LABOUR & INDUSTRIAL LAW

CLASS ASSIGNMENT:
Model Policy Paper on Labour/Workers Regulations for
Sugarcane cutters/ Sugarcane Industry workers for the State of
Maharashtra

SUBMITTED UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

Prof. Nikhil Rote

SUBMITTED BY:
Shrijita Gaddam (C010), B.B.A;L.L.B
SAP ID: 81022018011

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
10/09/2021

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 DECLARATION:
The author declares that this paper submitted to NMIS School of Law for her undergraduate
work is a record of her own autonomous work and all the sources have been correctly cited
and listed as references. This paper represents the sole opinions of the author and it is under
her responsibility to ensure its authenticity.

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 INTRODUCTION:
The Sugarcane industry has been a major contributor and the backbone of rural economy of
Maharashtra which is the second largest sugar producing state in India, produces about one-
third of country’s sugar production while occupying about 23% of the sugarcane mills in the
country and also contributes to the largest number of India’s cooperative mills but this
industry is bound towards financial unsustainability in the state. Maharashtra has 1.64
million farmers who cultivate sugarcane on 0.7 million hectares of land 1. The sugarcane
industries of Maharashtra provide direct employment to about 0.23 million workers, besides
1.5 million workers engaged in harvesting and transport operations every year for six
months.2 Additionally, as per an International Labour Organization report, 2 lakh children
below 14 years of age who accompany their parents also contribute to the cane-cutting. Now,
taking the stats forward, an issue to be noted here is that the sugarcane sector in Maharashtra
relies mainly on the informal workers where 1.5 million workers who work as cane-cutters
migrate each year, mainly from the Marathwada region due to their living and working
conditions which keep them in poverty and in a helpless situation. This model policy paper
attempts to highlight the issues faced by the workers in the sugarcane industries, identify the
proper laws and give recommendations for the same.

Understanding the Issues faced by Sugarcane Workers:

Wages:
 Increased cost of Production: Many Cooperative sugar industries in Maharashtra today
are not in a position to pay a reasonable and fair price to sugar cane cutters and Industry
workers. This is due to the inability of securing adequate and timely credit, non-upgraded
technology, rising debt, inadequate diversification of by-products, and unprofessional
management of the industry, all contribute to the increased cost of production which in-
turn affect the wages of Industry workers at large and results to their indebtedness.
 Agrarian distress: The continued state of indebtedness of industrial workers due to
Agrarian distress, makes it necessary for them to take cash advances against wages for
repayment of their previous loans and other expenses. Despite of working overtime, the

1
Official Statistics issued by Maharashtra State Sugar Co-operative Federation; Government of Maharashtra
(last accessed on 7 September, 2021)
2
Directorate of Economics and Statistics. 20.20. Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2019-20. ( last accessed
on 7 September 2021)

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 workers are often unable to clear their advances and end up in a vicious cycle of
indebtedness.
 Inequity in Wages: Women cane cutters work for an average of 15 hours a day while only
1.5 women workers are rurally employed and are not even paid half of what a male cane
cutter does. Adding to this, women labour participation rate in the sugarcane farms of
Maharashtra could only be high owing to the jodi practice of hiring worker couples.
Wages for the jodi are usually paid to the male member thereby diminishing women’s
control over finances and also reducing women’s agency as a worker.
 Unexplained Wage Deductions: Sugar mills that are the original employers of contracted
cane harvesters do not take the responsibility of overseeing wage payments; contractors
never fully settle dues, by indulging in unexplained wage deductions while the workers
continue being trapped in a debt cycle

Livelihood:
 Drought resulting to Poverty and Indebtedness: Sugar cane consumes about 71.5 % of
irrigated water in the state of Maharashtra while 79% of it is produced in the drought
prone regions of the State resulting to the state of extreme poverty because of which the
workers are forced to migrate from such regions to other states and tend to work as
informal workers.
 Occupational Health: The entire process of cane cutting and loading involves several
accidents and even death sometimes while the workers do not even get insured or
compensated for such injuries. Also due to poverty, the sugar cane workers face ill-health
on account of unsafe drinking water and absence of cleanliness in work sites.
 Situation of Women: Women workers without agency and control over finance often are
victims of Inter-generational abuse, exploitation which has led to a societal bias.
Secondly, due to the scarcity of water, there are no toilets for migrant cutters and it
especially gets difficult for women to take care of their hygiene and they often fall sick
which severally affect their work and there are inadequate public health facilities to
address their ailment.
 Situation of Children: More than 2 lakh children of sugarcane workers below the age of
14 years in Maharashtra accompany their parents for cane cutting every year. This shows
that they are drawn towards labour force from a very tender age and are deprived of Right
to Education.

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Working Pattern and Conditions:
 Informal/ Unwritten Contracts: Workers are hired through informal, unwritten contracts
in work-pairs or jodis usually comprising of a husband and a wife. 10-15 jodis make a toli
or cane harvesting team. This kind of employment leads to irregular payment of wages,
overwork without pay and instability in their work, ill-treatment of the workers and
exploitation.
 Migrations: The migration of sugarcane industrial workers is frequent as it depends on the
location and season. Workers are away from their village for about 5-6 months due to
unfavourable conditions in their area of work.
 Women Workers entitlements: Women cane cutters work for about 15 hours a day and
they do not even get a fair pay for their work while there are no proper facilities for them
to work conveniently and also lack medical assistance. Adding to this, Pregnant workers
are denied entitlements under the Maternity Benefit Act and often go into labour on the
farm itself. They are not even covered under any social benefits scheme.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

 Contract Labour Act,1970: The Contract Labour Act ensures a healthier working
environment for the labourers and prevents any kind of ill-treatment towards them. The
sugar cane industry has majority of migrant workers who are employed through
contractors. We should see to that all the contractors dealing with the sugar cane industry
get themselves registered for better implementation of the act and for the workers to avail
the benefits and protection under this act. Hence, this act would ensure there is less
exploitation of the workers.
 Increase in the number of Labour Unions : The trade unions will be able to help the
industrial workers in Maharashtra by negotiating some benefits for these workers. They
will help to review unsettled problems of sugarcane workers. The more the number of
trade unions pertaining to sugar cane industries in Maharashtra, the easier it will get for
the workers to have their grievances resolved.
 Minimum Wages Act, 1948: The Minimum wages Act ensures that every worker is paid
the minimum amount of wage prescribed for the particular job (cane cutting). We should
come up with more schemes under Minimum Payment of Wages act which guarantees

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 jobs to every sugar cane worker, provide a minimum amount of RS. 1000 every month
under Security benefits for their necessities in order to reduce their poverty and
indebtedness.
 Interstate Migrant Workmen (Regulation of employment and Conditions of Services) Act,
1979: This Act prevents the exploitation of inter-state migrant workers by the contractors
and ensures decent conditions of employment. Due to the recent crisis of the Pandemic,
there is huge increase in the graph of Inter-state workers of the sugar cane industry and
also besides the pandemic, the nature of land, especially in drought prone areas, we see
migration from one state to another and hence there are many inter-state migrant workers
likewise. Through this act, we can govern the inter-state migrants by ensuring that all the
establishments hiring the inter-state workers need to be registered and all the contractors
getting them employed need to be licensed. Contractors need to provide the details of all
workers to the relevant authority and are required to ensure regular payment and
provisioning suitable accommodation. Also, it is important to make the recruitment
process transparent and formal so that due monitoring and accountability processes are
establish.
 Operational Grievance Mechanisms (OGM): OGM’s need to be established in order to
identify and redress grievances of the workers of sugar cane industries at an early stage.
 The Maharashtra Workmen’s minimum House rent allowance Act, 1983: This act
provides minimum house rent allowance to workman working in the Industries in
Maharashtra. Every worker of the Sugarcane industry should be entitled at 5% of the
wages payable to him/her during the month of service. This could improve the living
conditions of the workers resulting to good health.
 Water Governance mechanisms: The amount of water consumed by the sugar cane crop
through traditional irrigation methods is an unaffordable luxury for the state and
secondly, majority of the sugar cane mills are situated in the drought prone areas of
Maharashtra due to which there is so much poverty and distress migration. Hence, water
governance mechanisms should be introduced along with recognizing the cropping
pattern.

 Payment of Wages Act, 1936: This act provides for the remedies against the unauthorized
deductions made by the employer. Most of the migrant workers, unwritten/informal
workers employed by the sugar industries are often victims of irregular payments and
unexplained wage deductions. This Act monitors all these inappropriate activities by the

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 mill and give remedies for the same and hence we should ensure that there is proper
implementation of this act in the state.
 Equal Renumeration Act, 1976: women in sugar cane industries work for about 15 hours
a day, equivalent to the number of hours a man does but still they are deprived of their
rights of managing finances and sometimes are unpaid. This act provides for the payment
of equal renumeration to men and women workers based on the work they do for the
prevention of discrimination on the ground of sex, against women in the matter of
employment. This act therefore ensures that women cane cutters are being paid like that
of man and give them they fair wages.

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