[Reader-list] 2nd posting of Independent research fellow

Thu Feb 23 19:43:16 IST 2006

    On 23/02/2006 Sudipta Paul <sdipta_paul at yahoo.com

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 2nd posting

  The work of first phase of our project are to identify  the different changes and compilation of those changes. In our second posting we write about the changes in coal sectors.

  Changes within the last 15 years in coal sector

  In the beginning of the 90s one important event was the introduction of the new economic policy. Broadly, new economic policy initiated the gradual withdrawal of state from the control of basic industry and infrastructure. The basic industry and service sectors were open up for free entry of private and foreign capital. By decreasing the import duty, Indian market is opened for the foreign goods. Even the import duty of coal was gradually decreased to facilitate the global market. So the effect of new economic policy in the consequence of globalization also falls on the coal sectors. We now see what sort of impact of policy change has taken place upon the coal sector and coal workers.

  It was 26th  January, 2005. Workers of a private agency Eastern Mineral and Treading Agency are crowded in front of their Camp. The  camp is the accommodation of the workers near their working area Tara Open Cast Mines of M/s Bengal EMTA Coal Mines Ltd. Mines are closed on account of republic day. All workers got a holiday simultaneously after a long time.    So they are in the mood of celebration with meat and alcohol. One alcohol shop is in front of the camp. The owner gave a seat to us. Then some curious workers came to ask us about our purpose of visit. Most of them were drunken. After understanding partially about our purpose nobody wanted to talk about their own conditions. One said that All are terrorized to say anything to the outsider. If authority knows about that anyone has opened his mouth, the very next day he will be dismissed from job. Another person uttered in anger We are in bonded labour condition.

  This is the picture of the workers of a captive coal mine when coal mines are opend for private capital after 30 years of nationalization and achievement of some legal rights through a long history of coal workers movement.  

   Upto mid 90s the nationalized coal, Eastern Coal Field Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limeted is the only major coal production organisation in Asansol - Ranigange coal field. After amended of  Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973 w. e. f. 9.6.1993 to allow private sector participation in coal mining for generation of power by private sectorprivate partners are engaged for extraction of coal from Asansol  Ranigange coalfield from mid 90s, but only from OCP. The decision to extract coal from ten coal reserved patches (eight out of these ten are in west Bengal) by outsourcing in 2001 gave a new dimension towards privatisation of coal. Also in proposed Coal Mines (Nationalization) Amendment Bill, 2000 one important clause is to open up the coal sector for private investment and for open sell. 

  Impact of the policy Change is the introduction of a number of private operators in the coal production.

   In 1996, WBSEB and WBPDCL had jointly opted for extraction of coal from their captive coal mine-Tara(East) and Tara(WEST) in joint venture with 74% share of a private agency - Eastern Minerals & Treading Agency (EMTA). The production and dispatch of coal to the power stations are done by EMTA vide an agreement between the company and EMTA. This is the first colliery from where extraction and dispatch of coal is totally done by a private agency.   
   In the next step, the first major private colliery of India, Sarsatali Coal Mines Project, sponsored by Integrated Coal Mines Ltd (ICML), a subsidiary of CESC, has started open cast project on the virgin land of 2615 acres. ICML has also engaged the private contractor, G.S. Atwal for coal production.  
    Closer of the loss making Under Ground Mines and Outsourcing of 17 Coal Reserved Patches : With a large number of underground mines, loss making ECL has became sick company under SICA 1985. With the withdrawal of cross subsidy between all the subsidiaries of CIL as well as subsidy by the Central Government in the era of new economic policy, ECL has been declared as a sick company under SICA 1985 in 1997. By converting the government loan to equity ECL came out from BIFR. Again ECL was referred to BIFR in 2001.State Bank of India (SBI) as an operating agency of ECL has given eleven proposals in their revival packages for ECL. One of the proposals is outsourcing of some coal patches, suitable for OCP mines for a short period. Other proposals are closer of 26 UG mines and some financial support from central and state government and CIL Among all the other proposals outsourcing of the small coal reserved patches and the closer of the Underground mines are getting consent of the ECL
><DEFANGED.2  authority. Already the seven numbers mines have been closed. Then outsourcing of the ECL has been started in 2002. Loss making ECL has target to gain some profit by selling coal which is produced at a lower cost than ECL by private contractors giving lower wage than the workers of ECL by passing the national coal wage agreement.  

   In the above cases of private initiatives the informal nature of production is the predominant characteristic.   The total production procedure is run by contractual methods. There is a main contractor for coal production and transport. This contractor has a number of sub-contractors for different jobs.   

  Now the workers of ECL are organized in several trade unions. Particularly, in terms of wages, job security and safety the work condition has improved. Rights of the workers were legalized by enactment of National Coal Wage Agreements (NCWA).  Gradually there was an increase in wages of the organised workers but the employment opportunity and the number of workers decreased.     Nationalized coal could not absorb the unused labour force after a certain point. So the reserved pool of labour force is engaging in the illegal mines where the primitive way of production is continuing without any scientific safety measures. Accident is the regular feature and basically non-reportable and uncountable. After introduction of the big private owners now the unused labour force is ready to work  practically without any existing labour rights like employment lettter, identity card, minimum wages or job security in the captive mines under the private contractors. Also they are completely
 unorganized.  There is an unofficially ban to organize in unions. There is no document about the status and the number of workers of the private contractors in government records and even the respective employer gave partial and incomplete documents about the workers. One is the permanent coal workers under NCWA of ECL who are organized within the different recognized Tread Unions. Other type of workers of private agency or contractors and illegal mines is mostly informal and unorganized outside the NCWA.  

   Changes in the Organised Sector-ECL

  Given importance on the foreign technology without searching for suitable technology for the specific geo-mining condition of Asansol-Ranigange Coal Belt
  Gradual shift to labour replacing mechanized big Open Cast Mines Projects from labour intensive under ground mines.

   Impacts upon Organised Labour force are

  1.      workers of ECL decreased from 1.85 lakhs in 1975-76 to 1.10 lakhs in 2003-04. After 1985 there is no new recruitment in ECL.  
  2.      Have not create employment opportunity with increasing production from labour intencive UG mines.
  3.      Labour replacing technology of the Big Open Cast Mines also create surplus 

  Unorganised or informal workers   
   Number of unorganized workers

  Formal data sets and official documents are available about the workers of the organized sector, Eastern Coalfield Limited. But there are no documents or official records about the unorganised worker of the outsourced coal patches of ECL and new the private initiatives.  When we went to the Regional Labour Commissioners office then they informed us that they have no authentic documentation about the workers of the private contractors. There is huge variations in the number of workers in every inspection. It is true that the requirement of workers varies from time to time in the Open Cast Coal Mines. For ex. production is low in the rainy season. But we asked to for the record - the way they have it. Yet they denied me the data. They also said that the wage data cannot be given as there was no fixation of wage for the coal workers. We fail to understand why the wage data are not available which is given to the miners. Even the union leaders of the power sector, West Bengal State
 Electricity Board do not know about the status of the worker of captive mines run by the joint venture with 24% share of  WBSEB and WBPDCL From our survey work and some data collected from the office of the private operators we became able to compile the these data. 
><DEFANGED.3    
  Table: Number of Unorganized workers

    Outsourced patches of ECL
    Bengal EMTA
    ICML
    Illegal Mines  
      From official documents
    Nil
    800
    512
    -
      From the rough estimate  
    1000
    NA
    NA
    100000
      Workers under subcontractors, involved in partial works like coal transport, coal sampling
    500
    2000
    600
    NA

  Source : Environmental Management Plane of M/S Bengal EMTA Limited, collected data from the office of G.S. Atwal and survey report.
    In the registered private collieries there are different types of workers.

  Parmanent The total production procedure is run by contractual method. So they only have a small formal structure of management. The officers, supervisory staffs, clerks are in this formal structure. 

   Workers directly related with the production Next type workers are under contractors and subcontractors directly related with production.   This contractor has a number of sub-contractors for different jobs. Most of them are outsiders or migrant workers from Bihar, UP and other districts of West-Bengal. Generally one senior worker informs the next worker of his own village and one of his relatives. This is the dominat way of recruitment of the outside workers. In most of the cases initially there is no written recognition as a workers of the mine. Even the employer does not make any verbal commitment about the wages, different facilities, leave etc. simply there is no job contract. So these workers have no formal status based upon the written contract. From interview of the workers we get the impression that in the era of large reserve pool of labour force the employer is powerful to take action against workers. As there are no rules the owner increases wages or gives promotion to
 his own selected workers according to his own will. According to the workers  the loyal workers are benefited. Only 68 land looser of Sarsatali Open Cast Coal Mines project got job under the main contractor G.S. Atwal of ICML. The job of these land-looser is permanent throughout the age of Sarsatali OCP according to an agreement with the ICML and local administration. The main initiators to organize the workers of Sarsatali OCP under the trade unions are these 68 land-losers. This is the only union in this belt outside Nationalized coal. But this is not affiliated with any existing Trade Union of coal. Except these 68 workers, some outsiders are the members of this union. But no one under subcontractors is connected with the union. Around 80-85 local people of the OCP affected area have got the job in these two captive mines through the local political party. From the interviewee of a respondent party gave job to those family who have more wealth and money. Party did not prefer
 the have-nots. The workers are in full control of the local party and their affiliated Trade Union. But the central Tread Union have no initiative to make factory wise Union in the private initiatives. One worker of the Bengal EMTA, connected with ruling party of WB said now pary has started to think to form a union. When we want to know the reason behind these he said that  I do not want say why they are doing this after 10 years of the opening of OCP.

   Piece rated workers- The mechanized OCPs are not able to generate sufficient employment for the affected local people for the OCP.  So under the control of the local party, around 1500 to 2000 people got the job to separate stone from coal and to make proper size of coal piece before loading in the wagon.   They are working in-groups of seven to ten of a village. They do not have job for the whole year. These groups work in piece rate under the supervision of a munshi or sardar.  All groups of the Bengal EMTA siding are divided in two divisions. One division is allowed to work 20 days in a month and other group is allowed to work for another ten days in a month and vice versa. This process has been taken in the course of unofficial agreement with the local political party to stop the unrest among local jobless people. So now political party plays the role of sardar.
><DEFANGED.4    

   Self employed people- Another type of  workers, who are not recognized as worker, are engaged to earn money from rejected coal, which is not used in power plant, extracted from OCP. They use the resource of formal sectors. Through an intermediate chain this coal finally reaches the formal sector like Sponge Iron, cement company and for domestic uses.  Women, men, children, in fact all members of a family go to collect coal in one or two pieces from the overburden (piled up mud and stone on the surface above the coal seams as a small hill) of the Open Cast Mines of ECL and captive mines  through out the day.  This people are popularly known as Kawla Kurani. After a whole day of collection they sell one bag of coal to a carrier popularly known as cycle-wala. This man then carries nearly bag of 3-4 quintal coal by cycle to the nearest coal depot or the Asansol town for sell. Thus Kawla Kurani sells collected coal to cycle-wala, then cycle-wala to the owner of Bullock Cart from whom
 the owner of coal depot and lastly the owner of depot sells it in the market or the owner of the truck. In this way this type of intermediary process is continuing.  At the time of collection of coal, accidents occur quite frequently due to the landslide at the surface of the hill of piled over-burden. But these people till make jokes at the time of telling about the accidents. In the absence of no other means of earning this subsistence economy persists.  

   This is the gross structure of the different production organisations. Even in ECL, a portion of the work is done by the contract labour. But the major part has a formal structure and records with a fraction of unorganised or informal labours under contract. However, in unorganised sector the dominant mode of production and status of workers are unorganised and informal with only a small fraction of formal structure.

  List of Coal Companies

            Name of coal company
    Nature of coal company
    Official status of coal company
    Mode of production
      ECL
    Public sector
    Organized / Formal 
    Organized / Formal (except outsourced coal deposit patches)
      Unorganized / Informal 
    Unorganized / Informal   (coal deposit patches of ECL)
      M/s Bengal EMTA Coal Mines Ltd
    Joint venture
    Formal 
    Unorganized / Informal 
      Integrated Coal Mines Ltd.
    Private company
    Formal 
    Unorganized / Informal 

  Here we stratify the different categories of workers according to difference in mode of productions as like as table. We consider the unionized workers of the private operators, ICML, Sarisatali Coal Mines as organized workers. One important thing from the table is the social recognition of the workers. 

  Group of Organized and Unorganized Coal Workers of Asansol  Ranigange Coal-belt

            Naming of group
    Group of workers
  (Formal/informal)
    Naming of Sub-group
    Sub-group of workers
    Nature of job contract
    Local/
  outsider/
  migrant
    Skilled/
  unskilled
    Social 
  recognition
      A
    Organized workers 
     1
    Workers of ECL 
    Permanent
    Local /
  Outsider /
  Migrant
    Skilled/
  unskilled
    Service man and miner
      2
    Workers of the main contractor of ICML
    Temporary
    Outsider / 
  migrant 
    Skilled/
  unskilled
    Worker 
      B

    Unorganized workers 

    1
    Workers of contractor and subcontractors directly related with production
    Temporary
    Outsider / 
  Migrant
    Skilled/
  unskilled
    Worker 
      2
    Workers of railway siding
    Job contract
    Local 
    Unskilled 
    Day labour
      3
    Self employed
    Depend upon the availability of resource
    Local 
    Unskilled
    No specific terms
      4
    Workers of private mines
    Not known
    Local /
  Outsider /
  migrant
    Unskilled
    Illegal miner

  The organised workers earn three to four times more than the unorganised workers in terms of wages. If we consider the rate of exploitation in terms of earning for per tone coal production then exploitation is much higher than gross earning. The status of unionized workers is better than non-unionized workers. It is better not only in material terms but also in terms of their mental conditions, for example- the workers organized under unions are more free to give answer at the time of survey or interview.
><DEFANGED.5    
  In our second posting we write about the closer of public sector like Indian Iron and Steel Company, Kulty, Cycle company ect and two new Industrial estate of Asansol. One is Kanyapur Industrial Estate and other is Mangalpur Industrial Estate. Both are started from 1990-91. The nature of small and medium industry are Sponge Iron, cement, food, plastic, rolling mill, packaging, alluminium, oil, sa\mall manufacturing etc.

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