§ Mr. BAKERasked the Under-Secretary of State for India the number of unemployed in India; and what measures, if any, have been taken to cope with this industrial problem?
§ Mr. RICHARDSThere is no unemployment in industrial centres in India 893W nor, in normal seasons, in agriculture, but each Province has in its Famine Code, an claborate machinery for dealing in times of scarcity or famine with unemployment, not only among agricultural workers, but with unemployment among village artisans whose livelihood depends upon the custom of agriculturists. Those fit to work are provided with actual employment; to the unfit suitable relief is given, while small cultivators are enabled to resume cultivation, when the famine season closes, by the grant of loans on specially easy terms. Provincial Famine Codes have been progressively improved in the light of past experience, and are worked by officers familiar with their provisions. They provide an effective organisation for dealing promptly and economically with agricultural unemployment, however widespread.