A study of wage and employment of agricultural labour market of the Char areas of Assam

Agricultural labourers constitute the most marginalized and the poorest section in the char areas constantly facing the threat of flood and erosion. But with low income and meager assets, the poor labour households have to adapt to the extreme climate shocks under more constrained conditions. They are the most floating class and found to be the most depressed section in these areas. They are also found in irregular employment. Labour displacement is yet another important problem in these areas. Labour is surplus in the char farms not because their service is essential but as there is not enough scope for employment due to instability of the chars and also due to large family size of the labour households.

The labour market of the char areas works under distinct social institutional framework and constant natural shocks which is distinct from other mainland areas. This paper attempts to explore the unique features of the agricultural labour markets of the char areas by studying the wage and employment conditions of the agricultural labourers in these areas. The paper is based on a micro level study of sample of 245 collected from three char villages taken from three different agro-climatic zones of Assam. The study finds from the survey that there is no single homogenous labour market persisted in these sample areas. Hired casual and attached labour are two main categories of labour in the sample areas of char agricultural labour market. The extreme weather risks always results in massive human displacement in the sample areas. It has been found that land is the major source of conflict also the basis of formation of labour class. The matabbars and dewanis play an important role in the char areas. They are instrumental in settling the displaced peasants in newly emerged or re-appeared chars. Under the aegis of these locally powerful village leaders the peasants settle in the chars. These leaders are the large land owners of the char areas. It is impossible in case of char areas to analyze the changes in the agrarian structure as a purely economic phenomenon. In riparian societies, changing relationships in landholding are reflected in changing positions in the society. Right to the land is unevenly distributed among the peasants. Many of the landless peasants are bound by debt to the dewanis. Large scale oppression and exploitation of the char peasants by these self styled leaders are common phenomena in the immigrant Muslim dominated riparian areas.

This study of agricultural labour market is tantamount to a study of casual agricultural labour market in the sample areas. Landlords and the landless agricultural labourers stand in glaring contrast. Labour usually supplied by the landless and the marginal cultivators is the basis of the agricultural labour market. Caste system plays an important role in forming agricultural labour as a distinct class at the bottom of their societies in the sample villages dominated by Napalese. It has been found that the char labour market is segmented in terms of sex in the Muslim immigrant dominated zones as normally females do not work as agricultural labourers in the field. Although casual labour is the important form of labour in the char agricultural labour market, but employment of attached labour is also found. The main causes for the attachment from the viewpoint of labour are the risk of future unemployment, allotment of land and outstanding loans in the Napalese dominated sample areas whereas in the Muslim minority dominated sample char villages, attached labourers are interlinked with a different kind of patronage. The base of attachment of agricultural labourer is basically allotment of land. The landless labourers are allotted land for settlement by these leaders. They settle in the char villages under the shelter of the matabbars. Therefore these matabbars can count on the services of their labourers when required. The casual labour market is relatively risky market in char areas. The risk element is exacerbated by regular flood and erosion. Both the employer and the employee have to plan to hire in and out labour according to the agricultural operations involved. To minimize risks from the point of view of both the landowners and labourers, the existing personal contacts play an important role in casual labour market. In the char economies of the sample areas, prices are created by the class of large farmers who dominate the marketed surplus. Small peasants and landless labourers are compulsively involved in markets in order to obtain the means of subsistence. With inadequacy of livelihood options, unemployment, poverty, low welfare situation and constantly under extreme constrained conditions of flood and erosion, the labourers of these areas lack freedom of choice. Both the real wage and employment is found declining in the surveyed areas. Real earnings of the labourers are falling and the number of days of unemployment is rising. They can not reject the low wage offered by the employers. Being landless and sheltered by powerful village leaders, these labourers can not refuse to work under terms and conditions set the landowners. They work under compulsion and obligation. Their bargaining power does not exist under these circumstances. It is observed that at the prevailing low wage rate also, there is a percentage of involuntary unemployment prevails even in the agriculturally busy seasons. The labourers as a whole in these areas live in marked isolation and suffer from discontent and injustices of socio-economic order.