially

for

the

colonising

country.

In

others,

such

as

tea, coffee

and

sugar,

their markets

lay

in the

developed

colonising

countries.

The

growth

of tea plantations

in India

was

a

result

of

a

rise

in

popularity

of

Indian

tea

in

Britain:

Indian

tea

scored

over

Chinese

tea,

which

was

popular

in

the early nineteenth century, because of

its

thicker

brew.4

Hence

plantations

in

the colonies

were

fundamentally

inter-

national

in character.

The

development

of

plantations

neces-

sitated

two

basic

requisites:

large

area

of

cultivable

land and,

secondly,

a

large

labour

force.

However,

the areas

most suited

for

plantations

were

initially

sparsely

populated.

Hence,

during

the

formative years,

plantations

faced

the

problem

of acute

labour

shortage.

They

had

to

depend

on

migrant

labour

whose

mnigration

had

to

be

induced

by

the

planters. One can cite the examples of

cotton

plantations

in

North

America,

stugarin

British Guyana and Cuba,

ruibber

n Malaya and tea

in India. All

these plantations depended

on migrant

labour.

The early plantations in America

and the Caribbean

Islands were run on

slave labour. After the

abolition of

slavery, indenture became

a common

mnode of recruitment. We therefore

find that the plantation

came to be as-

sociated

not only with a resident labour

force

but,

more often than not, with

one of alien origin .5

SPECIFIC

FEATUREs

OF PLANTAIION

SYSTE

In defining

the

plantation a mere

description

of its economic features, as

Myint

has done, or simply dealing

with

the production unit

itself, as Jones has

done, are

not sufficient.

A

sociological

definition of the plantation cannot be

restricted to an

enumeration

of

some

characteristic

features such as

scale of

production,

single crop pattern, export

oriented

market, immigrant

labour,

and

so

on.

These features

may

be

common

in

plantation systems

all

over the

world

b)ut they

describe,

rather than

define,

the plantation

system.

Such descriptions

overlook

two vital

aspects

which are

important

for under-

standing

the

production

relations.

Fitst,

how

the

prevalent

production

relations

emerge

in

a

plantation;

and

secondly,

as the plantation is a part of the wider

social system,

a

change

in

that

will cause

a

change

in

the

prevailing production

rielations.

In this

regard,

Eric

Wolf

takes

a

broader

approach.

He

points

out that

the establishment

of

plantations

has

always destroyed

the

antecedent cultural

uorms

of the

area concerned.

Wolf

states

that

the plantation is also an

instrument

of force

wielded

to create

anid to maintain

a

class-structure

of

workers and

owners,

connected hierarchi-

cally by

a staff

line

or

overseers

and

rmanagers .6he point to be emphasised

here is that

coercion is an

integral part

1524

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3/5

ECONOMIC

AND

POLITICAL

WEEKLY September 6, 1980

of the

plantation system.

It results from

the nature of

production relations in

it.

The

main limitation of

Wolf's definition

is

that it

covers just

one

phase.

of

the

plantation

system. Coercion

is an

integral

part of this

system

but it

gradually diminishes.

In

order

to

under-

stand whv this happens we must investi-

gate

the

relations

of

production

in

thb

plantation system

and how

it

changes.

The plantation

is a labour

intensive

industry. At

the same time, as

noted

earlier, the

most suitable places

for

the

establishment of

plantations

were areas

where

labour supply was

sparse. A high

wage

rate could

possibly

have induced

workers to

migrate to

these

areas,

but

the

planters were not

willing to pay

their

workers well.

Hla Myint notes that

the

wages the

planters paid

were very

low,

and they tended

to stick at their

initial level in spite of rapid expansion in

the

production of ... plantation

exports .7

Myint tries

to

justify this phenomenon

bv arguing that

since

productivity of

labour was low, the

wage rate also had

to

be low.

Under these

circumstances,

an increase

in

the

wage rate,

so

as

to

attract more

workers,

would

mean

that

current

wages

would

be

higher

than

the

short-run

productivity

of labour. In

the long-run,

however, productivity

nf

labour would rise

as

health

of the

workers

would

improve

as a

result

of

wvelfare

measures.8

However, Myint's argument is not

very

convincing. First, the

wage rate

remained static

even after

productivity

of

labour increased

significantly.

Secondly,

in

these same

colonies, labour

Nvas attracted

through higher

wages in

non-plantation industries.

For instance,

in

1883,

in

spite of the

fact that the tea

plantations in

Assam were facing

acute

4,bour

shortage, the average

income of

the tea garden

worker remained

static

at

Rs

3 per

month.9 During

the same

period wages of textile

workers in

Bombay rose from Rs

7-12-0 per month

in 1860-62 to Rs 13-12-0 per month in

188.3,

because

the

rapidly expanding in-

dustry was facing a

shortage of labour.'0

Wages

in

the

tea

plantations were not

only

much

lower

than wages in

other

iridustries, but

they were also

lower

than the

wages of

agricultural labour

in

the

neighbouring areas.

The Sub-

Divisional Officer

of

Karimganj wrote

in

1

883

that

while

the

wage

rate

of

the

emigrant

plantation worker

remained at

]Rs 3

per

month Bengalis

in the

adjoin-

ing

villages

earned without

difficulty

rupees seven per

month .

The

wage

rate of the plantation workers in the

Dooars was

simnilar

to that in

Assam.'2

W W Hunter noted

that the wages for

day labourers or agricultural

labourers

in Jalpaiguri

district were around

three

annas

to four annas

per

day

(around

seven

rupees per month) in 1872,13

i e,

two years

before the first tea garden

was estab)lished in

this district.

In reality the productivity of planta-

tion labour

was never a major

conside-

ration

in determining the wage rate.

There

existed a

duialism in the planta-

tion svstem.

The

plantation

in

its

rela-

tion to the

outside world was govemed

by

the

market principle,

ie,

the

price

of its

products

was fixed through

the

interaction

of

demand

and supply.

At

the same

time, its own

internal

hierarchy

was

regulated by

coercion.

For in-

stance.

in the

tea

industry,

the

wages

of the

plantation

workers

were

fixed

by

the

planters through

their

organisa-

tions like the Indian Tea Association.

the Indian Tea

Planters

Association and

others.

The

workers had

no

say

in the

matter.

This is

why

the

Royal

Com-

mission

on Labour,

in

1930, strongly

recommended

that

a wage fixing

mnachi-

nery be established

in

the

tea

induistrv,

even thouigh

the

planters

felt that

fixing

of minimuim

wages

was

absoluitely

unnecessary .14

The

Rage

Commission

made

a

similar

recommendation in 1944

in

view

of

the

fact

that

the workers had

not

developed

a

spirit

of collective bar-

gaining

and

hence

thev

could not take

a

uinified stand in bargaining for fair

wages.'5

Coercion, low wages

and immigrant

labour were initially the three important,

or

rather, inseparable, components

of

the

plantation

system. These

ensured

the planters their high profits.

The

plantation, being a

labour-intensive in-

dustrv, a reduction

in the wage bill

would increase profits.

At the same

time

the

planters should be

able to

have

a

captive labour force and

extract

as much work as possible from the la-

bourers.

Employment of indentured

or

slave labour ensured for the planters

that the

workers were bound

to work

on

the plantations on whatever

wage

was given to them.

In this way the

planters were able

to obstruct the

growth of a labour

market and the

workers were deprived of

a market

wage.

In

the normal

course, when the la-

bour

market is relatively

free, the market

wage is

determined by the demand

for,

and

supply of, labour.

When there is a

shortage

of labour, wages rise

in order

to

attract

more workers to the

market.

This

is

what

happened

in the Bombay

textile industry. However, in the plan-

tations we find that

the wage rate

was

not only

static but it was even lower

than

the wage rate of

the local agricul-

tural

workers.

If at all local labour

was used, the

planters

made sure that they depended

only

on

the

plantation

as their means

of

sustenance. For

instance,

in the

Caribbean countries, the entire peasan-

try was

uprooted from land so as to

provide labour for the

sugar planta-

tions.16

S

W Mintz

mentions a similar

situation

in

Puerto Rico where

the

sugar plantation owners procured

their

labour

by

coercion.

The

planters

used

both

slave

labour and

the local

popula-

tion as sources

of

labour

supply.

The

Governor

General

of

Puerto

-Rico

issued

an order

in

18.37

compelling

all

land-

less

workers

to

go

to work on

local

plantations and

to

register

their

names

in

municipal rolls,

under

penalty

of

fines .17

In the initial stages of the plantation

industry

in India, the government ad-

opted a position which

favoured the

planters.

The Assam planters, in a bid

to

overcome their shortage of labour,

sought to uproot the

local peasants from

their lands. They

appealed to the gov-

ernment to increase

land revenue so

that the peasantry

around the planta-

tion

areas would give up their lands

and

seek work in

the plantations.

Consequently, in

1868, the Bengal

government double

the

land

reve-

nue rates in those areas. This did

not have the

intended effect as the pea-

sants

rose

in

protest and

refused to pay

the

enhanced rates.18The planters then

resorted to the system

of indenture.

Becruiters roamed the

Chotanagpur

area to enlist

impoverished tribals for

work

in

the

plantatlons. These people

wvere

ured by false

promises of a better

life.

They

had to enter

into a contract

with their

employers which laid

down

that they would have to work for a

minimum

of

four

years.

Isolation and

an almost

complete

ab-

sence of legal protection had placed the

plantation

worker in

a

position

of

total

dependence.

These prevented

the

worker from

migrating

elsewhere

for

better

wages.

The

planters,

on the

other

hand, enjoyed

full

protection

from

their

respective governments,

as

it was

n)oted

earlier. For example,

the

planta-

tion worker in

Assam

had

no

right

to

leave the

plantation

even

if

he found

that conditions

there were

different from

those

he

had

been

promised.

The

plan-

ters had

the

Workmen's

Breach

of

Con-

tract Act'9 to

prevent

any

worker

from

leaving before his contract period was

over. In

the Dooars, the conditions

1525



4/5

September

6,

1980

ECONOMIC

AND

POLITICAL

WEEKLY

were

almost

similar

even

though

the

Workmen's

Breach

of Contract Act

was

not

enforced

there, though

the

planters

occasionally

thought

of extending

it

in

their area,

as

is evident

from

the

re-

ports

of the

Dooars

Planters'

Association

for

the years

1921

and

1937. However,

the

planters

employed

guards

to

keep

an

eye on

their labour

and

prevent

them

from

leaving.

Also,

the isolation

of the Dooars

area

prevented

the

wor-

kers

from

leaving

the

plantations.

It

was virtually

impossible

for any

worker

to find

his way

back to

Chotanagpui

once he was

in

the

Dooars.

Thus

we

find that

the

planters

were

able to

maintain

the

plantation

system

duie to

four

main

factors:

coercion,

migrant

labour,

isolation

and

political

suipport.

However,

a definition

of

the

plantation

system

based

on

these

four

points is still not comprehensive. The

plantation

system

is

not a static

system.

Irn order

to

understand

the change

in

this system

it

is

necessarv

to analyse

its

relations

of production

and

its

linkage

tc

the

wider

social

system.

PLAN-TATION

AND Socio-ECONOMIC

SYSTE

The

plantation

is a component

of

the

socio-economic

formation.

The

factors

wvhich

we think are inherent

in

the

plantation

system

are in

fact allowed

to

exist, or are protected, by the larger

socio-economic

system.

The

production

relations

in

the

plantation

svstem change

when

there is

a

change

in the

wider

socio-economic

formation.

For instance,

Cuba

is a

'plantation

economvy

having

the superficial

charac-

teristics

of other

plantation

economies.

However

after

the

revolution

in

1959,

the socio-economic

system

changed.

Even

though sugar

is still

the main

crop,

the absence

of

foreign

ownership

and

the

change

in

the

social

and

class

structure

shows

that

Cuba

cannot

be

equated with other plantation econo-

mies

in

the

region

such

as Haiti

or

Guatemala

or

any

of

the

Banana

Re-

publics

of

Central

America.

Prior

to

1959,

the

Cuban

sugar

plantations

also

lbad

coercion,

low

wages

and

all

the

in-

herent

features

of

a

plantation

system.

These

features

have

changed

as

the

ownership

of

the

plantations

passed

from

private

owners

into

the hands

of

the State.

In India

too,

though

tea

production

began

with all

the features

of a

classi-

cal

plantation

system,

the

change

in the

character

of the

State after indepen-

dlence

has been affecting

this

system.

Hence,

thotugh plantations

are histo-

rically linked with colonialism, they are

not

struictturallv,

or inevitably, linked

wvith

it. As these colonies free

them-

selves and hecorne independent coun-

tries,

a new set of production relations

springs up. Political pressures are in-

creasinglv mounted on the government

to pass laws protecting the plantation

wvorker

and giving him a degree of

security in his work. Conditions for

the growth of workers' organisations

develop, which in turn encourage the

plantation workers to fight for

better

conditions of work. The use of coercion

is

relaxed and the isolation of the plan-

tation is

broken

down.

In

the Dooars, apart from protection

granted

by

the

govemment

in the form

of

laws (such as the Industrial Disputes

Act, Minimum Wages Act, Plantation

Labour Act, etc), improvement in com-

muinications helped the workers in or-

ganising themselves.

It

helped break

clown

their

isolation and brought

them

in

contact with

the

world

outside

the

plantation system. The

old

plantation

system could

ruin

successfullv

as

long

as

the

workers

remained out

of

touch with

the wider social

system

and

remained

uInorganised

and

at

the

mercy

of

the

planters.

The

more

the workers

came

in

contact

with

the

wider

social

system.

the

faster

was

the

pace

of their

social

emancipation.

Earlier, the planters got the support

of

the

government in passing laws in

their favour.

Thev

were

uinited

and

economically powerful. The Rege Com-

mission had noted that the planterv

were highly organised and powerful

and their

associations played a vital

role in deciding all issues affecting

labour;

on

the other hand, the workers

were

all unorganised and helpless .20

However,

once

the

workers started

organising themselves and fighting for

their

basic rights,

they

challenged this

power

of

the

planters.

They

compelled

the government to modifv many of the

stringent

laws

which

favoured the

planters at

the

expense

of the

workers.

The

change

in

the

plantation system

in

all

parts

of

the

world

started

when

plantation

labour united

to

fight

for

its

rights

and

influence

the

affairs

of

the

State.

In some

countries,

such as

India,

plantation labour

also

benefited

from

the

struggles

of

other sections

of

the

working

class.

In

the initial

post-inde-

pendence stage,

plantation

labour

in

India

got

the

benefits

of

laws

which

granted protection to workers, mainly

because of the struggles

of other

sections

of

the

working

class

which

had

pressurised

the

government

to

pass

these

laws.

Later,

as

a

result

of

this

protection,

or,

we

can

say,

encouraged

by

it, it

was

able

to

organise

struggles

for

its

own

rights.

CONCLUSION

The

socio-economic

formation

of

the

plantation

industry,

with

its

low

level

of

technology

and

its

heavy

dependence

on

rrianual

laboiir,

is

significantly

diffetent

frorm

that

of

other

industries.

The

general

isolation

of

the

plantations

and

its

dependence

on

immigrant

labour

give

rise

to

some

specific

characteristics

to

its

labour

force.

The

social

relations

among

the

workers

which

evolves

out

of

such

system

is also

bound

to

be

different

from

that of

labour

in

other

industries.

In

the

Dooars,

the

production

rielations

into

which

the

tribal

workers

enter

give

them

the

objective

characteti-

stics

of

induistrial

workers

as

they

are

wage

labouir

selling

their

labour

power.

However, isolation

tends

to

help

the

workers

preserve their

links

with

their

social

organisation.

Hence

they

carry

forward

from

their

tribal

background

some

of

the

social

and

cultural

charac-

teristics

associated

with

a

totally

different

kind

of

production

system.

Therefore,

while

attempting

to

define

the

plantation

system,

an

elucidation

of

its

economic

characteristics is not enough. It does

not

explain

the

uniqueness

of

the

plan-

tation.

The

social

relations,

and

the

production

relations

which

spring

forth

from

such

a

system,

are

important

characteristics

of

the

plantation.

Second-

ly,

the

possibility

of

change

in

such

relations

is

determined

by

the

extent

of

isolation

of

the

plantation

from

the

wider

social

system.,

the

influence

of

working

,class

organisations

among

the

workers

and

the

role

of

the

State.

Notes

[I am grateful to Andre Beteille for his

comments

and

criticism.]

I

International

Labour

Organisation,

Basic

Problems

of

Plantation

La-

bouir ,

Geneva,

1950, pp

6-9.

2

Hla

Myint,

The

Economics

of

Developing

Countries ,

London,

1973,

p

40.

3

William

0

Jones,

'Plantation'

International

Encyclopaedia of

So-

cial

Sciences,

1968,

pp

154-56.

4

Hugh

Tinker,

A

New System

of

Slavery: The

Export

of

Indian

Labour

Overseas,

1830-1920 ,

Lon-

dIon,

1974,

p

29.

5

I

Greaves,

'Plantations

in

World

Economy' in Plantation Systems of

the

New

World ,

Washington,

1959,

p

115.

1526



5/5

ECONOMIC

AND

POLITICAL

WEEKLY

September

6,

1980

6 Eric

Wolf,

'Specific

Aspects

of the

Plantation

System

in

the New

World' in

Plantation

Systems of

the

New

World ,

Washington, 1959,

p

.36.

7

Myint,

ibid, p

41.

8 Ibid,

p 43.

9

Sanat Kumar

Bose,

Capital

and

Labour

in the Indian

Tea Industry ,

Bombay,

1954, p

7a.

Bose

has

quoted from a report of the SDO

of

Karimganj,

Assam.

10 Ibid, p

75.

11

Ibid.

1

)

Details of

the wages

in the Dooars

in the late

nineteenth

century

are

not

available. However,

Sir

Perci-

val Griffiths,

the Political

Adviser

of the Indian

Tea

Association,

w hich was

then

(and

still

is)

the

niost

-uowerful body

of the

planters,

m1akes this

statement

in his

book,

Ihistory

of the Indian

Tea

Indus-

try ,

London,

1972,

p

309-10.

13

W

W

Hunter,

Statistical

Account

of

Bengal:

jalpaigtiri,

Cooch

Behar

and

Darjeeling

Districts ,

Calcutta,

1872, p 278.

14 Indian

Tea Planters'

Association,

Ainnual

General

Report,

Jalpaiguri,

1929, p 98.

This was

in reply to a

(ltiestionnaire

circulated

by the

Ro-

yal Commission

on Labour

in India.

15 D V Rege,

Report

on an Enquiry

into

Conditions

of Labour

in

Plantations

in India ,

Government

of India,

Delhi, 1946,

p 176.

16 Jay R Mandle, 'The Plantation Eco-

nomy: An

Essay

in

Definition'

Scien7ce and

Society,

Volume

36,

Number

1, New

York, 1972, p

57.

17

S

W Mintz, 'Canamelar:

The

Sub-

cultuire

of a

Rural

Sugar

Plantation

Proletariat'

in

The People

of

Puer-

to Rico , Illinois,

1956, p

332.

18 Amalendu

Guha,

From

Planter

Raj to Swaraj:

Freedom

Struggle

and Electoral

Politics

in

Assam

1826-1947 ,

Delhi,

1977,

pp 9-10.

19 Act XVII

of 1859.

This

Act made

the worker

liable for

prosecution

if

he left

the tea

garden before

his

contract

period

was over.

20 Bege, ibid, p 96.

Expenditure of

the Central Government

A

Comment

Tapas K

Chakrabarty

IN

his

article 'Expenditure

of

the

Central

Government:

Some

Issues',

July

5,

after

presenting

some theoretical

as-

pects

of

fiscal

policy

Chona

highlighted

well the broad trends in the growth and

pattern

of

expenditure

of the

Govern-

ment

of

India duiring

the

last

three

de-

cades,

with

a

view

to suggesting

some

areas

of expenditure

where

economies

and

rationalisation

could

be

effected

without

any

adverse

effect

on

the

growth

of

the

economy.

Ile

expresses

finally

that

the

ap-

proach

of

examining

the

scope

for

re-

duction

in expendituire

in various

acti-

vities

of

the

Govemment

of

India

has

to

be esse)7tiallyJ

micro.

Although

in

the

short

rtn

there

may not

be

much

flexi-

bility in the public expenditure, there

are

nevertheless

certain

areas

both

with

clevelopmental

and

non-developmental

expenditure

where

some

economy

in

ex-

penditure

can

be

brought

about

(p

1151).

He advocates

that

there

exists

some

scope

for

economy

in

defence

ex-

(peinditure

reallocation

of fund

for

re-

search

and

development),

administrative

expenditure,

expenditure

on

social

ser-

vices (education

and

medical).

Apart

from

these,

he

also

suggests

that

the

role

of

suibsidies,

particularly

those

on

food

and

fertilisers,

should

be

examined

and that the transfer of funds to non-

departmental

commercial

undertakings,

(financial

as wvell

as

non-financial)

and

to

the

states should

be carefully

re-

assessed.

Chona's

endeavours

really

deseive

high commendation. The study is well

knit

and

highly

thought

provoking.

Hlowever,

we

feel that

the

shortcoming

of

the

study

is the

purely

macro

ap-

proach

in examining

the scope

of

econo-

mising

on

public

expenditure,

though

the

author

has recognised

the

relevance

of the

micro

approach

in this

regard

(p

1147).

The

approach

the

author

has

adopted

in

the study

does

not proceed

on micro

lines.

The approach

of

the

study

is

to our mind

controvertible.

The

question

is,

first, whether

the

puiblic

expenditure

undergoing

pheno-

menal growth has succeeded in

providing

benefits

to

the people

of

the country,

and

second, whether

it

is

following

the ends

it is designed

to

serve.

One

should

attempt

to

get

an

appropriate

answer

to this

interlaced

issue

on

macro

lines

(adopted

in

his

study)

as

well as on

micro lines

(assess-

ment of specific

policies,

not a

collec-

tion of policies

for specific

purpose).

It

is quite

common

that

the

mode

of implementation

of

policies

and the

utilisation

of

funds

affect

the

volume

of expenditure.

In

this

context,

we

must try and understand that the role

of

government

machinery

is significant

in

the

attemnpt

o

economise

the

pub-

lic

expenditure.

We have

some

evi-

dence

in

this

regard

from

the

review

made

by

the Comptroller

and

Auditor-

General

of

India.

('On

Improving

Effectiveness

of Govemment

Expendi-

ture',

S G

Sarkar, Commerce,

July 12,

1980,

p

35.)

However,

the

author's

suggestion

to

examine

the

role

of

subsidies

refers

to

the

Report

on

Controls

and

Sub-

sidies

of the

Vadilal

Dagli

Committee

which

also

highlighted

the

urgent

need

for

examining

subsidies

whose

desir-

ed

effects

depend

on

the

elasticities

of

supply

and

demand

for

subsidised

goods

as

well

as

for income,

and

sub-

stitution

effects

of

subsidies.

Subsidies

should

be used

as

a

tem-

porary

economic

tool.

But the

sub-

sidies

provided

by

the Government

of

India, through the Central Budget,

have

become

an

enduring

feature

of

India's

fiscal

policy,

as

is rightly

ob-

served

by

the author.

A

subsidy

implies

a

reallocation

of

resources

within

the

economy.

In

the

short

run,

it

is

a

burden

to

the

tax-payer

and

a relief

to

the

producers.

But

in

the

longer

run,

its objective

is

to

accelerate

growth

for

the

benefit

of

the

masses.

Any

suggestion

in

this

regard

should

be

supported

therefore

by

the critical

analysis

of

the

subsi-

dies

provided

and

their

effects

on

the

economy.

It

is

interesting

that

a

closer

look

at

the policies

providing

subsidies

for

food,

fertilisers,

export

promotion,

etc,

will

reveal

the

contradictory

steps

adopted

by

the

government

with

res-

pect

to

the price

stabilisation

policy.

One

may

get

some

evidence

by

study-

ing

the

recent

export

promotion

policy

on

some

primary

sector

commodities

such

as rice,

fish,

de-oiled

rice

bran,

etc.

The

government's

decision

to

encourage

the

export

of these

consu-

mer commodities is

to be

considered

not

as

an

anti-inflationary

policy.

Anyone

can

raise

the

question

about

the

priority

of export

promotion

of

consumer

commodities

over

price

stabilisation

policy

when

the

economy

is

facing

a two-digit

inflation

which

is

likely

to

continue

in

1980-81.

Another

aspect

is

that

the

perfor-

mance

of

almost

all

public

undertak-

ings

in

India

is

one

of the

most

serious

deficiencies

on

the

economic

scene.

An

estimate yields

23

instances

of

severe

underutilisation

of

capacity

during 1977-78 (Commerce, July 12,

OP

38).

This

is

not

to deny

that

the

1527


tha plantation as a social system

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