Page 7 - Lessonnote_ Change and Development in Industrial Society

➢ Coal mines alone employ 5.5 lakh workers. The Mines Act 1952 specifies the maximum
number of hours a person can be made to work in a week, the need to pay overtime for any

extra hours worked and safety rules. These rules may be followed in the big companies, but
not in smaller mines and quarries.
➢ Many contractors do not maintain proper registers of workers, thus avoiding any
responsibility for accidents and benefits. After mining has finished in an area, the company
is supposed to cover up the open holes and restore the area to its earlier condition.
➢ But they don’t do this.
Problems faced by the workers
• Workers in underground mines face very dangerous conditions, due to flooding, fire, the
collapse of roofs and sides, the emission of gases and ventilation failures.
• Many workers develop breathing problems and diseases like tuberculosis and silicosis.

• Those working in over ground mines have to work in both hot sun and rain, and face injuries
due to mine blasting, falling objects etc.
• The rate of mining accidents in India is very high compared to other countries.
• In many industries, the workers are migrants. The fish processing plants along the coastline
employ mostly single young women from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
• Ten-twelve of them are housed in small rooms, and sometimes one shift has to make way
for another.
• Young women are seen as submissive workers. Many men also migrate singly, either
unmarried or leaving.

• In 1992, 85% of the 2 lakh Oriya migrants in Surat were single. These migrants have little
time to socialise and whatever little time and money they can spend is with other migrant
workers.
• The nature of work in a globalised economy is taking people in the direction of loneliness
and vulnerability.

Home based work

▪ Home-based work is an important part of the economy. This includes the manufacture of
lace, zari or brocade, carpets, bidis, agarbattis and many such products. This work is mainly
done by women and children.
▪ An agent provides raw materials and also picks up the finished product. Home workers are
paid on a piece-rate basis, depending on the number of pieces they make.
Bidi Industry
➢ The process of making bidis starts in forested villages where villagers pluck tendu leaves
➢ and sell it to the forest department or a private contractor who in turn sells it to the forest

department.
➢ On average a person can collect 100 bundles (of 50 leaves each) a day.
➢ The government then auctions the leaves to bidi factory owners who give it to the
contractors.
➢ The contractor in turn supplies tobacco and leaves to home-based workers. These