ISBN: - 978-93-88936-09-5 CHAPTER -IV SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF NATURAL RUBBER TAPPERS IN KANIYAKUMARI DISTRICT 4.1 INTRODUCTION Rubber tappers in Kanyakumari district face a number of problems every day. Most of the rubber tappers work on small holdings (unorganized sector) with less than 2.5 acres. It is found that most of the rubber tappers interviewed live in miserable conditions. Only a few tappers have preferred to tap trees in the rubber estates. Because of they get salary on the basis of monthly. Rubber cultivation and production are not easy and simple vocation. It needs large and professional labour force during its whole lifetime existence. Tapping of rubber trees is not only a skilled job but also a highly labour intensive. Decline in the natural rubber economy causes decline or stagnation in wage rate and reduction in the number of working days. The wage rate too is very low. The Indian penal code has stated that those who are working in industry or organisation from 10 p.m to 6a.m. get double remunerations. As per the survey, the time of tapping generally adopted 6.00 a.m to 7.30 a.m before that, they wake up in their bed. They can’t follow a proper time schedule and it is based on the availability of milky rubber. But here, tappers are tapping the trees starting from 6 a.m. There is the absence of bargaining power and trade union activities. At present, there is no serious scarcity of tappers, though there is scarcity of skilled persons. The trend shows that the younger generations are not interested in tapping, due to low wage rate system which may lead to further decline in rubber economy. Another serious problem is the shortage of skilled tappers. Most of them belong to the age limit of above 40. And majority of them are illiterate. They are not preferred to introduce new methods of tapping. 4.2 TAPPERS Tappers are those who extract rubber from the trees, while the field workers tend to the crop and provide for maintenance in the plantations. Tappers will have to be recruited when the rubber trees become fit for tapping. Generally experienced tappers are highly preferred by the plantation owners. Tapping required ‘the cutting of a very thin slice of the bark of the tree’ for collecting latex that oozes out along the edge of the cut in a cup. Tapping is not only collecting but also carrying the latex and scrap to the weighing spots. 4.3 TAPPING Latex is obtained from the bark of the rubber tree by tapping. Tapping is a process of controlled wounding during which thin shavings of bark are removed. The aim of tapping is to cut 101
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