CHAPTER I

AGRICULTURAL LABOUR: NEED FOR CONCEPTUAL CLARITY

1.1 Introduction

Agricultural workers constitute the most neglected class in Indian rural

structure. Often they are not in a position to earn just enough to keep their

body and soul together and are frequently exposed to the hazards of

unemployment and irregular employment and have neither private nor social

security. Being unorganized, they do not have the most needed muscle to

seek better living and working condition. Their income is low and

employment irregular. Since, they possess no skill or training, they have no

alternative employment opportunities either1.

According to Census of India there are about 402.5 million rural

workers of which 127.6 million are cultivators and 107.5 million are

agricultural labourers.2 In other words, pure agricultural workers constitute

nearly 58.4 per cent of the total rural workers, of which 31.7 per cent are

owner cultivators and 26.7 per cent are mainly agricultural wage earners3.

The latest available Agricultural Census data also reveals that about 78 per

cent of operational holdings in the country are marginal and small, having

1. Kulamani Padhi, “Agricultural Labour in India - A Close Look” Orissa Review (2007), pp 24-27.
2. Kumar Ashok, 2001 Census as Social Document 127, New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2002.
3. Nampoothiry, M.M., Agriculture Statistics at a Glance 54, New Delhi: Arihant Offset, 2001.

1
less than 2 hectares. About 13 per cent holdings have 2 to 4 hectares and 7.1

per cent have 4 to 10 hectares of land.4 The relatively large holdings above

10 hectares number only about 1.6 per cent of the total operational holdings.

However, this 1.6 per cent of the large holdings occupies about 17.3 per cent

of the total area, while 78 per cent of holdings which are less than 2 hectares,

operate only about 32.4 per cent of the total area. This reveals of inequality

in the distribution of operational holdings. Also there is inequality of income

between agricultural workers, which is evident from the fact that percentage

share of agriculture in current total GDP is only 24.2 per cent, while the

percentage share of agricultural work force to total work force comes to

about 60 per cent5.

Nearly 600 million individuals are engaged in farming and over 80 per

cent of them belong to the small and marginal farmer categories. Due to

imperfect adaptation to local environments, insufficient provision of

nutrients and water, and incomplete control of pests, diseases and weeds, the

present average yields of major farming systems in India is just 40 per cent

of what can be achieved even with the technologies currently on the shelf.6

4. Research Foundation Science and Technology, Impact of WTO on Women in Agriculture 3, New Delhi:
National Commission for Women, 2005.
5. Agricultural Census: India 193, New Delhi: Ministry of Agriculture, 2002.
6. State of Gujarat v. Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat, 2005(8) SCC 534.

2
 1.2 Indian Agricultural Labour in Retrospect

It is aptly averred that “a page of history is worth a volume of logic”.

Any legal research having direct impact upon the members of civilized

society if undertaken devoid of historical analysis would be exercise in

futility. While involved in research, inter alia, in law “[t]oday we study the

day before yesterday, in order that yesterday may not paralyse today, and

today may not paralyze tomorrow”7. Realizing the importance of history, in

this segment the researcher has attempted to cover the historical landmarks

in the area of evolution of agricultural labour and law in India.

During the early stages of the human society men were unsettled and

were wandering from one place to another in search of food. When men

learnt better ways of living and settled, their settlement was mostly on the

banks of rivers or near water. This was illustrated from the excavations of

the Indus Valley Civilization which was believed to be in beginning

sometime around 2300 BC.8

After this stage man learnt cultivation, however, it was mostly the

shifting cultivation from one place to another. Sense of ownership did not

take roots until then. But importance of agriculture was realized and men

7. Cardozo Benjamin N., The Nature of the Judicial Process 55, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921.
8. Basham, A.L., The Wonder that was India 396, New York: Hawthorn Books, 1963.

3
settled, then they realized the importance of possession and the sense of

ownership.

In the initial stages, the sense of community ownership was in

existence which gave way to family ownership of the property, perhaps the

community ownership continued till the medieval period. Shortly after the

establishment of the Moghul rule in India, it was changed to the family

ownership.9

After the establishment of the British rule in most of the parts in India

and particularly after the introduction of the regular and fixed revenue

system, the agricultural land acquired more importance10. Consequently, the

sense of personal ownership increased.

Moreover, the British rule made various laws to strengthen the

concept of ownership of the property. Thereafter, the era of the

Modernization entered in the Indian agricultural industry, which on the one

hand knocked the doors of development of the economy and resulted in the

enrichment of some of the agriculturists, on the other hand it has resulted in

the economical imbalance among the mass. Ironically, the capital and the

9. Narayana, P. N., Sarma, A. M., “A Study of the Influences of Social Legislation on the Working
Conditions of Agricultural Labourers” http://dspace.vidyanidhi.org.in:8080/dspace/
bitstream/2009/3861/2/TIS-1988-027-1. [accessed on 24-05-2011].
10. Chandra, Bipan, Essays on Colonialism Chapter. 3 and 4, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1999.

4
labour, two foundation stones on the basis of which the edifice of the strong

agricultural economy would have been constructed, were separated.

The problem of surplus labour started before the colonial period,

which became visible in the colonial period. The reason for this was the

omnipresence of absentee landlordism that resulted in food insecurity and

destruction of traditional agro-based artisanship.

Agricultural labourers had increased dramatically under British rule

from a mere one-seventh of the agricultural population at the end of the

nineteenth century to over one-third by 193111. In the society before British

rule there was little room for the existence of an independent and distinct

class of agricultural labourers. Within the traditional self-sufficient village

communities, cultivators and artisans lived together, exchanging their

products with each other and peasants produced with the assistance of family

labour. British rule saw the dissolution of the old order, the collapse of

traditional social relations, a process of immeserization, and the emergence

of a substantial class of landless agricultural labourers.

The agrarian crisis became a fundamental barrier to the development

of productive forces in pre-independence India. The key issue during the

11. Patel, Surendra, Agricultural Labourers in Modern India and Pakistan 169, Bombay: Current Book
House, 1952.

5
national liberation struggle was radical agrarian reform to remove absentee

landlordism and liberate productive forces. These were also central issues for

Adivasi [the indigenous people] movements in the 18th, 19th and 20th

centuries and labour movements in the last two decades before India became

independent. The principles of future land reform policy became the core

issue especially after the withdrawal of Chori Chora Satyagraha12 [a

milestone in Indian freedom struggle]. At the same time the revolutionaries

led by HSRO (Hindustan Socialist Republic Organisation) strongly raised

the issue of complete abolishment of Zamindari13 [landlord] System. On

15th March 1947, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar proposed that all private and

public lands should be nationalised and distributed to all those living on land

for collective cultivation14.

However, under the pressure of feudal forces the Government took a

resolution only for land distribution. Abolition of intermediary land tenure

system was given top priority immediately after the Independence as this

system was known for its exploitation of tenants. On the eve of

Independence about 173 million acres out of 324 million acres of cultivable

12. Roma Ashok Chowdhury, “Land Reforms Policy: A Shift in Paradigm: Causes and Consequences” in
Despande, R.S., (ed.), Contract Farming and Tenancy Reforms: Entangled without Tether 33, New Delhi:
Concept Publishing Company (P) Ltd., 2008.
13. Ibid.
14. Khet Majoor Samity, “Creation of a Class and Land Reforms” Who Are the Agricultural Worker 03,
New Delhi: Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, 2010.

6
land was under intermediary tenures. It should be added here that the tenants

were kept bonded for agricultural work.

Zamindari abolition had some negative aspects. Firstly a lot of money

(Rs. 534 crores or Rs. 5,340 million)15 had to be paid in the form of

compensation to the erstwhile Zamindars. Secondly, large chunks of land

could be retained by Zamindars by claiming these as land under personal

cultivation16. Thirdly, ownership rights were conferred not on the actual

cultivator but on the recorded statutory tenant. However, these tenants had a

chain of sub-tenants who were actual tillers and belonged to the vulnerable

sections of the society17. As a result many actual tillers who were small and

marginal tenants and who belonged to the dalit and adivasi sections were

thus deprived of land18.

In addition, the forest department became the largest Zamindar in the

post-independent era. Private forest surrendered by the Princely States, large

chunks of pastures, common property resources and community forests were

transferred to forest department. The rights of tribal and forest dwellers were

reduced to concessions and later abolished totally. These lands were given

for management, with no ownership rights. However, the forest department

15. Supra note at 12.

16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.

7
now claims to be holding 23% of land on which barely 9% of forest exists,

while the owners/traditional users of the forest are called as encroachers.19

Similarly huge tracts of land were given for plantations, where even

today at least 30-40% of the land lies unused20. Labourers in plantations

were given no ownership rights to even the house that they had been living

in for the past four to five generations. Industry was also given huge tracts of

land, as were mines. Many of those who depended on these lands for a living

were displaced, leaving them with agricultural labour as their only means of

subsistence.

Thus, India entered the post land reforms period in the 1960s with

little change except in a few pockets of 'forward' States21. Ceiling laws that

were enacted later on were so liberal towards landed elements and their

implementation was so ineffective that land concentration remained

unchanged. The entire implementation was left with corrupt local land

revenue functionaries. Landowners had the option to surrender the land of

their choice. Consequently they surrendered the worst land mostly unfit for

cultivation22.

19. http://khetmajoorsamity.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-are-agricultural-workers.html
[accessed on 12-07-2011].
20. Supra note at 14.
21. Ibid.
22. Singh S. P., “Agriculture” Magnifying Mal-Development: Alternative Economic Survey 58, India, Vol.
11, Noida: Rainbow Publishers, pp. 28 (2004).

8
 With this brief history let us now find out what exactly is meant by

agricultural labour in India and whether there is need for adding conceptual

clarity in the context.

1.3 Agricultural Labour in India: Need for Conceptual Clarity

Legal drafting, according to Reed Dickerson, involves “crystallization

and expression in definitive form of a legal right, privilege, function, duty or

status”23. Such drafting embodies twin aspects i.e., “conceptual aspect, in

which the drafter ascertains and perfects the concepts to be employed in his

draft, and the literary aspect, in which the drafter selects the best means of

expressing those concepts”. Thus, conceptual clarity is sine quo non for

effective drafting of law. To add the most needed clarity to the concept it is

incumbent to define at least the most important terms often used in a

particular law. Definition, it is said, “gives a meaning to a word or

expression”. Further it may also “limit or extend the meaning of a word or

expression”24. It adds “certainty to its meaning”25. Moreover, definition

helps either to “limit” or to “extend” the boundaries of ordinary meaning of a

said concept so as to provide contextual meaning. In addition, even to “avoid

repetition” definitions become handy. Similar is expected in case of

researching in the area of agricultural labour.

23. Dickerson Frederick Reed, The Fundamentals of Legal Drafting 3, 2nd edn., Boston: Little Brown and
Company Law and Business, 1986.
24. Norman Swartz, “From My Notebooks” http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/swartz/definitions.htm#part5.1
[accessed on 24-05-2011].
25. Guidelines issued under Legislative Standards Act, 1992. 9, Brisbane: State of Queensland, 2010.

9
 This section presents a definition of agricultural labour, the

characterization and importance of the agricultural labour. The narration

unfolds by defining agricultural labour in the Indian context followed by

listing out some of the main characteristics of the small farm holders. The

technical framework which follows comprises of technical constraints

accompanied by the theoretical framework for consideration of technical

change as well as the need for technical change in agricultural labour is

stressed upon.

1.3.1 Agricultural Labour: Concept and Meaning:

It is settled rule of interpretation that the words not defined in a statute are

to be understood in their natural, ordinary or popular sense. According to

Justice Frankfurter, "[a]fter all, legislation, when not expressed in technical

terms, is addressed to common run of men, and is, therefore, to be

understood according to sense of the thing, as the ordinary man has a right to

rely on ordinary words addressed26." In determining, therefore, whether a

particular ingredient is included within the ordinary meaning of a given

word, one may have regard to the answer which everyone conversant with

the word and the subject-matter of statute and to whom the legislation is

addressed, will give if the problem were put to him. Same principle hold

26. Wilma E. Addison v. Holly Hill Fruit Products, 322 US 607, at p.618.

10
good in case of the terminology used in laws governing agricultural labour

including the most important term agricultural labour.

Agricultural labour means any person employed in agricultural crop

production as a wage earner, whether in cash or kind, for his livelihood and

includes a person engaged through a contractor or engaged as a self-

employed person.27

There is a great variation of the types of labour establishments owing

to differences in economic motives and varied formations of the social order

in which the labour of different countries live. Thus we find that there are

rather important differences between an Egyptian Fellah28 and an American

Farmer, a German Bordebauer and an Italian Mezzadro,29 a Russian Moujik,

a French Fermicr, a Chinese Farmer and an Indian Kisan. 30

Agriculture labour is a person who is hired by an employer for

involving in the science, art, and business of cultivating land including the

27. Mohan Singh, The Rural Labour Welfare Fund Bill 34, New Delhi: Lok Sabha, 2007.
28. Fellah was the term used throughout the Middle East in the Ottoman period and later to refer to farmers.
Comprising 60% of the Egyptian population, the fellah lead humble lives and continue to live in mud-brick
houses like their ancient ancestors. Their percentage was much higher in the early 20th century, before the
large influx of Egyptian fellahin into urban towns and cities. In 1927, anthropologist Winifred Blackman,
author of The Fellahin of Upper Egypt, conducted ethnographic research on the life of Upper Egyptian
farmers and concluded that there were observable continuities between the cultural and religious beliefs and
practices of the fellahin and those of ancient Egyptians, See, Jonathan Scott, Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters
34, Vol. 6, London: Cadell, 1800.
29. Maxime Kovalevsky, “The Origin, Growth and Abolition of Personal Servitude in Russia” Russian
Peasant Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russia (1891).pg. 211-213.
30. Sorokin, Pitirim, A., A Systematic Source Book in Rural Sociology 447, Vol. II, Minneapolis: The
University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

11
gathering of crops, and rearing of live-stock i.e. farming; husbandry which is

used to sustain life31. In 1961 Census, those agricultural workers were taken

as agricultural labourers whose main source of income was wage earning,

and in 1971 Census, the emphasis was on main activity i.e., whose main

activity was to work on another person’s field for payment.

A better definition can be seen in 1981 Census which defines

agricultural labour as a person who works in another person’s land for wages

in money, kind or share. He or she has no risk in the cultivation but merely

works in another person’s land for wages. An agricultural labour has no right

for lease or contract on land on which s/he works.32 Socially a large number

of agricultural workers, it is alleged, belong to scheduled castes and

scheduled tribes.33 They are not only suppressed class but also unorganised

failing to fight for their rights. Because of all these reasons their economic

condition has remained unchanged even after six decades of Planning. Way

back in 1966 Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, in her

speech emphasized that "[w]e must give special consideration to the landless

agricultural labour. Although there has been tremendous progress in India

since Independence, this is one section, which has really a very hard time

31. Patrick Hanks, Collins Gem English Dictionary and Thesaurus 37, Glasgow: HarperCollins Publication,
2005.
32. http://dspace.vidyanidhi.org.in:8080/dspace/bitstream/2009/3861/2/TIS-1988-027-1.pdf [accessed on
24-05-2011].
33. Krishnan, S., Dalit Manifesto 26, New Delhi: National Action Forum for Social Justice, 1996.

12
and which deserves very special consideration."34 However, till date nothing

concrete worth mentioning has materialized. Seasonal unemployment is a

characteristic feature of Agricultural Industry and underemployment of man

power is inherent in the system of family farming.

Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee defined agricultural labour as a

person who, for more than half of the total number of days, worked as an

agricultural labour. An agricultural labour may be the small or marginal

farmer or an artisan, but when a person derives his main earning by doing

some agricultural work on others farm is called an agricultural labour.

According to First Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee, 1950-55

[hereinafter referred as F.A.L.E.C.], adult male agricultural labourers were

employed on wages for 189 days in agricultural work and for 29 days in non-

agricultural work i.e., 218 days in all in a year. And for remaining 75 days

they were self-employed. Casual male workers found employment for only

200 days, while attached workers were employed for 326 days in a year.

Women workers are employed for 134 days in a year35. The reason is that

unless capitalism develops fully in agriculture, a separate class of workers

depending wholly on wages probably does not come up.

34. Shridhar Charan Sahoo, “Biju Patnaik: His Vision of Panchayati Raj” Orissa Review (2007), p. 6.
35. http://orissagov.nic.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/feb-mar-2007/engpdf/page23-28.pdf, [accessed on 23-
02-2011].

13
 Difficulties in defining agricultural labour are compounded by the fact

that many small and marginal farmers also work partly on the farms of

others to supplement their income. It is not easy to answer to what extent

should they (or their family members) be considered as agricultural

labourers.

To bring in precision in the term agricultural labour is rather difficult

because workers in this field are employed as permanent, seasonal and

temporary or casual workers. The nature of work differs from time to time

and it is difficult to define as the activity of agriculture differs from one

geographical area to another and from season to season. Despite of all

hardships some attempts have been made by experts which are stated below:

According to the F.A.L.E.C., 1950-55 agricultural labourers are "[t]hose

people who are engaged in raising crops on payment of wages".36 Further, as

per this Committee agricultural labour household “is the one whose main

source of income i.e., half or more number of household is wage employed

in agriculture, then that household would be treated as ‘agricultural labour

household”.37

36. Mamoria, C.B., Agricultural Problems of India 225, 5th edn., New Delhi: Kitab Mahal, 1966.
37. Indian Labour Year Book 35, Chandigarh: Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India,
1960.

14
 The Second Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee, 1956-57

[hereinafter referred as S.A.L.E.C.] enlarged the definition to include "[t]hose

who are also engaged in other agricultural occupations like dairy farming,

horticulture, raising of live-stock, bees, poultry etc.”38 This enquiry report

used income instead of occupation as the basis for defining agricultural

workers. Thus, an agricultural household is said to be one whose main

source of income is wages from agriculture.

In the context of Indian conditions the definitions stated above are not

adequate, because it is not possible to completely separate those working on

wages from others. There are people who do not work on wages throughout

the year but only for a part of it. Therefore, the F.A.L.E.C. used the concept

of agricultural labour household instead of just agricultural labour. If half or

more members of household have wage employment in agriculture then

those households should be termed as agricultural labour households. This

concept was based upon the occupation of the worker. The Second

Committee was of the opinion that to know whether a household is an

agricultural labour household, one must examine its main source of income.

If 50% or more of its income is derived as wages for work rendered in

agriculture only, then it could be categorized agricultural labour household.

38. Supra note 01.

15
 For Rural Labour Enquiry, 1974-75 a person was treated as an

agricultural labour if he followed one or more of the following occupations

in the capacity of labourer on hire or exchange whether in cash or kind or

partly in cash and partly in kind:

a. Farming includes the cultivation and tillage of soil etc.,

b. Dairy farming,

c. Raising of livestock, bee keeping or poultry,

d. Production, cultivation, growing and harvesting,

e. Any practice performed on a farm as incidental to or in conjunction

with the farm operations including any forestry or timbering

operations and the preparation for market and delivery to storage or to

market or to carriage for transportation of farm products.

f. Reserved or used for fodder or thatching grass or for grazing cattle39.

As per the First National Commission on Labour, 1969 [hereinafter referred

as F.N.C.L.] “an agricultural labourer is one who is basically unskilled and

unorganised and has little for his livelihood, other than personal labour”.40

Thus, persons whose main source of income is wage, employment fall in this

category41. Mention has not been made about the small land holders or

marginal farmers who also work most part of the time as labourers.

39. Rural Labour Enquiry Report on General Characteristics of Rural Labour Households 7, Chandigarh:
Labour Bureau 1999. http://labourbureau.nic.in/RLE%202K%204-5%20Summary.htm [accessed on 27-03-
2011].
40. Ibid.
41. Agarwal, A. N., Report of Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee155, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing
Home, 1981.

16
1.3.2 Statutory Meaning of the term Agricultural Labour:

Section 2 (f) of the Kerala Agricultural Workers Act, 1974 defines

agricultural worker as: “a person who, in consideration of the wages payable

to him by a landowner, works on, or does any other agricultural operation in

relation to the agricultural land of such landowner .”

As per Section 2(b) of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers

Farmers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2006 ‘agricultural labourer’

means any person in the age group of 18 to 65 years, engaged to work in

agricultural or allied agricultural operations for wages but who does not own

any land.

The above mentioned statutory definitions are found in the State

legislations. As far as the picture at Central level is concerned neither there is

an exclusive legislation meant for agricultural labour nor any attempt is

made to incorporate the definition of agricultural labour under any of the

other labour legislations that have been made applicable to the agricultural

labour. Hence, it is inevitable to look into certain other terms having direct

or indirect link with the term agricultural labour so as to enable the drafting

of a better definition in the proposed law for agricultural labour.

17
1.3.3 Concept of Agriculture:

Agriculture is cultivation of the soil, including the allied pursuits of

gathering crops and rearing livestock42. “A person in the service of another

under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the

employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the

material details of how the work is to be performed”43.

The term 'agriculture' in Section 2(1)(b)(i) of the Indian Income-tax

Act,1961 connotes the entire and integrated activity of an agriculturist

performed on the land in order to raise its produce and consists of such basic

and essential operations, requiring human skill and labour on the land itself,

as the tilling of the soil, sowing of the seeds, planting and similar operations

on the land and such other subsequent operations, performed after the

produce sprouts from the land, as weeding, digging of the soil around the

growth, removal of undesirable under-growths, tending, pruning, cutting,

harvesting and marketing. But these subsequent operations, if unconnected

with the basic operations, cannot by themselves constitute agriculture.

Whatever is produced by such agriculture must be an agricultural product

and the ambit of the term 'agriculture' cannot be confined merely to the

42. Monty Finniston, Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia of Invention and Technology 07, Volume 06, Oxford
University Press, 1992.
43. Black, Henry Campbell, Black's Law Dictionary 471, (5th edn.) Washington: West Publishing Co.,
1979.

18
production of grain and food for men and cattle but must extend to all

products of the land that have some utility either for consumption or trade

and commerce. Fruit and vegetable plantations, groves, pastures, articles of

luxury such as betel, coffee, tea, spices, tobacco etc. or commercial crops

like cotton, flax, jute, hemp, indigo etc. as also forest products such as

timber, sal and piyasal trees, casuarina plantations, tendu leaves, horranuts

etc., come within its ambit44.

Before we proceed further and attempt to define agricultural labour

it is pertinent to find out the ingredients of definitions of “workmen”,

“worker”, etc in industrial set-up under the respective laws. It is also

necessary to detect whether these definitions cover agricultural labour

directly or indirectly.

1.3.4 Concept of Workmen/ Worker under Labour Laws:

Section 2(s), of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 contains an

exhaustive definition of the term `workman'. The definition takes within its

ambit any person including an apprentice employed in any industry to do any

manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory

work for hire or reward and it is immaterial that the terms of employment

are not reduced into writing. The definition also includes a person, who has
44 . Sharma Manjri, Income Tax Act, 1961 43-52, 12th edn., Noida: Manupatra Information Solutions Ltd.,
2009.

19
been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with an industrial

dispute or as a consequence of such dispute or whose dismissal, discharge

or retrenchment has led to that dispute. The last segment of the definition

specifies certain exclusions. A person to whom the Air Force Act, 1950, or

the Army Act, 1950, or the Navy Act, 1957, is applicable or who is employed

in the police service as an officer or other employee of a prison or who is

employed mainly in managerial or administrative capacity or who is

employed in a supervisory capacity and is drawing specified wages per

mensem or exercises mainly managerial functions does not fall within the

definition of the term `workman'45.

Whenever an employer challenges the maintainability of industrial

dispute on the ground that the employee is not a workman within the

meaning of Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, what the

Labour Court/Industrial Tribunal is required to consider is whether the

person is employed in an industry for hire or reward for doing manual,

unskilled, skilled, operational, technical or clerical work in an industry. Once

the tests of employment for hire or reward for doing the specified type of

work is satisfied, the employee would fall within the definition of

`workman'46.

45. Dayal Srivastava Kirpa, The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 54, New Delhi: Eastern Book Company,
1980.
46. Punjab Land Development and Reclamation Corporation Ltd., Chandigarh v. Presiding Officer Labour
Court, Chandigarh, (1990) 3 SCC 682.

20
 Section 2(1) of the Factories Act, 1948 defines a `worker' as follows:

"worker" means a person (employed, directly or by or through any agency

(including a contractor) with or without the knowledge of the principal

employer, whether for remuneration or not) in any manufacturing process or

in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for a manufacturing

process, or in any other kind of work incidental to, or connected with, the

manufacturing process, or the subject of the manufacturing process (but does

not include any member of the armed forces of the Union)".

In none of the above referred labour laws the term agricultural labour is not

specifically included.

According to some of the legal luminaries "[a]ll those persons who

derive a major part of their income as payment for work performed on the

farms of others can be designated as agricultural workers. For a major part of

the year they should work on the land of the others on wages." The nature of

work carried on by the labourers so employed may fall in any of the

following categories.

i. Manual labour is physical work done by people, most especially in

contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals.

It is most literally work done with the hands (the word "manual" comes from

21
the Latin word for hand), and, by figurative extension, it is work done with

any of the muscles and bones of the body. For most of human pre-history

and history, manual labour and its close cousin, animal labour, have been the

primary ways that physical work has been accomplished. Mechanisation and

automation, which reduce the need for human and animal labour in

production, have existed for centuries, but it was only starting in the 19th

century that they began to significantly expand and to change human culture.

To be implemented, they require that sufficient technology exist and that its

capital costs be justified by the amount of future wages that they will

obviate47.

This apart, in agriculture considering the nature of work many a

times casual labourers are also employed. It is pertinent to refer to the

meaning of this type of work force for the better crafting of a self-contained

concept of agricultural labour.

ii. Casual labour refers to labour whose employment is seasonal,

intermittent, sporadic or extends over short periods. Labour of this kind is

normally recruited from the nearest available source. It is not liable to

47. Ford, Henry, et.al,, My Life and Work, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc, 1922.

22
transfer, and the conditions applicable to permanent and temporary staff do

not apply to such labour48."

Casual labour can be divided into three categories, namely, (i) staff

paid from contingencies except those retained for more than six months

continuously, known as Open Casual Labour; (ii) labour on projects,

irrespective of duration, known as Project Casual Labour; and (iii) seasonal

labour who are sanctioned for specific works of less than six months

duration. Persons falling in category (i) who continued to do the same work

or other work of the same type for more than six months without a break

were to be treated as temporary after the expiry of the period of six months

of continuous employment49. The benefit of temporary status is not available

to project casual labour50.

iii. Permanent Workman is one, who is engaged on the work of a

permanent nature or permanent requirement lasting throughout the year and

has completed his probationary period, if any,

iv. Temporary Workman is one who is engaged for meeting a temporary

or casual requirement.

48 . D. S. Nakara v. Union of India, 1983 (2) SCR 165.

49. Union of India v. K.G. Radhakrishana Panickar, AIR 1998 SC 2073 [per, S.C. Agarwal, S. Saghir
Ahmad, M. Srinivasan, JJ.].
50. Inder Pal Yadav v. Union of India 1985 SCC (2) 648.

23
v. Seasonal workman is one, who is engaged only for the crushing season

and has completed his probationary period, if any51. Following are some of

the special Conditions Governing Employment of Seasonal Workman:

1. A seasonal workman who has worked or, but for illness or any

other unavoidable cause, would have worked during the whole of the second

half of the last preceding season shall be employed in the current season and

shall be entitled to get retaining allowance provided he joins the current

season and works for at least one month. The payment of retaining

allowance shall be made within two months of the date of the

commencement of the season.

Explanation - Unauthorised absence during the second of the last

preceding season of a workman who has not been validly dismissed under

the Standing Orders and of a workman, who has been re-employed by the

Management in the current season, shall be deemed to have been condoned

by the Management.

2. Every seasonal workman who worked during the last season shall

be put up on his old job whether he was in the `R' shift or in any of the usual

shifts. However, if the exigencies of works so require the management may

transfer a workman from one job to another job or from one shift to another

including the `R' shift, so however, that the number of workman so

51. Div. Manager, New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. A. Sankaralingam, 2008(13) SCALE 292, 2008(11) JT
128.

24
transferred does not exceed five per cent of total number of the employees

and that the wages and status of such workman is not affected in any way.

3. A seasonal workman who is a retainer shall be liable to be called on

duty at any time in the off season and if he does not report for duty within 10

days he shall lose his retaining allowance for the period for which he was

called for duty.52

There is absolutely no distinction between a full time and part-time

employee and that a workman who was working part time would not lose his

status as a workman if he was employed with more than one employer. It has

also been submitted that preponderance of judicial opinion of various High

Courts was in favour of the above proposition of law53.

1.4. Classification of Agricultural Labourers

Agricultural labour can be generally classified into three varieties:

a) Labourers working on monthly or annual salaries, with virtual freedom to

change employers.

b) Labourers engaged on daily basis, particularly for seasonal operations,

generally called casual workers. Field labourers consist of ploughmen,

reapers, sowers, labour involved in inter-culture operations and trans-

52. U.P. State Sugar & Cane Development Corporation Limited v.Chini Mill Mazdoor Sangh, 2009(1) ALJ
246 [per Altamas Kabir, J].
53. Silver Jubilee Tailoring House v. Chief Inspector of Shops and Establishments and Anr. (1974) 3 SCC
498.

25
planters. Ordinary labourer consists of embankment labourers, well diggers

and canal cleaners54.

c) Serf labourers with nominal wages, and bound to the employer for life, in

some cases for generations, on account of debts and more on account of

custom55.

The bonded or semi-free labourers consist of those who do not have

the freedom to choose the masters of their choice. In most cases, the

labourers coming under this category are not only the labourers themselves,

but also the members of their families who work for the master to whom

they are bound in some form or the other. It is one of the most restrictive

feudal practices still prevailing in some parts of country56.

The National Commission on Labour has divided Agricultural labourers in

the following manner:

1. Landless agricultural labourers.

2. Very small cultivators whose main source of earnings due to their small

and sub-marginal holdings is wage employment57.

54. Nanavathi, B.M. and Ajarja, J.J., The Indian Rural Problem 15, Bombay: Indian Society of Agricultural
Economics, 1945.
55. Agricultural Wages in India 31, Vol., 1, Nashik: Government of India, Ministry of Labour, 1952.
56. Surendra, J. Patel, Agricultural Labour in Modern India and Pakistan 71, Bombay: Current Book
House, 1952.
57. Rao Hanumantha, Reports of the National Commission on Labour 2002-1991-1967, New Delhi:
Academic Foundation, 2003.

26
Further, Landless labourers in turn can be classified into two broad

categories:

1. Permanent Labourers attached to cultivating households.

2. Casual Labourers.

The above mentioned second group can again be divided into three sub-

groups:

(i) Cultivators (ii) Share croppers (iii) Lease holders

Permanent or attached labourers generally work on annual or seasonal basis

and they work on some sort of contract. Their wages are determined by

custom or tradition. On the other hand temporary or casual labourers are

engaged only during peak period for work. Their employment is temporary

and they are paid at the market rate. They are not attached to any landlords.

Under second group comes small farmers, who possess very little land and

therefore, has to devote most of their time working on the lands of others as

labourers. Share croppers are those who, while sharing the produce of the

land for their work, also work as labourers. Tenants are those who not only

work on the leased land but also work as labourers58.

The rural population in India may be differentiated into numerous

functional groups stratified both socially and economically. Though the rural
58. Damayanti, U. T., Agricultural Labour in India: Some Basic Issues 103, New Delhi: Atlantic
Publishers, 1995.

27
pyramid is much less stratified than the urban, the fundamental scheme of

variation is evident if judged from the standpoints of wealth, income,

standard of living, land holdings and subsequent domination and subjection,

and also social prestige and political privileges accruing there from.

In India the problem of rural stratification is closely connected with

that of contemporary tendencies in the degree of survival of various types of

agricultural enterprises. There is a manifest tendency towards an increased

concentration of land in the hands of capitalistic entrepreneurs and the

consequent increase of landless rural proletariat. This has increased the

social distance between various aggregates and has caused considerable

conflict and social antagonism. The growth of rent-receivers and non-

agricultural classes in rural areas, and the decrease of peasant-proprietors

have greatly infused the spirit of class struggle among the new aggregates of

landless field workers and unspecified rural labourers. Above all, the

weakening of the institution of caste and a progressive abandonment of

hereditary occupations has, to a serious degree, impaired the vitality of rural

hierarchies and communal functionaries.

The agricultural population most commonly consists of the rent-

receivers, cultivators and field-workers. Each of these classes is further

divided into smaller groups, and the differences of these stratas are

28
intensified on the basis of the type of the agricultural enterprise with which

they are connected. This economic action to a large extent determines the

social position and the privileges of each class, and the entire agricultural

population is subjected to a complex process of stratification from which the

rural masses cannot escape and with which they have to get along59.

The term Agricultural Labour, on a composite basis of classification,

would, therefore, include members from all the above classes who are

engaged in the actual cultivation of land. It gives rather a high pyramid of

social stratification. At the top are the cultivating-owners of the capitalistic

type who perform only skilled work, while the lowest stratum comprises of

landless workers who perform unskilled work and receive poor

remuneration. Thus the term agricultural labour represents the labour of the

following classes:

(a) Cultivating Owners,

(b) Tenant Cultivators,

(c) Landless Farm Labourers,

(d) Field Workers (Unspecified).

This classification will exclude rent-receivers (non-cultivating

owners and tenants), artisans, and general labourers employed in public

59. K.C. Vasanth Kumar v. State of Karnataka, 1985 AIR 1495 (CJ) [Chandrachud, Y.V.].

29
works and urban industries, but residing in villages. The exclusion of artisan

labour deserves special mention because most of their work is connected

with agriculture. The cultivating owners have their own land, tools, and

cattle and with the help of family hands they cultivate their land. Hired help

is also employed. If the holding is too big, it is sublet to land- less labourers

on produce rents, in which case the cultivating owner becomes a rent-

receiver. Cultivating owners are the cultivators of 'Sir' land and

'Khudkasht'60.

Tenant cultivators are either statutory, occupancy, or non-

occupancy, and cultivate rented holdings of land belonging to hereditary

landlords. They work with their own cattle and tools, and depend on their

family hands with casual hired help. This class forms the bulk of the actual

tillers of the soil, but excludes those occupancy tenants whose entire holding

is sublet in small plots to under-tenants, and who depend on the differential

rent obtained by such sub-letting.

The third class of agricultural labourers includes those workers who

have no land (owned or rented) and no capital, but hire out their labour to

well-to-do tenants and landlords. They return themselves as agriculturists

whose principal, and in many cases hereditary occupation, is cultivation of

60. Lorenzo, A. M., Agricultural Labour Conditions In Northern India 188-191, Bombay: New Book
Company Limited, 1943.

30
non-cultivating owners land.61 Their labour is skilful and is always in

demand for such operations as ploughing, sowing, irrigating, marketing, etc.

All family hands contribute their share to the family budget, and therefore,

most of the female and child labour, for various agricultural operations, is

drawn from this class. Under casual employment they receive cash wages,

but in permanent employments their daily wages are supplemented by a

customary grain allowance at harvests. Often they have to move from farm

to farm in different cropping seasons but they are seldom forced to leave the

village for lack of employment. The last group represents the miscellaneous

labour which requires no special skill or experience beyond what a coolie

may be expected to acquire in the ordinary course of his career. This class is

always mobile because its demand or supply is closely regulated by

agricultural and industrial seasons. In Bihar and the eastern districts of the

U.P., for e.g., unspecified labourers migrate in vast numbers from the fields

to the mines, and thence to public works and industrial centres in different

parts of the year. They have no land and no capital, and their labour is not

specialized. Therefore, during agricultural seasons, they lie at the mercy of

well-to-do cultivators, and in the off seasons depend on urban factories for

livelihood. Their labour is always undefined and their wages unregulated,

and though for tasks of unskilled nature, they are of great importance in

agriculture, they are not absolutely necessary and indispensably precious.

61. Som Bijay Bihari, “Agrarian Changes and Agricultural Labour in Cooch Behar” Economic and Political
Weekly (2005), pp. 2429.

31
 There is no hard and fast rule by which the task of each class is

differentiated in actual practice, but to a certain extent caste regulates the

nature of work which falls to the lot of each group. Owner cultivators, in

general, cultivate their hereditary lands and belong to higher castes.62

Cultivating tenants form the rural middle classes, and belong to castes whose

traditional occupation has been agriculture. Farm hands are drawn mainly

from poorer classes of the village.63 But on the lowest rung of the economic

ladder stand the unspecified labourers drawn from all castes and classes to

perform ordinary coolie work on starvation wages.

Thus, the population engaged in agriculture is not homogeneous, but

is differentiated into various strata as described above i.e., those of owner-

labourers, tenant-workers and landless proletariat. The basic significance of

rural labour problems can be understood only when there is a clear idea of

the fundamental conditions distinguishing one class from the other.

During nights even farm labour work e.g., in villages to fight against

paucity in electric power three phase electricity is supplied only during

nights so that they should not use water bodies for irrigation purposes

specially in summer as the water reserved is by and large, for drinking and

62. www.csh-delhi.com/publications/downloads/.../12_Jaffrelot_ch12.pdf, [accessed on 12-07-2011].

63. Desai, A.R., Rural Sociology in India 770, 5th edn., Mumbai: Popular Prakashan Limited , 2005.

32
household purposes. Farmers, often employ workers to irrigate the crops in

nights by paying additional wages which often is below statutory minimum.

Agricultural workers work for some kind of 'wage', which may be in

cash or kind, or a combination of both. They work within an employment

relationship, be it with a farmer or farming or plantation company or labour

contractor or sub-contractor64. The demand for agricultural labour fluctuates

with the seasons and this is reflected in the nature of the workforce. Hours of

work tend to be extremely long during planting and harvesting, with shorter

hours at off-peak times. During rush periods, field work can go from dawn to

dusk, with transport time to and fro the fields in addition. The intensity of the

work offers little chance for rest breaks; the length of the working day offers

insufficient time for recuperation. Payment systems can exacerbate this

situation. As minimum wages tend to be low or non-existent for agricultural

workers in general and many casual, temporary or seasonal workers are paid

at least in part on a piece work basis – i.e., per kilo of crop picked, row

weeded, or hectare sprayed, there is a strong financial incentive for them to

extend their working time to the maximum so as to enhance their earnings.65

64. Promoting the Role of Agricultural Workers and Trade Unions in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Development 28, IUF-International Labour Organization, Geneva. Leaflet for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, Johannesburg: South Africa, 2002.
65. Reddy, Atchi, “Work and Leisure: Daily Working Hours of Agricultural Labourers” The Indian
Economic and Social History Review, 28, 1(1991), pp 01-07.

33
 Much agricultural work is by its nature physically demanding,

involving long periods of standing, stooping, bending, and carrying out

repetitive movements in awkward body positions. The risk of accidents is

increased by fatigue, poorly designed tools, difficult terrain, and exposure to

the elements and poor general health. Even when technological change has

brought about a reduction in the physical drudgery of agricultural work, it

has introduced new risks, notably associated with the use of sophisticated

machinery and the intensive use of chemicals often without appropriate

safety measures, information and training. Unsurprisingly, the level of fatal

and serious accidents and illness is high. Yet, agricultural workers are among

the least well protected in terms of access to health care66, workers’

compensation, long term disability insurance and survivors’ benefits67.

Further Classification of Agricultural Labour on the basis of wages they

receive is worked out into following groups:

Full-time (permanent) workers

Full-time, permanent agricultural workers receive more job security,

relatively higher wages, better housing, health and work benefits than do

66. Research in India suggests that agricultural workers using powered machinery are most at risk from
fatal accidents, but that injuries are actually more common in less mechanized villages, probably owing to
lower adherence to safety standards. Basic hazards like sharp tools and snake bites also cause debilitating
wounds and fatalities. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/focus13_08.pdf, [accessed on 14-
05-2011]
67. India needs a comprehensive social insurance system of old-age pension, death/disability insurance,
health insurance and maternity benefits for workers in the unorganised sector. Mehrotra, Santosh,
Conceptualising a National Health Insurance in India for Unorganized Workers 16, New Delhi: Planning
Commission, 2007.

34
other waged agricultural workers. However, this does not mean that such

workers are well-paid, relatively to the average wage levels in a given

country. Wages in rural areas, both in cash and in real terms, are generally

lower than in cities, and the hours of work are longer. Many full-time

workers in agriculture live on or below the poverty line. Permanent contracts

are the least common form of contract and their share in total agricultural

employment has been declining in most countries68. There is a trend away

from full-time employment to more casual and seasonal employment, often

referred to as the "casualization" or "flexibilization" of employment, with

little or no social protection.

Casual, temporary and seasonal workers

The majority of waged agricultural workers in most developing

countries and in some developed countries are employed on a seasonal and

often a casual or temporary basis. Casual workers refer to those employed

and paid at the end of each day worked or on a task basis. Temporary work

refers to those employed for a specific but limited period of time. Most

seasonal, casual or temporary workers do not receive any form of social

security or unemployment benefit, holidays with pay, or sickness or

maternity leave. Indeed, many full-time waged agricultural earners lack these

benefits. An increasing number of women workers are employed as casual or

68. Wage Workers in Agriculture - Conditions of Employment and Work 23, Geneva: ILO, Sectoral
Activities Programme, Report 1996.

35
temporary workers. Furthermore, jobs are often classed as casual or

temporary even if there is in reality continuous employment. The practice of

rotating individual workers so as to deny them the benefit of permanent

employment status is also quite prevalent.69 In the cut flower industry, for

example, data provided by the Ugandan National Union of Plantation and

Agricultural Workers70 affirms that the majority of casual workers are

women. Over 70% of this workforce is casually employed without job

security and other benefits such as annual leave. The women workers are

mostly employed in harvesting and in the grading sections. A fulltime

worker is paid a total package of 70,000 Uganda shillings ($35 US) per

month while a casual worker earns 1,500 Uganda shillings per day. The

trend towards casual and temporary labour is encouraged by, amongst other

factors, unpredictable weather conditions, unstable market demand for

produce, and labour laws which require that certain benefits, such as notice

pay, leave allowances, and medical attention, be provided to seasonal and

permanent employees.

To counter this development towards casual and temporary labour,

unions in the plantation sector in many countries such as Kenya, have

worked to include provisions in collective bargaining agreements limiting

69. Recent Developments in the Plantations Sector 40, Sectoral Activities Programme, Report 1, Geneva:
ILO, 1994.
70. Social Dialogue and Multinational Enterprises in Agriculture in Uganda 19, Lugazi: National Union of
Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union, 2003.

36
the length of time during which employees may be engaged on a seasonal,

casual or temporary basis71.

Migrant workers

Migrant workers are found in all types of employment relationships as

casual, temporary, seasonal or even full-time workers. They may be migrant

workers from a different part of a country, or foreign workers. Wherever

they come from, migrant workers are always heavily disadvantaged in terms

of pay, social protection, housing and medical care.

In India agricultural labourers are migrating to different parts of the

country for earning their livelihood and in this way there is in-equilibrium

between labour demand and supply. Especially in Punjab, the influx of

migrant labour started with the green revolution and picked up subsequently.

Due to monoculture in the cropping pattern, the State has become largely

dependent on migrant labourers for various agricultural operations. The

influx of seasonal as well as permanent labour from outside has led to

various socio-economic problems in Punjab. Labour class belonging to the

States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Nepal

71. Kenya: Facing the Challenge of Africa's Integration in the Global Economy: The Role of Multinational
Enterprises in the Plantations Sector 14, Geneva: ILO Working Paper 91, 2002.

37
constitute the major portion. Better income and employment opportunities at

the destination place are the major factors responsible for migration72.

Globalization and structural adjustment have transformed agriculture

in many countries into an export-oriented sector heavily dependent on

migrant labour. According to a trade union consultation on Irregular

Migration and Human Trafficking in Europe, 2003, it is essentially the

power of the large supermarket chains that forces farmers to produce at very

low cost. Farmers respond to the pressure by decreasing their labour costs,

thus passing the burden on to the workers. Low pay and status for hard work

is not attractive for the national workforce. Therefore farmers rely

increasingly on migrant labour. In some areas, as in the Almeria region of

Spain, more than 90% of workers in agriculture are immigrants.73

Labour migration is one of the major consequences of growing work

flexibility, casual employment, low pay, bad working conditions and

poverty. This labour mobility is very significant throughout the world.74

72. Kaur, Baljinder, “Causes and Impact of Labour Migration: A Case Study of Punjab Agriculture”,
Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol.24, (2011), pp. 459-466.
73. Report of the trade union consultation meeting on ‘Irregular Migration and Human Trafficking in
Europe’ 8, Geneva: ILO, 2003.
74. Stalker, P., Workers without Frontiers: The Impact of Globalisation on International Migration 42,
Geneva: ILO and Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000.

38
 The migrant labour force often consists in reality of whole families,

although formally only the head of the family is employed. In many

countries, children of migrant and seasonal workers work next to their

parents but do not figure on the payroll.75 As much work is paid on a "piece-

rate" basis, migrant and seasonal workers need their children to work in

order to achieve a living wage76.

Indigenous rural workers

Indigenous agricultural workers form part of the agricultural workforce in

many countries. Having been forced off their own lands, they often end up as

agricultural workers, usually under poor employment and working

conditions. In many countries in Latin America, for example, the living and

working conditions of indigenous workers and their families are below the

average for workers belonging to what is referred to as the “predominant

society”, including non-indigenous rural workers. These differences are

evident in access to education, social security, levels of trade union

membership, salaries and occupational health and safety77.

75. Mazhar Arif, Alternative Labour Policy for Rural Workers 7, Lahore: South Asian Partnership-Pakistan,
2008.
76. Forastieri, V., Children at Work – Health and Safety Risks 33, 2nd edn., Geneva: International Labour
Organization, 2002.
77. Ramos Veloz, C., Indigenous Rural Workers in Latin America, In Top on the Agenda: Health and
Safety in Agriculture 72, Geneva: ILO Labour Education, 2000.

39
1.5. Agricultural Labour and its characteristic features:

In the following paragraphs the main characteristics of agricultural labour

are discussed emphasizing on economic and social relationships.

Before any attempt is made to evolve a rational policy to improve the

living conditions of agricultural labourers who belong to the lowest rung of

social and economic ladder, it is essential to know the distinguishing features

that characterize agricultural labourers in India. The main features,

characterizing Indian agricultural labour are as follows:

1. Scattered existence of agricultural labour:

Agricultural labour in India is being widely scattered over 5.6 lakh villages,

of which half have population of less than 500 each. And therefore, any

question of building an effective organization, like that of industrial workers,

poses insurmountable difficulties. Thus as the vast number of agricultural

labour lies scattered all over India, there has been no successful attempt for

long, to build their effective organization even at the State level not to speak

of the national level.

2. Agricultural labour is unskilled and lack training:

Agricultural labourers, especially in smaller villages away from towns and

cities, are generally unskilled workers carrying on agricultural operation in

the centuries old traditional ways. Most of them, especially those in small

isolated villages with around 500 population, may not have even heard of

40
modernization of agriculture. Majority of them are generally conservative,

tradition bound, totalistic and resigned to the insufferable lot to which

according to them fate has condemned. There is hardly any motivation for

change or improvement. Since, there is direct supervision by the landlord,

there is hardly any escape from hard work and there is no alternative

employment. The agricultural labourers have to do all types of work-farm

and domestic at the bidding of the landlord.

3. Agricultural labour force is often unorganised:

Agricultural labourers are not organized like industrial labourers. They are

illiterate and ignorant. They live in scattered villages. Hence they could not

organize in unions. In urban areas workers could generally organize

themselves in unions and it is convenient for political parties to take interest

in trade union activities. This is almost difficult in case of farm labour.

Accordingly, it is difficult for them to bargain with the land owners and

secure good wages.

4. Low social status common in agricultural labour:

Most agricultural workers belong to the depressed classes, which have been

neglected for causes for the growth of Agricultural Labourers. There are a

number of factors responsible for the continuous and enormous increase in

the number of agricultural labourers in India. The more important among

them are:

• Increase in population

41
 • Decline of cottage industries and handicrafts

• Eviction of small farmers and tenants from land

• Uneconomic Holdings

• Increase in indebtedness

• Spread of the use of money and exchange system

• Capitalistic Agriculture

• Displacement of means of subsidiary occupations

• Disintegration of peasantry78

After considering the various attempts made to define the term

agricultural labour and in the light of different types along with their

characters it is of course a tough task to coin an unambiguous definition of

the term agricultural labour.

Considerable discussion has been done on agricultural labour but till now

no concrete definition and law meant for them has been provided at any

instance by the Parliament. So an attempt is required on war path in this

direction at the earliest. It is pertinent to refer some of the labour legislations

where agricultural labour is also covered but unfortunately the term has not

found its way into the definitional Chapter of any of these legislations.

78. Supra note 11.

42
 The researcher is quite influenced by the definition of agricultural

labour provided under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act of United

States. In the light of this definition the researcher proposes that the Indian

definition ought to include following ingredients.

The term "agricultural labor" shall include all services performed:

1. on a farm79 in the employment of any person in connection with

cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any

agricultural, aqua-cultural or horticultural commodities, including the

raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of

livestock, bees, fish, poultry, and animals;

2. in the employment of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm in

connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement,

or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment, or in salvaging

timber or clearing land of bush and other debris left by a hurricane if the

major part of such service is performed on a farm;

3. in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals,

reservoirs, or waterways not owned or operated for profit and used

exclusively for supplying and storing water, for farming purposes at

79. The term "farm" includes stock, dairy, fish, poultry, fruit, animal and truck farms, plantations,
ranches, nurseries, hatcheries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the
raising of agricultural, aqua-cultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards.

43
 least ninety per cent of which was ultimately delivered for agricultural

purposes during the preceding calendar year;

4. in handling, planting, drying, packaging, eviscerating, processing,

freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a

carrier for transportation to market in its unmanufactured state any

agricultural, aqua-cultural or horticultural commodities, but only if such

operator in both the current and preceding calendar year produced more

than one-half of the commodities with respect to which such service is

performed;

5. in the employment of a group of farm operators (or a cooperative

organization of such operators) in the performance of service, but only if

such operators in both the current and preceding calendar year produced

more than one-half of the commodities with respect to which such

service is performed. The term "in the employment of a group of farm

operators" shall include any group of farmers, organized or unorganized,

who as a group produced more than one-half of the crop for which the

services are being performed.

The provisions in (4) and (5) above shall not be deemed to be applicable

with respect to service performed in connection with commercial canning,

freezing, or dehydrating, or in connection with any agricultural, aqua-

44
cultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market80

for distribution and/or consumption81.

1.6 Some frequently used terminology in law governing agricultural

labour:

1.6.1 Agriculture is derived from Latin words Ager and Cultura. Ager

means land or field and Cultura means cultivation. Therefore the term

agriculture means cultivation of land i.e., the science and art of producing

crops and livestock for economic purposes. It is also referred as the science

of producing crops and livestock from the natural resources of the earth. The

primary aim of agriculture is to cause the land to produce more abundantly,

and at the same time, to protect it from deterioration and misuse. It is

synonymous with farming–the production of food, fodder and other

industrial materials82.

1.6.2 Agricultural dispute means any dispute or difference between

landowners or between agricultural workers or between landowners and

agricultural workers which is connected with the employment or non-

employment or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour, of

any person.

80. The term "terminal market” means a place of business to which products are shipped in a sorted, graded,
packaged condition, ready for immediate sale.
81. Worker's Compensation and Related Laws - Industrial Commission, Title 72, U.S. State Legislature of
Idaho.
82. Bhavikatti, S.S., A Textbook of Agronomy 07, New Delhi: New Age Publishers, 2010.

45
Explanation — Where any landowners discharges, dismisses, retrenches or

otherwise terminates the services of, or denies employment to, an individual

agricultural worker, any dispute or difference between that agricultural

worker and his employer connected with, or arising out of, such discharge,

dismissal, retrenchment, termination or denial of employment shall be

deemed to be an agricultural dispute notwithstanding that no other

agricultural worker nor any union of agricultural workers is a party to the

dispute;

1.6. 3 “Agricultural land” means any land, used for cultivation or used

for—

(i) farming, including the cultivation and tillage of soil etc;

(ii) dairy farming;

(iii) production, cultivation and harvesting of any horticultural commodity;

(iv) raising of livestock, bee-keeping or poultry;

(v) any practice performed on a farm as incidental to or in conjunction with

the farm operations (including any forestry or timbering operations and the

preparation for market and delivery to storage or to market or to carriage for

transportation of farm products) or

(vi) reserved or used for growing fodder or thatching grass or for grazing

cattle but does not include plantation as defined in the Plantations Labour

Act, 1951.

46
1.6. 4 Agricultural Tribunal means in relation to the Agricultural Tribunal

constituted for a specific area in consideration.

1.6.5 Employer when used in relation to an agricultural operations,

including farming, dairy farming, production, cultivation, growing and

harvesting of any horticultural commodity, raising of livestock, bee keeping

or poultry and any practice performed on a farm as incidental to or in

conjunction with, farm operations (including any forestry or timbering

operations and the preparation for market and delivery to storage or to

market or to carriage for transportation of farm products), means the person

who has the ultimate control over the affairs of the agricultural land and

where the affairs of any agricultural land are entrusted to any other person.

(whether called managing agent, manager, superintendent or by another

name) such other person shall be deemed to be employer in relation to that

agricultural land.

1.6.6 Agricultural family means husband, wife and their unmarried minor

children or such of them as exist.

1.6.7 Landowner means, -

(i) in relation to a land personally cultivated, the owner of such land;

(ii) in relation to a land held by cultivating tenants, such cultivating tenant;

(iii) in any other case, the person in actual possession of land, and includes

his heirs, assignees and legal representatives.

For the purposes of this clause, -

47
1.6.8 (i) Cultivating tenant means a person who cultivates by his own

labour or by that of any other members of his family or by hired labour

under his supervision and control, any land belonging to another under a

tenancy agreement, express or implied, but does not include a mere

intermediary. Thus, cultivating tenant means a tenant who is in actual

possession of, and is entitled to cultivate the land comprise in his holding.

(ii) personally cultivate means cultivate either solely by one’s own labour

or with the help of the members of his family or hired labourers or both, or

personally direct or supervise cultivation by such members or hired labourers

or both, provided that such members or hired labourers have not agreed to

pay or to take any fixed proportion83.

1.6.9 Small Farmer means a person whose total holding whether as owner,

tenant or mortgagee with possession, or partly in one capacity and partly in

another, does not exceed two and a half acres of wet lands or five acres of

dry lands. In computing the extent of land held by a person who holds wet

and dry lands, two acres of dry lands shall be taken to be equivalent to one

acre of wet land84.

1.6.10 Landlord means the owner of a holding or part thereof who is

entitled to evict the cultivating tenant from such holding or part, and includes

83. Shrimant Appasaheb Tuljaram Desai and Others v. Bhalchandra Vithalrao Thube, 1961 AIR 589 [per,
Syed Jaffer J.]
84. Maheshwari Fish Seed Farm v. Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, 2004 Supp (1) SCR 285.

48
the heirs, assignees, legal representatives of such owner or person deriving

rights through him"85.

Keeping in mind the importance of history, in the present Chapter a

brief survey has been conducted of Indian agricultural labour identifying the

upheavals. With this historical foundation the concept of agricultural labour

has been discussed thread bear through which it is established what an

herculean task it is to draft to an all-inclusive definition of agricultural

labour. Further, what are the different possible classifications of agricultural

labour along with their basic characteristic features are dealt with

exhaustively. This apart the other terminology which is needed to be used

frequently while dealing with various aspects pertaining to agricultural

labour and law has also been incorporated in a nutshell in the last part of this

Chapter. With this basic information it is pertinent to find out what steps

have been taken internationally with regard to strengthening the position of

agricultural labour through the law. Therefore, the Researcher’s

concentration in the next Chapter would be on the international scenario in

this regard.

85. Chittoor Chegaiah v. Pedda Jeeyangar Mutt, 2010(2) Law Herald (SC) 94.

49