Colonial labour conditions in the plantation industry: The case of criminal tribes on the Tea Estates of Annamalai Hills

The plantation industry in the erstwhile Madras Presidency always faced the problem of inadequate supply of labour. The imposition of the Criminal Tribes Act on certain migrant groups by the colonial state in the Presidency helped in the creation of a reserve labour force for the planters. This paper seeks to analyse the reaction of these tribespeople to this forced proleterianisation and also to examine the nature of the controls that the plantation labour in the Presidency were subjected to in the colonial era.