SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

Labour is generally categorised as family, exchange and hired
labour (Hirashima and ~uqtad 1986:7). Family labour is own labour
while hired labour is any labour other than own labour. It could be hired
for wage or engaged on a reciprocal arrangement. Thus, even exchange
labour could be included to form part of hired labour. Hired labour
could be categorised as wage labour and exchange labour. Wage labour
is basically of two types. They are either contract or casual. Thus, there
are three major types of labour discerned in rural agricultural scenario of
Tamil Nadu, namely, casual labour, contract labour and exchange labour
(Gregory 1994a).
Casual Labour: In local term, this type of labour is known as
'coolial'. Casual labour generally refers to the labour that is hired on
daily-basis. Though, in the strict sense, this type of labour forms a single
category, for heuristic purpose, it can be further classified into
unattached casual labour and Assured casual labour. In the unattached
casual labour, the labourers have the freedom to go for any work and
wherever available. The work may sometimes be even output-based as it
happens in ground-nut harvest. Such labourers do not like to be at the
mercy of someone through any sort of binding. They enjoy freedom of
choice and a sense of dignity while they hardly enjoy the favour of their
employers in any respect. Both males and females are involved in this
type of labour.
In assured casual labour, a labourer is attached to a larger
landholder on daily wage basis. It also involves a patron-client
relationship, exhibiting an informal attachment between the patron and
client households. Thus, whenever the patron is in need of labour, it is
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