74 - SOCIAL SCIENTIST accepted in the judgements of subsequent tribunals. Since the Second Plan there were certain changes in the legal machinery to deal with the struggles of the working class—the Labour Apellate Tribunal was replaced in 1956 by a system of tripartite wage boards comprising of an equal number of representatives of employers, and workers with an independent Chairman supported by an economist and a consumers' representative. Though this arrangement appeared to be more flexible than the former Labour Apellate Tribunal it is clear from the way these wage boards functioned that as a rule they have been very conservative in their recommendations. Not merely that, a study on the working of the Wage Boards ^ shows that in most of the industries reviewed, after the implementation of the Wage Board recommendation, wage costs as a proportion of total costs were actually lower! Also profit rates in four main industries studied were not generally lower in a post implementation period as compared with a pre-implementation period.8 This is very significant and brings out the fact that in the settlement of workers^ demands, Whenever the wage increases depended upon a decision by statutory authority, Governments cautious approach in constituting such authority may be said to have operated against the workers. The nature of the judicial machinery for wage fixing with its scope for appeals to higher seats of justice has introduced an element of procedural delays to the disadvantage of labour.9 Now, a characteristic of the Indian wage structure is that the workers wage is made up of a basic wage. dearness allowance and a bonus; the most important being the first two. For each of these items, the workers must bargain separately or go to adjudication. The dearness allowance is a substantial portion of the gross wage and with variations among states forms about one-third of total earnings. TABLE IPERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF PER CAPITA ANNUAL EARNINGS OF EMPLOYEES EARNING LESS THAN RS. 400 PER MONTH IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES BY COMPONENTS Gross Wage Basic Wage < ^ash Allowance Bonus 1963 100 64.20 30.20 4.60 1964 100 63.34 32.60 3.21 1965 100 61.60 33.60 3.90 1966 100 60.90 34.13 4.05 1967 100 57.22 37.19 4.13 1968 100 — — — 1969 100 55.56 39.34 4.28 Source: Indian Labour Tear Book 1965 to 1970. A very interesting fact which emerges from the table is that the most significant source of change in wages has been the change in dearness