Labour Investigation Committee Government of India. Chapter on Labour Conditions in the Rice Mills

The following come under the category of skilled workers — the mistry who is entrusted with the general supervision of the whole mill ; the engine driver who works at the engine.; the shellerman who supervises the sheller; the hullerman who watches the working of the huller ; and the firman and the oilman who start the engine and oil the parts of the machine The other semi-permanent and time-r [...] The contractor or occupier of the mill attempts to shift the responsibility of providing the operatives with tight dressing or taking steps for the proper fencing of the machinery in the mill to the next leaseholder who in his turn does the same. [...] The former pays a portion of the wage in so far as the labourers are engaged in milling paddy that belongs to the mill while the latter pays the remaining portion of the wage generally at the usual rate when the work of hulling or polishing rice is undertaken on behalf of the hirer. [...] The following table shows the frequency distribution of the number of workers employed in the Province in the years 1939 and 1942 :— TABLE 5. Frequency distribution of the number of Rice Mills in Madras according to the number of workers employed in 1939 and 1942. [...] Report on the marketing of rice in India p. 227 "13 A reference to the proportion of number of the concerns and workers employed in them in the Province to the total number of workers and rice mills in India as a whole may indicate the premier position of the Province.