Tea Garden Community and Adivasi Assertion in Assam
By BISWAJEET SAIKIA

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 labourer.1 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 an Assamese-Adivasi clash.2
 
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 issues like wages and bonus.3
 
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 overall socio-economic issues of the tea garden community.

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.

Tea Economy of Assam:

In 1997, the State had 2470 tea gardens spread over 230 thousand hectares. Between 2005 and 2006, the state produced 476 million kgs of tea. Presently, the state has 39,139 tea estates in 507 thousand hectares of land. 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. Tea 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 infrastructure and service sector over the years.4

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 Development Corporation.

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 green leaf. For the big tea garden manage-ment, workers in a small tea garden are generally considered an ex-labourer. 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.

Socio-Economic Background of Tea Garden Labour:

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 tea labour community. 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 human development index as well.

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 cent of them are permanent employees. During the peak season, each garden employs casual workers at wages much lower than the actual minimum wage.5 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

Tea Garden Labour and Human Development Index:

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. 52 per cent of children are underweight in rural compared to 37 per cent in urban areas. The report says that although the state has adequate physical health infrastructure with primary health centres (PHC) and hospitals, the quality of service provision is low. Under the Plantation 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 areas.

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 or poorly paid and belong to the category of unskilled labour.7

Status of Women and Children:

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 with them into the fields. Most allegations of child labour in the tea industry involve the functions of plucking, weeding, hoeing, and nursery work. 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 also made to work in the factories, against established law.”8

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 medical practitioner. In addition, they may not work more than 27 hours a week, or at night. 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 per cent of the total workforce.

Health of Tea Garden Labourers:

The survey of G.K. Medhi and others9 concludes that high magnitude of under nutrition and infectious diseases exist among tea garden population. Nutritional problems like underweight among children (59.9 per cent), 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 Health Centre.10

Tea Board Estimates:

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 gardens.

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 in providing facilities like educational, health and drinking water.

Public Distribution System:

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 many other items.

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 exercise undertaken 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 to Rs.87.78 in the year 2006.11
 
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 could be implemented.

Government Initiatives for Welfare of Tea Labour Community:

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 state government.

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 enabling the families to enhance their annual income.

Plantation Labour Act, 1951:

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 day of rest every seven 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 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 Plantation Labour Act need to be reviewed.12

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 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.

A Department of Tea in the State Government:

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 system and drinking water, housing and sanitation.

Towards a Larger Debate:

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.