Way back in 1976, when Soneswar Bora, then a member of the opposition in the State Legislative Assembly, first raised the issue of scope for setting up small-scale tea estates in Assam to open up livelihood opportunities for the unemployed youth, there were hardly any takers, except for another opposition MLA called Janaki Nath Handique who supported him. But Bora was not a person to give up. Fortunately, Bora became Assam’s minister for agriculture in the Janata Party government in 1978, and one of the first things he did upon getting power was to announce in the State Assembly that small tea estates covering up to ten bighas of land could be established in the state. While Bora’s announcement did not appear to stir any significant reaction among the unemployed youth, the big corporate houses who were then dominating Assam’s tea industry were the least amused because they apparently did not want their monopoly to be challenged, particularly by the state government itself. As it has been recorded, Bhadreswar Gogoi, MLA of the Tingkhong constituency, was the first to find some meaning in Soneswar Bora’s statement, and he collected some tea saplings and planted them in his homestead. The person who, however, understood the real meaning was Gangadhar Saikia, a humble but enthusiastic schoolteacher of a village called Melamora near Golaghat, who actually established a small tea estate near his home to become the first-ever small tea grower of Assam. The rest is history. Assam today has a little over 1.25 lakh small tea growers registered with the Tea Board of India. In reality, the number will be much higher. What is important to note is that when the Government of India, in the late 1990s, asked the tea industry to step up production by setting a target of producing 1000 million kilograms of tea per annum, the big corporations simply gave a pass by citing various problems as they always do. It was the small tea growers who stepped in and, with hard work and dedication, gave an unbelievable boost to the country’s tea sector by meeting the 1000 million kg target within less than a decade of the Centre’s appeal. The Tea Board has come up with a series of programmes to boost the small tea growers. But those do not seem to be adequate, especially in the wake of the fast-changing global tea scenario on one hand and the rapid climate change problem. It is in this context that a meaningful capacity-building exercise is required for the small tea growers so that the movement continues full steam despite the challenges. It is interesting to note that Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which is a part of the global Unilever banner, which had otherwise pulled out of the plantation business, has come forward to handhold the small tea growers with special focus on regenerative agricultural practices, which in turn will benefit the environment, enhance incomes and elevate the quality of tea – all simultaneously.