BENGAL. But the
follows.
classification is evidently
must be accepted with as
many
as
46^
all
the
reserve.
301 an unsatisfactory one, and
Of the whole population
millions are returned as ‘unemployed.’ all
the
employment besides their unemployed females amounts
to
30,466,119
children
population of 34,911,270. 2 millions are
number
in
employed
These
figures
women who have no specific own household work. The number of
and
include
of 69,536,861,
out of a total female
Of the remaining 4^
in agricultural pursuits,
million females, almost
and a
slightly smaller
Among the
manufactures and technical industry.
34,625,591 males in Bengal, 15,830,331 are returned as unemployed, these being A nearly equal number almost entirely children and old men. (i3i332,S57) derive their income from land-ownership and cultivation ;
more than 2J millions are employed in manufactures and technical rather more than a million belong to the commercial class
industry
while the remainder (624,538) or Government employes.
rather less than a million are in service are professional
The people
men
of the eastern Districts of the Province are as a rule
In the
better off than those in the western Districts. rate of
wages
is
higher in the east, while food
is
secondly, the pressure of the population on the soil are
first
much
place, the
generally cheaper is
lighter,
and rents
consequently lower in comparison to the productiveness of the
and the remunerative character of such Districts to the west, however, where labour
soil
staples as jute, etc.
In
cheap and land dear, the people emigrate to other parts of the country for temporary service and labour. Thus, the people of Behar, Orissa, and Chutia Nagpur es{)ecially every year send colonies into Bengal, besides furnishing labourers for the tea Districts. The emigration from Calcutta to countries beyond sea averages only 12,000 per
The
prices of
common
food differ
much
is
annum.
at the central
marts and in
the isolated tracts of the interior, being tolerably uniform in the former,
but sometimes extraordinarily cheap in the facilities for
latter.
transport are tending to correct this
The
increasing
but prices are every-
where much higher than they used to be in former times. At present, in Bengal and Behar hamlets, a rupee will ordinarily purchase 20 to 25 sers (40 to 50 lbs.) of common rice, and in Orissa from 25 to 30 sers. During the last generation it would have purchased 40 sers., and in the generation before that, 60 sers and upwards. In Calcutta itself, prices of food are still dearer ; there, a rupee will seldom purchase more than In Behar, however, maize and other cereals, 16 sers of common rice. besides rice, are consumed ; and of these, a rupee will purchase as much as 35 sers. The wages of labour may be generally stated at i to 2 annas (i|d. to 3d.) a day in Behar, 2 annas (3d.) in Orissa, 3 annas (4|d.) in Northern Bengal, 4 annas (6d.) in Central Bengal, 5 annas (7^d.) in Eastern Bengal, and 4 to 6 annas (6d. to pd.) in Calcutta.
