The Assam Assembly unanimously passing the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holding Act, 2025, for granting of land rights to workers of 830 large tea gardens in Assam is a watershed moment in the 200-year-long history of the tea industry in the state. A bold decision taken by the Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government to move ahead with the amendment to 'The Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1956' has cleared the decks for the settlement of more than 3.3 lakh tea garden workers in the labour lines of these gardens. These tea gardens will now be required to part with the land identified on their labour lines and hand it over to the state government for settlement to the workers of their respective gardens. The provisions in the Act, which will come into force after receiving the assent of the Governor, have created layers of built-in protection against alienation of land of tea garden workers from the land on which they are going to be settled. These protections include a moratorium on the sale or transfer of land for 20 years. After the expiry of 20 years, the owner of the land will be able to sell or transfer it only to a tea tribe community of the same garden so that the land remains with workers of the garden and cannot be purchased by anyone outside the tea tribe communities of the particular garden. The Act allows mortgaging of the land for availing a bank loan, which will make the land, on which workers' families are currently living in the labour lines, a collateral asset to avail a loan for meeting educational expenditure of their children and other household expenses. The landlessness of garden workers created a bondage for them, as someone from the family must work in the garden generation after generation to live in the labour lines, as they have no other land to go to. Chief Minister Sarma attributed this bondage to the erroneous decision of the Congress-led government in the state at the time of passage of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings Bill, 1956, to include the labour lines in tea gardens in the definition of purposes ancillary to tea cultivation. The amendment to the principal act now excludes "labour lines (tea garden labour colonies)" from the definition of ancillary purpose, as large tracts of land within tea estates remained outside the ambit of ceiling computation on account of their classification as ancillary to tea cultivation. Both permanent and temporary workers and descendants of garden workers belonging to tea tribes and Adivasi communities residing within the labour line of the tea estate will be eligible to get land settlement under the purview of the amended Act. As the amendment integrates tea garden labour welfare with broader state and central government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, public health initiatives, and social security programmes, clear legal title and statutory protection will enable the garden workers to derive maximum benefits from these schemes. Bringing labour line housing into the purview of the Act will improve the living conditions of tea garden workers. A section in the industry is apprehensive of the withdrawal of workers from garden works after getting clear land titles and land protection, but the state government has correctly emphasised that improved living conditions for workers will only increase their productivity, which will help the tea industry to boost production and increase resilience. Improved living conditions and better access to quality education will now enable members of garden workers' families to look for alternative employment and livelihood avenues. The tea industry, on the other hand, can increase competitiveness through reduced expenditure on labour payment even if they are required to use harvesting machines to address the problem of labour shortage. Adoption of partial automation in the state's tea industry will also reduce the production cost of Assam tea and compete with the cheaper production costs in Kenya and Sri Lanka. While any apprehension of a labour shortage gripping the state's tea industry after settlement of garden workers on labour lines and land to be freed from the occupation of tea estates is far-fetched, the industry anticipating the withdrawal of the next generation of many garden workers and planning for phased automation of production activities will be critical for its sustainability and resilience. The historic amendment comes at a time when the 2026 assembly polls are less than five months away; the ruling BJP-led coalition government is expected to reap electoral benefit, as indicated by huge jubilation across the gardens to celebrate the turning point in their lives. Political impact of the land reforms notwithstanding, Chief Minister Dr Sarma has correctly articulated the passage of the amendment act to be a mark of gratitude by the state for their invaluable contribution towards the 200-year-old tea industry and for making the state proud for the world-famous brand of Assam Tea.