The Gazetteers Department

Agriculture which is the mainstay of the people in the district largely depends on manual labour. Cultivators having large holdings employ casual labourers during the very busy season and when time-limit is to be observed in carrying out certain agricultural operations. Generally the labourers constitute landless persons and those who possess small holdings. They are paid either in cash or in kind or both in cash and in kind daily or at the end of the work. The wage-rates of labourers employed for carrying out unskilled work such as weeding, harvesting, etc., do not vary considerably. On an average such labourers are paid between Rs. 2.55 and Rs. 2.67. However, the wage-rates of skilled labourers vary according to the type of work they do. For example, the wages paid to a carpenter for a day's work on an average varied between Rs. 5.38 and Rs. 5.69, those of a black-smith and a cobbler varied between Rs. 4.85 and Rs. 5.35, and Rs. 3.96 and Rs. 4.21, respectively. The table No. 22 gives wage-rates of skilled and unskilled labourers in the district in 1961-62, 1963-64 and 1965-66. Annual labourers or saldars constitute another category of agricultural labourers. Such labourers are usually employed by big land-lords. An amount varying between Rs. 300 and Rs. 500 is given to saldars. Besides, they are provided with one or two dresses and daily meals.

The agricultural labourers, however, get work for a short duration especially during sowing, weeding, harvesting and threshing seasons only. The labourers, therefore, tend to seek such fields of work where they can get work for the whole year. The business centres, the small and large scale industries and sugar factories in the district are providing new avenues of employment which are more lucrative than the work they have to do as casual labourers. The casual labour for agricultural operations, therefore, is becoming dear and scarce.

TABLE No. 22—AGRICULTURAL DAILY WAGES IN AHMADNAGAR DISTRICT DURING 1961-62, 1963-64 AND 1965-66

Months	Carpenters	Blacksmiths	Cobblers	Field-labour	Other Agricultural labour	Herdsmen
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
	Rs. P.	Rs. P.	Rs. P.	Rs. P.	Rs. P.	Rs. P.
1961-62
July	3.92	3.73	2.69	1.70	1.58	1.24
August	3.92	3.69	2.69	1.52	1.54	1.32
September	3.92	3.62	2.81	1.63	1.48	1.22
October	3.92	3.62	2.65	1.63	1.26	1.26
November	4.08	3.62	3.00	1.64	1.44	1.22
December	4.08	3.65	2.96	1.58	1.48	1.35
January	3.96	3.75	2.75	1.52	1.48	1.57
February	3.96	3.78	2.75	1.52	1.48	1.22
March	3.77	3.46	2.21	1.63	1.50	1.28
April	3.77	3.48	3.28	1.63	1.48	1.98
May	3.69	3.42	3.90	1.65	1.56	1.31
June	3.69	3.46	3.15	1.63	1.58	1.33
1963-64
July	4.15	3.73	3.12	2.00	1.79	1.51
August	4.27	3.92	3.25	1.96	1.73	1.51
September	4.27	3.92	3.25	1.98	1.77	1.51
October	4.27	4.00	3.33	2.06	1.85	1.58
November	4.50	4.08	3.33	2.08	1.87	1.60
December	4.54	4.12	3.37	2.08	1.87	1.65
January	4.50	4.08	3.33	2.10	1.88	1.62
February	4.50	4.08	3.42	2.06	1.96	1.00
March	4.38	3.96	3.37	2.02	1.88	1.67
April	4.50	4.08	3.37	2.05	1.94	1.72
May	4.62	4.12	3.54	2.04	1.94	1.72
June	4.31	4.04	3.46	2.00	1.90	1.58
1965-66
July	5.42	5.12	4.15	2.55	2.36	2.15
August	5.42	5.15	4.10	2.57	2.34	2.19
September	5.42	5.15	4.04	2.59	2.40	2.15
October	5.50	5.23	4.21	2.55	2.18	1.94
November	5.69	5.35	4.19	2.62	2.25	2.04
December	5.65	5.31	3.96	2.62	2.23	2.02
January	5.65	5.31	4.08	2.60	2.21	1.96
February	5.62	5.27	4.10	2.58	2.21	1.90
March	5.58	5.04	4.10	2.58	2.21	1.92
April	5.50	5.08	4.10	2.58	2.21	1.92
May	5.38	4.88	4.04	2.42	2.17	1.85
June	5.29	4.85	4.04	2.67	2.19	1.83

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