Tea Plantation Workers (Tea Pickers)

By Grace Guria - EWIF  

 

The Tea Plantation Industry is an important Agro based industry in India. Assam occupies the top position in the production of tea as about 52% crop is produced in this state and its contribution to national exchequer as foreign exchange earner is about 60% of the total exchange. About 8 lac workers are directly employed in this industry. The number could still be higher. Thus tea industry occupies the position of a premier industry as an employer of large labor force. India is the biggest producer, consumer and the biggest exporters of tea in the world, followed by China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Russia, Bangladesh and a sizable number of small and big nations of the world who have come to the scene of tea production.

Tea gardens are a highly labour intensive industry, providing year-round employment. They provide livelihood to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in regions that are generally less developed.

Those employed have a low grade of existence and are not able to take up responsibility for their own life, due to social circumstances, regional disparity, and political situation, lack of Education and absence of strong organized group.

The booming tea industry of Assam thrives on the hard work and sweat of the Tribal Migrants who are at work since the first half of the 19^th century. The `Adivasis' are one of the most marginalized sections of the society in India particularly in Assam. In fact they were brought through allurements and false promises.

Even to this day the tea pickers are socially unaccepted and unwelcome in the land where they have been working for more than a century. Their lives can be described simply as mere existence and survival in a system of controlled injustice from the very beginning and a denial of basic needs necessary for human existence.

Problems relating to maternal and child health, gastrointestinal problems, diarrhoea, blood pressure among women and Tuberculosis are of high prevalence among the tea plantation labourers. The community as a whole faces shocking biological misfortune of chronic malnutrition

In order to bring up the health & quality of life of the tea pickers, what is essential is

• Clean drinking water – through partnerships with technology and equipment providers
• Hospitals – availability and management
• Schools - availability and management

We at EWIF propose to address this because their needs are not heard, ignorance dominates, there is no perspective as how to begin developing & utilizing available resources & facilities leading to a better life for the tea pickers.

We propose to work on this by:

• Strategies and planning 
• Develop a stakeholder commitment  
• Information fliers  
• Funding & cash flow management 
• Constant monitoring & reviews

To tap the human Resource, we will approach the college students of the West and the North East to participate and work with tea pickers in North Eastern villages.

• Study the tea pickers views
• Make them pro-actively involved, authorized and responsible
• Train them, direct them, and support them to start with
• Development of marketing & distribution for handicrafts and Agro products

The value proposition to sponsors and beneficiaries will be seen in a way the projects are materialized. We invite them to connect with us.

• The North Easterners will develop their entrepreneurship & business skills
• Organization Development - Self help groups, team work and co-operation
• Development of healthy future generations
• Prosperity of the people through adoption of livelihood of their choice
• Time well spent and the development of a peaceful & prosperous existence
  
  See BBC Video of September 2015

(Grace is from the Chirang District of Assam. She has done her Masters in NGO Management from Mysore. She lives in Pune and works on North East Development initiatives with EWIF from its Pune office. To participate in our EWIF initiatives, please contact her at pune@eastwestinterconnect.org.in)