There are over 700,000 tea garden workers in Assam. Women form over 60 per cent of the workforce and are the ones primarily engaged in the indispensable work of leaf plucking. They constituted an important vote bank of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the assembly election in 2016. And, the party, which heads the three-party ruling coalition, wants to make sure that it retains their support during the upcoming assembly election. As such, it is doling out cash and various schemes to tea garden workers to secure their votes.
Out of the 126 Assembly seats in Assam, almost 40 are in Upper, Central and Northern Assam, besides Barak Valley, where the votes of the tea garden workers play a key role in determining the fate of political parties. Here, the BJP is facing a challenge from Congress and other regional parties, like perfume baron Badrauddin Ajmal’s outfit. While the BJP makes light of the challenge, it is taking the election seriously – hence, the wooing of tea garden workers in right earnest.
On 6 February, the Assam government transferred Rs3,000 each to the bank accounts of 746,667 tea workers under the Cha Bagichhar Dhan Puraskar Mela. Besides, the state government has initiated a number of schemes for the tea community. They get free rice. Every pregnant woman is handed a financial aid of Rs12,000 for nutrition. So far, 47,000 women have availed of the benefit. The government has also reserved seats in medical and engineering institutes for the children of tea workers. It is now working on reserving 10 per cent seats in all colleges and providing breakfast to the children of the community in addition to mid-day meal. It has started building schools in 199 gardens, which the government says should be functional from 1 May.
Industry-specific largesse
On 1 February, while presenting the Union budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs1,000 crore for the welfare of women and children of tea gardens in Assam and West Bengal – the two states, which are going to the polls. The decision surprised many, as payment of such industry-specific largesse for workers is rare in the annals of budget presentation. Six days later, she flew to Assam, where she participated in a ceremonial function to disburse Rs3,000 each to 747,000 tea garden workers in the state. The payments were made through direct benefit transfer (DBT), which was the third tranche doled out to tea workers. Each tea worker had earlier received Rs5,000 in two phases.
Assam is known all over the world for its brand of tea. While people start their mornings with cups of Assam brew, the labourers who grow tea have been neglected for a long time and live a disadvantaged life. But since Prime Minister Modi assumed power in 2014, various measures for the uplift of the tea community have been taken and Modi has been sincerely making efforts for bringing about a sea change in the lines of the people.
With the major tea gardens in Assam facing a grave crisis due to an increase in the cost of production and the loss of production due to the lockdown, the BJP-led state government was unable to deliver on its promises
So, what happened in between that made the Modi government loosen its purse-strings and dole out funds from the central budget? In 2014, while campaigning in Assam, Modi had promised to work for the uplift of tea garden workers. The BJP also promised during the 2016 assembly workers to revise the daily wage to Rs351. All it did was to increase it by Rs30 to Rs167 per day. But the money took a while coming.
Last year, hundreds of workers under the banner of All Assam Tea Tribes’ Students’ Association (ATTSA) staged a demonstration in tea estates in and around Dibrugarh, seeking a wage hike. The protesters held placards and banners and raised slogans against the tea management and the state government for failing to provide minimum wage of Rs351 per day, against their average wage of Rs167 in the Brahmaputra Valley and Rs145 per day in the Barak Valley. They also demanded wages be paid as per the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
But, with the major tea gardens in Assam facing a grave crisis due to an increase in the cost of production and the loss of production due to the lockdown, the BJP-led state government was unable to deliver on its promises. It could not force the tea industry to raise wages. Assam’s economy is heavily dependent on its tea industry. The state has about 700 tea gardens.
The BJP also cut a sorry figure, as comparisons were drawn with the wages earned by tea garden workers in other states. Tea workers in Kerala are paid a minimum daily wage of Rs310. The minimum wage is Rs263 in Karnataka and Rs241 in Tamil Nadu.