36 SOCIAL SCIENTIST It is a common practice on the part of tea companies to put the blame on labour for cost increases since it is a labour-intensive industry compared to other plantation crops and around 50 per cent of the cost of production is accounted for by wages and other benefits to the labour in South Indian tea plantations.3 Though it is true that the recent increase in money wages of South Indian tea plantation labour is moye sharp compared to North India, the issue needs clarification at least on the following aspect: the trends in real wages of the labour compared to the trends in labour productivity. From Table II, it can be observed that even though there has been a substantial increase in money wages, the rate of increase in real wages has been marginal during the period 1960-1978. Even the increases in real wages since the mid-1970*s do not come anywhere near the increases in labour productivity. But a more important malady is the increasing gulf between wages of the ordinary labour and the salaries of the managerial staff in the tea plantations. When the former, on an average, gets around Rs 3,000 per annum (excluding fringe benefits) the managerial class, on an average, earns around Rs 45,000 per annum (excluding INDEX OF MONEYINE WAGES) REAL \ >IAN TEA PLANI TABLE 11VAGES AND LABOUIFATIONS (1960-1978) i PR196 ODUCT ^0-sslO IVITY0 IN S( 3UTH\ 1960 1962 1964 1966 1969 1 970 1972 1974 1976 1978 Index of Money 100 108 116 131 143 161 177 191 376 413 Wages v Index of Real 100 106 95 88 80 87 88 94 123 125 Wages ^ Index of Labour 100 120 144 152 161 193 196 203 360 323 Productivity SOURCES: I. Computed from Tea Statistics (various issues). Tea Board, Calcutta. 2. Labour Department Statistics, UPASI, Coonoor. other fringe benefits such as car, well furnished bungalow, medical and Other benefits to family members). Interestingly, a recent study ' - by the Reserve Bank of India showed that employees earning more than Rs 3000 per month in the tea plantations of the country, on an average, earned Rs 62,962 per annum in 1977-78.4 Structural Causes Behind Cost Increases The structural causes behind the steady increases in the cost of production are deep rooted and a thorough examination of them requires a historical analysis of the major developments taking place in the industry over the years. One of the major problems confronting the 3 Tharian George K, "The Economics of Tea Plantations ia South India",Ph D thesis submitted to the University of Cochin, 1^82, p 300« \ 4 Reserve Bank of India Bulletin, May 1^80. *