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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}
'''''Nokku kooli''''' is an [[euphemism]] for extortion by organized labour unions in [[Kerala]] under which wages are paid to trade union activists for allowing common householders/ investors/builders to unload belongings/materials using machines or their own labour.<ref name="Zach">{{cite news | url=http://www.indiaabroad-digital.com/indiaabroad/20110415?pg=31#pg31 | title='When elections come, Congress party gets suicidal tendencies' - Interview with Paul Zacharia | newspaper=India Abroad | date=2011-04-15 }}</ref> This happens with the tacit support of political parties including those in government. In [[Malayalam]], 'nokku kooli', translates into 'gawking wages' or 'wages for (just) looking on'.<ref name="Outlook-2008">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?237419 | title=Men (Not) At Work | magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] | date=2008-05-12 }}</ref> It had gained widespread notoriety all over Kerala, but the practice has been considerably curtailed in recent times.

''Nokku kooli'' often enjoys a quasi-statutory status. The wages list finalized by the Head-load Workers Welfare Fund Board in an industrial zone in [[Kochi]] shows Rs. 200 per load of [[ready-mix concrete]]. This, when the entire process is machine-driven. Similarly, one tipper load (lorry which can mechanically tip the load) fetches Rs. 15 for the union. At least 1,000 tipper lorries are at work in the [[Vallarpadom]] container trans-shipment terminal site in [[Kochi]]. Yet another example was in [[Idukki]]. Recently, the state Power minister [[A.K. Balan]] publicly censured head-load workers who took Rs 3,000 each as ''nokku kooli'' while cranes installed some 14 turbines, each weighing 80 tonnes, atop 120-ft towers, for a windmill farm.<ref name="Outlook-2008" />

== Modus Operandi ==

The ''[[modus operandi]]'' is usually as follows: At almost every industrial zone and residential area in the state, worker's unions posts "lookouts" whose task is to spot vehicles carrying goods. Once a quarry is spotted the news is quickly conveyed to all available union members, who then descend ''en masse'' to the place where the goods are to be offloaded. Heated negotiations then commence. The leaders often demand extortionist rates for doing the work. Their demand for a "right to work" is often not matched by an obligation to be efficient. So the usual compromise is for pay the union workers a certain amount for just watching - or gawking - while the work is done mechanically or using in-house workers. The employer, of course, loses both ways while making a double payment for the same work - he pays one group of "workers" for not working and another for actually getting it done.<ref name="Hindu-CITU">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article414036.ece | title=News: States: Kerala | publisher=The Hindu | work=CITU opposes ‘nokku kooli’ | date=28 April 2010 | access-date=9 December 2011 | author=(Special Correspondent of THE HINDU)}}</ref>

A [[Malayalam]] Writer, Paul Zakaria, illustrates Nokku Kooli with the following example:

:''You are, say, moving house. The worker comrades demand a prodigious sum to load/unload; so you decide to do it yourself with help from friends. The comrades look on from a distance; when you’re done, they ask to be paid the demanded wages. If you don’t pay up, there is a bit of violence and you get hurt. The revolution in Kerala says the worker must be paid even if he doesn’t work. That is a kind of workers’ paradise even Marx did not anticipate.''<ref name="PaulZ">{{cite news | url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/selfdestruct-m/953532/0 | title= Self Destruct | newspaper= The Indian Express | date=25 May 2012 | access-date=25 May 2012 }}</ref>

Widely recognized as an unethical labour practice,<ref name="Outlook-2008" /> it is cited as one of the reasons for poor industrial development in Kerala. Following a recent change of government in the state, the new Labour Minister [[Shibu Baby John]] has said attempts to end the menace of ‘nokku kooli' will commence as part of the department's agenda for the 100-day development program of the State government declared by Chief Minister [[Oommen Chandy]].<ref name="The Hindu">{{cite news | url=http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/04/stories/2011060453090400.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607042134/http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/04/stories/2011060453090400.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=2011-06-07 | title=Campaign to end 'nokkukooli' | newspaper=[[The Hindu]] | date=2011-06-04 }}</ref> This move by the government has been substantial success and various cities and districts have been declared Nokku Kooli-free.{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}}. On 2018 May 1, an official release from the Kerala CM [[Pinarayi Vijayan]] office said that trade unions had offered full support to the state government's move to end 'nokku kooli' in the state and 'Nokku kooli' to become history.<ref>{{cite news|title='Nokku kooli' to become history in Kerala on May Day: CM Pinarayi|url=https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2018/03/08/nokku-kooli-end-kerala-may-day.html|access-date=1 May 2018|work=OnManorama}}</ref>

==Judicial Intervention==
The Labour Department of the state government of Kerala has taken steps to end this illegal practice; including depriving the workers involved, of their jobs.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/labour-department-cracks-down-on-nokku-kooli/article2899336.ece | title=Labour Department cracks down on nokku kooli | date=16 February 2012 | newspaper=The Hindu | access-date=7 September 2019 }}</ref> There were interventions from [[Kerala High Court]] stating that case would be filed against those demanding ‘nokku kooli’.<ref>[http://asianetindia.com/implement-goonda-act-against-nokku-kooli-hc/ Implement goonda-act against nokku kooli: HC]</ref>

The state government unified the loading and unloading charges in the state after reviewing and revising the prevailing charges. A scheme was launched allowing the advance remittance of loading/unloading charges through [[State Bank of Travancore]] branches. This fare would be claimed by the workers from the bank through "Headload Workers Welfare Fund Board" offices.{{fact|date=September 2019}}

This scheme is launched in the capital city [[Thiruvananthapuram]](Trivandrum), which is declared as the first ‘Nokkukooli-free’ city in the state.<ref>[http://lc.kerala.gov.in/index.php/component/content/article/63.html Thiruvananthapuram-The First ‘Nokkukooli-free’ City]</ref> Government is in the process of launching this scheme all over the state starting with the five municipal corporations in the state. [[Kochi]]<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Ernakulam-is-now-Nokku-kooli-free/articleshow/11492754.cms Ernakulam is now Nokku kooli free]</ref> and [[Kozhikode]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140101185331/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kozhikode-to-be-third-nokku-koolifree-city/221266-60-116.html kozhikode to be third nokku kooli free city]</ref> was declared ‘Nokkukooli-free’ subsequently.

==See also==
* [[Hartal]] (strike used in Indian subcontinent for civil disobedience)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asianetindia.com/news/govt-opposes-nokku-kooli-pk-gurudasan_242155.html Government Opposes Nokku Kooli (Asianet News, 16 February 2011)]
* [http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-01-20/news/28430274_1_labour-militancy-citu-godown Kerala honcho takes on union, unloads himself (Economic Times. 20 January 2011)]
* [http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article414036.ece CITU opposes ‘nokku kooli’, (The Hindu, 28 April 2010)]
* [http://www.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=536413 ] news from mathrubhumi on 5 April 2015

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nokku Kooli}}
[[Category:Labor history]]
[[Category:Labour relations in India]]
[[Category:Contract law]]
[[Category:Kerala society]]
[[Category:Economy of Kerala]]
[[Category:Ethically disputed business practices]]
[[Category:Malayalam terms]]

Nokku kooli - Revision history

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