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Mukadams
are the labour contractors who procure labourers for the sugar factories.
They employ labourers from their own village or from nearby villages.
Hence, they are familiar with the life and general situation of the
workers. They may be acquainted with the workers apart from the business
relationship. In fact they could even be relatives. As we have seen, labourers have tended to work for
the same mukadam every year. (Table H
22)
Irrespective of the reasons why this is so, the fact remains that
this is the man who provides them with a source of much needed income and
with whom it is possible to negotiate the amount of remuneration even on
the basis of personal problems. They work with him for half a year every
year and he is the person they must satisfy in order to get work again the
following year. All these factors make this relationship between the
worker and the mukadam a fairly close one. The mukadams see the
workers’ lives from up close and learn much about their
individual as well as collective priorities and problems. Further, as we shall see, many of the mukadams
have themselves been sugarcane cutters before they became mukadams. Thus,
not only have they themselves lived the life of the workers but have
understood the system well enough to make use of it to their own
advantage. In trying to understand the sugarcane cutters’ lives
and problems the insights provided by such insiders cannot be ignored. Also, being an important part of the entire
situation of the sugarcane cutters’ lives, it is very likely that they
could play a part in the solution to their problems, too. It was,
therefore, necessary to understand them better and to learn from their
experiences if possible. Hence, the survey included a questionnaire for the
mukadams, too The
number of mukadams interviewed was 305.
The mukadams in this sample have been working for an average of 11 years (Table M 1). The longest in the line has been a mukadam for 36 years. Two mukadams had just begun their career, 2003-04 having been their first year as mukadams.
When asked if they had been engaged as sugarcane
cutters before they became mukadams most of the mukadams 274, 89.8% said
they had. However, when asked what they did before they
became mukadams only 164, 53.8% have said that they went for sugarcane
cutting. This means, perhaps, that at least 110 mukadams had had some
other occupation as well as sugarcane cutting before becoming mukadams.
(Table M 2) 115 or 37.7% mukadams had done farming (perhaps
they continue to farm even now) and 13, 4.26% had been labourers. Amongst the rest there is a teacher, a tailor, a
contract labourer, and a ration shop owner. The question whether these mukadams still continue
with their earlier occupations was not asked. In conversation with the supervisors who have
collected data for this survey it was learnt that some mukadams were
sarpanches of their villages or were wealthier and, therefore, the more
influential people in the village. It would perhaps be worthwhile to study this group from the sociological
point of view and also to find out how they could help with the solutions
to some of the workers’ problems. Choice of a factory Just as we had seen with the migrant
families (Table H 22) we find here, too, that 231 or 75.7% mukadams have worked with the same factories for the last three
years (Table M 3). Another 61, 20% have
changed a factory once in the last 3 years; only 13, 4.3 % have been to 3
different locations in the last three years. This, as we said before, may be a favourable condition from the point of view of children’s schooling. Table M 3:
Factories selected in the last three years
Criteria for choosing
factory The first consideration influencing the decision to
go to a particular factory mentioned by 88, or 28.8% of the mukadams is
the payment offered by the factory.
This was also mentioned 146 times out of a total of 477 responses thus
making up 30.6 % of the total responses obtained. The consideration of how
long the season is expected to last at
a factory
was mentioned by 49, 16.1% mukadams as first option. Altogether, 74, 24.3%
mukadams mention this and it forms 15.5% of the total responses obtained.
It is important because it means that more sugarcane will be cut
and, therefore, more work is available. However, this opportunity can be
availed of only by those mukadams who have the capacity to muster a large
enough labourer force. Hence, the ability
to meet the demand of the number of vehicles or labourers at a
particular factory is also given due importance in deciding which factory
to work for. This consideration, too, was mentioned by 73, 23.9% mukadams.
In situations where work is difficult to come by
there will always be a number of contenders for the same
contract and a personal relation or
acquaintance at a factory will naturally be a helpful
connection. This was mentioned about 71, 23.2% times. Thus, each of these
considerations form about 15% of the responses. However, the first answer given by 105, 34.4% of
the respondents, but not mentioned as a second or third consideration is
that it depends on the factory administration. Which means that a mukadam
may want to work at a particular factory, may have the capacity to do so
but the decision to award the contract rests with the factory
administration and that is perhaps where the utility of the acquaintance
lies. Once the mukadam is awarded the contract he is
given a payment in advance as he undertakes to bring the required
labourers. Table M 4: Criteria for
choosing factory *
* Numerals in brackets indicate serial numbers of responses
in the first compilation. These
detailed tables are appended to this part of the report following page
-------. Number of labourers
employed in the last three years We see from Table M 5 that over the last three
years, out of our sample of about 300 mukadams, 55 to 60 have employed
labourer in doki centres, 50 to 60 of
them in gadi centres but the majority, 190 to 200 of them have preferred
tyre centres. The average number of families employed by a mukadam is 15
at the doki centres, 8 at the gadi centres and 16 at the tyre centres. The
factories decide how much labour is to be sent to the various sites, but
it is possible for the mukadam to decide which families go to which sites. Table
M 5: No. of labourers is employed by mukadams
Criteria for amount of advance given to workers 204, 66.9 % mukadams have mentioned as first choice a
criterion that has to do with what
the worker offers in terms of capacity to work.
(Table M
6) This includes the number of working people in the
family, whether the worker owns bullocks or not, the mukadam’s previous experience
of the particular worker (or, how much experience the worker has) and the
number of workers on a gadi. This option
forms 67.2 % of the total responses obtained to this question. We have
seen that the workers, too, give the maximum weightage to this factor
knowing that work is what they are paid for although some
other factors weigh more with them than they do with the mukadams. (Table
H 25) As we
saw in the responses of the workers, the mukadams
are also open to negotiations and factors such as the problems and the
demands of the worker, his previous debts, his commitment to paying off
his debt and the trust that can be put in the worker (as judged by the
mukadam) are the factors that the mukadam considers. 83, 27.2 % of the
mukadams mentioned such considerations as their first criterion. These
were mentioned 132 times in all, thus forming
23.2% of the total responses. The length
of the cutting season is mentioned as a first consideration by only
17, 5.6% mukadams and on the whole is mentioned 54 times making up 9.5% of
the total responses. In the transaction between the mukadam and the worker
the length of the cutting season weighs much more with the worker
(23.5% of total responses, 19% workers mentioning it first) than
with the mukadam. We may interpret this to mean that a worker is seeking a
mukadam who will give him the maximum possible work. Naturally, a mukadam
working at a factory with a longer season is the one to look for. Hence,
the length of the season matters to the worker. In giving the work the
mukadam is on the other hand looking for a good worker no matter what the
season at his factory. However, the length of the season is important to
him when he is looking for the right factory to work with and, as we have
seen, in the transaction between the factory and the
mukadam this factor is given its due weightage by the mukadams (Table M
4)
Although only 76 mukadam mention that a standard amount is given, as their first answer, this answer is
given on the whole 199 times and forms about 35% of the total responses
obtained to this question. The standard amount given must of course have
been arrived at on the basis of the amount of work
that will be done by the labourer on one tyre or gadi or by an individual
family. Thus, in the table it has been included under the head amount of labour offered. Table
M 6: Criteria for advance given to workers
( Table m 7: Amount of advance payment given to the labourers )
Agreement with workers No yes-no data is available for the question,
‘Do you make a written contract at the time of giving the advance?’ However 286, 95.2% mukadams say that they require a
witness or a guarantor.
However, since there is no written contract made it only means that
acquaintance with the family directly or through someone else is the real
criterion. There is no written
contract as a rule. This, too, is in keeping with the responses of the
workers Table M 8: Agreement with workers
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