The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) finds itself in a catch-22 situation on the issue of increasing the wages
of tea garden workers in Assam. The demand for hike in wages of tea garden
workers in Assam is gathering steam when BJP-led ruling coalition is looking at
a consecutive term at Dispur. The opposition parties have made it a major poll
plank in a bid to cause a dent in the stronghold of the ruling party. The tea
industry, on the other hand, has been cautioning the government that any hike
in wages of workers now would render tea cultivation in the state unviable. The
BJP promised in 2016 Assembly polls to increase the wages of garden workers but
over the past four years and eight months the State government notified a hike
of only Rs 30 in 2018. Currently, the tea garden workers get daily wage of Rs
167 in the Brahmaputra valley and Rs 145 in the Barak valley. Besides, the
daily wage, a permanent worker of a tea garden is entitled to ration of 3 kg of
wheat and 3 kg of rice for 12 days of work, 2 kg of wheat and 2 kg of rice per
head of each of his or her children in the age group of 3 – 12 years and 300
grams of made tea. A temporary worker is also paid daily wage of Rs 167, but
ration is given only to the worker not for family members. Plight of workers in
most small tea gardens is worse with less wage and no other benefits.
Landlessness of lakhs of tea garden workers limit their dreams of exploring
alternative livelihoods other than daily wage earners and unskilled workers at
construction industry. Various tea garden workers' unions including the
Congress-backed Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha have called for agitation programmes
to mount pressure on the government on their demand for fixing the daily wage
at Rs 351. The influential All Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association and the
All Adivasi Students' Association, Assam have been relentlessly demanding for
the minimum wage of Rs 351. The BJP-led coalition government initiated a host
of welfare measures for tea garden workers and hoped that these would dilute
the issue of wage hike and prevent it from returning to the centre stage. These
measures include cash assistance as Direct Benefit Transfer to bank accounts of
garden workers, wage compensation scheme for pregnant women in tea garden
districts to reduce maternal mortality rate, setting up of 119 new high schools
in garden areas for better access of children of garden workers to education.
The State government has decided to reserve 10 per cent of seats in these
government colleges for tea garden areas. These measures, no doubt, were much
needed to alleviate the socio-economic condition of the garden workers.
However, the garden workers should not be deprived from their entitlement for a
fair and just amount of minimum wage in lieu of these welfare measures. It is
pathetic that socio-economic condition of garden workers is the worst among all
communities in the state despite the fact Assam accounts for more than 50 per
cent of the country's total tea production. Unfortunately, the wage and other
demands of tea garden workers have remained trapped in election manifestos and
promises during electioneering. This is despite the fact that they play the
deciding role in more than two dozen seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly.
The BJP's inroads in the traditional strongholds among tea garden workers
helped it wear the crown. The political blame game will never solve the
problems of tea garden workers. The tea industry also cannot continue to look
the other way every time the issue of wage hike is raised. There has been
outmigration of scores of youths as well as temporary workers from tea garden
areas to outside the state for greener pastures in southern states where the
minimum daily wage is much higher. Denial of the just amount of minimum wage
will push more garden workers and their family members to migrate outside the
state. If unchecked, this may only lead to severe shortage of garden workers to
meet the demand of more than 800 large tea estates and over one lakh small tea
gardens. It will have a cascading effect on the industry and the state economy.
It is time the issues of tea garden workers are discussed in right earnest by
all stakeholders before the situation becomes unmanageable. The rise in daily
wage earners in tea garden areas is only an indication of increasing
vulnerability of their livelihoods and crisis looming large over the tea
industry. Unless the political parties start looking at the long-pending
demands of the tea garden workers beyond poll arithmetic, the tea tribe
communities will perpetually remain deprived from living a dignified life.