Southern states account for 58% of value of goods produced by inmates 2017
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 20, 2019
Reformation of inmates is one of the primary goals of prisons. The NCRB 2017 report on prisons indicates that the southern states are leading the way in the value of goods produced by inmates. Telangana has produced almost 21% of the value of goods produced by inmates in the country. ﻿
Prisons act as a controlled environment for those arrested, under the supervision of the state and are aimed at reformation of the inmates. To reduce recidivism and to aid rehabilitation, the inmates are offered vocational skills training, access to education, library, yoga and meditation sessions. Vocational skills training provides an alternative livelihood source for offenders when they are released on completing their sentences. This also ensures that the time spent serving their sentences is also made to use in a constructive manner.
The United Nations’ Standard Minimum
Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners of1955 lays out rules to be adhered to by various countries, to ensure humanetreatment of prison inmates. Rehabilitation of inmates is also discussed in thedocument. The Model Prisons Manual ,prepared by the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD) advises allstates to devise appropriate policies to facilitate prisoners’ employment andrehabilitation. Convicts and under-trial prisoners who volunteer to work are tobe paid nominal wages for their labour as per rules. They cannot be compelledto work for more than nine hours a day.
Jail products have even
entered mainstream markets
Thearticles produced in prison industries are sold to government departments,cooperatives, and other public undertakings. Of late, prison industries in someof the states are flourishing. In Kerala,jails are collaborating with online food delivery firms to cater to morecustomers. Brand ‘TJ’ is an initiative of Tihar Jail which has a wide range ofproducts ranging from bakery items, jute bags recycled paper products topaintings and furniture sold in their exclusive stores set up across New Delhi. Even in stateslike Telangana,inmates are extended training and their products are sold through dedicatedoutlets.
Prison Statistics 2017
was released this year after a delay of one year
TheNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released the annual Prison StatisticsIndia report of 2017 recently. In this report, the NCRB presents the numbersand figures related to prisons, inmates, staff, facilities and more. In thisstory, we explore the figures related to vocational training impartedand goods produced injails across India.
Goods worth almost Rs.
280 crores were produced in Indian Prisons in 2017
Thevalue of goods produced in Indian prisons has touched the highest totalling toRs. 279.8 crores in 2017. This is the second time it has crossed the Rs. 200crore mark, after 2015. Since 2010, the total value of goods produced has morethan tripled, from Rs. 80.1 crores in 2010 to Rs. 279.8 crores in 2017. Comparedto 2016, the value of goods produced has increased by about 40%. The valueof goods produced in 2016 was slightly less than the value of goods produced in2015.
Telangana contributes
to more than one-fifth of the total earnings of India
Thestate of Telangana has reported the highest value of goods produced in 2017.With an earning of Rs. 59.9 crores, Telangana alone contributes 21% of thetotal earnings reported in India. Not far behind, Tamil Nadu has reportedearnings of Rs. 56.8 crores in the same year. A total of 41% of  total earnings are contributed by these twostates. Maharashtra and Kerala are next in line with Rs. 30.5 crores and Rs.29.4 crores respectively. Bihar reported the fifth highest-earning with Rs.16.3 crores. The value reported by the top ten states in terms of earningsamount to Rs. 250.1 crores which is almost 90% of the total earnings of India.
South Indian states
together contribute almost 58% of the total value of goods produced
Ona closer look, the performance of the states in the south seems to be better thanthe states in other parts of the country. The total value of goods produced inthe southern states of Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, andKarnataka is Rs. 162.7 crores which is almost 58% of the national total. It hasto be noted that these five states account for only about 12% of all the inmatepopulation in the country.  North-easternstates of Assam, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, andArunachal Pradesh together have together reported sales worth Rs. 15 Lakhs only,may be owing to a fewer number of inmates.
Each inmate in
Telangana produced goods worth more than Rs. 1 lakh, about 16 times the
national average
Anotherobservation is that the productivity of the inmates is the highest inTelangana. Here, by productivity, reference has been made to the average valueof goods produced per inmate. In other words, the total value of goods dividedby the total number of inmates in each of the states has been calculated as theproductivity. In Telangana, the average value of goods produced per inmate was worthRs. 1.08 lakh in 2017, which is almost 16 times the national average.  Following Telangana is Chandigarh with productivityof Rs. 41,705 per inmate. Tamil Nadu has a productivity of Rs. 40,685 perinmate. In addition to these three states, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh also havea productivity of more than Rs. 10,000 per inmate. Rajasthan has the lowestproductivity at just Rs. 461 per inmate. The national average in terms of thevalue of goods produced per inmate is Rs. 6209 in 2017.
Based on the type of
labour, nominal daily wage is provided to the inmates
Anaverage of Rs. 97.5 is paid each day to an inmate involved in skilled labour.For semi-skilled and unskilled labour, the average wage was Rs. 82.7 and Rs.74.4 respectively. Himachal Pradesh pays a wage of Rs. 210 each day to alllabourers irrespective of skill.
Around 47,000 inmates
underwent training in various vocational skills
Vocationalskills training was provided to 47,390 inmates in 2017, which is about 10% ofthe total inmate strength in the country. About 9% of them got trained inweaving and 6.9% got trained in tailoring. Around 6% got trained in carpentryand 5.4% in agriculture. Bihar accounted for 8.4% of the trained inmates in thecountry.
From the chart, it is evident that a significant number (69%) of inmates were trained in ‘other’ skills. These other skills include agarbatti (incense sticks) making, artificial flower making, adult education, plumbing, food items production, handicraft, sanitary napkin production, and other innovations. 14.7% of the inmates who gained training in other skills are from Delhi.
Featured Image: Reformation of inmates