Literature, Society, Polity > Tea Garden Community and Adivasi Assertion in Assam

Tea Garden Community and Adivasi Assertion in Assam

The demand for a Scheduled Tribe status has taken precedence over the demand for social and economic security by the tea plantation community in Assam.This calls for a deeper understanding of

The rally organised by Adivasi students and the subsequent violent retaliation by the city residents on the 24th of November 2007 in Guwahati raised a debate on the struggle and the identity of the tea plantation labourers in Assam. The media portrayed the episode as the outcome of enmity between the mainstream Assamese and the labourers. The incident was also dubbed as the ultimate expression of the inbuilt prejudice and class hatred which mark the approach of a sizable section of the Assamese middle class towards the tea garden

The civil society in the state acted with alacrity and condemned the incident with one voice while at the same time asserting that the November 24 episode should not be viewed as

Since the 1860s, when first batches of indentured workers were brought into Assam from present day Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh, there were occasional clashes between the management and the tea garden labourers in Assam on

In the last fifty years, the tea garden labourers have been mostly represented by Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) led Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), affiliated to the Congress, and had been able to make its presence felt in almost all the tea gardens in the state quite unlike the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) which has influence only in few pockets. The INTUC and CITU have not been able to articulate other demands that include the

Growing dissonance with the established trade unions, the newly formed student organisations among the community began taking up vital issues for the welfare of the tea garden community. Since the 1990s, the All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (AATTSA) and very recently the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) have been raising major concerns of their community. These two organisations are demanding Scheduled Tribes (ST) status for the tea garden labour community in Assam like the Adivasis of the same ethnic groups in states like Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. They have also taken up the issues of yearly bonus, separate department for the tea garden labour community, provision of electricity to the tea garden labour lines, drinking water, housing, etc.

There is a need to discuss the greater debate on inclusive development of the tea plantation economy in Assam. Demographically, tea garden labour community of Assam represents around 20 per cent of the total population of the state accounting more than 45 lakh tea garden labour population in the state and is one of the biggest contributor to the organised workforce as well as to the economy of Assam. About 17 per cent of workers in Assam are engaged in tea industry and around 50 per cent of the total tea plantation workforce in Assam is women.

In 1997, the State had 2470 tea gardens spread over 230 thousand hectares. Between 2005 Presently, the state has 39,139 tea

. It shows that the state has increased tea production as well as tea cultivation substantially over a period of time. Assam produces 51.2 per cent in 2005–06 of the tea produced in India and about 1/6th of the tea produced in the world. industry has contributed substantially to the economy of Assam by providing employment to nearly half a million population, contributing revenues and support to develop other

Presently, there are nearly 188 major tea estates in Assam managed by different big private companies. There are two types of tea companies in Assam. One is big company and the other called propertied tea company or single owned tea company or family owned tea company. Currently, almost 20 per cent of the tea business is controlled by Assamese tea planters. The Government of Assam also owns tea gardens and these are managed by the Assam State Tea

The tea plantations are mainly concentrated in upper Assam, Barak valley and central Assam. The small tea growers are spread around the big tea gardens where the small growers supply

For the big tea garden manage-ment, workers in a small tea garden are generally . After independence, along with the Plantation Labour Act 1955, the

Tea Board was set up to provide facilities for the growth of the tea industry in India.

The Assam Human Development Report (AHDR) published in 2003 incorporated Tea Board of India estimates on the tea production in the state avoiding the human development index of the

As 20 per cent of the total population depends on the industry, poor human development index of the tea labour community has an adverse effect on the state

The tea garden coolie lines in Assam have unique identity. It is neither an urban nor industrial nor a rural area. Among the total tea garden working labour in each tea garden, only 30–40 per

During the peak season, each garden employs casual  In Assam, a special Act

(Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund and Pension Scheme) was enacted to provide pension and provident fund to the tea garden permanent employees. Presently, 316 tea gardens have dues to be paid to the state government as provident fund contribution amounting Rs.71,92,11,967. There are no other social security schemes like insurance, etc.6

The Assam Human Development Report 2003 says Assam ranks 12th among 16 states when put in the descending order of Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (GDI). Life expectancy at birth is 54.1 in rural as compared to 63.3 in urban areas. cent of children are underweight in rural compared to 37 per cent in urban areas.says that although the state has adequate physical health infrastructure with primary health centres (PHC) and hospitals, the quality of service provision is low. Labour Act 1951, each tea garden should have a health centre with adequate facilities. Most tea gardens are remotely located and do not have proper connectivity to the nearest town

The Report points out that most women workers in the organised sector are employed in the tea gardens, and this account for the preponderance of women workers in large scale (employing over 25 workers) in private sector establishments. Although the overall Field Works Performance Report (FWPR) in Assam is high, the majority of female workers are either unpaid

There are no maternity benefit schemes for the tea garden workers. It has been observed that during pregnancy and post natal period, women continue to engage in hard jobs. The most labour-intensive function – plucking – is a delicate operation that is often viewed as women’s work. Given few childcare alternatives, women who pluck tea often bring their young children

Most allegations of child labour in the tea industry involve the A 1992 report on child labour on tea

plantations in Northeast says: “Most of the child workers are employed as casuals. Children are found to do such strenuous work as plucking under very severe climatic conditions; they are assigned to nursery work, fertilization, carrying of heavy loads and household work. They are

The Plantation Labour Act of 1951 prohibits the employment of children under the age of 12 on any plantation, but permitted and regulated the employ-ment of children aged 12 through 14 as well as adolescents, defined as those between the ages of 15 and 17. The Act requires both children and adolescents wishing to work to obtain a “certificate of fitness” from a certified

In addition, they may not work more than 27 hours a week, or at nightThe Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act of 1986 amended certain portions of the Plantation Labour Act of 1951 by raising minimum age for employment from 12 to 14 years of age. In 1990, the Government of Assam estimated that there were 96,535 children employed on tea gardens in Assam, making up over 14 per cent of the total workforce.

that high magnitude of under nutrition and Nutritional problems like underweight

adult (69.8 per cent) and micronutrient deficiency disorder like anaemia (72 per cent) were widespread. Common infections diseases among them include worm infestation (65.4 per cent), respiratory problems (6.7 per cent), diarrhoea (1.7 per cent), skin infections, filariasis (0.6 per cent) and pulmonary tuberculosis (11.7 per cent). Thus, the study has shown acute problem of health of the tea garden labourers.

In a recent survey in ten tea gardens in Barak valley, 58.79 per cent of the respondents said that they have access to some kind of medical facility while 41.21 per cent do not have access to medical facility. The available primary health units at the tea garden are often understaffed, never fully equipped and do not store all required medicine stock. For medical emergencies, the respondents say they have to travel many kilometres to reach a Government Primary

The Tea Board of India did an extensive survey on the social sector facilities in the plantation sector in the country in 2004. According to this report, nearly 84.14 per cent of the total permanent residents in the tea gardens were provided housing facilities. The figure is equal to the number of total permanent workers in the state. This study seems to justify that there were no casual labourer and all tea garden workers are provided housing facilities in the tea

Availability of drinking water facilities through ring wells and ponds in the coolie lines was only 0.38 per cent in Assam valley while in the entire state it was 3.37 per cent. The Tea Board of India’s own statistics show that as per Plantation Labour Act, situation in Assam valley is worst

The Public Distribution System (PDS) in the tea gardens is the oldest food distribution system in the country. The system started during the later part of the nineteenth century by the British tea merchants to provide rice and other items to the indentured workers. During the twentieth century, the system was rationalized and food items are provided only to those who are

employed. During the post independence period, locally know as “ration” was extended to

Although the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 has not made it mandatory to provide rations to the tea labour community, the management in Assam has done it for the last 100 years. The tea garden management seems to procure food items like rice, wheat, kerosene etc. from a consortium of food suppliers. The workers buy the subsidized items from local fair price shop. Thus, there are two systems of the PDS functioning in the tea gardens. According to an

by the Tea Board, the total value of food grains per worker per week including their bonafide dependants in Assam worked out to Rs.66.66 in 1997. It had increased

The basic food items are not distributed by the management to those labourers who are not officially employed in the garden. Rations are also provided only to those who are employed as causal worker for four months in a year during the plucking seasons. Majority of the labourers who are not officially enrolled in the tea gardens together with the rest of short term casual workers are denied rations under both systems of PDS. To receive subsidized items from local fair shop, a labourer needs to have ration card. Most of them being casual labourers or ex-labourers do not have ration cards. To provide a unified rationing systems for the tea garden labourer, there is a need to make a single system of rationing for both the workers and ex-workers with a valid PDS card. A special scheme needs to be introduced to identify the tea garden labourer under various categories of below poverty line and appropriate PDS system

The Tea Board, constituted by an Act of Parliament, deals with the develop-ment of tea business in the country. Since 2002, with the implementation of the 10th Five Year Plan, the two departments (The Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, and Assam Tea Labour Welfare Board) are working on welfare schemes for this community. The estimated budget of both the departments is roughly Rs.5 crore per year. However, the commissio-ner of the Assam Tea Labour Welfare Board maintained that they were not able to meet the salary component of the board with the given allocation from the state government, thus, leaving no money for welfare schemes. Only the Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes has funds for the welfare schemes. But the same is allocated under the planned assistance of plain tribes development from the central government. Although, the state government has not yet recognised the community as tribes under the state schedule, the allocation is received from the central government under the plain tribe welfare head. The directorate received 50 per cent of the fund from central budget and remaining 50 per cent from

The Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden Tribes (including ex-Tea Garden people) implements schemes for the welfare of the tea-tribes population. For promotion of education, scholarships are awarded and grants-in-aid are provided. The Directorate that was established in 1983 for the welfare of the Tea Tribes Community has been implementing various schemes in the state. For economic development of the people, it provides grants-in-aid under “Family Oriented Income Generating Schemes” to those below poverty line with the objective of

Under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, the socio-economic development was assigned to the tea management company who employs the labour for their production. The Act has a provision on the registration of the plantation by the chief inspector of the state government. The chief inspector of the state government has to verify the provision of the health facility of the tea garden, drinking water, sanitations, canteen, crèches, recreational facilities, housing facilities, etc. The Act provides that no adult worker/adolescent or child shall be employed for more than 48 hours and 27 hours respectively a week, and also every worker is entitled for one

The rules prepared by the state government out of the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 have lopsided provisions. An official committee has suggested review of the relevant provisions in the Act as these provisions instituted in the early years of the industry has become onerous in view of the widening chasm between productivity of labour and the compensation disbursed. The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) which was set up by the Union Labour Minister had looked into the various issues relating to the plantation sector in the country. The report of IMC said that in the event of the state providing the welfare amenities ordinarily available to citizens of the country need to extend to plantation estates; therefore, the relevant provisions in

The Tea Board head office is in Kolkota, and it has three divisions in Assam. The board coordinates the development of tea gardens and upgrada-tion of quality through modernization of tea factories and extension services to growers. Apart from popularizing Indian tea, the

of various statutory provisions for the control of the tea industry and trade, collecting data and disseminating information on tea periodically to various stakeholders for effective policy intervention and initiatives, welfare of labour through the efforts of various agencies involved in welfare activities among tea garden workers.

The tea economy is an integral part of Assam’s economy and it is the second largest after oil and gas industry in the state, but not a single nodal institution is managing this industry during the last 150 years. The state government in Assam has also not looked at the tea industry as a part of Assam’s economy. The tea industry has a huge management system controlled from Kolkata. Although the Tea Board of India exclusively looks for the development of tea industry in the country, it also ignored tea economy in Assam. In Kerala and Uttar Pradesh where rubber and sugarcane are a major industry, both the governments have their own department to monitor, manage, and prepare policy documents for the future development of the rubber and sugar cane respectively. In Assam, there is a need to set up a department exclusively for tea. Under this department, both welfare of tea garden labourer (both ex and present) and regulation, management and coordination of tea business need to look much more effectively. The Department of Tea within the government could regulate all the tea gardens in Assam (including the small tea growers) with new provisions in law for the promotion of tea productivity, quality of tea for export purpose, research for adapting new technology as well as sensitize the growers for organic tea production. The department needs to provide facilities under the Plantation Labour Act (with new amendment) to implement central and the state government welfare schemes at the coolie lines in the tea garden. The schemes like social security of the tea garden labourers by providing insurance, post retirement policies, etc. could be implemented under the department. The department could also initiate special economic

packages in consultation with the Government of India to increase literacy, proper health

Apart from discussing ways and means to improve the industry, one cannot forget the larger debate over making the tea garden labour still fall under the category of “indentured” in the twenty-first century. It also raises the issue of larger questions of identity politics. In the last 150 years, the tea community in Assam never received adequate attention in the so called development process witnessed by the state. If the tea garden community has been raising their voice under the banner of Adivasi tribes in Assam for last decade or so by changing their approach, it is not due to only “lack of place” among the greater Assamese nationalization process but also their own understanding of the idea of development. These understanding or the conception of their identity was developed by a section of tea garden youth who had achieved higher education and have taken upon the task of protecting their identity vis-à-vis developing the community’s sense of social and political wellbeing. It is also worth analyzing how far the designation of the special status ST would help them in actually changing the economic status while Plantation Labour Act still remains to be amended. In the politics of electoral representation, the community could get few more seats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly as reserved. This in turn might benefit only a section of the community while the rest remain poor and under-developed as before. While the struggle for ST status may provide new momentum to the struggle of the identity politics in Assam to the tea garden community, there is no guarantee that it would bring perceptible change in the socio-economic status as well.

Hiren Gohain, “A question of identity: Adivasi militancy in Assam,” , December 8, 2007, pp.13–16.

Economic and Political Weekly

Sanjay Barbora, “Struggle in the Tea Plantation of Assam: Then and Now,” July 1999. http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv5n1/teaplant.htm

Report of Committee on Legislation , Government of India, New Delhi, 2007, p. 4.

As per Tea Board of India, there are only 15 per cent casual labours in the state, but going through pension and bonus provided in the tea gardens, it shows nearly 60–70 are casual labours and remaining are permanent.

Report of Committee,

In Teas Plantation industry, plucking is done by highly skilled workers. But it is not recognised in the skilled category making women’s work in the tea

Child Labour in the Tea Plantations of North East IndiaUNICEF and Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Government of India,

G.K. Medhi et al, “Study of Health Problems and Nutritional Status of Tea Indian Journal of Medical Science

Ways and Means: Improving the Socio-Economic Status an interim report to Ministry of Labour,

Report of Committee,

PIB, Press release, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Plantation Sector Submits Report to the Union Labour Minister, 18th August 2003.

Development of Tea Garden Community and Adivasi Identity Politics in Assam                                                 

Biswajeet Saikia*                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

    With growing dissonance with the trade unions of the tea garden labourer, the newly established student organisations among the labour community is taking over the vital issues for welfare of the tea garden community in Assam. Although production and cultivation of tea in Assam is increasing substantially over a period of time but the conditions of the tea-garden labourer are deteriorating. The welfare schemes for the labourers in the tea gardens are in very pathetic conditions. Majority of the tea gardens don’t have proper health facility, drinking water, sanitation, and electricity connection etc. The apathy of the main stream Assamese society towards the development of the tea garden labourer put the community at the war path. Reluctant attitudes towards the tea garden labour community to include cultural assimilation of greater Assamese nationality building process made them worst victim of underdevelopment in the 21st century.

Background Many debates have been raised on the struggle and the identity of the tea garden labourers in Assam as an aftermath of the incident at Guwahati on November 24th, 2007.  In the media it was portrayed as an age old enmity between the Assamese and the labourers. The incident is also seen as an ultimate expression of the inbuilt prejudice and class hatred which marked the approach of a sizable section of Assamese middle class towards the tea garden labourers (Gohain December 8, 2007). The civil society in the state acted with alacrity and condemned the incident with one voice while at the same time asserted that the November 24 incident should not be viewed as an Assamese-Adivasi clash (Misra, December 22, 2007). Although, the incident of 24th of November, 2007 was condemnable in every sense and every news paper, electronic media and civil society organization expressed deep concern about the community but the larger debate over the issues of the socio-economic development of the tea garden community in Assam has not come out in the context of the rise of Adivasi identity politics.                        Since the 1860s, when the first batch of indentured labourers were brought into Assam from present day Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh,1 there were occasional clashes between the management and the tea garden labourers in Assam (Sanjay Barboa, July, 1999). Although issues of clash between the management and the labourers were mainly regarding the wage and bonus, in the 90’s it shifted to other developmental issues among the tea garden labourers in the state.   

                                                                                                 Since the 1980’s Assam has been witnessing a series of movements where people have been fighting for their rights over land, language, civil liberties rights and special reservation status for development. The tea garden labourers also, who mostly live in the tea garden cooli line, which has been more or less isolated from the mainstream political and economic development process in the state, have gradually started participation by creating several types of organisations for establishing their demand for the development of the community.                                                

With growing dissonance with the trade unions of the tea garden labourer, the newly growing student organisations among the labour community is taking over the vital issue of welfare of the tea garden community in Assam. Since the 90’s the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA) and very recently the Assam Adivasi Student Association (AASA), are raising their concerns. These two organisations are demanding a Schedule Tribes (ST) status to the tea garden labour community as their community members in the back home states (e.g. Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, west Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh) are receiving the same status. The incident at Guwahati is a final blow to their grievances to the state and management of the tea gardens whom they identified as being responsible for the underdevelopment of the tea garden labour community. The apathy of the mainstream Assamese society towards the development of the tea garden labourers put the community at the war path. Reluctant attitudes towards the tea garden labour community to include cultural assimilation of greater Assamese nationality building process made them the worst victim of underdevelopment in the 21st century.

                                                                   Seeing the complexity of the situation, this article will discuss the greater debate on the inclusive development in an enclave type plantation economy in Assam. Demographically, Tea garden labour community of Assam represents around 20% of the total population of the state accounting more than 45 lakh tea garden labour population in the state and is one of the biggest contributors to the organised workforce as well to the economy of Assam both directly and indirectly. About 17 percent of the workers of Assam are engaged in tea industry. Among them, around 50% of the total workforces in the tea gardens in Assam are women.  

                                                                                                                                                            Plantation Labour Act

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Immediately after independence, seeing the pathetic condition of the plantation labour in the country (tea, coffee, rubber, etc.), the Parliament of India passed an Act called the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, which was regularly amended from time to time. Under this Act, the socio- economic development was assigned to the tea management companies who employ the labour for their production.                                                    The Act has provisions like the registration of the plantation, appointment of chief inspector of the state government, etc. The chief inspector of the state government have to verify the provisions of the health facilities of the tea garden, drinking water, sanitation, canteen, crèches, recreational facilities, housing facilities, etc. The state government also has power under this Act to appoint a labour commissioner to look in matters of wage, conflict with the management or any other legal matters. The Act provides that no adult workers and adolescent or child shall be employed for more than 48 hours and 27 hours respectively per week, and every worker is entitled for a day of rest during a period of 7 days.

                                                                              The rules prepared by the state government out of the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 have lopsided provisions. An official committee has suggested review of the relevant provisions in the country’s Plantations Labour Act as these provisions instituted in the early years of the industry had become onerous in view of the widening chasm between productivity of labour and the compensation disbursed. The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) was set up which had looked at various issues related to the plantation sector in the country. The report of IMC said that in the event of the State providing the welfare amenities ordinarily available to citizens of the country need to be extended to plantation estates; therefore, the relevant provisions in Plantation Labour Act need to be reviewed. Accordingly, the IMC has said the union government and state governments/local self-governments should agree to bear 50 per cent of the social and infrastructural cost under the Plantation Labour Act, while the industry should bear the remaining 50 percent of this cost. The 50 percent share to be borne by the Union and the State/local self-governments is to be in the ratio of 40:10. After independence, along with the Plantation Labour Act, 1955; the Tea Board was set up to provide facilities for the growth of the tea industry in India. Wages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The wage agreements reflect the domination and power of the tea industry associations.

The workers are never considered skilled, except a few handful who work in the tea processing factories. The majority remain unskilled with no skill training avenues open to them. Every worker, permanent or temporary, young or old, inexperienced or experienced, receives the same wage and is classified as daily wage worker. It has been generally observed that during the last ten years the tea employers have not conceded any major demand of the trade unions for wage increase. Recently, on 30th November, 2005 an agreement was signed between five Tea Management groups with Assam Cha Mazdur Sangha (ACMS). These five tea management groups were namely, the Indian Tea Association (ITA), Tea Association of India (TAI), Bharatiya Cha Parisad (BCP), Assam Tea Planters Association (ATPA) and North Eastern Tea Association (NETA).

                                               Under this agreement, a total of rupees 10 was increased for each day for next 50 months in three phase. Wages were increased to Rs. 2.60 daily from 1st December, 2005 to 30th April, 2007; Rs. 3.70 from 1st May, 2007 to 31st August, 2007 and again Rs. 3.70 from 1st September, 2008 to 31st December, 2009. Before 30th November 2005, the minimum wage of each tea garden labourer was Rs. 48.50. The small tea growers pay lesser wages in comparison to the big companies. During the peak season, each tea garden employs casual labourers at wages lower than the actual amount of the minimum wage. The recent agreement was a violation of the earlier agreement signed between the labour organisations and the tea management companies as it was decied in the agreement signed on 16th March, 2000 to increase the wages  by 17 rupees per day on the existing 48.50 rupees. The agreement also is conspicuously silent on housing, healthcare, educational and other facilities.    

                                                                                                       Thus, the tea plantation workers are still paid wages below the minimum wage of agricultural workers. An industry, which is highly capitalistic in character, considering its international marketing and financial activities, still pays their workers partly in cash and kind. Since 1947, the wage of the tea plantation laboure has increased only numerically, there has been no rise in their real wage. In essence, the industry has still maintained ‘feudal relations of production’ and a highly structured organisation of production in its pre-marketing phases thus reaping super-profits on the basis of semi-feudal, extra-economic coercion and exploitation.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Human Development Conditions

                                                                                                                                                                                                           The Assam Human Development Report was published in 2003 with a picture of tea garden labour plucking tea leaves but does not incorporate any section on tea garden labour human development conditions. The report only incorporated the Tea Board of India estimates on tea production in the state avoiding the human development index of the tea labour community. The tea garden labour comprise 20% of the total population, as a result very poor human development conditions of the tea labour community affects the state human development conditions.                                                                                                     There is no specific mention of the tea garden labourer’s health facilities as neither health

conditions nor hospital infrastructure is available in the report. Under the Plantation Labour Act 1951, each tea garden should have a health center with adequate facilities. As the tea garden is remotely located and doesn’t have proper connectivity to the nearest town areas in many cases, therefore, having a health centre should be the prime concern of each tea garden.                                          The Assam Human Development Report 2003 pointed out that most women workers in the organised sector are employed in the tea gardens in the state, and this accounts for the preponderance of women workers in large scale (employing over 25 workers) private sector establishments. But the high Field Works Performance Report (FWPR) of women in the tea industry has not empowered women. Although the overall FWPR in Assam is high, the majority of women workers is either unpaid or poorly paid and belongs to the category of unskilled labour.                                       The tea garden cooli lines (generally understood as labour colony) in Assam have a unique identity. It is neither an urban, industrial nor a rural area. It is basically an industrial village cluster and is always kept underdeveloped so that the tea management company could get cheap labour easily. It distinctly belongs to a separate stratum of the economy of the state which needs a high priority to achieve a substantial level of state human development indices. Since independence, as the tea business is growing, the standard of the community has not received any benefits putting them in a situation where they are just living to provide services almost free of cost.                                                              Although production and cultivation of tea in Assam is increasing substantially over a period of time but the condition of the tea-garden labour is deteriorating. The welfare schemes for the labour in the tea gardens are in a very pathetic condition. Except for a few tea gardens (managed by big multinational companies), the condition of the labourers in the rest of the tea gardens has not met minimum standards of human living. Majority of the tea gardens do not have proper health facility, drinking water, sanitation, etc. In recent days due to Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan, many tea garden labourers are receiving a free mid-day meal service and other facilities. The majority of the cooli lines are not even provided with an electricity connection. As the Panchayati Raj system does not include the cooli line, many central and state government welfare schemes are not available in the cooli lines as well.                                                                                                                                                         Education Facilities

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                With “Education for All” aim in view, it is proposed to ensure Zero Dropouts by 2010, the Government of India set up the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan across the country in 2001. SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations. SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including life skills. SSA has a special focus on girl’s education and children with special needs. SSA also seeks to provide computer education to bridge the digital divide. A survey commissioned by Assam Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan Mission (ASSAM) during 2002 shows that 25% of children in the age group of 6-14 are out of school in entire Assam, while 43% are among the tea garden. Out of 2,46,843 children in the tea garden areas in the age group, 1,05,821 (42.87%) are out of school. The Assam Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan mission constituted the Tea Garden Education Committee (TGEC) and Assam human development report estimates that 1,000 Tea Garden Education Committees were

set up by 2003. Presently, the state government managed schools in the Barak valley and Golaghat district in the Brahmaputra valley. The remaining schools are managed by the management companies. Among the govenment schools in the tea garden, 11.82% of workers received educational facilities in the Barak valley while it is only 2.04% in the Brahmaputra valley. It shows the condition of educational amenities available, particularly in the tea garden management controlled schools in the state.                                           The report of Tea Garden Education Committee highlighted that there are several constraints for the development of literacy campaigns in the tea garden, such as:                                                                  

1.  Very poor quality infrastructure. Majority of tea gardens have only a lower primary school with capacity of 100 to 250 students.         

2.  Classes are held in very poor quality buildings with inadequate desks and benches.                                                                      

3.    Usually there are one or at the most two teachers for four classes that have 100 to 250 student.                                                 

4.   In the majority of the schools, teachers work half day in the tea garden and half day in school.                                                   

5.    Majority of schools are closed during the plucking time since both the teacher and students work in the garden during that time

6.             As the teacher is paid by the management; therefore, is liable to the management for managing the school.   

7.   As child labour is highly encouraged in tea gardens, in majority cases children leave school to work in the tea garden for a nominal amount of money.

8.    Teachers are paid very nominal salary as they are not involved in the production process.

 

Health Facilities

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The survey titled “Study of health problems and nutritional status of tea garden population of Assam” concludes that a high magnitude of under nutrition and infectious diseases exist among the tea garden population of Assam. Nutritional problems like underweight among children (59.9%), thinness among adults (69.8%) and micronutrient deficiency disorder like anaemia (72%) are widespread. Common infections diseases are worm infestation (65.4%0), respiratory problems (6.7%), diaorrhea (1.7%), skin infections, filariasis (0.6%) and pulmonary

tuberculosis (11.7%/, 000). This study also registered a significant burden of hypertension (45.9%), senile cataract (25.3%), epilepsy (7.3/, 000) and back pain (8.7%). Thus, the study has shown acute problems of health of the tea garden labour in Assam.                                                                 In a recent survey in ten tea gardens in Barak valley, 58.79% of the respondents said that they have access to some kind of medical facility while 41.21% do not receive any medical facility. The available primary health units at the tea garden are often understaffed, never fully equipped and do not store all required medicine stock. For medical emergencies, the respondents say that they have to travel many kilometers to reach Government Primary Health Centre2. The health facilities to the tea garden labour in Assam valley is provided to only 3.83% of the total workforce. The facilities available in Cachar region are 26.82%, but for whole state it is just 6.43%.                                          The tea garden owned by the big tea companies generally has one hospital with adequate facilities. On many occasions they also referred the patients to the neighbouring district hospitals. As there are a limited number of big tea company operated tea gardens in the state, and the majority of the tea garden workers belong to single owned tea gardens, therefore, as a whole the health condition in the tea gardens is pathetic. Secondly, in these hospitals, only those patients are treated who are either permanent or casual worker. During the lean season, when the casual workers are out of work, they are unable to avail any medical facility. The State Government with special initiatives implemented the Pulse polio campaign in the tea garden also. Initially, the tea garden management was reluctant, as they have employed one person for this job. After much discussion, the campaign was initiated among the tea garden labourers.                                                                                                                                                                                        Public Distribution System

(PDS)                                                                                                                                                                                                             The Public Distribution System (PDS) in the tea gardens is the oldest food distribution system in the country. It was started during the later part of the nineteenth century by the British tea merchants to provide rice and other items to its indentured labourers. During the 20th century, the system was rationalized and food items were provided only to those who were employed. During the post independence period, it was locally known as ‘ration’ and was extended to many items. Under the present system, tea industry is allotted food grains through PDS quota under APL Scheme. Food Corporation of India (FCI) supplies food grains to tea garden employees at a rate fixed by FCI. In addition to such rates, the tea garden employers are required to bear the landed cost of such food grains which includes transportation and handling charges. People bought sugar and other government subsidized items from local fair price shops. Thus two systems of the PDS are running in the tea gardens. According to an exercise undertaken by the Tea Board, the total value of food grains per worker per week including their bonafide dependent worked out to Rs.66.66 in 1997 in the state of Assam. It had increased to Rs.87.78 in the year 2006.3 Thus, concessional ration is supplied to tea plantation workers and their dependants in Assam as a part of their negotiated wage package. The food grain component has always been considered an immutable fixed component of the wages.                                                                                                   The basic food items are not distributed by the management company to those labourers who are not employed in the garden but live in the tea garden. Secondly, rations are also

provided to those who are employed as causal workers for four months in a year during the plucking seasons. Thus, being a tea garden labourer, majority of the labour who are generally not working in the tea garden as well as work as casual labour were denied rations under the garden system of PDS. As to receive subsidized items from local fair shops, the labourers need to have a ration card, which they usually do not have. 

                   Housing

Facilities                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Compared to the Barak valley, only in the housing facilities, the position in the Brahmaputra valley is better. In the Brahmaputra valley 84.98 % housing facilities are available while in the Barak valley it is 77.58%. As there is no provision for providing any housing facilities to the casual workers, the remaining numbers either live in the garden or outside? Secondly, the management hardly provides any pucca house to all its permanent workers in each tea garden in Assam both owned by big multinational companies as well as propertied companies. Drinking Water                                                                                                        Drinking water facility is generally in the form of a ring well and

pond in the cooli lines. The facility is provided to 0.38% workers in the Assam valley, while in the entire state it was 3.37%. In the Cachar region 26.82% of the workers received drinking water facilities from deep wells. The remaining workers have to arrange water on their own without the help of the management company. Insurance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In Assam, a special Act viz., ‘Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund and Pension Scheme’ was enacted to provide pension and provident fund to the tea garden permanent employees. But, presently 316 tea gardens have dues to pay to the state government as provident fund contribution amounting to Rs.71,92,11,967.4 Except these provident fund and pension schemes, there are no other social security schemes like insurance which are available for both permanent and casual labourers and their families.5 Even, the tea management company never pays any compensation to the deceased family members who die due to occasional accidents which happen in the tea factories. The state government has neither introduced any insurance system for the tea garden labourer nor does any management social security system exist for the tea garden labourers. Electricity                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The tea garden cooli line falls neither under urban areas nor rural areas as mentioned earlier. Even the cooli lines are not declared as habitat villages within the tea garden as well as the labourer’s family is not recognised as people below poverty line. Therefore, they have not received any ration card cum identification card mentioning their status as people below poverty line. Due to this, neither subsidized rural electrification schemes for below poverty line people or any rural electricity connection has covered the cooli line in the state so far. After consistent demands by tea labour organizations, a few tea garden managements owned by big tea companies initiated the electrification process in the Cooli lines. The Directorate of Assam Tea Labour and Ex-Tea Labour initiated the

rural electrification in the cooli lines by putting a grid connection and metering in few tea gardens in upper Assam.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Status of Women and Children The most labor-intensive function, plucking, is a delicate operation that is often viewed as women’s work. Given few childcare alternatives, women who pluck tea often bring their young children with them into the fields. There are no maternity benefit schemes available for the tea garden labourers. It is generally witnessed that during the pregnancy and post delivery period, the woman performs strenuous work in the garden. There are no facilities to provide pre-nursing care and mandatory leave during the post delivery period to the woman workers of the tea garden. Most allegations of child labor in the tea industry involve the functions of plucking, weeding, hoeing, and nursery work. The children are also made to manually remove shrubs harmful to the tea plants. As tea gardens use pesticides extensively, the removing of shrubs with naked hands generally affects the health of the child. A 1992 report on child labour on tea plantations in North East India described the employment of children as ‘Most of the child workers are employed as casuals. Children are found to do such strenuous work as plucking under very severe climatic conditions; they are assigned to nursery work, fertilization, carrying of heavy loads and household work. They are also made to work in the factories, against established law’.6 The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act of 1986 amended certain portions of the Plantation Labour Act of 1951 by raising minimum age for employment from 12 to 14 years of age. In 1990, the Government of Assam estimated that there were 96,535 children employed on tea gardens in Assam, making up over 14 percent of the total workforce. Government Initiatives for Welfare of Tea Labour There are three types of institutions which oversee tea industry and welfare of labour in Assam. The Tea Board which is constituted by the Act of Parliament is the organization which deals with the development of tea business in the country; The Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden Tribes (including ex-Tea Garden people) implements schemes for the welfare of tea-tribes population; and The Assam Tea Labour Welfare Board. There are many private organizations dealing mainly with the development of tea business in Assam. Among them, there are many Chambers of Commerce and Industry deals with tea industry development. These organizations worked collectively with the state industry department and dealt with subsidisation in transportation, reduction of excise duty on processed tea as well as import of technology for factories. Tea Board of India                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The Tea Board head office is in Kolkata as well as three divisions in Assam. It coordinates the development of tea gardens and upgradation of quality through modernization of tea factories and extension services to growers. Popularizing Indian Tea, the board also looks into regulation of various statutory provisions for the control of the tea industry and trade, collecting data and disseminating information on tea periodically to various stakeholders for effective policy intervention and initiatives, welfare of labour through the efforts of various agencies involved in welfare activities among tea garden workers through project specific grants and financial assistance to schemes, and grants to institutions for carrying out research in tea science and technology and development projects. Thus, Tea Board’s role being a catalyst towards acceleration

of the production and growth rate of tea industry, it has never looked at the welfare of the tea labour community in the state.                                                                                                                                 Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden Tribes The Directorate for Welfare of Tea Garden Tribes (including ex-Tea Garden people) implements schemes for the welfare of tea-tribe population. For promotion of education, scholarships award and grants-in-aid are provided by the directorate. It also supports welfare works and cultural activities by NGOs. The Directorate was established in 1983 in the State for the welfare of the Tea Tribes Community and has been implementing various Schemes. The Directorate received funds under the planned assistance of plain tribes development of the central government. Although, state governments have not  as yet recognised the community as tribes under state schedule, but presently receive an allocation from the central government under the plain tribe welfare head. The directorate received 50% of the fund from central budget and  the remaining 50% from the state government plan allocation.                                                                                                                                                       Assam Tea Labour Welfare Board                                                                        The Assam Tea Labour Welfare Board was set up after the enactment of The Assam Tea Plantation Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1959. Since then board was working for the tea labour welfare in the state of Assam through various schemes. The schemes are to impart skill development training in labour welfare centres in 18 places in Assam; provide hostel facility to tea garden labourer students studying in colleges and; provide a one time scholarship for buying textbooks to students who are studying from class eight to university level; facilitate nursing training to those educated students of tea garden labourers, etc. The estimated budget of the board is roughly Rs.5 crore per year. Various schemes under Bharat Nirman  

                                                                                                                                                                                           Under Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) scheme, no initiatives have been taken to include those tea garden labourers who do not have any job in the tea garden and generally worked in other places as manual workers with a nominal wage. At present, there are no such programmes or projects to cover the tea gardens in the state. In recent years, many educated youth of the community are opting to do jobs outside the tea garden but due to the unavailability of this scheme for them they being tea garden labourers living in tea gardens, these youth are not able to receive any benefits from this scheme.                                                      Under The SGSY many special programmes are implemented in each state of the country for holistic development of rural India such as Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Pradhan Mantri Gramodya Yojana (Rural Shelter), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), etc. A substantial amount of money was spent since 2002 in the implementation of these schemes in the country.                                Such schemes are not implemented in the cooli lines of the tea gardens so far. The reasons cited by politicians, bureaucrats, policy makers and academicians for the non-implementation of these schemes for the tea garden labourers is that cooli lines are considered private land of the tea garden and does not fall under the Panchayati Raj system. Even under the special package for SCs and STs, these schemes are not implemented among the tea garden labourers as they are not included in the SCand ST list of the State Government. Although, the state government through

DRDA is willing to implement these schemes in the tea gardens, and has several times asked the management to provide a no-objection certificate for allowing the DRDA to initiate Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) etc, but it has failed.                                                                                                          

Trade Unions in Tea Plantations                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The tea plantation industry is considered one of the largest organised  industries in India employing the largest workforce. The tea labour community represents through several tea labour organizations namely INTUC, CITU, ACMS, etc. The Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS) has a wider base and both government and management negotiated with these trade unions for wage restructuring. In Assam, the Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS) has been representing the workers for the last 50 years, and is the only recognised union, although there are some more registered unions, some of them even affiliated to the central trade unions.                                                                                                           With growing dissonance with the trade unions of the tea garden labourers, the newly growing student’s organisations among the labour community are taking over the vital issues of welfare of the tea garden community. Recently they have taken over the issues of annual bonus, provision of tribal status to the tea garden community, separate department for the tea garden labour community, provision of electricity to the tea garden labour lines, drinking water, housing, etc. Regarding the provident fund schemes and dues to be paid to the individual members, the student organizations are seriously taking up these issues with the government. The student organisations are also demanding the amendment of the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 to provide appropriate measures for the welfare of the community.                                                                 No substantial plan has been announced targeting the human development factors of the tea garden labourers so far by the state government.  Thus, unless the state government recognises their existence in the cooli line and its inclusion under the Panchayati Raj institutions, various welfare schemes of the central and state governments could not be implemented without the permission of the management. The rally in large numbers in Guwahati on 24th of November, 2007 was the outcome of these grievances that are being faced by the community during the last hundred years. The growing predominance of student politics in tea gardens and the downfall of trade unions are the major reasons of such upheavals against the state in the recent past.                                                                                                                                   On 5th of March, 2008 again hundreds of tea garden labourers representing various student organizations staged a dharna at Last Gate in Dispur, in the same place where the incident of 24th November 2007 took place for demanding immediate implementation of the Plantation Labour Act and the Minimum Wage Act. The protestor’s grievances were that over the past few years they have been receiving assurance from the government and nothing else.                                                                                                                                                                         A Department of Tea                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The tea economy is an integral part of Assam’s economy and it is the second largest after oil and gas industry in the state but no single institution is managing this industry during the last 150 years. The state government never looks at the tea industry as a part of Assam’s economy. The tea industry has a huge management system controlled from

Kolkata. Although the Tea Board of India exclusively looks for the development of tea industry in the country, it always ignored the tea economy in Assam.                                                                                                In most states in India where organized plantation industry is dominating state economic activities, the state constituted a specific department for development of the industry as well as the workers. Particularly in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh where rubber and sugarcane are a major plantation industry, both the state governments have constituted a department to monitor, manage, and prepare policy documents for the future development of rubber and sugarcane respectively. Even in West Bengal, the state has a jute development department which is the apex organisation for monitoring the industry as well as labour. In Assam, neither any department nor any other institution exists for the management of the industry as well as the welfare of labour at the state government level. Recently, the Chief Minister of Assam announced a new department exclusively for tea labour welfare which was welcomed from every quarter. But in order to modify this proposed department there is a need to incorporate the development of the industry as well as the development of the labour community.                                    The Department could regulate all the tea gardens in Assam (including the small tea growers) with new provisions in law for the promotion of tea productivity, quality of tea for export purpose, research for adapting new technology as well as sensitize the growers for organic tea production.                                                                                                     The department needs to provide facilities under the Plantation Labour Act (with new amendment) to implement central and state government welfare schemes in the cooli lines in the tea gardens. The schemes like social security of the tea garden labourers by providing insurance, post retirement policies, etc. could also be implemented under the department. The department could also initiate special economic packages in consultation with the Government of India to increase literacy, proper health system and drinking water, housing and sanitation, etc. The Department would have to prepare welfare schemes for the labourers, and negotiate with the management of the tea company for the improvement of the company’s production by investing more fund in both medium and small tea growers, providing new technology, helping more research as well as help to regulate and manage their activities.                                                                                                                   The state government also should constitute a tea garden development committee with representations from the local representatives, tea-garden management, and trade union leaders including the student leaders to monitor and initiate development works in each garden. Therefore, it would be better for the welfare of the labour as well as the economy of the state if the state government sets up a department called the ‘department of tea’. As majority of the tea gardens in the states are under the private sector, therefore, such type of monitoring as well as regulating agency is necessary to prepare a uniform policy for the growth of the tea industry as well as tea garden labour community. Conclusion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The larger debate is that the tea garden labourer still exists as an indentured labourer in the 21st century raises the larger question of identity  in recent times. During the last 150 years, the tea community in Assam never received proper attention in the development process. If the community has raised their voice during the last decade by changing their approach, it is

not only due to the lack of place among the greater Assamese nationalization process but also due to their own need to develop themselves. Living in enclaved habitats with distinct cultural identity, is preventing the community to identify themselves as part of the greater Assamese society. Counter to that identity emerges the Adivasi7 identity, particularly among those who have left the tea garden and are emerging as a section of tea garden youth who have received higher education and realised the need to develop the community and want to come out from this century long indentured practice. Subsequently, intra-community clashes with the Bodo community during the last 10 years in lower Assam forced them to consider their existence as an Adivasi and demanding special provisions to designate them as their community back home. It is observed that by receiving the special provision of ST status will not be of help to them to uplift their socio economic status, unless the Plantation Labour Act is amended. The community could get few more seats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly as well a few hundred would receive jobs and education if the community received ST status, but by this action, it will create an elite section of the community itself who could get benefits in the long run and make the rest remaining poor and under developed as earlier. Unless basic amenities are not provided in the tea garden cooli lines, there are no rationales to provide the ST status to the community at present. While the struggle for ST status may provide new momentum to the struggle of the identity politics in Assam to the tea garden community, which would also help in the vote bank politics in the coming elections, but utmost urgency at present is to address the socio economic development of the community at large.                                                                                                                                         C. Child Labor in the Tea Industry

There are both agricultural and industrial activities associated with tea production. Planting, cultivating, and plucking tea are labor-intensive operations. Withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and bagging, which often take place in modern facilities, require considerably more automation and proportionately less labor. Hence the bulk of employment in the tea industry, and the site of potential child labor problems, is in the fields.

Fieldwork is generally done by hand. 29 During the off season, tea bushes are pruned to induce growth and keep them at a workable height, usually about 3 feet. 30 Other maintenance jobs include weeding, spraying, hoeing, drainage, nursery work,and fertilizing. 31 Some of these tasks require working around the base of bushes on hands and knees.

The tea leaves harvested during peak season are new shoots that emerge after pruning. These tea leaves are plucked and dropped in a basket or bag that is usually carried on the plucker's back. When the container is filled, the leaves are taken to a collection point, weighed, and transported to the processing facility. The tea must be processed quickly to take full advantage of flavors contained in the tea leaf. 32 Depending on the type of processing, tea becomes one of three major types— black, green, or oolong. The dry leaves are then graded and sorted according to leaf type and size. 33 Finally, the leaves are prepared for shipping or auction.

The seasonality of tea production affects the job security and benefits of those working in the field. The typical plucking season is six to nine months, although in some regions it lasts the entire year. At the end of the harvest, temporary field workers are dismissed until the harvest begins again. A small component of the peak season workforce is sufficient to handle pruning and other winter chores. These year- round workers are usually classified as permanent employees. During the lengthy peak season, temporary workers are either recruited from within the households of permanent employees or hired from outside the estate.

The most labor-intensive function, plucking, is a delicate operation that is often viewed as women's work. 34 Given few child care alternatives, women who pluck tea often bring their young children with them into the fields. Young children may begin by helping their mothers for recreation, but in countries where schooling is not compulsory, it is a short step to carrying their own baskets for pay. Most allegations of child labor in the tea industry involve the functions of plucking, weeding, hoeing, and nursery work. Some argue that children make good pluckers because of their "nimble fingers;" others argue that plucking is too arduous a task for children to perform. Child labor may also be preferred for functions that require moving about between bushes on hands and knees.

There is typically a daily wage for tea plucking, based on a minimum quota of leaves. If a worker exceeds this quota, additional wages are paid proportionate to the excess plucked. In some countries, pay differs by gender and/or by age of the plucker.

It is impossible to accurately quantify the number of children employed inthe tea industry worldwide. Because child labor is illegal, it goes uncounted in most official statistics. The existing surveys of child labor in the tea industry usually cover larger-scale operations without looking at child labor on smallholder estates. In many countries, however, smallholder estates are the subject of recent allegations of child labor. Some smallholdings may be purely family based, and thereby exempted from international standards on child labor. However, these international standards prohibit smallholders employing wage laborers from using child labor. It is very difficult to determine how much of the smallholder production takes place on family farms not employing wage laborers, and how much occurs in the context of hired labor. Minimum age requirements are sometimes difficult to enforce in countries that lack vital statistics registration and/ or compulsory education systems.

Tea plucking can be hazardous work. Workers, including children, who cultivate and pluck tea are exposed to toxic pesticides and insecticides, insects, andsnakes. Often, they are not given protective clothing and shoes. The work is physically demanding and often requires long hours. 35

In June 1997, U. S. Department of Labor officials visited tea estates in Brazil, India, Kenya, Nepal, and Tanzania. 36 The following country-specific information was collected during those visits and from the most recent available reports.

Editorial Cover Story Article Analysis From the Field Interview Labour

in Those Years Labour News Search In Labour Rights Violations in IndiaStruggle Notes

Special Report The Tale of Tasha Family and the Tea Plantation Labour in Assam Souparna Lahiri

Behind the serene beauty of the lush green tea fields, the well-maintained administrative offices and massive bungalows, lies the hub of the tea industry - the coolie (industry parlance for tea labour) lines - home to more than eight lakh tea plantation workers of Assam, the biggest tea growing region in the world. They are born, they live and they die within the confines of these coolie lines. Isolated and obscure, as they are, their woes are unheard of, and they work and live unsung and unseen.

One Hundred Years of Migration

Angad Tasha is a fourth generation immigrant from Sambalpur in Orissa. His great-grandfather, who was a weaver by occupation, migrated to Assam about 120 years ago, and was transported to Jorhat where he started his new life as a tea-worker in the Sycotta tea estate. Angad, his brother Anjan, and parents Dibakar and Sirimati now own a small, pucca house in the coolie basti adjacent to the tea garden.

Life and times of this immigrant family reflect the condition and status of the tea workers in Assam, their trials and tribulations as well as their aspirations. Angad's great-grandfather somehow managed to survive the ordeal of migration. During the same period, on an average, more than 50 labourers out of every thousand died on their way to Assam. Most of them died of disease and hunger or were even shot down while trying to flee their captors. Stories of course abound. Every tea garden worker in Assam can recollect the tortuous travails of their forefathers. For the likes of Asha Sabor,

Lakshmikant Kurmi, Betikhadip, Sukhram Ghatowar or Sastomi Soren - it is a sheer pain to do so.

Betikhadip, a frail looking woman of 65, is still working as a casual worker in the Monabarie tea estate of Sonitpur. Being a widow with two married sons working as phaltus, she has to feed herself. Born in Borville tea garden, Betikhadip came to Monabarie to live with her husband. After 50 long years, she and her two sons are still homeless. Her life has shifted from the coolie line of the garden to an adjacent coolie basti where she has to pay Rs 80 every month for a ramshackle shanty.

Betikhadip and her two sons are not alone. More than three lakh tea workers in Assam are residing in the coolie bastis that have come up adjacent to the tea estates. Neither do they own a house nor do they have a piece of land. According to Brij Pradhan, the general secretary of Assam Sangrami Cha Shramik Sangha (ASCSS), more than two third of the permanent workforce in the tea industry are either denied free housing or are living in kuchha houses built on garden land, which is a serious violation of the Plantation Labour Act (PLA). BC Baruah, the Labour Inspector of Biswanath Chariali, Sonitpur, after visiting the Borgang tea estate,mentions in his report of 2 January 1997 that 'in the gate-way of the line No.4 there is a small cot made of thatch and bamboo, which is occupied by Kanchi Lama (Chanda), wife of Monbahadur Lama, a permanent worker of the tea estate'. "I cannot say that the cot is fit for human beings", adds Baruah. In this report, he concludes that the housing facilities in the tea estate are not satisfactory, and many families have been deprived of proper accommodation. Where houses exist they have not been repaired for years. Windows and doors are broken, roofs are leaking and most of them do not have latrines or bathrooms. In Bihali, all the houses in the first row of the coolie line look like ghost houses. None of the houses has doors or windows. The resident workers have been using sacks and gunny bags to plug these gaping holes.

It is more than a century since the immigrant tea plantation workers started settling in Assam. Yet, they have not been integrated into the mainstream of Assamese society. They still live in far flung areas, either within the plantation enclaves or in the periphery. The majority of them are still dependent on the tea industry for their food and shelter. As Biswajit Chakraborty, the general secretary of Bhartiya Shramik Sabha (BSS) says, " Their right to land is the foremost criterion to end their social and economic exclusion". Unfortunately, seventy per cent of the tea-workers do not have that.

Where a House or a Piece of Land is Not Enough....

Anjan and Angad have a house of their own, and more importantly, a piece of land that they own. But, this by itself does not guarantee them access to modern civic amenities. A coolie basti and a coolie line may be two legally different entities but the ground reality is still the same for both. They do not have access to clean drinking water, sewage and drainage systems, pucca roads, electricity and necessary medical facilities. A shallow well was dug up in the courtyard; but it did not help much. So, like all the other workers, their source of drinking water is a pond situated right in the middle of the Dhekiajuli garden. Till the summer of 1998, this pond was linked to an adjacent pond where hospital linens were washed and wastes dumped. Twenty-one gastro enteritis deaths and a public hue and cry ensured that the breach was plugged. But, that pond still continues to be the only source of drinking water.

Monabarie and Saraipani estates provide piped drinking water. Still, cholera-induced death rate is 30 to 40 per cent. Last year, 250 people suffered from gastro-enteritis in Saraipani, while 15 died. In 1996, 300 gastro deaths occurred in Monabarie alone. In 1998, Jorhat district accounted for 225 deaths. The water pipes are not maintained. Reservoirs are not cleaned and disinfected regularly. Taps remain dry most of the time. Contaminated water gushes out of the shallow tube-wells and hand pumps. Even these, mostly remain out of work. Hapjan, Hookanguri and Lonsowal gardens in Tinsukia have a fair number of tube-wells and hand pumps. But, as Bishakha Tanti rues, 'they simply do not work'.

Sewage and drainage systems are absent in Dhekiajuli, Bihali and Baishahabi. In fact, most of the tea gardens in Assam follow this pattern. Adjoining jungles and open fields have per force become latrines, lavatories and toilets. But, compared to those tea estates which provide these facilities, the coolie lines of these gardens at least look clean; the air does not stink and the approach ways are not flooded with drain and sewer water. The pathway leading to the Oriya line in Monabarie tea estate, where Asha Sabor lives, is perpetually slushy. Choked drain and overflowing sewer pipe account for stagnant pools of water. In front of Sukhram Ghatowar's house in Saraipani, the leaking water pipe and choked drain have contributed to an unhygienic condition. The overflowing drain water flows into the base of a nearby hand pump and contaminates the water pipe also. The air around Debu Karmakar's house in Hookangoori tea estate stinks. The sewer pipe is leaking, the latrine is overflowing and the safety tank has burst open. Karmakar himself thinks that the place has become most unhygienic to live in. But again, he has no choice.

Anaemia, Diarrhoea, Malaria Tuberculosis, - You Name IT....

A group of ten women workers from Hapjan and Betjan gardens have come to Suku Mahile for their weekly meeting. They discuss women's issues and problems of their fellow women workers. Shuku said that most of these women were suffering from tuberculosis. "One in every family from our gardens suffers from TB. Women and children are the worst affected lot because of malnutrition", added Sita Mura. Infant mortality rate in the tea gardens is far above the state average of 76 (which is again higher than the all-India average of 71). While anaemia, resistant TB and malaria is rampant and have taken epidemic proportions, the Company Health System in the gardens has completely collapsed. Dispensaries and garden hospitals are of course there, but as Ramu Naik says, only for 'treating cuts and wounds, distributing an all-purpose red mixture and even expired medicines'. Civil hospitals are far away and the workers cannot afford the charges levied by the Central Hospitals.

Haren Gamang left his job in Baishahabi tea estate to join the ranks of the Jharkhandi Adivasi Sangram Parishad (JASP). His father, Zeka Gamang and his two sisters died of dysentery in 1995; Rajani and Rashmi, two 15 and 16 year-old sisters died of cholera in 1998. Angad's elder sister and brother died while suffering from anaemia. Brindaban Murmu, a factory worker, suffering from TB, is inching towards a premature death. Modern medical treatment is a luxury for all of them. "It angers me when I see my own people die without proper treatment", says Lakshmikant Kurmi, a trade union activist whose parents are still working in Buroi tea estate. His voice betrays emotion.

The Islands of Darkness....

At the entrance to the Bihali tea estate, a billboard displays the name of its owners -Biswanauth Tea Co. Ltd., - while a couple of security guards man the check post. Beyond the barrier a metalled road winds into the estate. As one moves up the sparkling street lights, administrative offices, the factory, the well maintained houses and a couple of bungalows, the road suddenly ends, and a pall of darkness looms beyond. A faint trace of footmarks vanishes into that darkness, engulfing an entire coolie line housing the labour quarters of Bihali. It is a cruel contrast, this contrast of light and darkness, hiding a sea of working humanity. But, that true for most of the tea plantations in Assam.

Even the coolie lines housing more than 1,500 working families in Monabarie tea estate, run by the tea multinational, Williamson Magor, did not have electricity before January 1999. Though the workers are happy they have to pay a staggering 92 every month for this luxury. The same story repeats itself in Saraipani. There, the monthly electricity charge is Rs 80. "We were better off in the days of darkness: we were spending Rs 30 at the most for kerosene," says Suko Oraon, a housewife. But, Angad longs for an electric

connection. "I love to read books", he says. "I am eagerly waiting for the day when we get an electric connection", he whispers.

Where Have All the Children Gone?

The Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) emphatically denies the existence of child labour in Assam plantations; the Tea Board Statistics for 1993 puts the number of child workers in Assam at 71,118 ! Even the Second Report of the Act Implementation Committee of the State Government of Assam, which was presented to the legislative assembly on 13 May 1999, admits to the existence of child workers in many estates. The average literacy rate in the plantation enclaves, according to the 1991 Census figures, hovers around 20 per cent. There are gardens where the literacy rate is as low as 8 per cent and female literacy rate is 3 per cent. The children can avail only of Lower Primary (LP) schools. But, the attendance is very low. The children of the temporary workers are not allowed to enroll in garden schools. Adequate numbers of teachers are not appointed, there are insufficient classrooms and books are just not available. In estates such as Tinkhong in Dibrugarh district, a school means a single room where one single teacher takes care of four classes. According to Debabrata Sharma, who teaches in Jorhat College, "Attendance in garden schools is very low. For the few who cross the hurdle of LP school, the further prospect of schooling in far away government-run institutions is less attractive than joining the tea garden labour force." The education department of the Government of Assam tried to stem the rot by taking control of the garden schools. But nothing much has happened since then, the drop-out rate continues to be high.

But where are they going? What are they doing? According to the workers of Tinkhong, Karangani, Sycotta, Munabarie, Baishahabi and Hookanpukhri, child labour exists in their gardens. During the peak seasons their number goes up to as much as 750 in some of the gardens. Girl children outnumber the boys. Vijayanti (14) and Rajkamal (12) complained that they have to work for 8 hours a day. In return they are paid only half the wages of an adult worker and receive only half the amount of the subsidised foodgrains meant for adults. The children are mostly involved in plucking, weeding and cleaning of undergrowth but are also engaged in strenuous activities performed by adult males. Subhas Sen, the president of ASCSS, cites ILO norms prohibiting employment of children below 18 years and says, "As long as the tea planters can take legal umbrage to non-adult wage and adolescent workers, exploitation of child workers is not going to stop. If records are manipulated, then a child of 13 years can easily pass off as an adolescent."

Women: Reproducers of the Conditions of Production

Women constitute the majority of the tea plantation workers in Assam. Their number varies between 55 to 70 per cent of the total work force. They are the backbone of the tea industry. Right from the colonial times, the women have worked back to back with their male counterparts, attended to their domestic chores, reproduced and nurtured the future generations of labour for the tea industry. Yet they remain the most exploited and discriminated section of tea society even today.

Asha Sabor, a quiet but determined young worker, pointed out how a single working woman or a permanent woman worker whose husband is not a permanent worker, is discriminated against. A permanent woman worker gets subsidized food grains only for herself and her children. Her husband does not get any medical facility. Similarly, a single working woman does not get subsidised foodgrains and medical facilities for her non-working parents. Till 1990, the women workers in Assam were even receiving less wages than men for the same work.

Women workers, in general, are agitated over their harsh working conditions. During the plucking seasons, they are forced to work for more than 8 hours - either late into the night or start very early in the morning. Last year, in Pratapgarh tea estate, the women were forced to start work at 4 am in the morning. In most of the gardens, they are allowed half an hour break in between. Lactating mothers like Kusum and Akhani face a lot of inconvenience. Even pregnant women are forced into deep hoeing. Women, who join after maternity leave are not given light work and the planters do not care a fig about their health conditions. Subharani, a permanent worker in Baishahabi tea estate, developed complications immediately on joining work. She could not work for the next few months. Finally her job was terminated.

Lack of women supervisors is also a source of trouble for women. Women workers get apprehensive and work amidst constant fear of sexual harassment and assault, especially when working in secluded areas or in bungalows of the management staff. Surya Kandher, who started working on a chukri hazira ( as a girl child labourer), expressed similar apprehensions. The workers of Baishahabi estate alleged that two girls, Durgamani and Phulmani were raped by Ashok Trivedi, the manager, in 1996. Durgamani committed suicide and Phulmani is still missing. The two families have been denied any justice thereafter.

Casualisation of the work force is on the rise in the tea industry. Through the decades of 1950s and 1960s, the number of permanent workers in the Assam tea plantations was

reduced by a staggering 25.61 per cent. Within a short span of seven years, between 1984 and 1991, the temporary labour force increased from 170,495 to 268,450 and has almost touched the three lakh figure. Majority of them are women. Women workers have been gradually shifted to the temporary labour category. According to Sonamani Gaur, a tea worker herself and also the member of State Women's Commission, the planters have resorted to this ploy 'primarily to deprive the women workers of their basic rights as enshrined in the PLA, such as maternity benefit and medical benefit.' "Many of us are thereby denied housing, subsidised food grains, provident fund and bonus," she says.

The Story of Unemployment, Ethnicity and Exclusions

The literacy rate may be very low, the education system may have collapsed, enrollment in garden schools may be going down but still, the system has bred a few exceptions. Angad Tasha is a graduate and is working as an assistant teacher in a government school. Lakshmikant is a matriculate and is a trade union activist. There are few more graduates, matriculates and students who have barely managed to touch high-school. But, there are no avenues of gainful employment for them. Secluded enclave life has cut them off from the mainstream. They are yet to learn the vagaries of life outside, its twists and turns. Moreover, they have been disabled by what Swapan Bora of JASP terms as 'chauvinistic and exclusionist' politics of the plantergovernment nexus. "The tea plantation community in Assam is officially referred to as tea-garden and ex-tea garden labour community," explains Amrit Chetia of Bagicha Shramik Santha, "thereby not recognising their tribal and caste origins, leading to the de-scheduling of their status." Which means that the children of the immigrant tea labourers have been deprived of the constitutional rights enjoyed by their counterparts in other states. Admissions to schools and colleges are not reserved for them. Nor are they allowed reserved vacancies in employment. By not allowing them to compete for the social and economic opportunities available outside the purview of the plantation enclaves they have been perpetually excluded from the Assamese mainstream. The only option left open for them is to work in the tea estates and with the passing of time, more as temporary workers. That is how the tea planters have been able to create a controlled labour market and have developed, what Prof. Manas Dasgupta of North Bengal University calls, a 'captive labour force', available at unusually depressed wage rates.

Epilogue

It is true that the wage of a worker is an important component of his/her life, however depressed it may be. But, for the tea plantation labour in Assam, wage is only one of those components through which the tea industry extracts its super-profits. The daily wage of a tea worker, today, is Rs 31.60 at its maximum Even if the amount of subsidised food grain is regarded as wage in kind, the total wage will be less than the agricultural wage. The Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS), which had been chosen both by the planters and the government, some fifty years back, to represent the tea labour, has

miserably failed to negotiate even a living wage for the workers. Since 1947, the wage has increased only numerically, there has been no rise in real wage. Like most of its contemporaries, the notion of popular trade unionism has been the pitfall of ACMS also, from the quagmire of which it has not been able to extricate itself.

Angad Tasha is in favour of compulsory education for the children of tea workers. "Education is the key to fight this super exploitation," he says. His brother Anjan, who is an activist of the Bagicha Shramik Santha, believes in the emancipatory effects of wider political struggles. Lakshmikant Kurmi is trying to develop a trade union movement with a view to articulate the demands and aspirations of his people. Haren Gamang and Ramu Naik fight for social recognition of the tea community, a precondition for larger political struggle: And, Asha Sabor, Shuku Mahile, Sastomi Soren, Bishakha Tanti or Sonamani Gaur not only fight for the rights of the women workers but articulate gender issues in the perspective of the living and working conditions of the tea plantation labour.

All of them have a dream. Along with them, nearly a million more dream and aspire for a better world to live and work in. And they struggle to fulfill that dream. Hopefully, a new movement in the new millennium will be able to fulfill that dream.

Despair in Darjeeling

Antara Nanda

Hidden behind the idyllic images of the lush green picturesque hills of Darjeeling and the familiar sights of women plucking tea leaves with huge wicker baskets strapped to their backs is the stark reality of poverty, illiteracy, abysmal living conditions and blatant exploitation of thousands of tea workers. Of the 1.5 million workers in the Indian tea industry, more than two-thirds live and work in Bengal and Assam. However, their plight is much worse than other workers in the organized sector. Real wages have stagnated during the last 50 years. Literacy rate among the workers stands at an extreme low of 22 per cent, while death rates at 11.4 and infant mortality rates at 42 run high. Despite trade unions and social organisations being active, labour laws are brazenly flouted, basic facilities for the workers are woefully scarce; despite being stipulated by law, managements at tea gardens are adept at bending rules to further their own interests. Even after the Plantation Labour Act was passed in 1951, many of the regulations are given the

go-by. Shockingly, not a single tea garden either in West Bengal or in Assam has fully implemented the provisions of the PLA till date.

Wages

Assam and West Bengal are the leading tea producing states of India. Out of a bumper crop of 870 million kgs, in 1998, these two states alone produced 650 million kgs and tea exports crossed the 200 million-kg mark. Estimates by the tea board and the Indian Tea Association show that value-based exports in 1997 rose by 2.5 per cent, fetching 10.4 percent higher price over 1996. Ironically, the plantations in these two states are notorious for paying the lowest wage.

As on January 1999, the minimum wage for tea plantation workers in Kerala was Rs. 61 per day, in Tamil Nadu Rs 56, Rs 52 in Karnataka, Rs 51 in Himachal Pradesh, while in West Bengal it was only Rs 32.30. As per the statistics supplied by the Shimla Labour Bureau, in October 1998, the daily wage of an unskilled worker in West Bengal was a meagre Rs 38.55.

In Kalchini Tea Estate, Jalpaiguri the minimum daily wage rate is 30.60 and wages are only paid fortnightly. Says 19-year-old Sunil, "I quit school and started working as a plucker because my father could no longer work. He gets fever again and again. I work from 7 am to 3.30 pm and I am paid Rs 350 for two weeks. And I have to spend Rs 150 - 200 per month to buy medicines for my father. There is no plucking during off-season, and that is when things become very bad".

Workers get some ration and wood of varying quality at regular intervals, for themselves and their dependents. But while for a male worker his dependants include his wife, children and parents, for a female worker her dependants include only her children.

Moreover, to cut down on production costs, managements are replacing permanent workers with casual labour. Come peak season the number of casual workers skyrockets. The management evades paying from all the statutory benefits stipulated under the PLA and is able to create a surplus pool of labour to reduce expenses.

Child Labour

The scourge of child labour has been curbed to a large extent, thanks to the amendment of the PLA in 1986 to bring it in line with the Child Labour (prohibition and Regulation) Act. This was done ostensibly to define "child" as someone below 14 years of age. But child labour is still rampant in some areas. About 10 to 12 percent of workers in tea plantations are child workers and they receive only half of the adult wage. In the Chandmoni estate, Siliguri, children work during the picking season, but only for eight hours and are paid10 to 15.

However, Ranen Dutta, secretary of Darjeeling Tea Planters Association vehemently denied any presence of child labour in Darjeeling. Says Dutta, "Even adolescents are not employed. The topography of the area does not permit adolescents and children to work."

Schools

The loophole in the law is that employers are not compelled to provide schools in the tea estates for children above 14 years of age. Whatever "schools" are there outside the estates are in such dilapidated condition, with no teachers and little study material, that the whole purpose of framing laws for the benefit of children has been defeated. In West Bengal, the government took over the schools in the estates. In other words, it let the employers shrug off an important responsibility while shifting it on to the already over-burdened government apparatus!

Many teenagers that the team met said that they had never attended the company school. With no college nearby, the prospect after finishing school appear bleak. In Rheabari Tea Estate, Jalpaiguri, there is one school up to class IV with a single room to accommodate 50 students and a single teacher. Says Laloo Paswan, a vivacious six-year-old, "No teaching takes place in the school. There are 300 children on the rolls but the majority attends a nearby missionary school. There is one junior high school in the Singtom tea estate. However as two young workers, Rakesh Rai and Shamish Dewan, who have studied up to higher secondary, said, "Most families prefer to send their children to schools in the town." The education system in the plantations has completely collapsed. In the age group of 12/13, the drop out rate among the children of the tea workers is as high as 60 to 70 per cent. Out of 1,500 students currently studying in the Nonh Bengal University, only one comes from the tea gardens. The 1991 District Census Handbooks' figures detailing distribution of schools and colleges for every 10,000 population for the tea growing districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling are revealing. In Darjeeling, there are 4.90 primary schools, 0.58 junior secondary schools, 1.39 secondary schools and 0.66 high schools/junior colleges for every 10,000 people. There are 3.62 primary schools, 0.94 junior secondary and 0.87 secondary schools and 0.6 high schools/junior colleges

for every 10,000 people of Jalpaiguri. The children and youth of the plantations have no access to polytechnics, ITIs or vocational training centres. Isn't this a ploy to keep the younger generations uneducated and thus force them to join the ranks of the captive labour force on tea estates?

Women

If the thought of tea gardens always conjures up the image of a woman worker plucking delicately at the waist-high tea plants, it is because women far outnumber the male workers here. Women had come not only as part of immigrant families but also as single women who were then settled with a single male migrant as a "family unit". They were even rewarded with 'baksheesh' for producing babies, not as maternity benefits but for the sake of adding to the regular supply of labour! Even after the passage of the PLA, the Equal Remuneration Act requiring women workers to be paid on par with male workers was not implemented. Despite the fact that there are more women, maternity benefits or facilities for creches for children are grossly lacking in the tea plantations. Only in Rheabari, there is a shabby one-room creche with two caretakers. At present there are 10 children to whom milk is given once a day. It is interesting to note that a female worker's dependants are her children. She does not get ration if her husband is sick or infirm and is dependant on her or if her parents are living with her and have nowhere else to go.

Domestic violence, alcoholism - women are at the receiving end of all kinds of abuses inflicted by their menfolk. Says Nima, a TU worker, "Sometimes women are beaten so severely that they are rendered immobile for days and thrown out of homes at night by drunken husbands. Men often sell ration to buy liquor. "Plagued by poor nutritional intake, burden of household chores and illiteracy, the women, despite being TU members have no time for union activities.

Trade Unions

Since tea workers have always got a raw deal in the hands of the planters, TUs have been active in tea gardens for decades now. All the workers in the tea industry are unionised. In Singtom Tea Estate, there are three trade unions. The Darjeeling, T erai and Dooars Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union was formed in 1996 and is now affiliated to AITUC. It has over 10,000 members, mostly from the Hills. The Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars Chia Kaman Staff and Sub-staff Association, boasts of a membership of 2,000.

However, the local trade unions are clearly unhappy with the attitude of both the major trade unions and the government to the plight of tea plantation workers. Says K.V Subba, secretary of Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union, "Labour officers

don't take much initiative. They are content with issuing show cause notices." Even then many employers tend to ignore the notices. One of the reasons for poor enforcement and implementation of the various provisions of the PLA is the grossly inadequate administrative infrastructure. The government lacks adequate machinery, logistics and manpower to discharge its responsibilities. Says Subba, "Going to the courts reflects our helplessness where there is no other option but this. It means additional expense, lost mandays and after the directions are issued by the court, again approaching the court for implementing them." The tea managements virtually go scot-free even after repeated violations of the PLA because, the provisions for prosecution and penalties are not deterrent in nature. The maximum penalty that could be imposed for any offense is only Rs 500. A second prosecution could invite a penalty of 1,000. Hence, tea companies prefer to fork out the measly penalty of 1,000 rather than spending at least "25,000 for constructing a labour quarter.

Over the years, the trade unions have been demanding more stringent punitive measures. The Darjeeling- Terai-Dooars Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union has demanded 'one year imprisonment and penalty upto l,00,000 against tea garden management for violation of PLA.' In a meeting of the Industrial Committee on Plantations held in October 1995, Samir Roy, general secretary of West Bengal Cha Mazdoor Sabha had suggested to the government that 'a registered trade union should be allowed to file a complaint directly with the magistrate in case of violation of PLA, since inspectors (1) cannot inspect plantations regularly and (2) are intimidated by the powerful tea lobby'. However, for the time being it seems that "discipline" is the obligation of the workers alone. Local trade union leaders told the team that almost all tea estates in Darjeeling Hills have declared a lock out at one time or the other as a strategy to bargain with the workers. If a lock out lasts for long, the workers, desperate to work and earn money, agree to work on the employers' terms. In Singtom itself, the workers demanded construction of pucca houses, medical benefits for their dependants, payment of wages on time and facility of badli i.e. employing a family member of a worker after her she retires.

The owner declared a lock out and agreed to lift it only if the workers agreed to his condition of producing 1,60,000 kg of tea.

Irrespective of whether the tea estate earned profits or not, successive owners have shied away from pumping part of the profits into improving the estates. For instance in the Chandmoni Tea Estate at Siliguri, the Chandmoni Anti-Eviction Joint Action Committee, alleged that the management intentionally allowed the tea estate to deteriorate in the 1970s and 1980s by not investing in its upgradation and declared lockouts in the off-season (September to February). The committee admitted that there has not been any move to run the estate as workers' co-operative.

Says Lalu Oraon, "had the management allowed us to prune the plants, the estate would have still been in a working condition. But the tea plants suffered and so did the work. No new workers have been hired since 1978." Lockouts at times lasted for 18 months, during which the workers were not paid their wages and ration and many of them survived as casual labourers in the city.

Not surprisingly, the workers in Chandmoni are vehemently opposing the present owner's moves to acquire more land to expand tea plantations and evict workers to the new tea plantation at Shubalbhita, which is encroaching on the notified Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Besides, Subalbhita lacks basic facilities like proper housing and health care. The workers added that two more tea estates (Dagapur and Mattigarh) are also going the Chandmoni way. The committee is presently planning to challenge the acquisition.

In Chandmoni, the fact-finding team could not meet any active trade union in the tea plantation. Instead met activists of the Chandmoni Anti-Eviction Joint Action Committee a group mobilising workers to oppose the eviction orders issued by the management. Interestingly, they are not a trade union nor are any of the leaders of the committee working in any capacity in Chandmoni. However it seems they had won the confidence of the workers. In Kalchini, workers gave a mixed response when quizzed about whether the unions work to their satisfaction. There is more than one trade union in this plantation. But it appears that in some matters like getting the management to repair; the house, the unions help. But in other matters like arranging the appointment of a worker's family member in place of a deceased worker (badli) or improving the quality or availability of ration, the unions often do not help much.

Among the three TUs in Rheabari, the most powerful one is the West Bengal Cha Mazdoor Sabha. Admits Lalit Kumar Jha a leader of this union, "The occasion never arose to approach Labour Courts. The threat of approaching Labour Court was enough to earn compensation for two workers, one of whom died of a leopard attack and the other of snakebite.

On the flip side, this arrangement raises the question whether the management had complied with the mandatory requirement of depositing the compensation amount with the Labour Commissioner and paying the right amount. Notably, both these settlements were claimed to have been reached two years after of the date of death of the workers.

Basic Facilities

The impoverished tea worker has for generations tried to eke out a survival amidst squalor, poverty and inhuman living conditions. The PLA had kindled hopes of the promised improvement in their lives. There is no denying that the PLA is comprehensive enough to make it mandatory for employers to provide basic facilities like drinking water, conservancy i.e. urinals and latrines, medical, educational and recreational facilities, rent-free housing, primary schools, creches and sickness and maternity benefits. As the team found out, those hopes have long been dashed to the ground.

Although in West Bengal, the plantation workers are accorded the status of scheduled tribes and caste, the facilities available to them under the various affirmative laws have not percolated to these groups.

Sec 8 of the Plantation Labour Act (PLA) and Rule 10 of the West Bengal Plantation Labour Rules (WBPLR) state that the employer is bound to provide sufficient drinking water from taps at places near the worker's residence. But in most of the tea estates in West Bengal, these provisions have remained on paper. In Chandmoni, for instance, the few wells provided by the employers were not adequate in number and the workers had to dig wells for themselves. There are no hand-pumps. At Singtom tea estate, Darjeeling Hills, workers have made arrangement on their own for drawing water with the help of pipes from a nearby spring. It was only at Kalchini tea estate, West Dinajpur, that the company has provided the labour lines with water supplied through pipes to a limited number of homes. Majority of the workers still collect water from central water points. Few have illegally drawn water pipes in their homes. The company supplies water regularly three times a day. In direct contravention of the PLA, which states that the labour lines must have separate latrines and urinals for males and females, which must be properly maintained and regularly cleaned, most of these estates have not made provisions for toilets. The Rule 15 of WBPLR specifies that every plantation must have one latrine for every 50 acres of cultivated land and half of these latrines must be for females. The employer must also ensure that pucca drains are constructed for clearing grey water. In Chandmoni, there are no toilets for the workers. Many of them go to the riverside. Similarly at Singtom, there are no toilets provided by the company at the labour lines. The company has however constructed two toilets near the factory to cater to 150 factory workers. The toilets were in makeshift sheds with the floors covered with weeds, lose soil and pieces of brick and rotten wood; there was an unbearable stench of urine. In Kalchini too, there are no toilets in the labour lines. Workers use the tea plantation area for their ablutions and few have made bathrooms by covering a small space with old clothes. The workers disclosed that there are toilets for the babulog (officers) in the

plantation. Given the lack of basic civic amenities, the outbreak of epidemics is not uncommon. In 1998, there was an outbreak of gastro-enteritis in this area of North Bengal and a large number of workers died. According to the nurse Nima Lamu of the hospital at Rheabari tea estate, nearly 12 to 14 people died in Rheabari. However Nima was quick to dismiss the outbreak a storm in the teacup and insisted that the workers who died had in fact picked up the disease from the neighbouring estate where 100 workers had died.

Housing

Provisions for the crucial facility of housing for workers have been blatantly violated, leading to piling up of a huge backlog since 1970, the very first year of implementation of the provisions. The PLA and the WBPLR make it mandatory for the employer to maintain houses under specified dimensions. However, the squalor and ramshackle condition of housing that the workers have to put up with is proof enough that their situation is no better, probably worse than urban slums.

At Singtom, there is only a steep kuccha road for access to the clusters of kuchha houses built by workers made with bamboo and mud and with the roof covered with polythene sheets at some places. There are few pucca "company" houses characterised by mud walls, bamboo support, tin roof and mud floor constructed by the company, though from 1985 onwards no new houses have been constructed. Says A.K Rai, a local trade union leader, "There are 40-50 pucca houses and the remaining 450 to 460 houses are all kuchha. There is a total of 500 houses in the labour lines.

Not even a single house has electricity in Chandmoni tea estate. Most houses are kuchha and the workers are given polythene to cover the roof of huts made out of bamboo.

In the Kalchini Tea Estate, kuchha roads lead to the labour lines. A cluster of bamboo and mud huts in a neat row house nearly 15 workers and their families live in one labour line that ends in an open nullah. Beyond that nullah are more houses for workers. Joining the two was a tree trunk placed diagonally which one can use to reach the other side by carefully observing a balancing rope trick.

Health

Basic health care facilities are absent in most of the tea estates in West Bengal. The "so-called" hospitals and dispensaries are bereft of even, the very minimal medical equipment and common medicines. There are hardly any doctors, and compounders most often substitute as medical advisors. The dispensary at the Singtom Tea Estate is a shabbily constructed structure with wooden planks in the decaying ceiling devoured by termites, hanging lose. As for the equipment, there is one broken and rusty bed in a small room, a pair of rusty scissors with a soiled swab of cotton clamped in its mouth placed upon a dirty tray and the only medicine - a one-quarter full bottle of Dettol antiseptic and red tincture solution. In contrast the compounder's room was well ventilated white washed, with the neat cotton roll kept well covered and some kind of heater or stove with a pan, perhaps to sterilise his tools. There was nothing to suggest that it was more than a first aid box rather than what it claimed to be.

The workers and the trade union leaders said that there are no medicines in the dispensary. Even for minor ailments, let alone for serious ones, workers have to buy the medicines from the market. While the company arranges for transportation of any injured or sick worker to the nearby Sadar hospital, his/her dependants do not have access to this facility. Again, this is a clear violation of both the PLA and the WBPLR, which insist that irrespective of the number of workers they employ, the employers must provide free medical facilities to the worker and his/her dependants including dependant parents.

Rule 22 of the WBPLR says that any plantation employing 1,000 workers or more will have to provide a hospital for its workers, but if there are less than 1,000 workers, the plantation has to run its own dispensary. In Chandmoni, the hospital exists to fulfil this mere formality. Few drugs are available and most of the time, workers have to purchase the drugs from outside the estate. A doctor visits the hospital thrice a week. The compounder is however, present all times.

Rheabari has one hospital with 20 beds and an OPD, a doctor who stays in the estate, a trained nurse, a midwife, health assistant, compounder, dresser, medicine carrier and cook. The operation theatre doubles as a labour room. During the peak season the hospital treats 200 to 250 workers.

Kalchini's hospital was found to be the best equipped among all others. It is an old building in a reasonably good shape, with two 8-bed wards - separate ones for males and females. Besides that it has a maternity ward, TB ward and dysentery ward. There are two doctors residing near the hospital and a compounder. The compounder said that the most common diseases with which the workers suffer is malaria, dysentery and leprosy.

The workers however rate TB as the most common disease. Says 19-year-old worker Vijay, "My father died of TB while my mother and elder brother suffer from this disease." However, TB cases are not treated in the company hospital, but the company provides transportation to take the patients to a nearby hospital.

Agrees Nima Lamu, a nurse in Rheabari Tea Estate, Hospital, "TB is increasing as the workers do not maintain hygiene and have close contact with the patient which only spreads this further. The children usually suffer from diarrhoea, mumps and glandular fever. "

The government provides medicines for treating leprosy in the Kalchini hospital. Regular camps are held for, postnatal care and for cataract operations. There is a labour room and a well- maintained operation theatre equipped with freezers and cupboards to store the medicines and equipment for performing minor surgeries. However, the mat covering the operation table was splattered with dried bloodstains, proving that hygiene is still compromised with. The exterior of the hospital was very shabby, with naked bricks peeping from a thin coat of paint. The toilets were very dirty, with an overpowering stench of urine and moisture laden walls.

To sum up, the colonial legacy of giving short shrift to workers welfare still looms large after 50 years of passage of comprehensive laws in independent India.

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