Economic activities have taken the centre-stage of human life. Everyone has to earn his own money to sustain – to obtain food, shelter, education, health and entertainment. There is no scarcity of food and other materials on earth; but access is restricted. Only those who have money can obtain these essentials and luxuries. It is now virtually the mandate of the capitalist society that anyone not possessing money or wealth has to do hard physical labour for survival.

He has to use a good quantity of muscle power, nerves and brains daily to earn money. It is presumed that poor illiterate people will do backbreaking jobs 365 days a year, that too for paltry sums. Their wives and children too will have to work throughout the year. Their bodies are their only assets. A poor person, even if he works hard, may still remain poor under the present economic system. Poverty has become an integral part of society. Hungry men need money at any cost to buy food. It is presumed that poor families will work as unskilled labour in industries. The rise of capitalism coupled with rapid acceleration of industrialisation created the ‘labour force’.

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Capitalism needs plenty of labour at the cheapest cost. Poverty feeds capitalism well. Patrick Colquahoun (1745-1820), a powerful Scottish merchant, saw poverty as an essential precondition for industrialization. In his words: “Poverty is therefore a most necessary and indispensable ingredient in society, without which nations and communities could not exist in a state of civilization. It is the lot of man. It is the source of wealth, since without poverty, there could be no labour, there could be no riches.”

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Labour cost in industries is determined by prevailing labour market prices and not by contributions made by each individual labour to production. So, industrialists have the advantage in determining wages in their favour in a developing economy like India. Some argue that the capitalist system........

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