INDUSTRIES

INTRODUCTION.

THE ECONOMY OF YEOTMAL DISTRICT is based upon agriculture. The district is one of the industrially backward districts of Maharashtra State. As a matter of fact there are very few organised, modern industries. Most of the industries in the district, as can be seen from the description of the various industries given below, are mainly related to the processing of agricultural produce. Cotton ginning and pressing, oil mills, weaving, aal mills, tobacco manufacturing are the principal industries. There are other industries which draw upon the forest wealth. A few industries like textile mills, engineering, works and metal works arc coming up in the district. A special mention must be made of the co-operative spinning and weaving mill at Wani and a cooperative spinning mill at Pandharkawda which are calculated to encourage the development of other agro-industries and ancillary industries. The district does not possess the infrastructure which is necessary for industrial development of the district. The total railway mileage in the district is 17.71 kilometres under broad gauge and 64.40 kilometres under narrow gauge. The broad gauge line connects Wani with Majri railway station on the Madras-Delhi Grand Trunk route, while the narrow gauge line connects Yeotmal with Murtizapur railway station on the Bombay-Nagpur railway line. Thus the district so far as railway facilities are concerned is very poorly equipped. For its over all development therefore, the district to a very large extent has to depend upon the road communications. But in this connection also quite a large portion of the countryside is still to be covered by good roads which will be useful for transport in all the seasons. At present only the tahsil headquarters are linked with good roads. The total road mileage in the district as at the end of 1965-66 was 1,517 kilometres—an increase from 1,336 kilometres at the end of 1960-61. This increase of 13 per cent, however, is not a very imposing one. To improve upon this state of affairs the State Government adopted several measures under the Five-Year Plans. The Department of Industries encourages organisation of large and small industrial units by giving facilities such as financial assistance in the form of loans, availability of raw materials, machinery, etc. It also supplies technical information and training to deserving persons through peripatetic schools. The Zilla Parishad also implements industrial programmes though on a small scale. During 1965-66 the Zilla Parishad disbursed loans amounting to Rs. 90,000 to 170 units under S. A. I. Rules which mainly included carpentry and smithy, leather, tailoring and wooden work. The Bank of Maharashtra disbursed an amount of Rs. 15,000 to two industrial units under S. A. I. Rules in 1965 66.

Besides, some pilot schemes or centrally sponsored schemes are also introduced in the district the main object of which is to provide employment to landless agricultural labourers. The scheme was first proposed to be implemented through the district industrial co-operative board but subsequently it was decided to implement it through a co-operative society. A co-operative-society has been registered for this purpose at Yeotmal. During the Third Five-Year Plan period Government contributed a sum of Rs. 10.32 lakhs to the share capital of the society.

In addition to these efforts various types of industrial cooperative societies have been organised in the district and almost all the industries in the district have been brought under the cooperative fold. The statement given below shows the progress made in this connection in the district: —

In spite of these efforts the district is comparatively lagging behind in industrialisation. There were 69 factories registered under the Factories Act in the district at the end of 1963. Of these 55 were power operated and 14 were non-power operated. The factories are classified into two categories viz., Large-scale and Small-scale. A large-scale factory is defined as one having 50 or more workers when power operated or 100 or more workers when not power operated. The rest are small-scale industries. According to this classification 31 out of the 55 power operated factories were large-scale and the rest, small-scale. Out of 14 non-power operated factories, 13 were small-scale and only one was a large-scale. The existing industries are mostly medium and small-scale factories including cotton ginning and pressing, oil mills, weaving, brick-making, etc.

The most important industry of the district since the beginning of the twentieth century is cotton ginning and pressing. Then cotton ginning used to be done solely by hand gins, hat reche (always worked by women). Later on it was done chiefly by means of steam gins. The seed which was then removed by hands was preferred for sowing. The number of steam factories was 40 and they apparently had a capital of more than Rs. 20,00,000 and employed about 3,500 hands. Of the 40 factories mentioned, 32 were for ginning and eight for pressing cotton. Most of them were started in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Almost all the towns and some smaller places had their factories. A certain amount of cotton was brought to factories within the district from the ex-Nizam's Dominions, and a good deal was taken to factories at Warora, Hinganghat, Karanja and other places outside the district, cultivators making long journeys to secure a good price. Work was seldom kept up through the night, and accidents were very rare.

Table No. 1 gives the number of persons engaged in Industries under "Mining and Quarrying", "Manufacturing", "Construction" and "Electricity, Gas, Water and Sanitary Services" in Yeotmal district in 1961.

Table No. 2 gives the number of registered factories, their productive capital, employment, etc., in Yeotmal district in 1961.

TABLE No. 1

 PERSONS ENGAGED IN VARIOUS INDUSTRIES, YEOTMAL DISTRICT, 1961

TABLE No. 1— contd.

TABLE No. 2

NUMBER OF REGISTERED FACTORIES IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT, 1961.

The present chapter is divided into three sections. The first deals with large and small industries which are registered under the Factories Act. Cottage and village industries are described in the second section, while the third one gives an account of the trade union movement and labour organisation in the district.

TOP