34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST distribution of skilled and unskilled workers in terms of caste shows an interesting picture. The census ofBihar and Orissa in 1921 indicates that 34 per cent of the skilled workers were Muslims, 18 per cent Rajputs, 16 per cent Brahmins, 13 per cent Kayasthas, 6 per cent Kamars, 6 per cent Sikhs. On the other hand, 38 per cent of the unskilled workers were tribals, 26 per cent Telis from Chota Nagpur, 13 per cent Muslims, 6 per cent Tantis from U.P. and Bihar.4 The B^ckgroiasid to the Strikes The territorial, religious, linguistic and kinship differences among the labour force can be considered as hampering the social unification of workers into one class, and even of disorienting the trade union movement. However, a number of objective factors bring the workers together. The labour force at Jamshedpur was turning into a permanent labour force, devoid of links with agriculture. According to a survey conducted in 1938, only 3 per cent of all the workers who visited their home village did so for participating in cultivation; the rest, who visited their homes once in one to four years, did so predominantly for social reasons. Twenty-five per cent had cut off all links with their place of birth.5 The large-scale nature of the steel works led to the collection of a huge work force in one place. TISCO was initially designed for producing 120,000 tons of pig iron every year. The idea of extending TISCO works was mooted in 1916. The total amount of steel supplied by TISCO during the First World War came to 290,000 tons per year. The management saw the immense possibility of expanding steel production, which came to be called the 'Greater Extension'. With the extension, which was completed in 1924, TISCO was modernised and the number of mills increased from six to 12. This new extension called for a greater number of skilled wcikers apart from unskilled ones. Their number increased from 11,715 in 1917-18 to 30,135 in 1923-24. After 1925 the ratio of unskilled to skilled workers altered and by 1932-33 daily employment had dropped to 18,113.6 Thus, between 1924 and 1933 more than 8000 workers were dismissed, despite the impact of the 'greater extension" on different plants. Except for some mills which underwent intensified expansion in the new scheme, most of the 12 mills clearly showed a decrease in the number of workers. The modernisation led to more capital-intensive techniques and a corresponding intensification of the division of labour. The latter only meant that a more important role was played by the skilled workers and the axe in terms of a fall in the number of workers fell largely on the unskilled labourers. Another important impact of modernisation was on the female labour force. In 1921, TISCO employed 7000 women for stoking up the coal for boilers, for clearing away the coke from the ovens, for carrying pig iron, and for other unskilled lowly paid jobs. Before